विष्णुभक्तिं प्रवक्ष्यामि यया सर्वमवाप्यते ।
यथा भक्त्या हरिस्तुष्येत्तथा नान्येन केनचित् ॥
भज इत्येष वै धातुः सेवायां परिकीर्तितः ।
तस्मात्सेवा बुधैः प्रोक्ता भक्तिः साधनभूयसी ॥
viṣṇu-bhaktiṁ pravakṣyāmi yayā sarvam avāpyate |
yathā bhaktyā haris tuṣyet tathā nānyena kenacit ||
bhaja ity eṣa vai dhātuḥ sevāyāṁ parikīrtitaḥ |
tasmāt sevā budhaiḥ proktā bhaktiḥ sādhana-bhūyasī ||
(Garuḍa Purāṇa: 1.227.1, 3; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 216)
“I shall now describe Viṣṇu-bhakti, by which everything is attained. Hari is not as satisfied by anything else as he can be by bhakti. The dhātu √bhaj [i.e., the verbal root from which the word bhakti is made] is widely said to mean service (sevā). Therefore the great sādhana [known as] bhakti is said to be service (sevā) by the wise.”
Commentary
tasyās taṭastha-lakṣaṇaṁ svarūpa-lakṣaṇaṁ ca, yathā garuḍa-purāṇe—viṣṇu-bhaktiṁ … |… yayā sarvam avāpyate iti taṭastha-laksaṇam | … sevā-śabdena svarūpa-lakṣaṇam | sā ca sevā kāyika-vācika-mānasātmikā trividhaivānugatir ucyate |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 216)
“Now, bhakti [will be defined]. Its extrinsic characteristic (taṭastha-lakṣaṇa) and intrinsic characteristic (svarūpa-lakṣaṇa) are [stated] as follows in Garuḍa Purāṇa. … ‘By which everything is attained’ (yayā sarvam avāpyate) is the extrinsic characteristic (taṭastha-lakṣaṇa) [i.e., that bhakti can produce the attainment of any desired end is its extrinsic characteristic]. … The intrinsic characteristic (svarūpa-lakṣaṇa) is [stated] by the word ‘service’ (sevā) [i.e., bhakti’s constitution, service, is its intrinsic characteristic]. That service (sevā), furthermore, is said to be threefold—bodily, verbal, and mental—attendance (anugati) [upon Bhagavān, i.e., bhakti means service, which means to attend to Bhagavān, that is, to endeavor to personally serve so as to satisfy him with actions of one’s body, speech, and mind].”