यद्यदिष्टतमं लोके यच्चातिप्रियमात्मन: ।
तत्तन्निवेदयेन्मह्यं तदानन्त्याय कल्पते ॥
yad yad iṣṭatamaṁ loke yac cātipriyam ātmanaḥ |
tat tan nivedayen mahyaṁ tad ānantyāya kalpate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.11.41; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 8.119, 10.513, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.199, Bhakti Sandarbha: 295)
“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] Whatever is most desired in the world and whatever is most dear to oneself—offer that to me. This leads to the infinite.”
Commentary
Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī comments that “the infinite” refers to Śrī Viṣṇu’s domain (ānantyāya śrī-viṣṇu-lokāya), implying that by following Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s instruction in this verse one can attain Śrī Bhagavān’s domain. He further comments:
yac cātmano’tyanta-priyam iti—loke’niṣṭam api avihitam api svasya priyaṁ cet tarhi dadyād ity arthaḥ | atra ca vihitam eva, na tu niṣiddham iti kecid āhuḥ; atyanta-niṣiddhe ca vaiṣṇavānāṁ svata evāpravṛttes tan na deyam eveti, kiṁ tad abhivyañjanena?
“In regard to ‘whatever is most dear to oneself,’ if something is dear to oneself even though it is not desired in the world and not enjoined [to be offered in śāstra], then one should [still] offer it. This is the meaning. Some say [the meaning is], ‘Here too it is certainly enjoined, and not rather forbidden.’ Also, if it is completely forbidden, then it is not to be offered because Vaiṣṇavas of their own accord have no inclination [for anything that is forbidden in śāstra]. So, what is the need of clarification [i.e., of spelling out exact rules regarding what can and cannot be offered]?”
Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī cites this verse as an illustration of the limb of sādhana-bhakti known as “offering that which is dear to oneself” (nija-priyopaharaṇam). See BRS 1.2.88.
Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī comments in his Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on BRS and in his Krama Sandarbha that the word ca (“and”) in the verse implies that Śrī Kṛṣṇa also enjoins offering him that which is dear to “me,” meaning himself, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as well (yad yad iti ca-kārāt mama priyaṁ ca). This means Śrī Kṛṣṇa enjoins offering him that which is considered dear in the world, that which is dear to oneself, and that which is known to be dear to Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself.
Śrī Cakravartīpāda echoes this reading of the word ca his Bhakti-sāra-pradarśinī-ṭīkā and offers an alternate interpretation of the final phrase in the verse, taking ‘this’ (tad) to mean the objects that are to be offered and thus concluding that it is these objects that become infinite (yad vastu tad ānantyāya kalpate anantaṁ bhavati) by being offered to Śrī Bhagavān. He also offers the following interpretation of the verse in his Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā:
loke śāstre ca yad iṣṭatamaṁ tan mahyaṁ nivedayet | tena darbha-mañjary-ādīni śāstra-vihitāny api loke iṣṭatamatvābhāvān na nivedayed iti bhāvaḥ | tatrāpi yac ca ātmanaḥ svasyātipriyaṁ tat tu viśeṣato nivedanīyam ity arthaḥ |
“[Kṛṣṇa:] Offer to me that which is most desired in the world and in śāstra. Therefore, although kuśa buds (Desmostachya bipinnata) and so forth are enjoined [to be offered] in śāstra, do not offer them because of their not being [considered] most desired in the world. This is the purport. In that regard as well, that which is most dear to oneself is especially offerable. This is the meaning.”