यस्य देवे परा भक्तिर्यथा देवे तथा गुरुः ।
तस्यैते कथिता ह्यर्थाः प्रकाशन्ते महात्मनः ॥
yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā guruḥ |
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ ||
(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad: 6.23; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 4.346; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 98; Bhakti Sandarbha: 5, 21, 209; Govinda-bhāṣya: 3.3.44, 45, 3.4.50)
“These discussed subjects [i.e., the teachings a guru gives to a disciple regarding Brahman] are revealed to the great soul who has pure bhakti to Deva, and as to Deva, so also to guru.”
Commentary
The phrase “these discussed subjects” (ete kathitā arthāḥ) is commonly understood to refer to the various subjects a guru teaches a student related to Brahman. When the student learns these from a guru and fosters bhakti for Bhagavān and the guru from whom he learns, then the meaning of the teachings is revealed in the heart of the student and he realizes their import by the grace of Bhagavān and the guru.
In addition to this common interpretation of the verse, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmīpāda offers an alternate interpretation:
arthāḥ puruṣārthāḥ |
(Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 4.346)
“‘Subjects’ (arthāḥ) refers to the puruṣārthas.”
Read in this way, the import is that dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa, and prema are revealed to a student who has bhakti to Deva and the guru in accord with the particular disposition and aspiration of the student, meaning, a student whose sole aim is prema shall attain that, and a student with other aims will attain those.