यथा यथात्मा परिमृज्यतेऽसौ
मत्पुण्यगाथाश्रवणाभिधानै: ।
तथा तथा पश्यति वस्तु सूक्ष्मं
चक्षुर्यथैवाञ्जनसम्प्रयुक्तम् ॥
yathā yathātmā parimṛjyate’sau
mat-puṇya-gāthā-śravaṇābhidhānaiḥ |
tathā tathā paśyati vastu sūkṣmaṁ
cakṣur yathaivāñjana-samprayuktam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.26; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 80, 147)
[Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] “To whatever extent the mind is purified by hearing and reciting narrations of my virtuous acts, to that same extent, it, like an eye treated with collyrium, perceives the subtle reality [i.e., my nature, figure, qualities, and līlā in actuality].”
Commentary
ādi-bhajanam ārabhya kevalayā bhaktyaivātma-śodhana-tāratamyena śravaṇa-kīrtana-smaraṇādi-tāratamyāt man-mādhuryānubhava-tāratamyaṁ prāpnotīty āha—yathā yatheti | tattva-sūkṣmaṁ tattvaṁ mad-rūpa-līlādi-svarūpaṁ sūkṣmaṁ tan-mādhuryānubhava-viśeṣaṁ tayor dvandvaikyam | … cakṣur yatheti prathamam andhāt kāṇo’py uttamas tasmāt cakṣuṣmān cakṣuṣmato’pi siddhāñjana-rasāñjita-netraḥ sūkṣmaṁ paśyati |
(Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“Starting from the beginning of bhajana, with the relative degree of purification of the ātmā through bhakti alone, as a result of a relative degree of hearing, praising, remembering, and so on [in relation to me], one attains a relative degree of experience of my mādhurya. Thus, this verse is spoken. ‘The subtle reality’ refers to the oneness of two [things], ‘the reality’ being the nature of my figure, līlā, and so on, and ‘subtle’ being the special experience of the mādhurya thereof. ‘Like an eye’ implies first that better than being blind is having even one eye, better than that is having two eyes, and better than even one who has two eyes is one with eyes smeared with prepared ointment who perceives subtlety.”