यया वाचेहया दैन्यं मत्या च स्थैर्यमेति तत् ।
तं यत्नेन भजेद्विद्वांस्तद्विरुद्धानि वर्जयेत् ॥
दैन्यं तु परमं प्रेम्णः परीपाकेण जन्यते ।
तासां गोकुलनारीणामिव कृष्णवियोगतः ॥
yayā vācehayā dainyaṁ matyā ca sthairyam eti tat |
taṁ yatnena bhajed vidvāṁs tad-viruddhāni varjayet ||
dainyaṁ tu paramaṁ premṇaḥ parīpākeṇa janyate |
tāsāṁ gokula-nārīṇām iva kṛṣṇa-viyogataḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.223–224)
“One who is wise should carefully cultivate speech, activity, and thought by which that [i.e., humility] attains steadfastness and should avoid contrarieties [i.e., all speech, activity, and thought contrary] to that. Paramount humility, however, manifests with the full maturation of prema like that of them—the ladies of Gokula—as a result of separation from Kṛṣṇa.”
Commentary
premṇo dainya-mūlakatvād avaśyaṁ yatnato dainyaṁ rakṣaṇīyam ity āha—yayeti | īhayā kāya-vyāpāraṇety arthaḥ, matyā mano-vyāpāreṇety arthaḥ | tat tūkta-prakārakaṁ dainyaṁ sthiraṁ syāt | tāṁ vācām īhāṁ matiṁ ca bhajet śraddhayāśrayet | tasya dainyasya tat-sthairyasya vā viruddhāni vāg-ādīni yatnato varjayet ||223|| evaṁ puruṣa-prayatna-sādhyaṁ laukikaṁ dainyam uktvā śrī-bhagavat-prasādajaṁ lokātītam apy āha—dainyam iti | paramam uttamaṁ tu dainyaṁ premṇaḥ bhagavad-viṣayaka-bhāva-viśeṣasya parīpākena parama-niṣṭhayaiva janyate prādurbhāvyate, anyathā sāmānyena bhagavataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇasya virahaḥ prāyaḥ sarveṣv eva vartate, tathāpi dainyaṁ tādṛśaṁ naivotpadyate, tac ca premābhāvād eva | ata eva teṣāṁ duḥkha-hāniḥ sukhāvāptiś ca kadācid api na syād iti dik | tu-śabdenāsyāpekṣayāpi pūrvokta-dainyasya nyūnatvaṁ sūcitam | tac ca kutaḥ syāt? kīdṛśaṁ vā? ity ata āha—tāsām iti | kṛṣṇasya viyogataḥ mathurā-gamanādi-virahato hetoḥ śrī-rādhādīnāṁ yādṛśam ity arthaḥ | dṛṣṭāntenānena śrī-kṛṣṇasyānugraha-viśeṣataḥ prāyas tan-mādhuryānubhavādinaiva prema-viśeṣodayāt tad-virahe dainya-viśeṣo jāyata iti dhvanitam | tatra ca prema-tāratamyena dainyasyāpi tādṛktvam ūhyam ||224||
(Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“Because of prema’s being rooted in humility (dainya), humility certainly is to be carefully protected [i.e., humility certainly should be carefully practiced so that it is always sustained in one’s thought, speech, and actions]. Thus, Śrī Nārada says yayā … [i.e., he speaks BB 2.5.223]. ‘By activity’ (īhayā) means by means of operation of the body. ‘By thought’ (matyā) means by means of operation of the mind. ‘That’ (tat), meaning, the aforementioned form of humility [discussed in the previous verse], shall become steadfast [is the intended sense]. One should cultivate (bhajet), that is, one should take shelter with conviction (śraddhā) in that—such speech, activity, and thought—and one should carefully avoid speech and so forth that are contrary to that, meaning, to humility, or, to steadfastness thereof. ||223||
“Having thus described the humility of the world attainable by the perseverant effort of an embodied being, Śrī Nārada speaks also of that [humility which is] beyond the world and produced [specifically] by the grace of Śrī Bhagavān: dainyam … [i.e., he speaks BB 2.5.224]. Paramount (paramam) humility, however, manifests (janyate) with the full maturation, that is, only with the paramount fixity (niṣṭhā), of prema, that is, of a particular bhāva related to Bhagavān. [Why?] In general, separation from Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa exists indeed in the case of nearly everyone otherwise [i.e., in all other than the residents of Vraja led by the gopīs and other associates of Śrī Bhagavān], and still such humility certainly does not arise [in all such persons who exist in a state of separation from Kṛṣṇa]. That [non-manifestation of such humility], furthermore, is only because of the absence of prema [on their part, and thus those who do have such humility are understood to have it because they have fully mature prema for Śrī Kṛṣṇa]. Therefore, the cessation of suffering and attainment of happiness can never come about for them [i.e., for everyone devoid of prema for Śrī Kṛṣṇa and thus also devoid of the paramount humility born of his grace since it only by means of prema for Śrī Kṛṣṇa that the ultimate cessation of suffering and the attainment of happiness can come about]. This is the direction.
“The inferiority of the aforementioned [type of] humility [i.e., the type attainable by perseverant effort described in BB 2.5.223] even in regard to this [type of humility produced by Śrī Bhagavān’s grace that manifests with the full maturation of prema for him described in BB 2.5.224] is indicated by the word ‘however’ (tu). Furthermore, how does that [superior type of humility] come about? And of what nature is it? Thus [i.e., to answer such questions], Śrī Nārada says tāsām … [i.e., he speaks the second half of the verse]. It [i.e., that humility] is of the nature [of the humility] of Śrī Rādhā and so forth [i.e., and other gopīs in Gokula, which arises] as a result of separation from Kṛṣṇa, that is, because of separation caused by [Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s] going to Mathurā and so on. By this illustration it is implied that a special form of humility [i.e., paramount humility] manifests in separation from Śrī Kṛṣṇa because of a manifestation of a special form of prema that is based on the experience of his sweetness (mādhurya) and so forth as a result of [one’s receiving] a special form of his grace. In this regard, furthermore, a correspondence in nature even of humility with a gradation in prema is also to be inferred [i.e., humility manifests as deeply as prema has manifested in the heart, and thus the most profound form of humility is manifested from the most profound form of prema, whereas lesser forms of humility are manifested from lesser forms of prema]. ||224||”