Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.23.26
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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addhā
—
directly
Indeclinable — 'without mediation.' The exact word Rūpa Gosvāmī picks up: bhakti is direct service to Kṛṣṇa, not service mediated through karma or jñāna. The verse is a Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu seed.
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kuśalāḥ
—
those who are expert
From √kuś — skilled, capable. The truly intelligent. Gauḍīyas: the verse defines intelligence not by śāstra-knowledge (the brāhmaṇas had that) but by the choice of direct bhakti.
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sva-artha-darśinaḥ
—
those who perceive their own true benefit
Compound: sva (own) + artha (benefit) + darśinaḥ (seeing). The argument that bhakti is enlightened self-interest — the ātmā is most dear, and bhakti goes straight to the ātmā's source.
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ahaitukī
—
unmotivated
Compound: a (without) + haitukī (causal motive). The signature term of śuddha-bhakti — service performed without any ulterior aim. Pairs in Bhāgavatam 1.2.6 with apratihatā.
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avyavahitām
—
uninterrupted
Compound: a (without) + vyavahitām (interrupted, screened). Continuous, unbroken. With ahaitukī, the pair defines uttamā bhakti. The wives in verse 23 demonstrate it; the brāhmaṇas in verse 9 have neither.
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ātma-priye
—
unto Me, who am most dear to the soul
Compound: ātma (soul) + priye (dear). Kṛṣṇa identifies Himself as the soul's most-dear. The verse forecloses the impersonalist reading: the dearmost is a Person, not a state.
The Supreme Lord informed the brāhmaṇas’ wives that not only they but all people who recognize their true self-interest take to the spiritual process of loving service to the Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa is ātma-priya, the real object of love for everyone. Although each individual has his own taste and freedom, ultimately every living being is a spiritual spark of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; thus everyone’s primary loving attraction is constitutionally meant for Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Loving service to the Lord should be ahaitukī, without personal motive, and avyavahitā, unobstructed by mental speculation, selfish desire or any quirk of time and circumstance.
Though the wives were full of the highest prema, fulfilling their desires now would not nourish the rasa, and without nourishment of the rasa the pastimes would not be attractive. Thus, though krsna was moved and controlled by their prema, when he began to respond to their love which arose when they saw him, there was a sudden appearance of his aisvarya (showing himself as God) by the agency of the lila sakti, which caused them to return to their homes. Though this aisivarya does not usually appear in the presence of those immersed in prema, it made its appearance for increasing their prema through separation and increasing longing in separation , for the perfection of the pastimes. Bringing the lord’s rati under control, it produced reasoning. Thus the Lord speaks in two verses, according to the mood of aisvarya. "Not only you have become attached to me, but other persons as well have developed affection for me. Who are they? --those who are clever (kusalah). Those who are clever look after their own welfare (svartha darsinah). They had devotion which was without personal motives (ahaituki), without any contaminating obstructions (avyavahita), just as the one has affection for ones own body and husband and other things."
He avoids mentioning their desire to see and associate with him. Addhā means directly. Thus the meaning is “they perform pure bhakti to me” since it is without material motive (ahaituki). They perform bhakti abundantly (yathā) to me who am dearer than the ātmā since I am Paramātmā. Since I am constantly with you as Paramātmā it is not necessary to be anxious for my direct association.
O wives of bṛahmaṇas (nanu)! Or certainly, skillful persons directly or purely (addhā) perform bhakti to me since they perform bhakti without motives (ahaitukī). Or they perform bhakti directly to me, not Brahmā or Śiva. They perform bhakti abundantly (yathā) to me who am dearer than the ātmā since I am Paramātmā. Or those who have the quality of showing what is best for a person (svārtha-darśinaḥ), teachers of showing one’s best interest, perform bhakti without their self-interest in mind (ahaitukī). Or persons who know their best interest perform bhakti to me just as women dedicated to their husbands serve their husbands who are dear to them (ātma-priye).
- Where am I directing constitutional love at substitutes and feeling unsatisfied?
- What in my day would shift if I oriented affection toward its actual object?
The wise miner does not chase glitter on the surface; he sinks the shaft straight to the seam — kuśalāḥ, the expert ones, perform unmotivated direct bhakti to Kṛṣṇa, the seam from which every other valuable was ever extracted.
Born to Hiraṇyakaśipu, surrounded from infancy by demonic opulence, Prahlāda alone among his family went straight for Bhagavān. When his father offered any boon, he asked for nothing — he had already seen what the kuśalāḥ see.
The nine processes Prahlāda enumerates in SB 7.5.23-24 are the addhā mayi kurvanti of this verse made explicit. Direct bhakti, unmotivated, uninterrupted.
My note
Source: vedabase.io