Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.29.15
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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kāmam
—
lust, intense desire
Accusative of kāma. Listed first because it is the gopīs' route. Gauḍīyas insist kāma here is not material kāma but kṛṣṇa-kāma — the desire turned only toward Kṛṣṇa's pleasure, with no remainder for one's own.
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aikyam
—
(sense of) oneness
Abstract of eka. The fifth route — even monistic absorption, when continuously fixed on Hari, ends in Him. Gauḍīyas read this as a quiet rebuttal of Advaita: yes, aikya works — but it works because Hari is the destination, not because oneness is the truth.
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harau
—
in Lord Hari
Locative of Hari — the destination of every channel. The verse refuses to be route-neutral; the destination is always Bhagavān. Hari (the remover) takes whatever orientation one brings.
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vidadhataḥ
—
of those who direct
Present participle of vi-√dhā — to apply, place upon. The action is intentional, sustained. Gauḍīyas note: random feeling is not enough; the affect must be vidadhat — deliberately placed at Hari's feet.
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tat-mayatām
—
absorption in Him
Compound: tat (Him) + mayatā (the state of being made-of). The result of vidadhat — to become tat-maya, made of Hari. Gauḍīyas distinguish this from impersonal merging: tat-mayatā is relational saturation, not identity.
Lord Kṛṣṇa is pure spiritual existence, and those who somehow or other become attached to Him, absorbed in thoughts of Him, rise to the spiritual platform. This is the absolute nature of the Lord’s personal association. With this verse Śukadeva Gosvāmī answers King Parīkṣit’s question about the gopīs. After all, Śukadeva has begun to narrate Kṛṣṇa’s most intimate pastime, the rāsa dance, and Parīkṣit is cooperating to remove the doubts of others who are hearing or who in the future may hear this astonishing story. Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted a statement from the Skanda Purāṇa that emphatically declares persons like the gopīs to be liberated souls, beyond the pale of material illusion: bhaktyā hi nitya-kāmitvaṁ na tu muktiṁ vinā bhavet ataḥ kāmitayā vāpi muktir bhaktimatāṁ harau “Eternal conjugal attraction to Kṛṣṇa, expressed in pure devotional service, cannot develop in one who is not already liberated. Thus those who are devoted to Lord Hari, even in conjugal attraction, are already liberated. “Śrīla Madhvācārya then quotes from the Padma Purāṇa to clarify the essential point that one cannot be liberated simply by lusting after Lord Kṛṣṇa but rather only by possessing conjugal attraction in pure devotional service: sneha-bhaktāḥ sadā devāḥ kāmitsenāpsara-striyaḥ kāscit kāscin na kāmena bhaktyā kevalayaiva tu “The demigods are always affectionately devoted to the Lord, and the young ladies of heaven called Apsarās have lusty feelings toward Him, although some of them have pure devotion for Him untainted by material lust. Only these latter Apsarās are ready for liberation, because without bona fide devotional service one cannot possibly achieve liberation.” Thus devotional service is not yogyam, or appropriate, unless free from material lust. One should not take cheaply the gopīs’ achievement of personal association with Lord Kṛṣṇa in a conjugal relationship. To show the gravity of direct relationship with the Lord, Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted the following verses from the Varāha Purāṇa: patitvena śriyopāsyo brahmaṇā me piteti ca pitāmahatayānyeṣāṁ tridaśānāṁ janārdanaḥ “The goddess Lakṣmī worships Lord Janārdana as her husband, Lord Brahmā worships Him as his father, and the other demigods worship Him as their grandfather.” prapitāmaho me bhagavān iti sarva-janasya tu guruḥ śrī-brahmaṇo viṣṇuḥ surāṇāṁ ca guror guruḥ “Thus people in general should think, ‘The Supreme Lord is my great-grandfather.’ Lord Viṣṇu is the spiritual master of Brahmā and thus the guru of the guru of the demigods.” gurur brahmāsya jagato daivaṁ viṣṇuḥ sanātanaḥ ity evopāsanaṁ kāryaṁ nānyathā tu kathañcana “Brahmā is the spiritual master of this universe, and Viṣṇu is the eternally worshipable Deity. With this understanding, and not otherwise, one should worship the Lord.” The above injunctions apply to sarva-jana, “all people in general.” Thus one should follow these injunctions until one achieves the exalted platform of intimate relationship with the Supreme Lord. There is abundant evidence that the gopīs of Vṛndāvana were highly elevated, liberated souls, and thus their pastimes with Kṛṣṇa are pure, spiritual affairs. Keeping this in mind, we can truly understand this chapter of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam .
"Therefore Pariksit, you should understand the conclusion clearly. Through kama (gopis), through krodha (Sisupala and others), through sneha (Nanda and others), through aikya or oneness (the atma ramas), through friendship (Pandavas), in whichever mood they worship the Lord, they realize the respective eternal pastimes. Tan maya means "those greatly attached to Krsna such as the gopis" just as one attached to women is called strimaya. Others attained sayujya.
This is not only the case when the Lord appears in this world, but occurs at all times. There are two types of kāma: the prema of the gopīs and the desire of Kubjā and others. Anger is exemplified in Śiśupāla and others. Fear is seen in Kaṁsa. Affection is seen in the Vṛṣṇis and the Pāṇḍavas or the people of Vraja. Oneness is seen in the ātmārāmas. Friendship is seen in Kratha, Kauśika and others. In this list, anger and fear are not accepted. The Lord produces auspiciousness even for the person who thinks of Kṛṣṇa, actually endowed with auspicious qualities, as a fearsome person, for a person who secretly hates the Lord or directly show animosity along with envy. How could such low persons fear or hate the Lord? Rather everyone should show affection or friendship. katamo 'pi na venaḥ syāt pañcānāṁ puruṣaṁ prati tasmāt kenāpy upāyena manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet Any of the five types of persons, but not King Vena, will attain their objectives in relation to the Lord. Therefore, one should somehow think of Kṛṣṇa, by one of the favorable methods. SB 7.1.32 Kenapi upayena means “by any favorable method.” It was also said: yathā vairānubandhena martyas tan-mayatām iyāt na tathā bhakti-yogena iti me niścitā matiḥ One cannot achieve such intense absorption in thought of the Supreme Lord by devotional service as one can through enmity toward him. That is my opinion. SB 7.1.27 This verse indicates that one should surpass the path of worshipping the Lord with reverence according to scriptural knowledge and accept rāgānuga or bhāva-marga. From that point of view, the intensity of meditation in hatred is praised for its absorption in the Lord. That intensity should be maintained along with affection or friendship. In that sense, hatred is mentioned in the present verse. Oneness is also not accepted since the Lord’s qualities do not manifest in that realization. The word eva indicates success by the individual methods listed. Another version has vidadhate instead of vidadhataḥ. The persons who practice affection etc. certainly (hi) realize the Lord according to their particular bhāva (tan-mayatām). The Lord himself says bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ śraddhayātmā priyaḥ satām: only by bhakti with full faith can the devotees obtain me, Paramātmā, the object of love. (SB 11.14.21) Padma Purāṇa says: yogibhir dṛśyate bhaktyā nābhaktyā dṛśyate kvacit draṣṭuṁ na śakyo roṣāc ca matsarāc ca janārdhanaḥ The yogīs can see the Lord by devotion. The Lord cannot be seen without devotion. The Lord cannot be seen by anger or hatred. And the Lord says “Covered by my potency I am not visible to all.” (BG 7.25) Though anger and hatred do not give a proper realization of the Lord, at a later time they can produce proper realization by the power of the Lord. Thus anger and hatred are included in the list. The gopīs, having affection for the Lord mentioned in verse 13, are the example of kāma and this is shown to be most excellent. Sometimes vā is seen instead of ca but the meaning is the same.
If people somehow direct themselves even with lust etc. (eva) to the Lord who attracts all hearts or who removes all faults (hareḥ), they attain realization of him. Or persons like the sages of Daṇḍakāraṇya by kāma and the Keśi and Kaṁṣa by hatred, attained the Lord. Te (your) can also modify harau: they direct themselves in hatred to your Lord. Another version has vidadhate. Hi means certainly. They become fixed in the Lord (tan-māyatām) or they attain sārūpya. By practicing (nityam), they attain absorption in the Lord. If they only concentrate on the Lord occasionally, by that lack of absorption they would not quickly attain the Lord. There are two forms of sārūpya: one for the devotee and the other for the nondevotee. For the devotee sārūpya gives happiness and for the nondevotee it gives destruction of suffering only. The devotee attains Vaikuṇtha and the nondevotee attains siddhaloka (merging in Brahman). Or the Lord appears in order to benefit humanity. This verse explains how he does this. Those who direct lust etc. to the Lord attain absorption in him. One version has vā with sauhrḍam. As with friendship, so by hatred etc. one can attain absorption in the lord. kāmād dveṣād bhayāt snehād yathā bhaktyeśvare manaḥ āveśya tad-aghaṁ hitvā bahavas tad-gatiṁ gatāḥ Just as by vaidhi-bhakti one can attain one’s spiritual goals, many persons have attained suitable forms after asorbing their minds in the Lord out of lust, hatred, fear, and family relationships filled with affection, and after giving up absorption in enmity of the Lord (in the case of hatred and fear). SB 7.1.30 By external vision, the gopīs could be said to have kāma with Kṛṣṇa as an illicit lover. Or all are grouped together simply to express absorption in the Lord, but there is a greatly different in the result for the different persons. This is described in Bhāgavatāmṛta and Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. The great devotees also clearly describe the differences. This will be explained later in the appropriate place.
- Which mood toward Kṛṣṇa is most natural to me right now, and have I let it serve as my access?
- Where am I trying to force a 'proper' mood when the spontaneous one is already there?
A river finds the sea by any bend it takes. Lust, anger, fear, kinship, friendship, even mistaken non-difference — channeled at Hari, every one of them flows home. The orientation, not the affect, is what saves.
Bhāgavatam tradition often pairs six exemplars with this verse: Kāma — the gopīs; krodha — Śiśupāla; bhaya — Kaṁsa; sneha — Vasudeva and the Yādavas; aikya — the Sanaka-kumāras and other monists who finally take refuge in Bhagavān; sauhṛda — the Pāṇḍavas.
All six attain Kṛṣṇa. Gauḍīya commentators (notably Viśvanātha Cakravartī) use this verse to argue that the gopīs' kāma is not merely tolerable — it is the highest of the six, because it is most continuous, least calculated, and least concerned with self-preservation.
My note
Source: vedabase.io