Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.82.44
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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bhaktiḥ
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devotional service
Nominative of bhakti. The verse's first move: state the general law that bhakti leads any being to amṛtatva. Gauḍīyas: this is the universal teaching — every soul's bhakti yields immortality.
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amṛtatvāya kalpate
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leads to immortality
Phrase: amṛtatvāya (to the state of deathlessness, dative) + kalpate (is fit for, leads to). Echoes Upaniṣadic amṛtatva-language but redirects it: not Brahman-merger, but eternal sevā. Caitanya's nitya-dāsya is the Gauḍīya gloss.
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diṣṭyā
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by good fortune
Instrumental of diṣṭi — good luck, divine arrangement. Kṛṣṇa attributes the gopīs' specific love not to their bhakti generally but to their special diṣṭi. Gauḍīyas: gopī-prema is a particular grace, not a universal achievement.
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mat-snehaḥ
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love (sneha) for Me
Compound: mat (Me) + snehaḥ (affection). Sneha is a specific stage of prema in Rūpa Gosvāmī's classification — the bond that liquefies the heart at the loved one's mention (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 3.2). Kṛṣṇa names the gopīs' precise rasa-stage.
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mat-āpanaḥ
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by which Me is obtained
Compound: mat (Me) + āpanaḥ (causing obtainment). The astonishing claim: the gopīs' sneha is the cause of obtaining Him — He is Himself the prize, won by their love. Gauḍīyas read this as bhakti's own self-rewarding nature.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, the gopīs then replied, “But that Supreme Lord You are blaming is none other than Yourself, O most clever of speakers. Everyone in the world knows this! Why should we be ignorant of this fact?” “All right,” Lord Kṛṣṇa then told them, “if this is true, I must be God, but still I am conquered by your loving affection.”
"Most eloquent one! We know that Lord with whom you find fault is famous to the whole world as yourself." "O friends! If it is true that I am the Lord, then even so, I am dependent on your love for me." Thus he speaks this verse. " Just by devotion to me, one can achieve liberation (amrtatvaya). But that you have attained affection for me is most fortunate for me (distya), for it causes you to attain me (mad apanah)." The meaning is of the last statement is"Pulling me with force, your affection brings me close to you, and very quickly it establishes me right beside you."
“Even they have knowledge of my famous powers.” Thinking of this for a moment, taking support of that, he consoled them appropriately. If I am the Lord, though absorbed in my pastime of killing the enemies, I would not have the power to separate myself from you, being controlled by affection for you. Bhakti to me, even one out of the nine processes (hi), or affection for me, qualifies all beings for liberation. You who are most worthy of worship (bhavatīnām). Your perfection of prema (snehaḥ), causing both our bhāvas to melt, has caused you to attain me directly. It has strongly pulled you to me. That prema which existed in union and separation is most fortunate, since it makes separation no longer possible.
“Time is your aṁśa and dependent on you. And you are the supreme Lord. Why do you cheat us, though we have surrendered to you?” Or having used an example and philosophy to avoid the accusation of being ungrateful, now, being merciful, he comforts them by revealing his greatness. Even (hi) one of the nine types of bhakti qualifies any being, without further qualification, for being eternal associates. You have constant, pure, tender natures (bhavatīnām). Your affection is greater than others’ affection. He speaks to them with respect, and conciliation by addressing them with bhavatīnām. Your affection has caused you to attain me, wherever I am. It strongly attracts me. Thus there is never separation of you from me at any time.
- What 'special love' for Kṛṣṇa do I see in others that humbles me?
- How do I cultivate openness to receiving that grace?
Devotional service opens immortality's door for every living being — but the gopīs were never seeking that door. By an entirely different fortune (diṣṭyā) they fell into love with the Lord directly. The door of mokṣa stayed shut behind them; they walked past it into the room itself.
Five-year-old Dhruva went to the forest demanding a kingdom higher than his step-mother's; through Nārada's instruction his austerity ripened. When the Lord appeared, Dhruva did not even remember the kingdom — he asked for nothing but the Lord (SB 4.9).
Gauḍīyas pair this with the gopīs' diṣṭyā here. Bhakti can begin in any motive — Dhruva for a throne, the gopīs as girls of Vraja — and ripen past all motives into the love that wants only Him. Kṛṣṇa's verse names this exact graduation: diṣṭyā... mat-snehaḥ... mat-āpanaḥ.
My note
Source: vedabase.io