FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.82.44

మయి భక్తిర్హి భూతానామమృతత్వాయ కల్పతే । దిష్‍ట్యా యదాసీన్మత్స్‍నేహో భవతీనాం మదాపన: ॥ ౪౪ ॥
mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām
[mayi bhaktir hi bhootaanaam]
amṛtatvāya kalpate
[amritatvaaya kalpate]
diṣṭyā yad āsīn mat-sneho
[dishtyaa yad aaseen mat-sneho]
bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ
[bhavateenaam mad-aapanah]
mayi — to Me bhaktiḥ — devotional service hi — indeed bhūtānām — for living beings amṛtatvāya — to immortality kalpate — leads diṣṭyā — by good fortune yat — which āsīt — has developed mat — for Me snehaḥ — the love bhavatīnām — on the part of your good selves mat — Me āpanaḥ — which is the cause of obtaining .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām
mayi
to Me
bhaktiḥ
devotional service
hi
indeed
bhūtānām
for living beings
amṛtatvāya kalpate
amṛtatvāya
to immortality
kalpate
leads
diṣṭyā yad āsīn mat-sneho
diṣṭyā
by good fortune
yat
which
āsīt
has developed
mat
for Me
snehaḥ
the love
bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpanaḥ
bhavatīnām
on the part of your good selves
mat
Me
āpanaḥ
which is the cause of obtaining .
  • bhaktiḥ — 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.
  • amṛtatvāya kalpate — 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.
  • diṣṭyā — 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.
  • mat-snehaḥ — 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.
  • mat-āpanaḥ — 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.
Rendering devotional service to Me qualifies any living being for eternal life. But by your good fortune you have developed a special loving attitude toward Me, by which you have obtained Me.

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.”

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Rendering devotional service to Me qualifies any living being for eternal life. But by your good fortune you have developed a special loving attitude toward Me, by which you have obtained Me.
Commentary

"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."

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

“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.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

“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.

Related values
Sthitaprajna (Steady Wisdom)Vairagya (Detachment / Dispassion)Discriminative WisdomShanti (Peace / Tranquility)Abhaya (Fearlessness)Seva (Service / Selfless Action)Samata (Equanimity / Even-mindedness)Ishvara Pranidhana (Surrender to God)
Related verses

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.

Dhruva refusing his original boon

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

← Read full Chapter 82