Verse 1.1.66-69

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.1.66-69:

देवा एव दया-पात्रं विष्णोर् भगवतः किल ।
पूज्यमाना नरैर् नित्यं तेजो-मय-शरीरिणः ॥ ६६ ॥
निष्पापाः सात्त्विका दुःख-रहिताः सुखिनः सदा ।
स्वच्छन्दाचार-गतयो भक्तेच्छा-वर-दायकाः ॥ ६७ ॥
येषां हि भोग्यम् अमृतं मृत्यु-रोग-जरादि-हृत् ।
स्वेच्छयोपनतं क्षुत्-तृड्-बाधाभावे’पि तुष्टि-दम् ॥ ६८ ॥
वसन्ति भगवन् स्वर्गे महा-भाग्य-बलेन ये ।
यो नृभिर् भारते वर्षे सत्-पुण्यैर् लभ्यते कृतैः ॥ ६९ ॥

devā eva dayā-pātraṃ viṣṇor bhagavataḥ kila |
pūjyamānā narair nityaṃ tejo-maya-śarīriṇaḥ || 66 ||
niṣpāpāḥ sāttvikā duḥkha-rahitāḥ sukhinaḥ sadā |
svacchandācāra-gatayo bhaktecchā-vara-dāyakāḥ || 67 ||
yeṣāṃ hi bhogyam amṛtaṃ mṛtyu-roga-jarādi-hṛt |
svecchayopanataṃ kṣut-tṛḍ-bādhābhāve’pi tuṣṭi-dam || 68 ||
vasanti bhagavan svarge mahā-bhāgya-balena ye |
yo nṛbhir bhārate varṣe sat-puṇyair labhyate kṛtaiḥ || 69 ||

Actually, the demigods in particular are the recipients of Bhagavān Śrī Viṣṇu’s mercy, because they are worshipable by humanity. Their bodies are effulgent. They are sinless, established in goodness, free from misery and always happy. Their behavior and movements are independent.

They are especially capable of bestowing desired boons upon their devotees. Daily drinking amṛta, they have conquered over such conditions as death, old age and disease. They are not troubled by even hunger and thirst. Moreover, they remain satisfied accepting portions of the sacrificial yajñas by their choice. O Bhagavan (O great sage), on the merits of their good fortune, they reside in Svarga, where the people of this Bhārata-varṣa are able to go only after performing profuse pious activities.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

The king now adds something more: “Just consider that humans like me worship the demigods. The demigods also can act and behave according to their own desires because they are independently situated. Unlike human beings, they are not dependent or bound by fate, but they can travel at will by the pathways of the sky (akāśa-marga). They are capable of bestowing desirable boons upon their respective worshippers and give them relief from such miseries as death, disease and old age.”

The suffix ādi in mṛtyu-roga-jarādi suggests that they are aloof from such problems as bodily fatigue, sweat and foul odors. Since the demigods are not troubled by hunger or thirst, how are they happy? Because satisfaction derives happiness from the elimination of such hunger, how do they derive any pleasure? In reply he says, “Even where there is absence of hunger and thirst, amṛta is the object of their sense pleasure that grants them satisfaction.”

“O Bhagavan Śrī Nārada, by accumulating great pious merits in Bhārata-varṣa one attains Svarga or the celestial plane, and by the power of their cumulative great fortune the demigods now reside in Svarga.” In this way, in comparison to human beings, by mentioning the contrasting dharma of the demigods, their eligibility for the mercy of Bhagavān is given.

Contrary to the human being’s lifespan which is brief, the demigods drink amṛta that eradicates dying. Therefore, their lifespan is extremely long. Receiving the worship of human beings regularly, they are endowed with great opulence. Their abundant glories are proven because they are able to grant the desired results to their devotees. Their bodies remain especially effulgent, and they enjoy a carefree behavior and the speciality of independent pursuits, which points to their supreme independence. In this way, the symptoms of the demigods are diametrically contrasted to human beings. This is mentioned ahead.