Verse 1.2.80

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.2.80:

अथ ब्रह्माण्ड-मध्येऽस्मिंस् तादृङ् नेक्षे कृपास्पदम् ।
विष्णोः किन्तु महा-देव एव ख्यातः सखेति यः ॥ ८० ॥

atha brahmāṇḍa-madhye'smiṃs tādṛṅ nekṣe kṛpāspadam |
viṣṇoḥ kintu mahā-deva eva khyātaḥ sakheti yaḥ || 80 ||

However, Śrī Mahādeva is the true object of Śrī Viṣṇu’s mercy, because he is renowned as the friend of Śrī Bhagavān. Thus I do not see anyone comparable to him as being the true recipient of the divine mercy of Bhagavān within this universe.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Thus whether Śrī Bhagavān’s supremely favored recipients reside on the earthly plane (martyaloka), or the heavenly plane (ūrdhvaloka), or the lower plane (adholoka), there is no defect by any means. Although someone such as Śrī Prahlāda is from a relative point of view a more favored recipient of Bhagavān’s mercy than someone such as Śrī Mahādeva, and although Śrī Mahādeva is residing within this brahmāṇḍa (examined at the end of this discussion), still he is naturally beyond this world. Similarly, the place of residence of Śrī Prahlāda is also beyond this world. His place of residence should never be regarded as being within this mundane plane.

On the other hand, Śrī Brahmā himself acknowledges Śrī Mahādeva as the greater recipient of mercy of Śrī Bhagavān and not Śrī Prahlāda. For that matter, if Śrī Bhagavān favors one devotee, why would that same quality of mercy not appear in another devotee? Only that devotee whom Bhagavān wholeheartedly accepts can realize this truth of comparisons. Śrī Bhagavān may bestow His divine mercy on someone and may reveal it everywhere, still one will not be able to perceive that mercy because it is superior in comparison to his own level of mercy.

The discernment between higher and lower objects is possible when it is perceptible, but not in the case of imperceptible objects. In that case, it is impossible to compare a mundane object with a supramundane object, because there is no equality between the two objects. For example, it would not be appropriate to compare two very different objects such as a mountain and a blade of grass. Of these two objects, which one is the lesser or the greater? The blade of grass is minuscule and only with that relative small object should it be compared, not with a mountain. A mountain is a massive object and is comparable with that type of object. It would not be reasonable to compare a small blade of grass with a huge mountain.

In relation to this, in the dhanyopākhyāna of the Hari-vaṃśa, it cites that Bhagavatī Gaṅgā herself considers the ocean more fortunate than she, but she does not address Brahmājī as more fortunate than the ocean. In the same way, Śrī Brahmā views Śrī Mahādeva as more fortunate than his own self, and thus considers Śrī Mahādeva more the recipient of mercy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa than Śrī Prahlāda. For that very reason, how can he describe the glories of the sakhās or cowherd boys as the recipients of this super-excellent mercy? This is the direction of the deliberation and common channel of thought woven throughout this book from beginning to end. Anyhow, at this point, Śrī Brahmā acknowledges Mahādeva as the recipient of mercy of Śrī Bhagavān, and the symptom is that Śrī Mahādeva alone knows Bhagavān Śrī Viṣṇu as his friend. Therefore, nobody else appears more likely the recipient of mercy than Śrī Mahādeva.