Verse 2.1.1

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.1.1:

श्री-जनमेजय उवाच—
सत्यं सच्-छास्त्र-वर्गार्थ-सारः सङ्गृह्य दुर्लभः ।
गूढः स्व-मात्रे पित्रा मे कृष्ण-प्रेम्णा प्रकाशितः ॥ १ ॥

śrī-janamejaya uvāca—
satyaṃ sac-chāstra-vargārtha-sāraḥ saṅgṛhya durlabhaḥ |
gūḍhaḥ sva-mātre pitrā me kṛṣṇa-premṇā prakāśitaḥ || 1 ||

śrī-janamejayaḥ uvāca–Śrī Janamejaya said; satyam–true; satśāstra-varga–of the group of scriptures that promote śuddha-bhakti; artha-sāraḥ–the essential import; saṅgṛhya–having gathered; durlabhaḥ–rare; gūḍhaḥ–confidential; sva-mātre–to his mother; pitrā me–by my father; kṛṣṇa-premṇā–overwhelmed with love for Kṛṣṇa; prakāśitaḥ–revealed.

Śrī Janamejaya said: O Gurudeva, truly, my father Śrī Parīkṣit, who was overwhelmed with love for Kṛṣṇa, gathered the confidential and rare essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and all other scriptures that propound devotional service to Bhagavān. He narrated this to his mother, Śrī Uttarā-devī.

The Bhāvānuvāda of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī’s Dig-darśinī Commentary

(henceforth known as Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā):

Maṅgalācaraṇa:

नमः ओं विष्णुपादाय आचार्य-सिंह-रूपिणे
श्री-श्रीमद्-भक्ति-प्रज्ञान-केशव इति नामिने
अतिमर्त्य-चरित्राय स्वाश्रितानां पालिने
जीव-दुःखे सदार्त्ताय श्री-नाम-प्रेम-दायिने

namaḥ oṃ viṣṇupādāya ācārya-siṃha-rūpiṇe
śrī-śrīmad-bhakti-prajñāna-keśava iti nāmine
atimartya-caritrāya svāśritānāṃ pāline
jīva-duḥkhe sadārttāya śrī-nāma-prema-dāyine

First, I offer obeisances at the lotus feet my most worshipable spiritual master, nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṃ viṣṇupāda aṣṭottara-śata śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja. Although I am inept in every way, having received a particle of his causeless mercy, I have translated the original verses of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī’s Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, and I have also composed a bhāvānuvāda (translation in essence) of Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta’s commentary known as Dig-darśinī. Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, whose lotus feet are most worshipable, has composed this Dig-darśinī as an exposition of his own work. Thereafter, I bow down at the lotus feet of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, who is both the author and commentator of this book, and offer an eager prayer for his causeless mercy.

This commentary has been composed by the author himself. Because it describes the intended meanings of the verses, it is therefore called Dig-darśinī (that which illuminates all directions).

Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā Maṅgalācaraṇa:

(Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī’s Auspicious Invocation to his Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)

श्रीमच्-चैतन्य-देवाय तस्मै भगवते नमः
यद्-रूप-मणिम् आश्रित्य चित्रं नृत्यत्य् अयं जडः

śrīmac-caitanya-devāya tasmai bhagavate namaḥ
yad-rūpa-maṇim āśritya citraṃ nṛtyaty ayaṃ jaḍaḥ

I offer obeisances to the Supreme Lord, Śrī Caitanya-deva. By taking shelter of the jewel of His rūpa [meaning both His beautiful form and Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī], even a dull person like me can also dance astonishingly on the dais of the narration of this book.

Considering all the meanings within this book to be selfevident, the author, overcome with feelings of great humility says, “Even a dull person like me is able to dance wonderfully on the stage of the narration of this book.”

In truth, however, the goddess Sarasvatī can never tolerate words that denigrate devotion to the Lord (bhakti), devotees of the Lord (bhaktas), and the Lord, Śrī Bhagavān. For this reason, through the words of Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself, Sarasvatī is praising him. Thus, in [Sarasvatī’s] glorification, another reading of this verse is, “I offer obeisances to Bhagavān Śrī Caitanya-deva. Having taken shelter of the jewel of His transcendental form (śrī-rūpa), even a dull person like me, who had become inert, is dancing in a wonderful way due to being overwhelmed in the great bliss of divine love (prema).”

श्री-कृष्ण-करुणा-सार-पात्राणाम् अत्र गद्यते
सदा-क्रीडा-भरानन्द-माधुरी-पूरितं पदम्
तस्यैव सर्वतः श्रेष्ठं कण्टकोद्धार-पूर्वकम्
निरूपयितुम् उत्कर्षम् अध्यायाः सप्त कल्पिताः
तत्राद्ये ह्य् उत्तरा-प्रश्नोत्तर-रूपेतिहासितः
वक्तुं गोलोक-माहात्म्यं भूर् लोक-महिमोच्यते
ग्रामाधिकारि-विप्रस्य मण्डलेश्वर-भू-पतेः
सम्राजश् च हरेः पूजात्य् उच्च-वैभव-वर्णनैः
अतो’ग्रे तनये मातुः प्रश्नावतरणाय हि
परीक्षितस्य हृष्टस्य प्रश्नो’शोभत जैमिनौ

śrī-kṛṣṇa-karuṇā-sāra-pātrāṇām atra gadyate
sadā-krīḍā-bharānanda-mādhurī-pūritaṃ padam
tasyaiva sarvataḥ śreṣṭhaṃ kaṇṭakoddhāra-pūrvakam
nirūpayitum utkarṣam adhyāyāḥ sapta kalpitāḥ
tatrādye hy uttarā-praśnottara-rūpetihāsitaḥ
vaktuṃ goloka-māhātmyaṃ bhūr loka-mahimocyate
grāmādhikāri-viprasya maṇḍaleśvara-bhū-pateḥ
samrājaś ca hareḥ pūjāty ucca-vaibhava-varṇanaiḥ
ato’gre tanaye mātuḥ praśnāvataraṇāya hi
parīkṣitasya hṛṣṭasya praśno’śobhata jaiminau

This Second Canto of Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta describes the devotees who are the topmost beneficiaries of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. It also describes their abodes, which are always brimming with the sweetness of blissful pastimes. Desiring to present the excellence of those places and the superiority of those greatest recipients of mercy, the author, after dispelling all types of obstacles, has composed seven chapters.

This First Chapter, which begins with answers to questions posed by Śrī Uttarā-devī, presents the glories of Bhūloka, the earth, in the course of extolling Goloka, the ultimate spiritual destination. It describes the worship of Śrī Hari, first as conducted by a brāhmaṇa who rules a village; then by a provincial king (manḍaleśvara), and finally by a sovereign emperor (rāja-cakravartī). Each performs his worship of Śrī Hari with greater opulence than the previous person. The chapter starts with Janamejaya, the son of Parīkṣit, happily asking a beautiful question to Jaimini in order to reveal Śrī Uttarā-devī’s questions to her son, Śrī Parīkṣit.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

[After hearing the account related in the First Canto of Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta,] the speaker, Śrī Janamejaya, in order to please his guru, Śrī Jaimini, applauds the topic that he has just heard and says, “O master, you have said that my father, maddened by love for Kṛṣṇa, became controlled by the affection of his mother and revealed the essence of scriptures, such as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that expound devotional service to the Supreme Lord, Śrī Bhagavān. Thus, he disclosed the essential principles of pure loving devotion. That scriptural essence is very difficult to understand, even for those who study numerous scriptures and deeply deliberate on their purports (tātparya-vicāra).”

In the verse, the term sat-śāstra, or transcendental scriptures, indicates the collection of scriptures such as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that teach loving devotion to the Lord.

Janamejaya says, “These books describe devotion to Śrī Bhagavān and His eternal associates, which is the process by which the ultimate goal is achieved. That devotion and the essential means to achieve it–the beneficial and uncontaminated passages in these scriptures–are extremely rare. That aggregate of knowledge, which is not possible to obtain even by studying countless scriptures, and which is genuinely incomprehensible, despite deliberating on the commentaries of those scriptures–that unobtainable and difficult-to-understand body of knowledge–was gleaned by my father, Śrī Parīkṣit. Having done so, he unequivocally established that the harmonious intention of all scriptures is to propound bhakti. He narrated this essence of all the devotional scriptures to his mother, Śrī Uttarā-devī. Although these topics are highly confidential, it is true that nevertheless, my father revealed them. The cause of this revelation of truth is the love that my father, Śrī Parīkṣit, and his mother, Śrī Uttarā-devī, cherished for Śrī