Verse 2.2.173

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.2.173:

कथञ्चिद् भगवन्-नामा-भासस्यापि स सिध्यति ।
सकृद्-उच्चार-मात्रेण किं वा कर्ण-प्रवेशतः ॥ १७३ ॥

kathañcid bhagavan-nāmā-bhāsasyāpi sa sidhyati |
sakṛd-uccāra-mātreṇa kiṃ vā karṇa-praveśataḥ || 173 ||

kathañcit–somehow; bhagavat–of the all-opulent Lord; nāma–of the name; ābhāsasya–of the reflection; api–even; saḥ–that; sidhyati–it is effective; sakṛt–once; uccāra–uttering; mātreṇa–by merely; kim vā–how much more?; karṇa–into the ear; praveśataḥ–after it enters.

What to speak of the glories of the name of Śrī Bhagavān, if one merely utters–even once–or just hears a semblance (ābhāsa) of the Lord’s name, or if the name merely enters one’s ears, he effortlessly attains liberation.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Śrī Gopa-kumāra might ask, “What are the means of achieving that liberation?”

The personified bhakti-śāstras reply in this verse beginning with kathañcit. They say, “Bhakti is so glorious that words cannot do it justice. Why, the devotees of Bhagavān attain mokṣa without even trying. What to speak of chanting the pure name of the Lord, simply chanting nāmābhāsa, the semblance of His name, delivers mokṣa. What more can be said about serving the name of the Lord? If one chants in jest or even disrespectfully, or if the name somehow enters one’s ears, he attains liberation very easily.

Thus, it is stated in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (6.3.24):

विक्रुश्य पुत्रम् अघवान् यद् अजामिलो’पि
नारायणेति म्रियमाण इयाय मुक्तिम्

vikruśya putram aghavān yad ajāmilo’pi
nārāyaṇeti mriyamāṇa iyāya muktim

When the heinously sinful Ajāmila, even in an impure condition at the time of death, cried out in distress to his son Nārāyaṇa, he was able to attain liberation.

“In Śrī Varāha Purāṇa, in the beginning of the story of Satyatapa, it is stated: ‘kañcit jale magnaṃ japa-paraṃ brāhmaṇaṃ bhakṣayitum āgatasya vyāghrasya tenaiva vyādhena hatasyākasmād udgatabhagavān-nāma-śravaṇenaiva muktir jātā–Once, as a brāhmaṇa was chanting the names of Bhagavān while standing in the water, a tiger approached to eat him. At that very moment, a hunter shot an arrow that felled the tiger. As the wounded animal was giving up his body, he happened to hear the name of the Lord from the mouth of the brāhmaṇa, and thus he attained liberation.’”