Text 16

The desire for liberation is made insignificant by ahaitukī-bhakti.

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (4.9.10) states:

या निर्वृतिस् तनु-भृतां तव पाद-पद्मध्यानाद् भवज्-जन-कथा-श्रवणेन वा स्यात्
सा ब्रह्मणि स्व-महिमन्य् अपि नाथ मा भूत् किं त्व् अन्तकासि-लुलितात् पततां विमानात्

yā nirvṛtis tanu-bhṛtāṃ tava pāda-padmadhyānād bhavaj-jana-kathā-śravaṇena vā syāt
sā brahmaṇi sva-mahimany api nātha mā bhūt kiṃ tv antakāsi-lulitāt patatāṃ vimānāt

O Lord, a drop of the bliss received from meditating on Your lotus feet, from hearing about Your pastimes–which f low from the mouths of Your devotees who are expert in relishing vraja-rasa–and from hearing descriptions of Your devotees’ pastimes, is not available in the bliss of merging into brahma. What to speak of being available to others, it is not even available to the demigods of the heavenly planets, who fall down again, being ultimately cut by the sword of time.

तव पद-ध्याने भक्त-मुख तव कथा
श्रवणे ये सुख ताहा मागिये सर्वथा

tava pada-dhyāne bhakta-mukha tava kathā
śravaṇe ye sukha tāhā māgiye sarvathā

ब्रह्म-सुख नाहि भाल लागे मोर मने
कि छार अनित्य लोक-सुख-सङ्घटने

brahma-sukha nāhi bhāla lāge mora mane
ki chāra anitya loka-sukha-saṅghaṭane

Commentary: Bhajana-rahasya-vṛtti:

In this prayer Dhruva Mahārāja describes the happiness he experienced after receiving darśana of Bhagavān: “O Master, the happiness found in hearing narrations of Your pastimes in the association of Your devotees is not available anywhere else. In the presence of the devotees’ sun-like premānanda, the pleasure of the impersonalists’ brahmānanda is like a firef ly. The demigods’ heavenly enjoyment (svargānanda ) is insignificant and also temporary, subject to being ultimately cut by the sword of time. The living entity can enjoy this pleasure only as long as the accumulated credit of his pious activities is not exhausted.”

This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (9.21):

ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्ग-लोकं विशालं क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्य-लोकं विशन्ति
एवं त्रयी-धर्मम् अनुप्रपन्ना गतागतं काम-कामा लभन्ते

te taṃ bhuktvā svarga-lokaṃ viśālaṃ kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṃ viśanti
evaṃ trayī-dharmam anuprapannā gatāgataṃ kāma-kāmā labhante

When their pious merit is exhausted, they again fall to the mortal world, having enjoyed pleasures of the immense celestial realm. In this way, those who desire sense pleasures and who perform fruitive activities as described in the three Vedas receive only repeated birth and death within this material world.

Therefore, only devotion to the Supreme Lord, which is devoid of the attraction to hear about the enjoyment available on Svarga and other higher planets, is supremely beneficial for the jīva. The wise spend their lives hearing and speaking hari-kathā in the company of pure devotees.