Verse 1.4.20

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.4.20:

हनूमद्-आदिवत् तस्य कापि सेवा कृतास्ति न ।
परं विघ्नाकुले चित्ते स्मरणं क्रियते मया ॥ २० ॥

hanūmad-ādivat tasya kāpi sevā kṛtāsti na |
paraṃ vighnākule citte smaraṇaṃ kriyate mayā || 20 ||

I have never had the service of Bhagavān the way Śrī Hanumān and others serve. Directly faced by difficult dilemmas, I simply remembered my Prabhu.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

One may say that being among the sevakas or servants is the mercy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, hence, a bhakta is in the service of Bhagavān, culminating in the symptoms of mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, he speaks this verse beginning with hanūmad-ādi. “The way devotees like Śrī Hanumān served Bhagavān, I have never performed service like that. I simply remembered Him.”

Here, using the expression smaraṇaṃ kriyate in the present tense indicates that “although I was merely engaged in remembrance, still I achieved steady faith (niṣṭha).” Now, the question may arise whether by the word sevā the abhideya or practice is understood and amongst that nine-fold practice smaraṇa is the chief. Among all the senses, mind is superior and to offer the mind at the feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is smaraṇam, therefore remembrance is the best. Due to the superiority of smaraṇam you are also a unique devotee of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and special recipient of His mercy. In reply to this, he is saying, “I simply do smaraṇa of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, being overwhelmed or subordinate to such things as indifference (laya) and bewilderment (vikṣepa). Therefore, due to my heart being always overwhelmed by such difficult dilemmas, my smaraṇa is also not perfectly realized.”

Or else, the natural occupation of the mind is smaraṇa, and for a mind that always comes under such obstacles as indifference and bewilderment, even smaraṇa is not the main one. In this connection, in the śrī goloka-māhātmya section of this book (Second Canto), this logical line of argument will be further elucidated upon.