Verse 1.4.21

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.4.21:

यन् मद्-विषयकं तस्य लालनादि प्रशस्यते ।
मन्यते मायिकं तत् तु कश्चिल् लीलायितं परः ॥ २१ ॥

yan mad-viṣayakaṃ tasya lālanādi praśasyate |
manyate māyikaṃ tat tu kaścil līlāyitaṃ paraḥ || 21 ||

You praise me for Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s acts of caressing and nurturing, however, some persons like māyāvādīs see it as the actions of māyā, the illusory energy. Others consider it the nature of Śrī Bhagavān’s divine līlā.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

If said that such acts like the caressing by Śrī Nṛsiṃhadeva are symptoms of His supreme mercy in recompense for something by me, then in reply, being controlled by such reciprocal affection you are applauding me for being pampered by Śrī Kṛṣṇa with such fondling. The māyāvādīs, whose persistent faith lies in the advaita-marga, the path of monistic impersonalism, call them the effects of māyā, the illusory energy, because according to their opinion these types of activities by parabrahman, the Supreme Spirit, are impossible. On the other hand, some, especially the bhakta, call them the effects of the līlā of Bhagavān, not the effects of māyā. In other words, due to His playful nature with devotees, Bhagavān performs such wonderfully variegated pastimes of this nature.

Although, due to the śakti or potency of the sac-cid-anandasvarūpa of the Supreme Īśvara, these pastimes are possible and thus replete with eternity, knowledge and bliss; nevertheless, these activities such as caressing and nurturing cannot be designated as symptoms of the mercy of Bhagavān.