Verse 1.5.24

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.5.24:

स्थावराश् च तमो-योनि-गतास् तरु-लतादयः ।
शुद्ध-सात्त्विक-भावाप्त्या तत्-प्रेम-रस-वर्षिणः ॥ २४ ॥

sthāvarāś ca tamo-yoni-gatās taru-latādayaḥ |
śuddha-sāttvika-bhāvāptyā tat-prema-rasa-varṣiṇaḥ || 24 ||

By the mercy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, immobile entities such as trees and creepers, despite being born into a species of ignorance, become enlightened by pure goodness and constantly shower streams of nectar of their divine love.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Now, by the verse beginning with sthāvara, Śrī Nārada narrates the glories of living entities filled with divine love. Trees and creepers who are born in the mode of ignorance are generally inert due to the absence of kriyā-śakti, the creative energy of the external senses. The trees and creepers of Śrī Vṛndāvana-dhāma belong to the inert class due to the absence of the creative energy of external senses, but they have obtained the mode of pure goodness by the mercy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Even though the trees and creepers of Vṛndāvana are actually not among a species in the mode of ignorance, still he is describing them so because they are comparable to ordinary, inert entities. This also relates to the trees and creepers residing in Haṣṭinapura.

For example, in the First Canto (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhāgavata Purāṇa 1.8.40) Śrī Kuntidevī addresses Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa:

इमे जन-पदाः स्वृद्धाः सुपक्वौषधि-वीरुधः
वनाद्रि-नद्य्-उदन्वन्तो ह्य् एधन्ते तव वीक्षितैः

ime jana-padāḥ svṛddhāḥ supakvauṣadhi-vīrudhaḥ
vanādri-nady-udanvanto hy edhante tava vīkṣitaiḥ

“O Śrī Kṛṣṇa, since You are present here, this country is also flourishing and medicinal herbs, trees and plants are producing on proper time. In other words, by Your merciful glance, all these mountains, forests and lakes are receiving great prosperity.”

In this quoted verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the meaning of the phrase tava vīkṣitaiḥ is that by your most merciful glance all these creations are becoming prosperous. Also, the meaning of the word edhante (increasing) is that having obtained the wealth of Your prema, they have received the highest prosperity. This is the intended meaning of the given śloka. In other words, actually the trees and creepers, in spite of being inert, have obtained the pure devotional sentiments (śuddha-sāttvika-bhāvas) of the topmost Vaiṣṇavas. Here, the meaning of the phrase śuddha-sāttvika is that bhāva or sentiment which is free from the modes of passion and ignorance. It is understood that they had attained sattvika-bhāvas such as stambha (stunned) that represent the anubhāvas (sub-ecstasies) of divine prema. In this way, all the trees and creepers also by the flood of devotional mellows, and on the pretext of raining honey, shower the rain of tears that are characteristic of the wealth of prema.