Verse 1.7.83

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.7.83:

अतो हि या नो बहु-साधनोत्तमैः साध्यस्य चिन्त्यस्य च भाव-योगतः ।
महा-प्रभोः प्रेम-विशेष-पालिभिः सत्-साधन-ध्यान-पदत्वम् आगताः ॥ ८३ ॥

ato hi yā no bahu-sādhanottamaiḥ sādhyasya cintyasya ca bhāva-yogataḥ |
mahā-prabhoḥ prema-viśeṣa-pālibhiḥ sat-sādhana-dhyāna-padatvam āgatāḥ || 83 ||

So we try to obtain Śrī Kṛṣṇa by various types of superb sādhanas and by meditating upon Him by controlling our states of mind (citta-vrtti) through various ways. However, the gopīs obtained that selfsame Śrī Kṛṣṇa by their special prema, thus the excellent sādhana of the gopīs is our topmost goal.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Therefore, the gopīs are the recipient of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental love only due to such exquisite bhajana. Namely, they themselves have become the guidepost for the best sādhana or dhyana, not only this, but they themselves have become the object of the topmost goal (sādhya), worthy for the topmost meditation.

In this connection, the famous words of Śrī Uddhava about the gopīs are as follows (Padyavali 347):

वियोगिनीनाम् अपि पद्धतिं वो न योगिनो गन्तुम् अपि क्षमन्ते
यद् ध्येय-रूपस्य परस्य पुंसो यूयं गता ध्येय-पदं दुरापम्

viyoginīnām api paddhatiṃ vo na yogino gantum api kṣamante
yad dhyeya-rūpasya parasya puṃso yūyaṃ gatā dhyeya-padaṃ durāpam

“Even in their meditation yogīs are incapable of following the activities of the gopīs who experience divine separation (viyoga). For this reason alone, the Supreme Person, who Himself is the object of meditation for us, meditates upon those gopīs.”

How is this possible? In reply, the gopīs became the object of meditation for the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa due to their special prema or bhāva-yoga, namely, the kind of one-pointed focus of the gopīs’ minds through their abundance of prema. We cannot obtain that type of one-pointed focus (ekāgratā) even by the best of yogic practices, that is, we cannot obtain Śrī Kṛṣṇa freely like the gopīs. Therefore, though the prema of the gopīs towards Śrī Kṛṣṇa has become the object of meditation for us all, still we are not qualified to obtain it directly.