Verse 1.7.159

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.7.159:

तासां नाथं बल्लवीनां समेतं ताभिः प्रेम्णा संश्रयन्ती यथोक्तम् ।
मातः सत्यं तत्-प्रसादान् महत्त्वं तासां ज्ञातुं शक्ष्यसि त्वं च किञ्चित् ॥ १५९ ॥

tāsāṃ nāthaṃ ballavīnāṃ sametaṃ tābhiḥ premṇā saṃśrayantī yathoktam |
mātaḥ satyaṃ tat-prasādān mahattvaṃ tāsāṃ jñātuṃ śakṣyasi tvaṃ ca kiñcit || 159 ||

O mother, if you do bhajana of Śrī Gopīnātha with the affection and prema encountered in such pastimes as the rāsa-līlā of the gopīs, then by His mercy you will genuinely be able to understand some of the glories of the gopīs too.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

If you question that “without knowledge” indicates the glories of the gopīs, then how can that loving bhajana with the desire of being a maidservant become attainable? For this reason alone, he is speaking the verse beginning with tāsāṃ (of the gopīs).

“O mātā, do bhajana with affection and love (prema) of that selfsame Śrī Gopīnātha who met with the gopīs in such activities as the rāsa-līlā, specifically, that bhajana without transgressing the process of devotional service (upāsana) narrated by Me before.” Here, the meaning of performing bhajana properly is that only when you serve completely without transgressing the rules mentioned in the scriptures, namely, the rules spoken by Me, then only by the mercy of that selfsame Śrī Vallabhi-nātha and the gopīs shall you be able to slightly understand their indescribable glories. The connotation is that I am unable to describe the glories of those gopīs by My own mouth, and even if I describe them slightly, you would not be able to retain them completely. Therefore, you will understand some of their glories yourself when you perform bhajana according to the process, only then shall you be able to perform bhajana truly. In this way, the bhagavad-bhajana or devotional service of Bhagavān and the knowledge of the glories of the gopīs are seen to be the effect (kārya) and the cause (kāraṇa) respectively. Although, it is said everywhere that the knowledge of the glories of Bhagavān and the bhaktas alone leads to prema-bhakti, it is only after knowing the glories of the gopīs, who are the best among devotees, that the special glories of all other devotees of Bhagavān can be understood with full spontaneity.