Verse 2.2.101

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.2.101:

भक्तौ नव-विधायां च मुख्यं स्मरणम् एव हि ।
तत् समग्रेन्द्रिय-श्रेष्ठ-मनो-वृत्ति-समर्पणम् ॥ १०१ ॥

bhaktau nava-vidhāyāṃ ca mukhyaṃ smaraṇam eva hi |
tat samagrendriya-śreṣṭha-mano-vṛtti-samarpaṇam || 101 ||

bhaktau–in devotional service; nava-vidhāyām–amongst the nine kinds; ca–also; mukhyam–the best; smaraṇam–remembering; eva–only; hi–indeed; tat–through that (the mind); samagra–all; indriya-śreṣṭha–which is the best of the senses; manaḥ-vṛtti–of the activities of the mind; samarpaṇam–offering.

Of the nine processes of bhakti, smaraṇa, or remembrance, is the foremost because only through remembrance can the function of the mind, the best of the senses, be offered to Śrī Bhagavān.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Śrī Gopa-kumāra might ask, “Why did the topic of bhakti arise?”

Śrī Pippalāyana replies in this verse beginning with bhaktau. He says, “Among the nine processes of bhakti, remembrance (smaraṇa) is the principal process, or limb. This is because through remembrance, the mind, the best of the senses, is dedicated to Śrī Bhagavān, thereby enabling one to become completely absorbed in Him. Speech and the other senses are also dedicated to Bhagavān through kīrtana and the other limbs, but because these senses are dependent on the mind for their function, smaraṇa is superior to the other eight processes.”