Verse 2.2.189

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.2.189:

स्व-साधनानुरूपं हि फलं सर्वत्र सिध्यति ।
अतः स्वरूप-ज्ञानेन साध्ये मोक्षेऽल्पकं फलम् ॥ १८९ ॥

sva-sādhanānurūpaṃ hi phalaṃ sarvatra sidhyati |
ataḥ svarūpa-jñānena sādhye mokṣe'lpakaṃ phalam || 189 ||

sva-sādhana–with one’s practice; anurūpam–in accordance; hi–certainly; phalam–a result; sarvatra–in every case; sidhyati–is effected; ataḥ–therefore; sva-rūpa–of his form (as a tiny spirit soul); jñānena–by knowledge; sādhye–the goal; mokṣe–of liberation; alpakam–(bestows) a tiny; phalam–happiness.

It is seen everywhere that one obtains a result according to the practice he adopts to achieve it. Thus, the liberation that is attained by understanding one’s spiritual nature affords meager happiness.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Now, to further strengthen the idea that there is scant happiness in liberation, the bhakti-śāstras speak three verses, beginning here with sva-sādhana, giving examples of mundane processes of achievement (sādhana) and goals (sādhya). They say, “In this world and in the next, one achieves results according to his sādhana, or the means he employs. For example, a knife or scissors cannot cut certain things that can only be cut by a large, sharp axe. Similarly, the jīva may become liberated by realizing that the soul is a particle of Brahman, but the happiness attained by that liberation is utterly insignificant. One can only become partially happy, never completely happy, by performing sādhana for a goal that is itself incomplete.”