Verse 2.2.209

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.2.209:

अवान्तर-फलं भक्तेर् एव मोक्षादि यद्यपि ।
तथापि नात्मारामत्वं ग्राह्यं प्रेम-विरोधि यत् ॥ २०९ ॥

avāntara-phalaṃ bhakter eva mokṣādi yadyapi |
tathāpi nātmārāmatvaṃ grāhyaṃ prema-virodhi yat || 209 ||

avāntara-phalam–the secondary results; bhakteḥ–of devotional service; eva–certainly; mokṣa–liberation; ādi–and so forth; yadi api–although; tathā api–still; na–not; ātma-ārāma-tvam–the state of taking pleasure in the self; grāhyam–should be accepted; prema–in attaining love; virodhi–an impediment; yat–which.

Self-satisfaction, liberation, and so on are secondary results of bhakti. But since they are opposed to prema, which is the principal result of devotion, the devotees never accept them.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Śrī Gopa-kumāra might ask, “Can the state of self-satisfaction (ātmā-rāmatā) be regarded as bhakti or not?”

The bhakti-śāstras reply, “The state of being self-satisfied is a secondary result of devotion.” The word ādi, meaning ‘and so on,’ indicates that devotional service bestows secondary results such as selfsatisfaction, mystic perfections and knowledge. “An example is that a cooking fire may also destroy darkness and cold, but these results are only secondary to the primary function of cooking. Similarly, liberation is the secondary, not primary, result of bhakti, which includes hearing (śravaṇa) and chanting (kīrtana). Devotees of the Lord, however, not only do not accept ātmā-rāmatā and all these secondary results of bhakti, they actively reject them. This is because these secondary results are opposed to the principal result, which is prema, or pure love for the Lord.”