Verse 2.2.210

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.2.210:

भक्तेः फलं परं प्रेम तृप्त्य्-अभाव-स्वभावकम् ।
अवान्तर-फलेष्व् एतद् अति-हेयं सतां मतम् ॥ २१० ॥

bhakteḥ phalaṃ paraṃ prema tṛpty-abhāva-svabhāvakam |
avāntara-phaleṣv etad ati-heyaṃ satāṃ matam || 210 ||

bhakteḥ–of devotion; phalam–result; param–great; prema–love; tṛpti-abhāva–not satisfied; sva-bhāvakam–nature; avāntaraphaleṣu–in secondary results; etat–this; ati-heyam–to be utterly renounced; satām–of saints; matam–the opinion.

The supreme fruit of devotion to the Lord is prema, which by its very nature is never satiated. Therefore, saintly persons have ascertained that the state of self-satisfaction is the most worthless among all the secondary results of bhakti.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

This verse beginning with bhakteḥ establishes the excellence of prema, or pure love of God, the principal result of devotion to the Lord. Prema is the unique, most excellent and most honored result of devotional service. Narrating the characteristics of this divine love, the bhakti-śāstras say, “Total satisfaction is not experienced in prema. When one achieves ātmā-rāmatā, however, he experiences complete satisfaction. This state of satisfaction is a hindrance to the wealth of prema. The reason is, in prema, one is never satiated because it continually expands to ever-higher states. As contentment (tṛpti) is the nature of the state of self-satisfaction, and lack of satiation (atṛpti) is the nature of prema, they are perpetually at variance with one another. Therefore, saintly persons who are experts in the mellows of devotional love have ascertained that among all the secondary results of bhakti, self-contentment (ātmā-rāmatā) is most undesirable and worthless.”

In this verse, the implication of the word ati, meaning ‘great,’ is that sometimes there is a need to satisfy the desires of a devotee whose material desires are not yet satiated (sakāma-bhakta), to attract externally-oriented non-devotees to the path of bhakti, or to manifest the great opulence of devotion to the Lord. In order to do this, sometimes the secondary results of bhakti such as Brahman realization, yoga, and mystic perfections (siddhi) are accepted.