Verse 2.2.215

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.2.215:

परं समाधौ सुखम् एकम् अस्फुटं वृत्तेर् अभावान् मनसो न चाततम् ।
वृत्तौ स्फुरद् वस्तु तद् एव भासते ऽधिकं यथैव स्फटिकाचले महः ॥ २१५ ॥

paraṃ samādhau sukham ekam asphuṭaṃ vṛtter abhāvān manaso na cātatam |
vṛttau sphurad vastu tad eva bhāsate 'dhikaṃ yathaiva sphaṭikācale mahaḥ || 215 ||

param–furthermore; samādhau–in trance; sukham–happiness; ekam–one; asphuṭam–indistinct; vṛtteḥ–of action; abhāvāt–because of the absence; manasaḥ–of the mind; na–not; ca–and; ātatam–illuminated; vṛttau–in action; sphurat–clearly manifest; vastu–entity; tat–that; eva–indeed; bhāsate–shines; adhikam–greater; yathā–as; eva–indeed; sphaṭika–of crystal; acale–in a mountain; mahaḥ–splendor.

During the state of samādhi, the functions of the mind and senses of those (self-satisfied souls) cease, and so the happiness they experience is without variety, indistinct or void-like, and does not increase. However, the same happiness that appears indistinct due to the cessation of the mind manifests abundantly in the completely pure consciousness of devotees, just as the brilliance of sunlight reflected off a crystal mountain is intensified. Therefore, the happiness experienced in bhakti is far more intense than the voidlike happiness of samādhi.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

When persons who are self-satisfied reach the state of deep trance (samādhi), their ego (ahaṅkāra) as well as the functions of their internal and external senses cease. Therefore, during samādhi, due to the absence of personal experience, realization of Brahman is also absent and the happiness of that state also becomes correspondingly vague or void-like. This thought is further clarified in this verse beginning with parama.

The bhakti-śāstras say, “Since the mind is the root of all the senses, when the function of the mind ceases during samādhi, all the activities that depend on the mind also disappear. When the mind and the sense activities of the person who is experiencing samādhi cease, only that which is called sukha (happiness) remains. However, because at that time the mind is not active, one does not have a comprehensive experience of that happiness, and so it appears indistinct or void.

“In the ‘Prayers by the Personified Vedas,’ Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.87.29), it is stated: ‘viyata ivāpadasya tava śūnya-tulāṃ dadhataḥ–O Bhagavān, in the trance of those who are self-satisfied, You appear void-like the sky.’”

Śrī Gopa-kumāra may present the following argument: “In samādhi, one indeed experiences Brahman, and it does not follow that Brahman–the basis of the entire universe and always brilliantly self-manifest everywhere–would be experienced as void.”

The bhakti-śāstras reply, “This may be true, yet, in that case, experience of Brahman culminates in void due to the lack of capacity to experience it. Otherwise, since Brahman is brilliantly omnipresent, why don’t all living beings, who are naturally related to its omnipresence, perceive it and thus become liberated?

“Great personalities of ancient times state:

सदा सर्वत्रास्ते ननु विमलम् आद्यं तव पदं तथाप्य् एकम् स्तोकं न हि भव-तरोः पत्रम् अभिनत्
क्षणम् जिह्वा-ग्रस्तं तव तु भगवन् नाम निखिलं स-मूलं संसारं कषति कतरात् सेव्यम् अनयोः

sadā sarvatrāste nanu vimalam ādyaṃ tava padaṃ tathāpy ekam stokaṃ na hi bhava-taroḥ patram abhinat
kṣaṇam jihvā-grastaṃ tava tu bhagavan nāma nikhilaṃ sa-mūlaṃ saṃsāraṃ kaṣati katarāt sevyam anayoḥ

Śrī Bhagavān is all-pervading in the form of Brahman. Nevertheless, the aspect of Brahman cannot break off even one small leaf from the tree of the living entity’s material existence. However, if for even a moment the name of Śrī Bhagavān appears on the tongue of the living entity, that tree is destroyed at its root. So, between Brahman and harināma, which is more worthy of the service of the jīva? This can be easily determined.

“Even though Brahman is all-pervading, those who exist in the state of self-satisfaction lack the functions of their senses and so their material existence is not destroyed. However, if the tongue just speaks the name of Śrī Bhagavān, it destroys saṃsāra, or material existence, at its very root. In this way, during the process of bhakti, at every moment the capacity of the internal and external senses increases millions and millions of times. With all the variegated faculties of the senses, one naturally and continuously experiences consummate happiness that is both variegated and astonishing.” This is being explained with kaimutika-nyāya (the logic of ‘even more so’).

“Without the function to perceive it, an object (Brahman) appears indistinct or void, but that very object manifests vividly when consciousness is awakened. For example, sunshine radiates more brilliantly on a crystal mountain than it does in the vault of the sky, or ākāśa-maṇḍala. Similarly, while the happiness of bhakti–serving the lotus feet of Śrī Bhagavān, who is the very embodiment of bliss–is ever-fresh and wonderful, the self-realization (ātma-tattva) experienced in samādhi is empty. The happiness of bhakti manifests in a more concentrated way through the external and internal senses.

“By the influence of bhakti, when the wealth of divine love of God manifests in a person, sometimes the activities of a particular sense or of his entire body may stop. The devotee sometimes almost forgets his own limbs, and senses sometimes lose their ability to perceive their objects. The reason is that when a sense becomes agitated by the bliss of prema, it becomes merged into some other sense of the inner consciousness, known as antaḥ-karaṇa.

“According to functionality, the inner consciousness has four divisions: mind (mana), intelligence (buddhi), false ego (ahaṅkāra), and consciousness (citta). Therefore, through the activities of the divisions of the fourfold inner consciousness–sometimes in the mind, sometimes in the intelligence, in the false ego, or in the consciousness–one continues to taste happiness. In the same way, happiness is also experienced through the other senses, such as hearing, sight, and speech. In addition, sometimes the functions of two, three, or even more senses combine and cause the experience of variegated, wonderful happiness. All the senses are equal and nourish each other, but nevertheless they are subsumed within the inner consciousness. There can be no doubt about this because, factually, those who have achieved prema have realized a transcendental form, full of eternity, knowledge, and bliss, and consequently their mind and the senses become completely identified, or tādātmya, with that transcendental form. Therefore, even though the mundane material mind is minute, it nevertheless expands according to the shape of the soul (ātmā) and thus performs the activities of all the senses.”