Verse 2.3.28

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.28:

भक्तिम् इच्छसि वा विष्णोस् तथाप्य् एतस्य चेटिकाम् ।
भगिनीं शक्ति-रूपं मां कृपया भज भक्तिदम् ॥ २८ ॥

bhaktim icchasi vā viṣṇos tathāpy etasya ceṭikām |
bhaginīṃ śakti-rūpaṃ māṃ kṛpayā bhaja bhaktidam || 28 ||

bhaktim–devotional service; icchasi–you wish; vā–or; viṣṇoḥ–to Lord Viṣṇu; tathā api–then; etasya–of Him; ceṭikām–the maidservant; bhaginīm–sister; śakti-rūpām–and potency; mām–me; kṛpayā–with kindness; bhaja–worship; bhakti-dām–the giver of devotional service.

“And if you want the loving service of Viṣṇu, still you should kindly serve me, the bestower of bhakti, for I am Śrī Viṣṇu’s maidservant, His sister, and His energy.”

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Śrī Gopa-kumāra may raise a doubt, saying. “What is the need of liberation for those who are engaged in bhakti? I desire bhakti, and therefore I do not yearn for mukti.”

Prakṛti-devī replies, “Please listen. If you desire bhakti to Viṣṇu, then also, you should graciously serve me.”

“Why should I serve you?”

“You should worship me, considering me to be the maidservant of Viṣṇu and subservient to Him. Or, worship me because I am His sister, having taken birth from the womb of Yaśodā. Or, worship me as the embodiment of His energy. In these ways, I alone grant and nourish bhakti to Viṣṇu.”

Although the illusory potency Māyā and the potency of Viṣṇu that increases bhakti are mutually exclusive, nevertheless, because the illusory potency is the shadow of Viṣṇu’s energy, the two have been described as one.