Verse 2.3.96-97

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.96-97:

नित्यापरिछिन्न-महा-सुखान्त्य-कष्ठावतस् तादृश-वैभवस्य ।
साक्षाद् रमा-नाथ-पदारविन्द-क्रीडा-भराजस्र-विभूषितस्य ॥ ९६ ॥
तत्-प्रेम-भक्तैः सुलभस्य वक्तुं वैकुण्ठ-लोकस्य परं किम् ईशे ।
अद्वैत-दुर्वासनया मुमुक्षा-विद्धात्मनां हृद्य् अपि दुर्लभस्य ॥ ९७ ॥

nityāparichinna-mahā-sukhāntya-kaṣṭhāvatas tādṛśa-vaibhavasya |
sākṣād ramā-nātha-padāravinda-krīḍā-bharājasra-vibhūṣitasya || 96 ||
tat-prema-bhaktaiḥ sulabhasya vaktuṃ vaikuṇṭha-lokasya paraṃ kim īśe |
advaita-durvāsanayā mumukṣā-viddhātmanāṃ hṛdy api durlabhasya || 97 ||

nitya–eternal; aparicchinna–unlimited; mahā-sukha–of great happiness; antya–last limit; kāṣṭhā-vataḥ–with the pinnacle; tādṛśa-vaibhavasya–of such opulence; sākṣāt–direct; ramānātha–of the Lord of Lakṣmī; pada-aravinda–of the lotus feet; krīḍā–of pastime places; bhara–a multitude; ajasra–incessant; vibhūṣitasya –ornamented; tat-prema-bhaktaiḥ–by His loving devotees; su-labhasya–easily obtained; vaktum–to speak; vaikuṇṭhalokasya–of the Vaikuṇṭha world; param–more; kim īśe–who is able?; advaita–for merging in the oneness of the Lord’s transcendental effulgence; durvāsanayā–on account of the evil desire; mumukṣā–by the desire for liberation; āviddha–contaminated; ātmanām–of those souls; hṛdi–in the heart; api–also; durlabhasya–difficult to attain.

What more can I describe about Vaikuṇṭha? It is eternally endowed with the ultimate limit of unlimited happiness and is perfect with corresponding opulence. The entire Vaikuṇṭha is decorated with the various pastime places of the lotus feet of Śrī Ramā-nātha, and it is easily attained by the Lord’s loving devotees. However, those whose hearts are pierced by the thorn of the desire for sāyujya liberation, having been contaminated by an inclination towards monism, cannot imagine its glories even in their dreams.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Śrī Gaṇeśa now comes back to the main topic, having explained why the four Kumāras are with the Vaikuṇṭha associates, and having expressed his inability to narrate the glories of Vaikuṇṭha in full. In two verses, beginning here with nityā, he describes the essence of Vaikuṇṭha with five adjectives.

He says, “That place is endowed with the ultimate in eternal, unlimited bliss and is filled with magnificence and opulences, such as the Lord’s entourage and servants, who are also suitable to that abode. What more can be said about that Vaikuṇṭha, which is clearly decorated with the pastime places of the lotus feet of the Lord of Lakṣmī and is easily achieved only by the devotees who are lovingly attached to the Lord of Ramā (Lakṣmī)?

“The hearts of those who are disposed towards monism are pierced by the thorn of desire for liberation. In other words, their hearts are polluted by an evil inclination and they consider themselves nondifferent from Bhagavān. Thus they can never comprehend Vaikuṇṭha, even in their dreams. What then is the possibility of them ever attaining it?”

The author of Yoga-vaśiṣṭha has expressed the same philosophical conclusion:

अज्ञस्यार्ध-प्रबुद्धस्य सर्वं ब्रह्मेति यो वदेत्
महा-नरक-जालेषु तेनैव विनियोजितः

ajñasyārdha-prabuddhasya sarvaṃ brahmeti yo vadet
mahā-naraka-jāleṣu tenaiva viniyojitaḥ

Those who instruct ignorant, half-awake persons that “sarvaṃ brahma–everything is Brahman (spirit)” become bound in the snare of tremendous hell for their offence and suffer there for eternity.

The Brahmā-vaivarta Purāṇa also states:

विषय-स्नेह-संयुक्तो ब्रह्माहम् इति यो वदेत्
कल्प-कोटि-सहस्राणि नरके स तु पच्यते

viṣaya-sneha-saṃyukto brahmāham iti yo vadet
kalpa-koṭi-sahasrāṇi narake sa tu pacyate

Anyone who is attached to illusory objects and claims, “ahaṃ brahman–I am Brahman,” rots in hell for ten billion kalpas (ten billion days of Brahmā).

It is clearly stated in other Purāṇas also:

संसार-सुख-संयुक्तं ब्रह्माहम् इति वादिनम्
कर्म-ब्रह्म-परिभ्रष्टं तं त्यजेद् अन्त्यजं यथा

saṃsāra-sukha-saṃyuktaṃ brahmāham iti vādinam
karma-brahma-paribhraṣṭaṃ taṃ tyajed antyajaṃ yathā

A person who is absorbed in the happiness of material life and who claims, “I am Brahman,” has fallen from the prescribed Vedic duties as well as Brahman realization. He is like the lowest-born dog-eater and should be rejected.

Śrī Gaṇeśa continues, “When we hear about such persons going to hell, then it is not hard to imagine what horrible destination is obtained by those who consider themselves to be nondifferent from the Supreme Brahman.”