Verse 2.3.146

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.146:

प्रेम्णोऽन्तरङ्गं किल साधनोत्तमं मन्येत कैश्चित् स्मरणं न कीर्तनम् ।
एकेन्द्रिये वाचि विचेतने सुखं भक्तिः स्फुरत्य् आशु हि कीर्तनात्मिका ॥ १४६ ॥

premṇo'ntaraṅgaṃ kila sādhanottamaṃ manyeta kaiścit smaraṇaṃ na kīrtanam |
ekendriye vāci vicetane sukhaṃ bhaktiḥ sphuraty āśu hi kīrtanātmikā || 146 ||

premṇaḥ–of love; antaḥ-aṅgam–confidential; kila–indeed; sādhana–means for spiritual perfection; uttamam–best; manyeta–it is thought; kaiścit–by certain persons; smaraṇam–remembering; na–not; kīrtanam–chanting; eka-indriye–on one of the senses; vāci–the organ of speech; vicetane–unconscious; sukham–easily; bhaktiḥ–devotional service; sphurati–is manifested; āśu–quickly; hi–indeed; kīrtana-ātmikā–the nature of chanting.

[Because previously, Śrī Gopa-kumāra had heard the following from the Yogendras of Tapoloka, the Vaikuṇṭha pārṣadas speak as follows:] Some hold that of all the types of bhakti, smaraṇa (remembering), rather than kīrtana (chanting), is the foremost, and it is the best of the most confidential means to attain pure love for the Lord. Their reasoning is that kīrtana manifests only as a function of speech in one of the inert senses. Further, it manifests very easily and quickly. Therefore, it can only give a slight result.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Śrī Gopa-kumāra might present the counter argument, “I heard from the Yogendras of Tapoloka that smaraṇa is the foremost of all the limbs of bhakti.” In this verse beginning with premṇa, the Vaikuṇṭha associates explain the truth of this conception. Pippalāyana and the other sages have argued that smaraṇa, not kīrtana, is indeed the most excellent and confidential means to attain prema. Bhakti, in the form of kīrtana, manifests quickly and quite effortlessly in speech, which is only one of the dull working senses. Therefore, one could conclude that a method that is accomplished so effortlessly must indeed yield a very trifling result.