Verse 2.3.153

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.153:

सङ्कीर्तनाद् ध्यान-सुखं विवर्धते ध्यानाच् च सङ्कीर्तन-माधुरी-सुखम् ।
अन्योन्य-संवर्धकतानुभूयते ऽस्माभिस् तयोस् तद् द्वयम् एकम् एव तत् ॥ १५३ ॥

saṅkīrtanād dhyāna-sukhaṃ vivardhate dhyānāc ca saṅkīrtana-mādhurī-sukham |
anyonya-saṃvardhakatānubhūyate 'smābhis tayos tad dvayam ekam eva tat || 153 ||

saṅkīrtanāt–through congregational chanting; dhyāna-sukham–the happiness of contemplation; vivardhate–increases; dhyānāt–through contemplation; ca–and; saṅkīrtana–of united loud chanting; mādhurī-sukham–the sweet bliss; anyonya–mutually; saṃvardhakatā–nourishing; anubhūyate - it is experienced; asmābhiḥ–by ourselves; tayoḥ–of the two; tat-dvayam–that two; ekam–one; eva–indeed; tat–that.

Saṅkīrtana increases the bliss of dhyāna, which in turn increases the bliss of the sweetness of kīrtana. As they mutually nourish and amplify each other, we actually consider saṅkīrtana and dhyāna to be one.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

“However, we regard both the meditation on the Lord and chanting His holy names to be worth practicing.” This is the opinion of the personal associates of Vaikuṇṭha expressed in this verse beginning with saṅkīrtanād. They say, “The happiness of dhyāna increases by saṅkīrtana and the happiness of sweet saṅkīrtana is augmented by dhyāna. Thus, they nourish and support one another. This being the case, their mutual interdependence according to time and place is not a defect. Therefore, since either saṅkīrtana or dhyāna could be the cause or the effect, we consider them to be one and the same, or nondifferent.”