Verse 2.3.167

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.167:

नाम्नां तु सङ्कीर्तनम् अर्ति-भारान् मेघं विना प्रावृषि चातकानाम् ।
रात्रौ वियोगात् स्व-पते रथाङ्गि-वर्गस्य चाक्रोषणवत् प्रतीहि ॥ १६७ ॥

nāmnāṃ tu saṅkīrtanam arti-bhārān meghaṃ vinā prāvṛṣi cātakānām |
rātrau viyogāt sva-pate rathāṅgi-vargasya cākroṣaṇavat pratīhi || 167 ||

nāmnām–of the holy names; tu–indeed; saṅkīrtanam–chanting; ārtibhārāt–from the weight of distress; megham–a cloud; vinā–without; prāvṛṣi–in the monsoons; cātakānām–of cātaka birds; rātrau–at night; viyogāt–out of separation; sva-pateḥ–from their husband; rathāṅgi-vargasya–of cakravākī birds; ca–and; ākrośana–crying; vat–like; pratīhi–you should know.

Just as the cātaka bird calls out in grief in a cloudless rainy season, or the cakravākī (kurarī) bird cries piteously at night in separation from her husband, so devotees perform saṅkīrtana of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s names when they are agitated by the distress of separation in love.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

There is nothing, however, that compares with the special agony experienced in nāma-saṅkīrtana performed with pure love for the Lord. To explain this, the Vaikuṇṭha pārṣadas use examples in speaking this verse beginning with nāmnām. They say, “The cātaka bird calls out in distress at the absence of clouds in the rainy season. The cakravākī (kurarī) bird, separated from her husband, also piteously cries in grief for her beloved at night. Similarly, aggrieved by the pain of pure love for the Lord that arises from deep separation from Him, devotees perform nāma-saṅkīrtana.”

This narrative of the excellence of that topmost prema, which manifests in separation from the Lord, has been frequently told in the past and will be discussed again in the future. One should fully dedicate himself to sweetly and plaintively singing in proper sequence the names of Bhagavān and His glories; this indeed is the conclusion of all the scriptures. It is said: “siddhasya lakṣaṇam yat syāt sādhanaṃ sādhakasya tat–The character of the perfected soul is indeed the goal of the practitioner’s discipline.” By this logic, the characteristic of perfection, meaning prema in the form of nāma-saṅkīrtana, is itself the goal of the practitioner’s practice, which is also nāma-saṅkīrtana.