Verse 2.3.178

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.178:

न चेत् कथञ्चिन् न मनस्य् अपि स्यात् स्वयम्-प्रभस्येक्षणम् ईश्वरस्य ।
घनं सुखं सञ्जनयेत् कथञ्चिद् उपासितः सान्द्र-सुखात्मकोऽसौ ॥ १७८ ॥

na cet kathañcin na manasy api syāt svayam-prabhasyekṣaṇam īśvarasya |
ghanaṃ sukhaṃ sañjanayet kathañcid upāsitaḥ sāndra-sukhātmako'sau || 178 ||

na–not; cet–if; kathañcit–somehow; na–not; manasi–in the mind; api–even; syāt–may be; svayam-prabhasya–of the personally manifested; īkṣaṇam–vision; īśvarasya–of the Lord; ghanam–intense; sukham–happiness; sañjanayet–can create; kathañcit–somehow; upāsitaḥ–worshiped; sāndra–intense; sukha-ātmakaḥ–the embodiment of happiness; asau–He.

If the Lord were not to show mercy, then no one would be able to see Him, even with the mind, what to speak of with any other sense. This is because He is Parameśvara, the Supreme Lord, self-manifest and imperceptible to the mind and eyes. He is completely independent and the controller of everything. Yet when He is worshiped in any meager way, He bestows unlimited joy.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Śrī Gopa-kumāra might say, “Bhagavān manifests of His own volition and He is inconceivable to the function of the mind, so if His mercy potency or the potency of bhakti were not the cause of receiving His darśana, then even seeing Him in the mind would be impossible. He is Īśvara, the completely independent supreme controller. But the doubt can be raised that the mind is unlimited, and therefore it follows that the happiness received in seeing that infinite object through the mind is naturally boundless. The eyes, on the other hand, are limited. So in comparison, darśana with the eyes yields only meager happiness.”

Examining this idea, the Vaikuṇṭha associates reply, “The Lord is the embodiment of concentrated joy from whom concentrated happiness is obtained. So, in whatever way He is worshiped, whether by mind through meditation or by the eyes through seeing Him, and so on, His worshiper receives the topmost happiness.”