Verse 2.3.179

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.179:

दृग्भ्यां प्रभोर् दर्शनतो हि सर्वतस् तत्-तत्-प्रसादावलि-लब्धिर् ईक्ष्यते ।
सर्वाधिकं सान्द्र-सुखं च जायते साध्यं तद् एव श्रवणादि-भक्तितः ॥ १७९ ॥

dṛgbhyāṃ prabhor darśanato hi sarvatas tat-tat-prasādāvali-labdhir īkṣyate |
sarvādhikaṃ sāndra-sukhaṃ ca jāyate sādhyaṃ tad eva śravaṇādi-bhaktitaḥ || 179 ||

dṛgbhyām–with the two eyes; prabhoḥ–of the Lord; darśanataḥ–from the sight; hi–indeed; sarvataḥ–by all means; tat-tatprasāda–of various aspects of His mercy; āvali–of the range; labdhiḥ–the attainment; īkṣyate–is seen; sarva-adhikam–better than everything; sāndra–intense; sukham–happiness; ca–also; jāyate–appears; sādhyam–the goal; tat–that; eva–indeed; śravaṇaādi–beginning with hearing; bhaktitaḥ–from devotional service.

Darśana with one’s eyes affords all varieties of Bhagavān’s mercy, and the bliss derived from seeing the Lord with one’s eyes is much more intense than that of meditation. Indeed, darśana with one’s eyes is the fruit of śravaṇa and the other processes of the ninefold path of bhakti.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

When Śrī Gopa-kumāra was on Tapoloka, the great sage Pippalāyana described to him how Śrī Brahmā gained the mercy of Bhagavān by receiving the Lord’s darśana in his trance of samādhi. The significance of this is that it is only a rare person who, by Bhagavān’s mercy, sees Him during meditation. Very seldom, and not continuously, might a person see Bhagavān during trance (samādhi) or receive the mercy Śrī Pippalāyana described Śrī Brahmā receiving. However, the superiority of directly seeing the Lord with one’s eyes over seeing Him in trance is universally accepted, as direct darśana yields a more concentrated happiness. Therefore, seeing Bhagavān with one’s eyes is the goal of the ninefold process of devotion (navadhābhakti) consisting of śravaṇa, etc. The word ādi (as in śravaṇādi) indicates glorification (kīrtana), remembrance (smaraṇa), and so on. Seeing the Lord with one’s eyes is also the goal of bhakti in the form dhyāna (meditation), dhāraṇā (concentration), and so on.