Brihad Bhagavatamrita (commentary)
by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyana Gosvāmī Mahārāja | 2005 | 440,179 words | ISBN-13: 9781935428329
The Brihad-bhagavatamrita Verse 2.4.55, English translation, including commentary (Dig-darshini-tika): an important Vaishnava text dealing with the importance of devotional service. The Brihad-bhagavatamrita, although an indepent Sanskrit work, covers the essential teachings of the Shrimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata-purana). This is verse 2.4.55 contained in Chapter 4—Vaikuntha (the spiritual world)—of Part two (prathama-khanda).
Verse 2.4.55
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.4.55:
गच्छद् आगच्छतोऽहं तान् पश्यन्न् इदम् अचिन्तयम् ।
ईदृशाः सेवकाः यस्य स प्रभुर् नाम कीदृशः ॥ ५५ ॥gacchad āgacchato'haṃ tān paśyann idam acintayam |
īdṛśāḥ sevakāḥ yasya sa prabhur nāma kīdṛśaḥ || 55 ||gacchat-āgacchataḥ–going and coming; aham–I; tān–they; paśyan–observing; idam–this; acintayam–I considered; īdṛśāḥ–such; sevakāḥ–servants; yasya–whose; saḥ prabhuḥ–that Master; nāma–indeed; kīdṛśaḥ–of what nature.
In this way, I observed the comings and goings of Śrī Vaikuṇṭhanātha’s servants, who were replete with tremendous opulence. I pondered, “If His servants are so glorious, then what must be the glory of their Master?”
Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda
(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)
Ending the incidental discussion, Śrī Gopakumāra now comes back to the main topic and relates his personal story in the following verses, beginning here with gacchat.
He says, “Watching the splendid servants arriving and departing from the city, I pondered, ‘If the Lord’s servants are so extraordinarily beautiful and opulent, then who knows what their Lord is like?’ I started feeling intense eagerness to know the Lord because, just by seeing His servants, I could understand something of His glories.”