Verse 2.4.85-86

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.4.85-86:

तत् ते मय्य् अकृपां वीक्ष्य व्यग्रोऽनुग्रह-कातरः ।
अनादिं सेतुम् उल्लङ्घ्य त्वज्-जन्मेदम् अकारयम् ॥ ८५ ॥
श्रीमद्-गोवर्धने तस्मिन् निज-प्रियतमास्पदे ।
स्वयम् एवाभवं तात जयन्ताख्यः स ते गुरुः ॥ ८६ ॥

tat te mayy akṛpāṃ vīkṣya vyagro'nugraha-kātaraḥ |
anādiṃ setum ullaṅghya tvaj-janmedam akārayam || 85 ||
śrīmad-govardhane tasmin nija-priyatamāspade |
svayam evābhavaṃ tāta jayantākhyaḥ sa te guruḥ || 86 ||

tat–that; te–to you; mayi–to Me; akṛpām–without mercy; vīkṣya–seeing; vyagraḥ–distracted; anugraha–by mercy; kātaraḥ–agitated; anādim–eternal; setum–bridge (of Vedic injunctions); ullaṅghya–transgressing; tvat-janma–your birth; idam–this; akārayam–I arranged; śrīmat-govardhane–at Govardhana Hill; tasmin–there; nija–own; priyatama–beloved; āspade–in the abode; svayam–personally; eva–indeed; abhavam–I became; tāta–O dear one; jayanta–Jayanta; ākhyaḥ–named; saḥ–he; te–your; guruḥ–spiritual guide.

O dear boy, agitated at seeing the way you were neglecting Me, I was compelled to bestow My mercy on you. Therefore, I transgressed the timeless boundaries of religion and arranged for you to take birth in the land of My beloved Śrī Govardhana. Then I personally descended as your guru, Jayanta.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Śrī Gopa-kumāra might ask, “How did You show mercy to me?”

In reply, the Lord speaks this verse beginning with tat. He says, “When I saw the way you continued to neglect Me, I realized that you would never show Me any kind of favor. Seeing that your heart was closed to Me, I fell into great anxiety, and therefore I was forced to show you mercy. It is for this reason that I transgressed the timeless boundaries of religion and granted you birth in the land of My treasured Śrī Govardhana. In addition, O my dear boy, I personally came as your guru, Jayanta.”

The purport of this is that only by Bhagavān’s mercy can one attain Him; without His mercy, it is not possible.

In this regard Śrī Brahmā has said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.7.42):

येषां स एष भगवान् दययेद् अनन्तः सर्वात्मनाश्रित-पदो यदि निर्व्यलीकम्
ते दुस्तराम् अतितरन्ति च देव-मायां नैषां ममाहम् इति धीः श्व-शृगाल-भक्ष्ये

yeṣāṃ sa eṣa bhagavān dayayed anantaḥ sarvātmanāśrita-pado yadi nirvyalīkam
te dustarām atitaranti ca deva-māyāṃ naiṣāṃ mamāham iti dhīḥ śva-śṛgāla-bhakṣye

If the unlimitedly powerful Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa personally shows His genuine mercy to someone who has taken exclusive shelter at His lotus feet, then that person can easily transcend the illusory energy (deva-māyā), which is otherwise insurmountable. But one who has the false ego of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ in this temporary body, which will only be eaten by dogs and jackals, cannot easily transcend Māyā.

The ordinary mercy of the Lord is enough to fulfill every desire of all the living entities, and so here in this Bhāgavatam verse, the word nirvyalīkam (without pretention), which means niṣkapaṭa (without duplicity, or genuine), indicates the special mercy of Bhagavān. Therefore, this mercy, being without duplicity, has the special potency to turn a person’s heart towards the Lord’s lotus feet while vanquishing his desire for religiosity (dharma), economic development (artha), sense gratification (kāma), and liberation (mokṣa). The word ca, meaning ‘also,’ in the same verse is used to indicate that this mercy makes one realize the insignificance of liberation and takes him all the way to Vaikuṇṭha.

The Bhāgavatam verse beginning with yeṣāṃ explains how one can cross over Māyā. That person who has obtained Śrī Bhagavān’s mercy no longer identifies his temporary body, which is fit to be eaten by dogs and jackals, to be his real self. Rather, he identifies with the objects that are related to Bhagavān and with those persons who are absorbed in the Lord.