Verse 2.4.154

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.4.154:

यथा-कामं सुखं प्रापुः सर्वतोऽप्य् अधिकं सुखात् ।
तेषां स्व-स्व-रसानैक्यात् तारतम्येऽपि तुल्यता ॥ १५४ ॥

yathā-kāmaṃ sukhaṃ prāpuḥ sarvato'py adhikaṃ sukhāt |
teṣāṃ sva-sva-rasānaikyāt tāratamye'pi tulyatā || 154 ||

yathā kāmam–according to their desire; sukham–happiness; prāpuḥ–they attain; sarvataḥ–in all respects; api–also; adhikam–greater; sukhāt–than the happiness; teṣām–of them; sva-sva-rasa–respective tastes; anaikyāt–despite a lack of oneness; tāratamye–in degrees of better and best; api–still; tulyatā–equality.

The devotees of Vaikuṇṭha relish different rasas, and there is gradation among those devotees based on those rasas. But still, all those devotees are equal to one another. They each feel that the happiness they had been longing for and that corresponds to their worship is greater than what all the others are experiencing.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Here, Śrī Nārada says, “Upon coming to Vaikuṇṭha, devotees experience a greater happiness than they had relished while performing devotional service in their previous life.”

He speaks in this way because Gopa-kumāra might have expressed a doubt, saying, “Because all of Bhagavān’s devotees who have attained Vaikuṇṭha are absorbed in loving service to Him, they are sac-cidānanda (fully spiritual in nature) and are thus equal. Therefore, it is not proper to differentiate between them.”

To resolve this, Śrī Nārada says, “Even though there is variety and hierarchy among the respective rasas in which the devotees perform their worship–here, rasas refers to the special moods related to śravaṇa, kīrtana, etc.–the devotees are nevertheless all equal, since each one attains the pinnacle of happiness according to his particular rasa.” Therefore, it is said that they all obtain the happiness that they had desired. This has already been explained and will be discussed again further on.