Verse 1.14.117

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.14.117:

সাধ্য-সাধন-তত্ত্ব নিরূপিতে নারে হেন জন নাহি তথা, জিজ্ঞাসিবে যাঙ্’রে ॥ ১১৭ ॥

साध्य-साधन-तत्त्व निरूपिते नारे हेन जन नाहि तथा, जिज्ञासिबे याङ्’रे ॥ ११७ ॥

sādhya-sādhana-tattva nirūpite nāre hena jana nāhi tathā, jijñāsibe yāṅ’re || 117 ||

sadhya-sadhana-tattva nirupite nare hena jana nahi tatha, jijnasibe yan’re (117)

English translation:

(117) He was confused about the goal of life and the means for attaining it. Moreover, he could not find anyone to clear his confusion.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The process by which one attains his desired goal is called sādhana. The devotional scriptures refer to this sādhana as abhidheya. Due to a lack of knowledge concerning one’s relationship with the Lord, various new concocted ways of attaining perfection are described and practiced by the nondevotees. Austerities, worship, ritualistic ceremonies, vows, Vedic study, practicing kumbhaka, pūraka, and recaka by controlling the breath

31, offering oblations to one’s forefathers, renunciation, āsanas, bathing three times a day, visiting holy places, meditation and contemplation in order to control the mind, and fruitive Deity worship are generally accepted as sādhanas by asslike persons who are bewildered by the illusory energy of the Lord. These sādhanas are simply other means of deceiving the living entities. Actually, only Vaiṣṇavas are qualified to ascertain the goal of life and the process for attaining it. But if persons who are devoid of devotion to Viṣṇu try to ascertain the process for achieving the goal there is a great chance of being misguided.

Particularly, in comparison we can see that if one endeavors to ascertain the process for achieving the goal of life with the help of mental speculation, it will invite mistakes, illusions, and obstacles and one will

not reach the eternal, ultimate goal of life.

While considering the goal of life, the salvationists mistakenly conclude that achieving freedom from the threefold miseries is the sādhya, or goal of life. The materialists consider immediate sense gratification is the goal of life, and the salvationists ascertain that merging in the impersonal Brahman is the goal of life. The root of their misconceptions is simply their mistakes and nothing else. The swanlike devotees of the Lord do not follow the conceptions of either the salvationists or the materialists but accept love of God as the goal of life. They know that both heavenly pleasures and merging into the impersonal Brahman are simply fraud.

Since proud scholars of various communities in Bengal like the materialists, the karmis, and the jñānīs were ignorant about the actual science of sādhya and sādhana, when they were asked about the goal of life and the means for attaining it by the sharply intelligent pious brāhmaṇa Tapana Miśra, who was desirous of serving the Lord and most qualified to accept the essence of the Vedas and their associate literatures, he could not get a proper answer.