Verse 2.3.124

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.3.124:

নন্দন-আচার্য মহা-ভাগবতোত্তম দেখি মহা-তেজোরাশি যেন সূর্য-সম ॥ ১২৪ ॥

नन्दन-आचार्य महा-भागवतोत्तम देखि महा-तेजोराशि येन सूर्य-सम ॥ १२४ ॥

nandana-ācārya mahā-bhāgavatottama dekhi mahā-tejorāśi yena sūrya-sama || 124 ||

nandana-acarya maha-bhagavatottama dekhi maha-tejorasi yena surya-sama (124)

English translation:

(124) Nandana Ācārya was a mahā-bhāgavata. He saw that the bodily effulgence of Nityānanda was equal to the sun.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The topmost uttama-adhikārīs are pure devotees of the Lord. This is confirmed in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.2.45) as follows:

sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ paśyed bhagavad-bhāvam ātmanaḥ bhūtāni bhagavaty ātmany eṣa bhāgavatottamaḥ

“The most advanced devotee sees within everything the soul of all souls, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Consequently he sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord and understands that everything that exists is eternally situated within the Lord.” Being the foremost of such liberated souls, the mahā-bhāgavata Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu is the origin of all pure devotees of the Lord. He is most effulgent and is the basis of spiritual illumination. The reflection of His bodily effulgence revives the constitutional position of the living entities. Those who are under His shelter can also have similar effulgence. In the material conception of life there is an absence of spiritual effulgence.

Until one achieves spiritual realization, he cannot be freed from the contamination of forgetting his real identity. When the spiritual effulgence that emanates from Nityānanda and destroys the darkness of ignorance enters the heart of a person, it vanquishes the darkness of ignorance.