Verse 2.17.107

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.17.107:

এই ব্যাখ্যা করে ভাষ্যকারের সমাজে মুক্ত-সব লীলা-তত্ত্ব কহি’ কৃষ্ণ ভজে ॥ ১০৭ ॥

एइ व्याख्या करे भाष्यकारेर समाजे मुक्त-सब लीला-तत्त्व कहि’ कृष्ण भजे ॥ १०७ ॥

ei vyākhyā kare bhāṣyakārera samāje mukta-saba līlā-tattva kahi’ kṛṣṇa bhaje || 107 ||

ei vyakhya kare bhasyakarera samaje mukta-saba lila-tattva kahi’ krsna bhaje (107)

English translation:

(107) Commentators on the scriptures explain that liberated souls worship Kṛṣṇa, who enjoys transcendental pastimes.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Sarvajña Viṣṇusvāmipāda, who propounded the philosophy of śuddhādvaita, has said: mukta api līlayā vigrahaṃ kṛtvā bhagavataṃ bhajante—“Abandoning all mundane thoughts such as Māyāvāda, eternally liberated persons eternally worship the Lord, who is the embodiment of eternal pastimes.” But later on, following Śaṅkarācārya’s impersonal philosophy, the followers of Śaiva-viśiṣṭādvaita, such as Śrīkaṇṭha and his disciple Apyaya Dīkṣita, imagined that the ultimate goal of transient devotional service was impersonalism. Not being satisfied with such impersonalism, those who engage in the unalloyed worship of Kṛṣṇa become freed from the concepts of both Śaiva- viśiṣṭādvaita and the incomplete mood of viśiṣṭādvaita, which is the goal of the śuddhādvaita philosophy, and engage in the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Adhokṣaja Kṛṣṇa, in parakīyā-bhāva [paramour love] of the conjugal mellow, the topmost of the five rasas.

The word bhāṣyakāra refers to Śrī Rāmānuja, who followed in the footsteps of Bodhāyana and wrote the commentary Śrī-bhāṣya, based on the philosophy of viśiṣṭādvaita. In his writings he has mentioned topics of various philosophies such as Baudhāyana, Ṭaṅka, Draviḍa, Bopadeva, Kapardī, and Bhāratī. In his writings he also pointed out the differences of opinion in personalities like Ātreya Ṛṣi, Āśmarathya, Auḍulomi, Kārṣṇājini, Kāśakṛtsna, Jaimini and Bādarī. Śaṅkarācārya and the followers of his impersonal philosophy have produced various doctrines. The four different commentaries written by Vaiṣṇavas of the four authorized sampradāyas, which are under the shelter of devotional service, have never condoned the philosophy of impersonalism. Since the commentary of the Liṅgāyet-sampradāya, which follows the philosophy of Buddhism, and the commentaries of the Śaṅkara-sampradāya deny the eternality of worship, it is indicated that in their opinion the liberated state is impersonal and inactive. The descriptions of servitude found in the commentary of Śrīkaṇṭha have ultimately awarded impersonalism the

topmost platform. Nonliberated persons have no qualification to realize the pastimes of the Lord, because they are intoxicated by mundane conceptions. Those who consider Advaita Prabhu an impersonalist can never attain devotional service. In order to point out the discrepancies in the philosophy of kevalādvaita, Śrī Advaita Prabhu created a doubt about the goal of life, placed it before Śrī Gaurasundara, and distributed the Lord’s conclusion to the entire world. The conclusions imagined by foolish people who remain entangled with the first three of the five limbs of Nyāya are constructed on material foundations. Not remaining entangled in such material conceptions, the commentators who engage in the eternal worship of the Lord have described the eternal variegatedness of the liberated souls through the descending process. The nonliberated materialists cannot do so.

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 24.130) it is stated:

`bhaktye jīvan-mukta’ guṇākṛṣṭa hañā kṛṣṇa bhaje

“Those who are liberated by devotional service become more and more attracted by the transcendental qualities of Kṛṣṇa. Thus they engage in His service.” In the Bhagavad-gītā (18.54) it is stated:

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu

mad-bhaktiṃ labhate parām

“One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman and becomes fully joyful. He never laments or desires to have anything. He is equally disposed toward every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me.”