Verse 8.28

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 8.28:

वेदेषु यज्ञेषु तपःसु चैव दानेषु यत् पुण्य-फलं प्रदिष्टम् ।
अत्येति तत् सर्वम् इदं विदित्वा योगी परं स्थानम् उपैति चाद्यम् ॥ २८ ॥

vedeṣu yajñeṣu tapaḥsu caiva dāneṣu yat puṇya-phalaṃ pradiṣṭam |
atyeti tat sarvam idaṃ viditvā yogī paraṃ sthānam upaiti cādyam || 28 ||

vedeṣu–in reading the Vedas; yajñeṣu–in sacrificial performances; tapaḥsu–in performing austerities; ca–and; eva–certainly; dāneṣu–in charitable deeds; yat–which; puṇya-phalam–pious benefit; pradiṣṭam–is allotted; atyeti–surpasses; tat–that; sarvam–of all; idam–this; viditvā–knowing; yogī–a bhakti-yogī; param–the supreme; sthānam–the (non-material eternal) realm; upaiti–attains;ca–and; ādyam–original and super-excellent.

The benefit achieved by the bhakti-yogī, who comprehends the truths that I have spoken to you, far surpasses all the results achieved through pious activities such as the study of the Vedas, performance of fire sacrifices, austerities and charity, for he attains My transcendental, eternal abode.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

The benefit attained by acquiring jñāna as described in this chapter is explained in this verse beginning with vedeṣu. Tat sarvam atyeti means that by surpassing the results of all these activities, the bhakti-yogī attains a superior place, which is eternal and transcendental.

The superiority of a bhakti-yogī was also described earlier, but here it is clarified further. In this chapter, the supremacy of the exclusive, one-pointed devotees has been established.

Thus ends the bhāvānuvāda of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s
Sārārtha-varṣiṇī-ṭīkā (the commentary that gives pleasure
to the devotees and is accepted by all saintly persons)
on the Eighth Chapter of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, “If you follow bhakti-yoga, you will not be denied the results of any other activity. You will attain whatever results may come from the performance of sacrifice, austerities, charity, or any type of knowledge or fruitive action, or from studying the Vedas, and you will reach My supremely transcendental and eternal realm.”

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.20.32–33) it is stated:

yat karmabhir yat tapasā jñāna-vairāgyataś ca yat
yogena dāna-dharmeṇa śreyobhir itarair api
sarvaṃ mad-bhakti-yogena mad-bhakto labhate’ñjasā
svargāpavargaṃ mad-dhāma kathañcid yadi vāñchati

Through bhakti-yoga My devotee can easily attain whatever is to be achieved by performing fruitive activities, austerities, jñāna, detachment and so on.

In the Mahābhārata there is a statement pertaining to liberation, or mokṣa:

yā vai sādhana-sampattiḥ puruṣārtha-catuṣṭaye
tayā vinā tadāpnoti naro nārāyaṇāśrayaḥ.

A devotee who has taken shelter of Śrī Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa, attains all the opulence one receives from the four goals of human life–religiosity (dharma), wealth (artha), sense enjoyment (kāma) and liberation (mokṣa)–without undergoing any misery.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura also says that one attains all auspiciousness by performing exclusive devotion (kevalā-bhakti), and that without bhakti one cannot attain anything. Thus, bhakti is established as the supreme auspicious process in both the direct and indirect statements of the scriptures.

This is also stated in Nārada-pañcarātra:

hari-bhakti-mahā-devyāḥ sarvā muktyādi sidhyaḥ bhuktayaś
cādbhutās tasyaś ceṭakavad anuvratāḥ

Spiritual knowledge and the eight types of mystic perfection such as aṇimā appear before an exclusive devotee in their personified form, like devoted servants‚ even though he does not desire them.

In his Bengali commentary on the Śrī Bhagavad-gītā named Vidvad-rañjana-bhāṣya, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes, “Faith turns into niṣtḥā, or exclusive absorption in service to Me, when the unwanted tendencies (anarthas) of a devotee who has one-pointed faith are removed by bhajana in the association of My devotees. All sins are removed by bhajana that is performed in saintly association (sādhu-saṅga), even though faith (śraddhā) may not have fully developed yet, even though an understanding of tattva may be lacking, and even though doubts about the worshipable deity may still linger as impurities.”

Moods of devotion that are mixed with jñāna and yoga and polluted by desires for material enjoyment and liberation are anarthas that prevent one from understanding the science of devotion, bhajana-tattva. One’s bhajana becomes purified of these anarthas to the extent that the tendency of one’s devotion becomes one-pointed, and he takes shelter of the pure, Absolute Reality, Śrī Bhagavān. This is the essence of the Eighth Chapter.

Thus ends the Sārārtha-varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti
by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja,
on the Eighth Chapter of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā.