Verse 9.14

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 9.14:

सततं कीर्तयन्तो मां यतन्तश् च दृढ-व्रताः ।
नमस्यन्तश् च मां भक्त्या नित्य-युक्ता उपासते ॥ १४ ॥

satataṃ kīrtayanto māṃ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ |
namasyantaś ca māṃ bhaktyā nitya-yuktā upāsate || 14 ||

satatam–constantly; kīrtayantaḥ–chanting; mām–Me; yatantaḥ–endeavouring; ca–and; dṛḍha-vratāḥ–with determined vows; namas-yantaḥ–bowing down; ca–and; mām–before Me; bhaktyā–with devotion; nitya-yuktāḥ–they with a mood of eternal union; upāsate–worship.

Constantly chanting the glories of My names, qualities, form and pastimes, endeavouring with determined vows, and offering obeisances with devotion, they engage in My worship, remaining always connected with Me.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

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

“You said that they engage in bhajana (worship) of You, but what is that bhajana?” In answer to this question, Śrī Bhagavān speaks this verse beginning with satatam. “They constantly perform kīrtana of Me in which there is no consideration of the purity or impurity of time, place or person, unlike in karma-yoga. Smṛti (Viṣṇu-dharmottara) says, ‘For a person who is attached to chanting the name of Śrī Hari, there is no rule regarding time or place. What to speak of chanting with a contaminated mouth, there is no restriction to chanting in any impure state.’ These great souls are yatantaḥ, which means that they endeavour with steadfast vows. A poor householder may endeavour to maintain his family near a wealthy person, in the hope of gaining wealth. Similarly, My devotees develop an attachment to the limbs of devotion, such as kīrtana, and in order to obtain bhakti, they go to an assembly of sādhus. Even after attaining bhakti, they practise it again and again, just as one may revise the scriptures many times. Those who are steadfast and never break their vow to chant a fixed number of names, who offer obeisances a set number of times, who perform other such services regularly and who fast on Ekādaśī are called yatnavān, or persons of endeavour. They think, ‘This practice is imperative for me.’ In the phrase namasyantaś ca, the word ca means that all other limbs of bhakti, such as śravaṇa and pāda-sevana, are also included in this. These great devotees are called nitya-yuktāḥ, meaning that they desire to obtain My eternal association. The import of the two phrases kīrtayanto mām and mām upāsate in this verse is that worship of Me is composed exclusively of kīrtana and other limbs of bhakti. Therefore, repetition of the word mām is not a defect.”

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

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

This verse explains how the great personalities who were described in the previous verse worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (6.3.22) states: “bhakti-yogo bhagavati tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ–they incessantly engage in the kīrtana of My name, form, qualities and pastimes.” It is stated in the Vaiṣṇava-cintāmaṇi:

na deśa-niyamo rājan na kāla-niyamas tathā
vidyate nātra sandeho viṣṇor nāmānukīrtane

This bhakti, in the form of kīrtana, does not depend on the purity of time, place or person.

The Skanda Purāṇa states, “cakrāyudhasya nāmāni sadā sarvatra kīrtayet–the name of Śrī Hari, who carries a disc in His hand, is to be chanted everywhere, and at all times.”

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirms this in Śikṣāṣṭakam: “kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ–always chant the name of Śrī Hari.”

An ordinary person cannot become a mahātmā simply by advertising himself or collecting votes. No one can become a mahātmā like this. In this verse, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself describes the intrinsic characteristic of a mahātmā. Those who are constantly engaged in hearing, chanting and remembering the supremely pure name, form and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is the ātmā of all ātmās, are called mahātmās. Others, such as jñānīs, yogīs and tapasvīs, those who engage in pious activities and those who consider Bhagavān to be featureless (nirviśeṣa), formless, or impersonal (nirākāra) and devoid of potency (niḥśaktika), are not addressed as mahātmā in the Bhagavad-gītā. Any person in any āśrama, be he a brahmacārī, a gṛhastha or a sannyāsī, can become a real mahātmā by taking shelter of a bona fide guru and by cultivating devotion to Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura quotes Kṛṣṇa as saying, “Mahātmās, who understand Me properly, always perform kīrtana of My name, form, qualities and pastimes. That is, they follow the nine limbs of bhakti–such as hearing and chanting–with determined vows, in order to attain eternal service to My eternal, all-cognizant and all-blissful Śyāmasundara form. They perform all activities–bodily, mental, social or spiritual–with the sole determination of pleasing Me. They surrender to Me by the process of bhakti-yoga even while living in this material world. This ensures that their minds do not become disturbed by materialistic activities.”