Verse 10.9

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 10.9:

मच्-चित्ता मद्-गत-प्राणा बोधयन्तः परस्परम् ।
कथयन्तश् च मां नित्यं तुष्यन्ति च रमन्ति च ॥ ९ ॥

mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā bodhayantaḥ parasparam |
kathayantaś ca māṃ nityaṃ tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca || 9 ||

mat-cittāḥ–those whose hearts are offered to Me; mat-gata-prāṇāḥ–whose every life breath is dedicated to Me;bodhayantaḥ–enlightening; parasparam–each other; kathayantaḥ–chanting My names, forms, etc.; ca–and; mām–My tattva; nityam–continuously; tuṣyanti–they always experience satisfaction; ca–and; ramanti–take delight; ca–also.

Those whose minds are absorbed in Me and whose lives are wholeheartedly devoted to My service derive great satisfaction and bliss from constantly enlightening one another with the fundamental truth about Me and performing kīrtana of My name, form, qualities and pastimes.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

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

“By My mercy, only exclusive devotees attain buddhi-yoga and, although tattva-jñāna, which is enriched by the above-mentioned characteristics, is difficult to conceive, they attain it. Mac-cittāḥ refers to those whose minds are attracted to tasting the sweetness of My name, form, qualities and pastimes. Mad-gata-prāṇāḥ refers to those who cannot maintain their lives without Me, just as a person cannot maintain his life without food. Bodhayantaḥ means that such people lovingly enlighten each other about the nature and varieties of bhakti. Mām means ‘My names, qualities and pastimes are a great ocean of sweetness’. They attain bliss while describing and loudly chanting them.” Therefore, hearing, chanting and remembering (śravaṇa, kīrtana and smaraṇa) are superior to all other processes of bhakti. Such exclusive devotees attain satisfaction and bliss by performing this type of bhakti. This is the secret. In other words, by good fortune, they also attain satisfaction, and even during the stage of sādhana, they perform unobstructed bhajana, contemplating their future stage of perfection (sādhya-daśā) of sporting with Kṛṣṇa. Śrī Bhagavān’s statements here describe rāgānugā-bhakti only.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

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

In the present verse, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is explaining the nature of His exclusive devotees and the varieties of bhakti. Here the word mad-gata-prāṇāḥ means, “My bhaktas are unable to maintain their lives without Me, just as fish cannot remain alive without water.” If a fish comes out of the water and on to the beach with a desire to achieve happiness, it will certainly die quickly. In the same way, the living entities who are adverse to Śrī Hari are as good as dead, even while living.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura quotes Kṛṣṇa as saying, “The character of those whose mind is exclusively devoted to Me is as follows. By completely offering their mind and life to Me, they mutually exchange their devotional sentiments, bhāvas, and remain engaged in glorifying My pastimes and so forth. In this way, during the stage of sādhana, they attain the happiness of bhakti by performing śravaṇam and kīrtana, hearing and chanting about Me. Having attained their goal (sādhya), that is, after attaining prema through practising the path of spontaneous devotion (rāgānugā-bhakti), they experience the pleasure of directly enjoying with Me in Vraja in madhura-rasa, the mellow of sweetness.”