Verse Text
yathā śuka-saṁhitāyāṁ—
mahābhāgavato jātaḥ putras te bādarāyaṇa |
vinopāyair upeyābhūd viṣṇu-bhaktir ihoditā ||20||
Translation
Thus, it is said in the Śuka-saṁhitā: O Bādarāyaṇa, You have given birth to a great devotee as your son. Without sādhana, which brings about the goal, bhakti to Viṣṇu has appeared within his heart.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Bhakti to Viṣṇu, which is the goal (upeya), has appeared without sādhana (upāyaiḥ). The conclusion is that he attained bhāva only by the mercy of the Lord, since there is no evidence of performance of any sādhana, or of obtaining the mercy of devotees. This mercy must have appeared through the heart, because he developed bhakti in the form of remembering the Lord while still in the womb. While in the womb, he did not see the Lord or receive words of blessing from the Lord. Thus, mercy manifesting in the heart could have been the only way. The Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa gives the details.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
… there is a statement in the Śuka-saṁhitā where Nārada tells Śrīla Vyāsadeva, “You have a son who is the greatest devotee of the Personality of Godhead, and I can observe that without any following of the regulative principles of devotional service, he is already enriched with many of the symptoms achieved by the execution of devotional service after many, many births.”