Devanagari
नायं सुखापो भगवान्देहिनां गोपिकासुत: ।
ज्ञानिनां चात्मभूतानां यथा भक्तिमतामिह ॥ २१ ॥
Verse text
nāyaṁ sukhāpo bhagavān
dehināṁ gopikā-sutaḥ
jṣānināṁ cātma-bhūtānāṁ
yathā bhaktimatām iha
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
ayam
—
this
;
sukha
—
āpaḥ — very easily obtainable, or an object of happiness
;
bhagavān
—
the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
dehinām
—
of persons in the bodily concept of life, especially the karmīs
;
gopikā
—
sutaḥ — Kṛṣṇa, the son of mother Yaśodā (Kṛṣṇa as the son of Vasudeva is called Vāsudeva, and as the son of mother Yaśodā He is known as Kṛṣṇa)
;
jṣāninām ca
—
and of the jṣānīs, who try to be free from material contamination
;
ātma
—
bhūtānām — of self-sufficient yogīs
;
yathā
—
as
;
bhakti
—
matām — of the devotees
;
iha
—
in this world .
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, the son of mother Yaśodā, is accessible to devotees engaged in spontaneous loving service, but He is not as easily accessible to mental speculators, to those striving for self-realization by severe austerities and penances, or to those who consider the body the same as the self.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, the son of mother Yaśodā, is accessible to devotees engaged in spontaneous loving service, but He is not as easily accessible to mental speculators, to those striving for self-realization by severe austerities and penances, or to those who consider the body the same as the self.
KB 10.9.21
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is known as the son of Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja, is never so completely known to the yogīs and speculators. But He is easily available to His devotees. Nor is He appreciated as the supreme reservoir of all pleasure by the yogīs and speculators.
Purport
Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the son of mother Yaśodā, is very easily available to devotees, but not to
tapasvīs, yogīs, jṣānīs
and others who have a bodily concept of life. Although they may sometimes be called
śānta-bhaktas,
real
bhakti
begins with
dāsya-rasa.
Kṛṣṇa says in
Bhagavad-gītā
(4.11)
:
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ
“As living entities surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.” Everyone is seeking Kṛṣṇa, for He is the Supersoul of all individual souls. Everyone loves his body and wants to protect it because he is within the body as the soul, and everyone loves the soul because the soul is part and parcel of the Supersoul. Therefore, everyone is actually seeking to achieve happiness by reviving his relationship with the Supersoul. As the Lord says in
Bhagavad-gītā
(15.15)
,
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ:
“By all the
Vedas,
it is I who am to be known.” Therefore, the
karmīs, jṣānīs, yogīs
and saintly persons are all seeking Kṛṣṇa. But by following in the footsteps of devotees who are in a direct relationship with Kṛṣṇa, especially the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, one can reach the supreme position of associating with Kṛṣṇa. As it is said,
vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya padam ekaṁ na gacchati:
Kṛṣṇa does not leave Vṛndāvana even for a moment. The
vṛndāvana-vāsīs
— mother Yaśodā, Kṛṣṇa’s friends and Kṛṣṇa’s conjugal lovers, the younger
gopīs
with whom He dances — have very intimate relationships with Kṛṣṇa, and if one follows in the footsteps of these devotees, Kṛṣṇa is available. Although the
nitya-siddha
expansions of Kṛṣṇa always remain with Kṛṣṇa, if those engaged in
sādhana-siddhi
follow in the footsteps of Kṛṣṇa’s
nitya-siddha
associates, such
sādhana-siddhas
also can easily attain Kṛṣṇa without difficulty. But there are those who are attached to bodily concepts of life. Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, for example, have very prestigious positions, and thus they have the sense of being very exalted
īśvaras.
In other words, because Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are
guṇa-avatāras
and have exalted positions, they have some small sense of being like Kṛṣṇa. But the pure devotees who inhabit Vṛndāvana do not possess any bodily conception. They are fully dedicated to the service of the Lord in sublime affection,
premā.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore recommended,
premā pum-artho mahān:
the highest perfection of life is
premā,
pure love in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. And mother Yaśodā appears to be the topmost of devotees who have attained this perfection.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Though bound by his devotee, Krsna is still able to liberate others. That is illustrated in the following pastime.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
How did Yaśodā attain her position? How can others attain such a position? The Lord, son of Yaśodā, is not easily attained by austerities or other means by people who identify themselves as possessors of the body (dehīnām). If there is association with devotees, somehow, at some time, then gradually a person will attain this.
etāvān eva yajatām iha niḥśreyasodayaḥ |
bhagavaty acalo bhāvo yad bhāgavata-saṅgataḥ ||
Auspiciousness arises for the worshippers of devatās if firm devotion for the Lord arises from association with devotees. SB 2.3.11
Jñānīs who know they are not the body and realize they are ātmā (jñānināṁ cātma-bhūtānām) cannot easily attain such a position, but they also can, if they have association of devotees. Some versions have ātmā-potānām: jñānīs who cross saṁsāra by means of realization of ātmā. Who easily attains that position? The son of Yaśodā is attained easily by those dedicated to Kṛṣṇa (iha—to him). Those who have devotion for Mahā-nārāyaṇa are excluded. It is reasonable that the devotees of Nārāyaṇa do not attain such a position. Since those who identify with the body and the jñānīs, seeing Kṛṣṇa as a material body, do not respect him, and those who worship Nārāyaṇa, seeing his pastimes as a cowherd (even though they do see him as a material entity), do not respect him, it is appropriate that devotees of Kṛṣṇa alone attain such a position of bhakti, for only these devotees realized Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes as the highest:
itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā
dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena
māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa
sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ
In this way with an abundance of splendor caused by Kṛṣṇa, they played with him, though he is pure consciousness or happiness known as Brahman for the jñānīs, the Supreme Lord for the devotees with dāsya-bhāva and an ordinary human child for those covered by material illusion. SB 10.12.11
The word gopikā-sutaḥ is not a secondary descriptive element since it indicates that the highest position was given to Yaśodā, the cowherd woman. The word iha (to him) indicates “to Kṛṣṇa, son of Yaśodā” since only such devotees attain such a position. Iha meaning “in the world” would be without function in the sentence. The word bhaktimatām (persons having bhakti) is used to indicate without distinction a succession of devotees in past, present and future since the Vedas which teach bhakti and the parampara of teacher and student extends without beginning in the past and unlimitedly in the future. The special characteristic of the son of Yaśodā is that it in both states, sādhana and sādhya (prema), he gives happiness. Therefore the devotees of Kṛṣṇa spread over all time concentrate on the Lord as the son of Yaśodā as their sādhana and attain him (sādhya). He remains in that form eternally. He is perfect in that form. Accepting Kṛṣṇa as the son of Yaśodā is a sādhana. However this is not a sādhana for Yaśodā since, if she performed such sādhana, there would be the fault of having to worship herself. There is no question of Yaśodā “attaining” a position of happiness, for Kṛṣṇa is the son of Yaśodā. As well as Yaśodā, Nanda and others are also included. In the various mantras used during the Janmāṣṭamī vrata and in āvaraṇa-pūja (worshipping of associates of the main deity during arcana), their names are mentioned. Thus previously when I mentioned Droṇa and Dhārā doing sādhana as expansions of Nanda and Yaśodā, it was only a pastime in order to awaken your eagerness.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Qualification to obtain that mercy is described. The son of the cowherd woman, though accepting bondage (ayam), endowed with all great qualities, is easily available to those with devotion to Kṛṣṇa (iha) or in Vraja (iha), which is perceived in the heart (even if not living there).
Or the Lord is attainable by persons who respect worship of the Lord but is not attainable by those who realize they are separate from the body (dehīnām), who realize ātmā, or the jīvanmuktas (jñānīnām) or those who have perfected liberation (ātma-bhūtānām). He is attainable only with suffering and only partially.
Or even though such mercy is not available to devotees like Brahmā, it is available to these devotees.
Or he gives happiness (sukhapaḥ) to these devotees and not to the others. The greatness of bhakti is stated. The supreme lord, whose mercy is rare (ayam), dear to the people of Gokula (gopikā-sutaḥ), is easily attained by the devotees in any place (iha). But he is rarely attained by the three other types of persons. Or he is easily attainable or he makes one attain happiness, in this world or in this present body.
Another version has ātma-potānām (those who have a method of delivering ātmā). This also refers to jñānīs. The Lord is not easily attained by liberated persons, those who have merely destroyed suffering by liberation.