Devanagari
तस्मान्मद्भक्तियुक्तस्य योगिनो वै मदात्मन: ।
न ज्ञानं न च वैराग्यं प्राय: श्रेयो भवेदिह ॥ ३१ ॥
Verse text
tasmān mad-bhakti-yuktasya
yogino vai mad-ātmanaḥ
na jṣānaṁ na ca vairāgyaṁ
prāyaḥ śreyo bhaved iha
Synonyms
tasmāt
—
therefore
;
mat
—
bhakti — yuktasya — of one who is engaged in My loving service
;
yoginaḥ
—
of a devotee
;
vai
—
certainly
;
mat
—
ātmanaḥ — whose mind is fixed in Me
;
na
—
not
;
jṣānam
—
the cultivation of knowledge
;
na
—
nor
;
ca
—
also
;
vairāgyam
—
the cultivation of renunciation
;
prāyaḥ
—
generally
;
śreyaḥ
—
the means of achieving perfection
;
bhavet
—
may be
;
iha
—
in this world .
Translation
Therefore, for a devotee engaged in My loving service, with mind fixed on Me, the cultivation of knowledge and renunciation is generally not the means of achieving the highest perfection within this world.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Therefore, for a devotee engaged in bhakti, with mind fixed on me, the cultivation of knowledge and renunciation is generally not beneficial for bhakti.
Since the ahaṅkāra is destroyed by bhakti alone, which does not give regard to other causes, jṣāna and vairāgya are not recommended for my devotee, either for nourishing bhakti or for destroying ahaṅkāra, since they do not exhibit any benefit for the devotee. For a person whose mind is fixed in me (mad-ātmanaḥ), jṣāna which differentiates self from body and vaiṛāgya which renounces enjoyment are not beneficial since they belong to sattva-guṇa whereas bhakti is beyond the guṇas. It is a fault to bring in jṣāna and vairāgya when bhakti is present. Just as attachment and hatred are functions of avidyā, jṣāna and vairāgya are functions of vidyā. Though jṣāna and vairāgya naturally exist in bhakti, ahaṅkāra is destroyed by bhakti alone. This will be explained in the Twenty-fifth Chapter (SB 11.25.24 or 11.2.5.32 for instance).
Moreover, jṣāna in the form of realization of the Lord and vairāgya in the form of distaste for material enjoyment, which are beyond the guṇas, since they arise from bhakti, will naturally appear. It is said:
bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir
anyatra caiṣa trika eka-kālaḥ
prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus
tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣud-apāyo 'nu-ghāsam
Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things—these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa, in the same way that pleasure, fullness of the stomach and relief from hunger are experienced simultaneously, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating. SB11.2.42
The word generally (prayaḥ) is used because at the first stage of śānta-bhakti sometimes jṣāna and vairāgya are accepted without harm. The śānta-bhakta engaged in austerities is described:
bhaktir muktyaiva nirvighnety ātta-yukta-viraktatāḥ |
anujjhita-mumukṣā ye bhajante te tu tāpasāḥ ||15||
The practitioners of austerity in bhakti are those who worship the Lord while practicing yukta-vairāgya without giving up the desire for liberation, since obstacles to bhakti are destroyed by attaining liberation. BRS 3.1.15
Purport
A surrendered devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa does not seek perfection through the cultivation of knowledge and renunciation outside the loving service of the Lord. Devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, being itself the supreme transcendental process, never depends upon the secondary methods involving the cultivation of knowledge and renunciation. By chanting and hearing the glories of the Personality of Godhead a devotee automatically realizes all knowledge, and as the devotee’s attachment to the Lord increases, he automatically gives up attachment for the inferior material nature. The Lord has explicitly declared in the previous verses that a devotee should not try to solve his lingering problems by means other than devotional service. Although a sincere devotee has surrendered heart and soul in loving service to the Lord, there may be lingering material attachments that prevent the devotee from perfectly realizing transcendental knowledge. Devotional service, however, will automatically eradicate such lingering attachments in due course of time. If the devotee tries to purify himself through cultivation of knowledge and renunciation which fall outside the scope of devotional service, there is danger of his being deviated from the Lord’s lotus feet and falling down completely from the transcendental path. One who endeavors for purification outside the loving service of the Lord has not actually understood the transcendental potency of
bhakti-yoga
and does not appreciate the extent of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.
Within this world one’s heart is bound by sex attraction, which disturbs one’s meditation on the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Intoxicated by contact with women, the conditioned soul becomes artificially proud and forgets his loving servitude to the Lord. Through determined cultivation of knowledge and detachment, a conditioned soul may try to purify himself without the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa, but such false pride is to be given up, just as one must give up the false pride of material attraction. When pure devotional service to the Lord is available to a conditioned soul, attraction to other processes is certainly a deviation in his devotional career. Material desire stubbornly residing within the heart can be vanquished by taking full shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Without false confidence in one’s own cultivation of knowledge and renunciation, one should depend fully on the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa and at the same time strictly follow the rules and regulations of
bhakti-yoga,
as instructed by the Lord Himself.