Devanagari
तुभ्यं च नारद भृशं भगवान् विवृद्ध-
भावेन साधुपरितुष्ट उवाच योगम् ।
ज्ञानं च भागवतमात्मसतत्त्वदीपं
यद्वासुदेवशरणा विदुरञ्जसैव ॥ १९ ॥
Verse text
tubhyaṁ ca nārada bhṛśaṁ bhagavān vivṛddha-
bhāvena sādhu parituṣṭa uvāca yogam
jṣānaṁ ca bhāgavatam ātma-satattva-dīpaṁ
yad vāsudeva-śaraṇā vidur aṣjasaiva
Synonyms
tubhyam
—
unto you
;
ca
—
also
;
nārada
—
O Nārada
;
bhṛśam
—
very nicely
;
bhagavān
—
the Personality of Godhead
;
vivṛddha
—
developed
;
bhāvena
—
by transcendental love
;
sādhu
—
your goodness
;
parituṣṭaḥ
—
being satisfied
;
uvāca
—
described
;
yogam
—
service
;
jṣānam
—
knowledge
;
ca
—
also
;
bhāgavatam
—
the science of God and His devotional service
;
ātma
—
the self
;
sa
—
tattva — with all details
;
dīpam
—
just like the light in the darkness
;
yat
—
that which
;
vāsudeva
—
śaraṇāḥ — those who are souls surrendered unto Lord Vāsudeva
;
viduḥ
—
know them
;
aṣjasā
—
perfectly well
;
eva
—
as it is .
Translation
O Nārada, you were taught about the science of God and His transcendental loving service by the Personality of Godhead in His incarnation of Haṁsāvatāra. He was very much pleased with you, due to your intense proportion of devotional service. He also explained unto you, lucidly, the full science of devotional service, which is especially understandable by persons who are souls surrendered unto Lord Vāsudeva, the Personality of Godhead.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Nārada! The Lord as Hamṣa, greatly pleased with your prema, spoke about bhakti-yoga, knowledge about himself and also that knowledge which removes ignorance in the jīva, both of which the pure devotees understand with joy.
Purport
The devotee and devotional service are two correlative terms. Unless one is inclined to be a devotee of the Lord, he cannot enter into the intricacies of devotional service. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa wanted to explain the
Bhagavad-gītā,
which is the science of devotional service, unto Śrī Arjuna because Arjuna was not only His friend but a great devotee as well. The whole process is that all living entities, being constitutionally parts and parcels of the supreme living being, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, have proportionately minute independence of action also. So the preliminary qualification for entering into the devotional service of the Lord is that one become a willing cooperator, and as such, one should voluntarily cooperate with persons who are already engaged in the transcendental devotional service of the Lord. By cooperating with such persons, the prospective candidate will gradually learn the techniques of devotional service, and with the progress of such learning one becomes proportionately free from the contamination of material association. Such a purificatory process will establish the prospective candidate in firm faith and gradually elevate him to the stage of transcendental taste for such devotional service. Thus he acquires a genuine attachment for the devotional service of the Lord, and his conviction carries him on to the point of ecstasy, just prior to the stage of transcendental love.
Such knowledge of devotional service may be divided into two sections, namely preliminary knowledge of the nature of devotional service and the secondary knowledge of its execution.
Bhāgavatam
is in relation with the Personality of Godhead, His beauty, fame, opulence, dignity, attraction and transcendental qualities which attract one towards Him for exchanges of love and affection. There is a natural affinity of the living entity for the loving service of the Lord. This affinity becomes artificially covered by the influence of material association, and
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
helps one very genuinely remove that artificial covering. Therefore it is particularly mentioned herein that
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
acts like the lamp of transcendental knowledge. These two sections of transcendental knowledge in devotional service become revealed to a person who is a soul surrendered unto Vāsudeva; as it is said in the
Bhagavad-gītā
(7.19)
, such a great soul, fully surrendered unto the lotus feet of Vāsudeva, is very, very rare.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
This verse describes Haṁsa. The Lord as Haṁsa, satisfied by your prema (vivṛddha-bhāvena) spoke bhakti-yoga (yogam) and jṣāna to you. There are two types of knowledge; one that has Kṛṣṇa, who is the object of devotion, as the subject, and two, that which has the jīva, who is the shelter of bhakti, as the subject. These are defined by two descriptive terms in the verse. Bhāgavatam refers to information for understanding about the Lord’s beauty, fragrance, voice, young age, sweetness and attractive qualities in order to attain prema. The other type is that which removes the covering of ignorance and reveals (pradīpam) the nature of the jīva (such as knowledge and bliss), who is the shelter of bhakti. These are the two types of knowledge. The pure devotees joyfully (aṣjasā) understand this knowledge. Everywhere in the scriptures, words such as knowledge are used without distinguishing whether they are used to describe another element, or as the main element, with conventional meaning (rūḍha), such as in the word brahma-jṣāna. Similarly paṣhkaja refers to lotus (the common usage) and other things (anything growing from mud). In other places, however, the words are used according to strict derivation (yaugika) as in the following examples:
purā mayā proktam ajāya nābhye
padme niṣaṇṇāya mamādi-sarge
jṣānaṁ paraṁ man-mahimāvabhāsaṁ
yat sūrayo bhāgavataṁ vadanti
Previously at the beginning of creation, I spoke to Brahmā sitting on his lotus in lake of my navel the highest knowledge which reveals my pastimes, and which the devotees call the four essential verses of Bhāgavatam. SB 3.4.13
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ
janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jṣānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam
2.7
Bhakti dedicated to Lord Kṛṣṇa, endowed with special moods, quickly produces detachment from material goals and knowledge of the Lord devoid of the desire for liberation. SB 1.2.7
aho bhāgyam aho bhāgyaṁ nanda-gopa-vrajaukasām
yan-mitraṁ paramānandaṁ pūrṇaṁ brahma sanātanam
How greatly fortunate are Nanda Mahārāja, the cowherd men and all the other inhabitants of Vrajabhūmi! There is no limit to their good fortune, because the Absolute Truth, the source of transcendental bliss, the eternal Supreme Brahman, has become their friend. SB 10.14.32
Other examples are paṣkajam vartma durgamam: the road which has become muddy (paṣkajam---instead of meaning a lotus) is difficult to pass. Maṇḍapaṁ bhojayej janam: the man should enjoy the hall. Bhojayet also means “should eat”.
In Viṣṇu-dharmottara it is said that the Lord as Haṁsa spoke bhakti-yoga to Nārada, not impersonal jṣāna. However it is also said:
yadā tvaṁ sanakādibhyo yena rūpeṇa keśava |
yogam ādiṣṭavān etad rūpam icchāmi veditum ||
O Keśava! I desire to know that form of yoga which you taught to the Kumāras.
That Haṁsa taught jṣāna to the Kumāṛas. It should be understood to be a different Haṁṣa. Tubhyaṁ ca (unto you also) in the verse indicates that the Lord spoke bhakti-yoga to Nārada who was also an avatāra. Thus Brahmā indicates that Nārada is also an avatāra.