Devanagari
स तदैवात्मनात्मानं नि:सङ्गं समदर्शनम् ।
हेयोपादेयरहितमारूढं पदमीक्षते ॥ २५ ॥
Verse text
sa tadaivātmanātmānaṁ
niḥsaṅgaṁ sama-darśanam
heyopādeya-rahitam
ārūḍhaṁ padam īkṣate
Synonyms
saḥ
—
the pure devotee
;
tadā
—
then
;
eva
—
certainly
;
ātmanā
—
by his transcendental intelligence
;
ātmānam
—
himself
;
niḥsaṅgam
—
without material attachment
;
sama
—
darśanam — equipoised in vision
;
heya
—
to be rejected
;
upādeya
—
acceptable
;
rahitam
—
devoid of
;
ārūḍham
—
elevated
;
padam
—
to the transcendental position
;
īkṣate
—
he sees .
Translation
Because of his transcendental intelligence, the pure devotee is equipoised in his vision and sees himself to be uncontaminated by matter. He does not see anything as superior or inferior, and he feels himself elevated to the transcendental platform of being equal in qualities with the Supreme Person.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When the mind of a person with some bhakti does not perceive differences such as good or bad in material objects which are equally accepted by the senses, by intelligence he then experiences himself as jīva endowed with detachment, with equal vision, devoid of conceptions of good or bad, and then realizes Vaikuṇtha or Brahman, which is almost achieved.
By what symptoms should jṣāna and vairāgya produced by bhakti be understood? This verse answers. Jṣāna occurs when the mind of a person with some bhakti, being fixed in the Lord by attraction to his qualities, does not accept inequality in material objects to be seen, heard or touched, which are actually all equal as far as being received by the senses. Inequality means “This is good to hear, this is not good to hear.” He treats equally stone and gold which may be criticized or praised by others. By intelligence he experiences the jīva, and by its detachment, he experiences Vaikuṇtḥa (padam) or Brahman, which is almost achieved.
Purport
Perception of the disagreeable arises from attachment. A devotee has no personal attachment to anything; therefore for him there is no question of agreeable or disagreeable. For the service of the Lord he can accept anything, even though it may be disagreeable to his personal interest. In fact, he is completely free from personal interest, and thus anything agreeable to the Lord is agreeable to him. For example, for Arjuna at first fighting was not agreeable, but when he understood that the fighting was agreeable to the Lord, he accepted the fighting as agreeable. That is the position of a pure devotee. For his personal interest there is nothing which is agreeable or disagreeable; everything is done for the Lord, and therefore he is free from attachment and detachment. That is the transcendental stage of neutrality. A pure devotee enjoys life in the pleasure of the Supreme Lord.