Devanagari
तत्तेऽर्हत्तम नम: स्तुतिकर्मपूजा:
कर्म स्मृतिश्चरणयो: श्रवणं कथायाम् ।
संसेवया त्वयि विनेति षडङ्गया किं
भक्तिं जन: परमहंसगतौ लभेत ॥ ५० ॥
Verse text
tat te ’rhattama namaḥ stuti-karma-pūjāḥ
karma smṛtiś caraṇayoḥ śravaṇaṁ kathāyām
saṁsevayā tvayi vineti ṣaḍ-aṅgayā kiṁ
bhaktiṁ janaḥ paramahaṁsa-gatau labheta
Synonyms
tat
—
therefore
;
te
—
unto You
;
arhat
—
tama — O supreme of all worshipable persons
;
namaḥ
—
respectful obeisances
;
stuti
—
karma — pūjāḥ — worshiping Your Lordship by offering prayers and other devotional activities
;
karma
—
activities being dedicated to You
;
smṛtiḥ
—
constant remembrance
;
caraṇayoḥ
—
of Your lotus feet
;
śravaṇam
—
always hearing
;
kathāyām
—
in topics (about You)
;
saṁsevayā
—
such devotional service
;
tvayi
—
unto You
;
vinā
—
without
;
iti
—
thus
;
ṣaṭ
—
aṅgayā — having six different parts
;
kim
—
how
;
bhaktim
—
devotional service
;
janaḥ
—
a person
;
paramahaṁsa
—
gatau — obtainable by the paramahaṁsa
;
labheta
—
may attain .
Translation
Therefore, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, the best of all persons to whom prayers are offered, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You because without rendering six kinds of devotional service unto You — offering prayers, dedicating all the results of activities, worshiping You, working on Your behalf, always remembering Your lotus feet and hearing about Your glories — who can achieve that which is meant for the paramahaṁsas?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Lord worthy of worship! The six parts of bhakti are offering respects, praising you, deity worship, menial service, remembering your lotus feet and hearing about you. How can a person attain prema without these six types of bhakti to you, who also award liberation to the jṣānīs?
This summarizes his prayers. Since one cannot know you by study and other methods, giving up efforts to know you, one should strive to perform sādhana for prema to you. This is the essence of all human goals. O Lord most worthy of worship! Offering respects to you, offering praises, deity worship, menial services to you, remembering your lotus feet, hearing about you—without these six aṅgas of bhakti, how can one attain prema? Without these, one cannot attain prema to you, who award liberation to the jṣānīs (parama-haṁsa-gatau). By bhakti-miśra-jṣāna, they attain liberation only. Therefore, since it the root of all success, give everyone service of the six aṅgas which will produce prema. If that is difficult, then give them liberation, and free them from suffering in saṁsāra. But I have been successful in service to your devotee. I do not worry.
Purport
The
Vedas
enjoin:
nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo na medhayā na bahunā śrutena.
One cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead simply by studying the
Vedas
and offering prayers. Only by the grace of the Supreme Lord can one understand Him. The process of understanding the Lord, therefore, is
bhakti.
Without
bhakti,
simply following the Vedic injunctions to understand the Absolute Truth will not be helpful at all. The process of
bhakti
is understood by the
paramahaṁsa,
one who has accepted the essence of everything. The results of
bhakti
are reserved for such a
paramahaṁsa,
and this stage cannot be obtained by any Vedic process other than devotional service. Other processes, such as
jṣāna
and
yoga,
can be successful only when mixed with
bhakti.
When we speak of
jṣāna-yoga, karma-yoga
and
dhyāna-yoga
the word
yoga
indicates
bhakti.
Bhakti-yoga,
or
buddhi-yoga,
executed with intelligence and full knowledge, is the only successful method for going back home, back to Godhead. If one wants to be liberated from the pangs of material existence, he should take to devotional service for quick attainment of this goal.