Devanagari
सत्त्वेन प्रतिलभ्याय नैष्कर्म्येण विपश्चिता ।
नम: कैवल्यनाथाय निर्वाणसुखसंविदे ॥ ११ ॥
Verse text
sattvena pratilabhyāya
naiṣkarmyeṇa vipaścitā
namaḥ kaivalya-nāthāya
nirvāṇa-sukha-saṁvide
Synonyms
sattvena
—
by pure devotional service
;
prati
—
labhyāya — unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is achieved by such devotional activities
;
naiṣkarmyeṇa
—
by transcendental activities
;
vipaścitā
—
by persons who are sufficiently learned
;
namaḥ
—
I offer my respectful obeisances
;
kaivalya
—
nāthāya — unto the master of the transcendental world
;
nirvāṇa
—
for one completely freed from material activities
;
sukha
—
of happiness
;
saṁvide
—
who is the bestower .
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is realized by pure devotees who act in the transcendental existence of bhakti-yoga. He is the bestower of uncontaminated happiness and is the master of the transcendental world. Therefore I offer my respect unto Him.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I offer respects to the Lord who is attained by bhakti performed by the devotee free of material desires and endowed with knowledge, to the master of liberation, to the Lord who has knowledge of the bliss of liberation.
By what means should the Lord be understood? He can be attained by being a Vaiṣṇava (sattvena). Sattva means the state of being sādhu, proper. Pratilabhāya means unto the Lord who is attained by the devotee. Like vacana and prativacana, labha and pratilabha are paired, and mean the devotee and the Lord.
bhaktir asya bhajanaṁ tad ihāmutropādhi-nairāsyenāmusmin manaḥ kalpanam etad eve naiṣkarmyam
Bhakti means worship of the Lord. When the mind thinks of the Lord without desires for enjoyment in this or the next life, it is called naiṣkarmyam.
Gopala-tāpanī Upaniṣad 1.14
Thus the meaning is the Lord is attained by bhakti performed by the devotee who is without material desires and endowed with knowledge (vipaścitā).
Purport
As stated in
Bhagavad-gītā,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be understood only by devotional service.
Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ.
If one wants to know the Supreme Personality of Godhead in truth, one must take to the activities of devotional service. These activities are called
sattva
or
śuddha-sattva.
In the material world, activities of goodness, which are symptomatic of a pure
brāhmaṇa,
are appreciated. But the activities of devotional service are
śuddha-sattva;
in other words, they are on the transcendental platform. Only by devotional service can one understand the Supreme.
Devotional service is called
naiṣkarmya.
Mere negation of material activity will not endure.
Naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitam.
Unless one performs activities with reference to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, cessation of material activities will not be helpful. In hopes of achieving
naiṣkarmya,
freedom from material action, many highly elevated
sannyāsīs
stopped their activities, yet they failed and returned to the material platform to act as materialistic persons. But once one is engaged in the spiritual activities of
bhakti-yoga,
one does not fall down. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is therefore an attempt to engage everyone always in spiritual activity, by which one becomes transcendental to material actions. The spiritual activities of
bhakti-mārga — śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
— lead one to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, as stated here,
sattvena pratilabhyāya naiṣkarmyeṇa vipaścitā:
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead is realized by pure devotees who act in the transcendental existence of
bhakti-yoga.
”
The
Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad
(15) says,
bhaktir asya bhajanaṁ tad ihāmutropādhi-nairāsyenaivāmuṣmin manasaḥ kalpanam etad eva ca naiṣkarmyam.
This is a definition of
naiṣkarmya.
One acts in
naiṣkarmya
when he fully engages in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities without material desires to enjoy, either here or in the upper planetary systems, in the present life or in a future life (
iha-amutra
).
Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam.
When one is freed from all contamination and he acts in devotional service under the direction of the spiritual master, one is on the platform of
naiṣkarma.
By such transcendental devotional service, the Lord is served. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.