Friday, May 14, 2021

Verse 11 yadṛcchayā mat-kathādau

 ŚB 11.20.8

Sri Krsna to Uddhava 

 
यद‍ृच्छया मत्कथादौ जातश्रद्धस्तु य: पुमान् ।
न निर्विण्णो नातिसक्तो भक्तियोगोऽस्य सिद्धिद: ॥ ८ ॥


yadṛcchayā mat-kathādau
jāta-śraddhas tu yaḥ pumān
na nirviṇṇo nāti-sakto
bhakti-yogo ’sya siddhi-daḥ


Synonyms

 
yadṛcchayā — somehow or other by good fortune; mat-kathā-ādau — in the narrations, songs, philosophy, dramatical performances, etc., that describe My glories; jāta — awakened; śraddhaḥ — faith; tu — indeed; yaḥ — one who; pumān — a person; na — not; nirviṇṇaḥ — disgusted; na — not; ati-saktaḥ — very attached; bhakti-yogaḥ — the path of loving devotion; asya — his; siddhi-daḥ — will award perfection.


Translation

If somehow or other by good fortune one develops faith in hearing and chanting My glories, such a person, being neither disgusted with nor very much attached to material life, should achieve perfection through the path of loving devotion to Me.

 
Purport (By Hrdayananda Goswami Et al)

If somehow or other one gets the association of pure devotees of the Lord and hears from them the transcendental message of Lord Kṛṣṇa, then one has the chance to become a devotee of the Lord. As mentioned in the previous verse, those who become disgusted with material life take to impersonal philosophical speculation and rigorously try to stamp out any trace of personal existence. Those who are still attached to material sense gratification try to purify themselves by offering the fruits of their ordinary activities to the Supreme. A first-class candidate for pure devotional service, on the other hand, is neither completely disgusted with nor attached to material life. He does not desire to pursue ordinary material existence any further, because it cannot award real happiness. Nevertheless, a candidate for devotional service does not give up all hope for perfecting personal existence. A person who avoids the two extremes of material attachment and impersonal reaction to material attachment and who somehow or other gets the association of pure devotees, faithfully hearing their message, is a good candidate for going back home, back to Godhead, as described here by the Lord.

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 Madhurya Kadambini, 1st shower, 3c. p. 40-47

By this, it is evident that she arises autonomously, without any particular cause. Elsewhere in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.20.8) it is stated, “yadṛcchayā mat-kathādau... – only the mercy of bhakti, My own internal energy, yields taste for narrations about My pastimes and so forth.” The words madbhaktiṁcayadṛcchayā(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.20.11) mean “the obtainment of bhakti to Me is by her own sweet accord (yadṛcchā)”.

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Bhaktivinod Thakur's comments on the verse in his essay on Utsaha

 Regarding bhakti-yoga, it is said in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.20.7-8):
“Among these three paths, jñāna-yoga, the path of philosophical speculation, is recommended for those who are disgusted with material life and are thus detached from ordinary, fruitive activities. Those who are not disgusted with material life, having many desires yet to fulfil, should seek perfection through the path of karma-yoga. If somehow or other by good fortune one develops faith in hearing and chanting My glories, such a person, being neither very disgusted with nor attached to material life, should achieve perfection through the path of loving devotion to Me.”

The purport is this: For those who have attained indifference for material activities but have not yet realized spiritual activities, what can remain in their hearts besides indifference? For them the undifferentiated brahma-jñāna is the topmost achievement. For those who have not attained indifference for material activities due to lack of spiritual realization, there is no way to cleanse the heart other than karma-yoga. Those who have realized spiritual activities and understood that material activities are insignificant attain indifference for all material activities. They accept some material activities as a support for their spiritual awakening, but they have no attachment for such activities. In proportion to the degree that they discuss spiritual topics in devotion, freedom from material association is awakened as an extraneous fruit. 

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Page 39 (p. 71/336) of of the PDF document of Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu Bindu says about this sloka and the previous one:

In  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (11.20.8),  the  Supreme  Lord  has  said:  “yadṛcchayā  mat-kathādau  jāta-śraddhas  tu  yaḥ  pumān – by  virtue  of  the  good  fortune  of  their  previous  births,  those  in  whom śraddhā  is  awakened  in  narrations  of  Mypastimes  (līlā-kathā) are eligible to take up bhakti.”Jīva Gosvāmī, in defining the word yadṛcchayā (voluntarily, spontaneously  or  by  their  own  will)  used  in  this  śloka,  has  said:  “kenāpi   parama-svatantra   bhagavad-bhakta-saṅga   tat-kṛpājāta   parama-maṅgalodayena  –  by  the  association  of  the  Lord’s  supremely  independent  devotees  and  as  a  consequence  of  the  mercy  obtained  from  them,  one  obtains  great  fortune  (saubhāgya).  That  saubhāgyaitself becomes the eligibility for bhakti.”

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 An examination of Jiva Goswami's commentary on this verse. (Not by our Saraswat Sampradaya .  )

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