CC Antya 1.202 (1975)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Below is the 1996 edition text, ready to be substituted with the 1975 one using the compile form.
TEXT 202
- ei dui bhāiye āmi pāṭhāiluṅ vṛndāvane
- śakti diyā bhakti-śāstra karite pravartane
SYNONYMS
ei—these; dui—two; bhāiye—brothers; āmi—I; pāṭhāiluṅ—sent; vṛndāvane—to Vṛndāvana; śakti diyā—empowering them; bhakti-śāstra—transcendental literature regarding devotional service; karite—to do; pravartane—establishing.
TRANSLATION
“I empowered both of these brothers to go to Vṛndāvana to expand the literature of bhakti.”
PURPORT
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu informed Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya that he and Sanātana Gosvāmī had engaged equally in devotional service after giving up all relationships with material activity. Such renunciation is a symptom of an unalloyed devotee engaged in the service of the Lord with no tinge of material contamination. According to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, this is the position of tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā. A pure devotee, free from the reactions of the material modes of nature, executes devotional service with tolerance like that of a tree. He also feels humbler than the grass. Such a devotee, who is called niṣkiñcana, or free from all material possessions, is always absorbed in emotional love of Godhead. He is reluctant to perform any kind of sense gratification. In other words, such a devotee is free from all material bondage, but he engages in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities. Such expert devotional service is performed without hypocrisy. Humility, renunciation and learned scholarship were combined in Sanātana Gosvāmī, the ideal pure devotee, who was on the same level of understanding as Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya. Like Rāmānanda Rāya, Sanātana Gosvāmī was a fully cognizant expert in the conclusions of devotional service and was therefore able to describe such transcendental knowledge.