Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.12.39

sakrid yad-ańga-pratimāntar-āhitā

manomayī bhāgavatīm dadau gatim

sa eva nityātma-sukhānubhūty-abhi-

vyudasta-māyo 'ntar-gato hi kim punah

SYNONYMS

sakrit — once only; yat — whose; ańga-pratimā — the form of the Supreme Lord (there are many forms, but Krishna is the original form); antah-āhitā — placing within the core of the heart, somehow or other; manah-mayī — thinking of Him even by force; bhāgavatīm — which is competent to offer devotional service to the Lord; dadau — Krishna gave; gatim — the best destination; sah — He (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); eva — indeed; nitya — always; ātma — of all living entities; sukha-anubhūti — anyone thinking of Him immediately enjoys transcendental pleasure; abhivyudasta-māyah — because all illusion is completely removed by Him; antah-gatah — He is always present within the core of the heart; hi — indeed; kim punah — what to speak.

TRANSLATION

If even only once or even by force one brings the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead into one's mind, one can attain the supreme salvation by the mercy of Krishna, as did Aghāsura. What then is to be said of those whose hearts the Supreme Personality of Godhead enters when He appears as an incarnation, or those who always think of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the source of transcendental bliss for all living entities and by whom all illusion is completely removed?

PURPORT

The process for receiving the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is described here. Yat-pāda-pańkaja-palāśa-vilāsa-bhaktyā (Bhāg. 4.22.39). Simply by thinking of Krishna, one can attain Him very easily. Krishna is also described as having His lotus feet always within the hearts of His devotees (bhagavān bhakta-hridi sthitah). In the case of Aghāsura, one may argue that he was not a devotee. The answer to this is that he thought of Krishna for a moment with devotion. Bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyah. Without devotion, one cannot think of Krishna; and, conversely, whenever one thinks of Krishna, one undoubtedly has devotion. Although Aghāsura's purpose was to kill Krishna, for a moment Aghāsura thought of Krishna with devotion, and Krishna and His associates wanted to sport within Aghāsura's mouth. Similarly, Pūtanā wanted to kill Krishna by poisoning Him, but Krishna took her as His mother because He had accepted the milk of her breast. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt (Bg. 2.40). Especially when Krishna appears as an avatāra, anyone who thinks of Krishna in His different incarnations (rāmādi-mūrtishu kalā-niyamena tishthan [Bs. 5.39]), and especially in His original form as Krishna, attains salvation. There are many instances of this, and among them is Aghāsura, who attained the salvation of sārūpya-mukti. Therefore the process is satatam kīrtayanto mām yatantaś ca dridha-vratāh (Bg. 9.14). Those who are devotees always engage in glorifying Krishna. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam: [Bs 5.33] when we speak of Krishna, we refer to all His avatāras, such as Krishna, Govinda, Nārāyana, Vishnu, Lord Caitanya, Krishna-Balarāma and Śyāmasundara. One who always thinks of Krishna must attain vimukti, special salvation as the Lord's personal associate, not necessarily in Vrindāvana, but at least in Vaikuntha. This is called sārūpya-mukti.

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