Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.9.50

tat te 'rhattama namah stuti-karma-pūjāh

karma smritiś caranayoh śravanam kathāyām

samsevayā tvayi vineti shad-ańgayā kim

bhaktim janah paramahamsa-gatau labheta

SYNONYMS

tat — therefore; te — unto You; arhat-tama — O supreme of all worshipable persons; namah — respectful obeisances; stuti-karma-pūjāh — worshiping Your Lordship by offering prayers and other devotional activities; karma — activities being dedicated to You; smritih — constant remembrance; caranayoh — of Your lotus feet; śravanam — always hearing; kathāyām — in topics (about You); samsevayā — such devotional service; tvayi — unto You; vinā — without; iti — thus; shat-ańgayā — having six different parts; kim — how; bhaktim — devotional service; janah — a person; paramahamsa-gatau — obtainable by the paramahamsa; 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 paramahamsas?

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 paramahamsa, one who has accepted the essence of everything. The results of bhakti are reserved for such a paramahamsa, and this stage cannot be obtained by any Vedic process other than devotional service. Other processes, such as jñāna and yoga, can be successful only when mixed with bhakti. When we speak of jñāna-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.

<<< >>>

Copyright ©r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness