Verse 2.3.92-93

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.92-93:

भक्तावतारास् तस्यैते चत्वारो नैष्ठिकोत्तमाः ।
परिभ्रमन्ति लोकानां हितार्थं पार्षदा इव ॥ ९२ ॥
वसन्ति च तपो-लोके प्रभुं नारायणं विना ।
अनाथानाम् इव क्षेमं वहन्तस् तन्-निवासिनाम् ॥ ९३ ॥

bhaktāvatārās tasyaite catvāro naiṣṭhikottamāḥ |
paribhramanti lokānāṃ hitārthaṃ pārṣadā iva || 92 ||
vasanti ca tapo-loke prabhuṃ nārāyaṇaṃ vinā |
anāthānām iva kṣemaṃ vahantas tan-nivāsinām || 93 ||

bhakta–devotee; avatārāḥ–incarnations; tasya–of Him; ete–they; catvāraḥ–four; naiṣṭhika–of unbroken celibates; uttamāḥ–the best; paribhramanti–they wander; lokānām–of all people; hitaartham–for the benefit; pārṣadāḥ–associates; iva–as if; vasanti–they reside; ca–and; tapaḥ-loke–on Tapoloka; prabhum–Lord; nārāyaṇam–Nārāyaṇa; vinā–without; anāthānām–of they who have no master; iva–like; kṣemam–well-being; vahantaḥ–carrying; tat-nivāsinām–for the residents of that world.

Like the Vaikuṇṭha associates, the four Kumāras headed by Sanaka, who are the best of life-long celibates (naiṣṭhika-brahmacārīs) and who are devotee incarnations of Bhagavān, wander everywhere for the welfare of all. They also reside in Tapoloka, where they disseminate the pastimes of Bhagavān to nourish and protect the many brahmacārīs there who appear orphaned, unable to see Śrīman Nārāyaṇa.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

Śrī Gopa-kumāra might say, “It is wonderful that the Vaikuṇṭha associates wander everywhere to spread pure devotional service. However, why do these self-satisfied (ātmārāma) sages accompany them?”

Gaṇeśa replies in four verses, beginning here with bhakta. He says, “Śrī Sanaka and his three brothers are the devotee incarnations of Śrī Vaikuṇṭha-nātha and they also wander everywhere for the benefit of all.”

The Mathurā brāhmaṇa might say to Gopa-kumāra, “You had seen them previously while residing on Tapoloka.”

Gopa-kumāra says, “This is true; the reason for this is that although the residents of Tapoloka always see Bhagavān in their meditation, in the absence of direct darśana, they appear like helpless orphans without a master. Therefore, these four Kumāras reside in Tapoloka as the guardians of all other naiṣṭhika-brahmacārīs (lifelong celibates) who are urdhva-retā, or whose semen flows upwards to nourish the brain. They stay there in order to bestow auspiciousness upon those brahmacārīs by narrating the pastimes of Bhagavān, performing saṅkīrtana, and so on.”

The purport of the word iva (like) is that these brahmacārīs are like orphans, but actually, they always receive darśana of Bhagavān in their meditation (dhyāna). However, in the absence of directly seeing the Lord, there is the possibility of developing feelings of helplessness. This proves that there is a vast difference between the two types of darśana: direct and contemplative.