Verse 2.3.124

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.124:

तज्-ज्ञापकं च भज भगवतादि-शास्त्रं लीला-कथा भगवतः शृणु तत्र नित्यम् ।
ता एव कर्ण-विवरं प्रणयात् प्रविष्टाः सद्यः पदं भगवतः प्रभवन्ति दातुम् ॥ १२४ ॥

taj-jñāpakaṃ ca bhaja bhagavatādi-śāstraṃ līlā-kathā bhagavataḥ śṛṇu tatra nityam |
tā eva karṇa-vivaraṃ praṇayāt praviṣṭāḥ sadyaḥ padaṃ bhagavataḥ prabhavanti dātum || 124 ||

tat-jñāpakam–to His glorification; ca–and; bhaja–be devoted; bhāgavata-ādi–beginning with Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; śāstram–to the Vaiṣṇava scriptures; līlā-kathā–the narrations of Their pastimes; bhagavataḥ–of the Lord; śṛṇu–hear; tatra–there; nityam–regularly; te–of you; eva–indeed; karṇa-vivaram–the ear holes; praṇayāt–with love; praviṣṭāḥ–entered; sadyaḥ–at once; padam–the abode; bhagavataḥ–of the all-opulent Lord; prabhavanti–have the power; dātum–to award.

Devote yourself to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other scriptures that teach loving devotion to the Lord, and regularly listen to the narrations of Śrī Bhagavān’s pastimes. When those descriptions enter the holes of your ears and you hear them with love, they will immediately bring you to the abode of Śrī Bhagavān.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

Śrī Gopa-kumāra might ask, “What is the nature of the ninefold practice of devotional service, and how does one execute it?”

In reply, the Vaikuṇṭha associates of the Lord speak this verse beginning with tat. They say, “You should continuously study Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and other bhakti scriptures, and regularly hear the narrations of the pastimes of Bhagavān. Of the nine practices of devotional service, the most excellent is hearing Bhagavān’s pastimes. This is most beneficial because it greatly attracts the mind. As soon as those descriptions enter the heart through the medium of the ears, they immediately deliver one to the abode of Śrī Bhagavān.”

Śrī Śukadeva clearly states this in the Twelfth Canto (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.4.40):

संसार-सिन्धुम् अति-दुस्तरम् उत्तितीर्षोर् नान्यः प्लवो भगवतः पुरुषोत्तमस्य
लीला-कथा-रस-निषेवणम् अन्तरेण पुंसो भवेद् विविध-दुःख-दवार्दितस्य

saṃsāra-sindhum ati-dustaram uttitīrṣor nānyaḥ plavo bhagavataḥ puruṣottamasya
līlā-kathā-rasa-niṣevaṇam antareṇa puṃso bhaved vividha-duḥkha-davārditasya

For those who have been burnt by the forest fire of distress and who desire to cross over the insurmountable ocean of material existence, the only boat that can deliver one is one’s taste for the nectarean rasa of the narrations of Bhagavān’s pastimes. There is no other recourse.

It is stated in the Second Canto (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.2.37):

पिबन्ति ये भगवत आत्मनः सतां कथामृतं श्रवण-पुटेषु सम्भृतम्
पुनन्ति ते विषय-विदूषिताशयं व्रजन्ति तच्-चरण-सरोरुहान्तिकम्

pibanti ye bhagavata ātmanaḥ satāṃ kathāmṛtaṃ śravaṇa-puṭeṣu sambhṛtam
punanti te viṣaya-vidūṣitāśayaṃ vrajanti tac-caraṇa-saroruhāntikam

When those whose hearts are contaminated by mirage-like illusory sense objects, such as form and taste, drink deeply through their ears the nectar of the descriptions of Śrī Bhagavān’s pastimes, which are manifest from the spiritual nature of saintly personalities, their hearts become purified. Thus they happily obtain the personal association of the lotus feet of the Lord.