Verse 2.4.51

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.4.51:

न कश्चित् प्रभवेद् बोद्धुं सम्यक्-स्वानुभवं विना ।
एतन्-मात्रां हि शक्येत निरूपयितुम् अञ्जसा ॥ ५१ ॥

na kaścit prabhaved boddhuṃ samyak-svānubhavaṃ vinā |
etan-mātrāṃ hi śakyeta nirūpayitum añjasā || 51 ||

na kaścit–no one; prabhavet–is able; boddhum–to understand; samyak–completely; sva-anubhavam–personal experience; vinā–without; etat–this much; mātram–only; hi–certainly; śakyeta–is able; nirūpayitum–to ascertain; añjasā–properly.

One can understand a little bit about Vaikuṇṭha by hearing its glories, but without personal experience, its reality cannot be properly grasped. Therefore, I can really explain only this much about the truth of that realm.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

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

The brāhmaṇa might ask, “How can one know about Vaikuṇṭha?” In reply, Śrī Gopa-kumāra speaks this verse beginning with na. He says, “Without direct personal experience, no one can properly know the reality of Vaikuṇṭha. One can understand a little about that tattva by hearing the words of realized souls, but one cannot enter into that reality until he thoroughly has experience (anubhava) of it himself. This will only happen when one’s dedication (niṣṭhā) for one’s worshipable Deity fully matures–then one can receive the total experience of the tattva of Vaikuṇṭha.”

The word anubhava, meaning ‘experience,’ indicates that the tattva, or reality, of Vaikuṇṭha can be understood only when one surrenders to the abode of Vaikuṇṭha and its residents, and when one continually meditates on their moods (bhāvas) to the point that one does not remember anything other than those moods or perceive any other object. Besides this process, there is no other means of understanding this reality. Moreover, one can receive knowledge of vaikuṇṭhatattva only by personal experience, or in other words, through direct experience received by the soul. One cannot experience it just by hearing the instructions of the guru. Rather, it can be thoroughly realized when one puts those instructions into practice in one’s life.

The question may arise, “Unless the practitioner knows the real nature of the goal (sādhya-vastu tattva), how can he have the faith and inclination to perform his spiritual practice?”

In reply to this, Gopa-kumāra speaks the second half of the verse, which begins with etad. He says, “I can tell you only this much about the truth of Vaikuṇṭha. That transcendental truth (or object) possesses such inconceivable potency that when one hears about it with faith and contemplates it within the heart, then by the influence of the mercypotency, the practitioner (sādhaka) effortlessly receives the ability to perform the practice (sādhana) and achieves realization.”