Text 44
ittham-bhāvena kathito
bhagavān bhagavattamaḥ
nettham-bhāvena hi paraṁ
draṣṭum arhanti sūrayaḥ
ittham — in these features; bhāvena — the matter of creation and destruction; kathitaḥ — described; bhagavān — the Personality of Godhead; bhagavat-tamaḥ — by the great transcendentalists; na — not; ittham — in this; bhāvena — features; hi — only; param — most glorious; draṣṭum — to see; arhanti — deserve; sūrayaḥ — great devotees.
The great transcendentalists thus describe the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the pure devotees deserve to see more glorious things in transcendence, beyond these features.
The Lord is not only the creator and destroyer of the material manifestations of His different energies. He is more than a simple creator and destroyer, for there is His feature of ānanda, or His pleasure feature. This pleasure feature of the Lord is understood by the pure devotees only, and not by others. The impersonalist is satisfied simply by understanding the all-pervasive influence of the Lord. This is called Brahman realization. Greater than the impersonalist is the mystic who sees the Lord situated in his heart as Paramātmā, the partial representation of the Lord. But there are pure devotees who take part in the direct pleasure (ānanda) potency of the Lord by factual reciprocation of loving service. The Lord in His abode called the Vaikuṇṭha planets, which are eternal manifestations, always remains with His associates and enjoys transcendental loving services by His pure devotees in different transcendental humors. The pure devotees of the Lord thus undergo a practice of that devotional service to the Lord during the manifestation of the creation and take full advantage of the manifestation by qualifying themselves to enter into the kingdom of God. The Bhagavad-gītā (18.55) confirms this:
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti
yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā
viśate tad anantaram
By development of pure devotional service one can factually know the Lord as He is and thus be trained in the bona fide service of the Lord and be allowed to enter into the direct association of the Lord in so many capacities. The highest glorious association with the Lord is made possible in the planet of Goloka Vṛndāvana, where Lord Kṛṣṇa enjoys Himself with the gopīs and His favorite animals, the surabhi cows. A description of this transcendental land of Kṛṣṇa is given in the Brahma-saṁhitā, which is considered by Lord Śrī Caitanya to be the most authentic literature in this connection.