Text 21
nāyaṁ sukhāpo bhagavān
dehināṁ gopikā-sutaḥ
jñānināṁ cātma-bhūtānāṁ
yathā bhaktimatām iha
na — not; ayam — this; sukha-āpaḥ — very easily obtainable, or an object of happiness; bhagavān — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; dehinām — of persons in the bodily concept of life, especially the karmīs; gopikā-sutaḥ — Kṛṣṇa, the son of mother Yaśodā (Kṛṣṇa as the son of Vasudeva is called Vāsudeva, and as the son of mother Yaśodā He is known as Kṛṣṇa); jñāninām ca — and of the jñānīs, who try to be free from material contamination; ātma-bhūtānām — of self-sufficient yogīs; yathā — as; bhakti-matām — of the devotees; iha — in this world.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, the son of mother Yaśodā, is accessible to devotees engaged in spontaneous loving service, but He is not as easily accessible to mental speculators, to those striving for self-realization by severe austerities and penances, or to those who consider the body the same as the self.
Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the son of mother Yaśodā, is very easily available to devotees, but not to tapasvīs, yogīs, jñānīs and others who have a bodily concept of life. Although they may sometimes be called śānta-bhaktas, real bhakti begins with dāsya-rasa. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.11):
ye yathā māṁ prapadyante
tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante
manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ
“As living entities surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā.” Everyone is seeking Kṛṣṇa, for He is the Supersoul of all individual souls. Everyone loves his body and wants to protect it because he is within the body as the soul, and everyone loves the soul because the soul is part and parcel of the Supersoul. Therefore, everyone is actually seeking to achieve happiness by reviving his relationship with the Supersoul. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: “By all the Vedas, it is I who am to be known.” Therefore, the karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs and saintly persons are all seeking Kṛṣṇa. But by following in the footsteps of devotees who are in a direct relationship with Kṛṣṇa, especially the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, one can reach the supreme position of associating with Kṛṣṇa. As it is said, vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya padam ekaṁ na gacchati: Kṛṣṇa does not leave Vṛndāvana even for a moment. The vṛndāvana-vāsīs — mother Yaśodā, Kṛṣṇa’s friends and Kṛṣṇa’s conjugal lovers, the younger gopīs with whom He dances — have very intimate relationships with Kṛṣṇa, and if one follows in the footsteps of these devotees, Kṛṣṇa is available. Although the nitya-siddha expansions of Kṛṣṇa always remain with Kṛṣṇa, if those engaged in sādhana-siddhi follow in the footsteps of Kṛṣṇa’s nitya-siddha associates, such sādhana-siddhas also can easily attain Kṛṣṇa without difficulty. But there are those who are attached to bodily concepts of life. Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva, for example, have very prestigious positions, and thus they have the sense of being very exalted īśvaras. In other words, because Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva are guṇa-avatāras and have exalted positions, they have some small sense of being like Kṛṣṇa. But the pure devotees who inhabit Vṛndāvana do not possess any bodily conception. They are fully dedicated to the service of the Lord in sublime affection, premā. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore recommended, premā pum-artho mahān: the highest perfection of life is premā, pure love in relationship with Kṛṣṇa. And mother Yaśodā appears to be the topmost of devotees who have attained this perfection.