TEXT 21
nayam sukhapo bhagavan
dehinam gopika-sutah
jnaninam catma-bhutanam
yatha bhaktimatam iha
SYNONYMS
nanot; ayamthis; sukha-apahvery easily obtainable, or an object of happiness; bhagavanthe Supreme Personality of Godhead; dehinamof persons in the bodily concept of life, especially the karmis; gopika-sutahKrsna, the son of mother Yasoda (Krsna as the son of Vasudeva is called Vasudeva, and as the son of mother Yasoda He is known as Krsna); jnaninam caand of the jnanis, who try to be free from material contamination; atma-bhutanamof self-sufficient yogis; yathaas; bhakti-matamof the devotees; ihain this world.
TRANSLATION
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, the son of mother Yasoda, 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.
PURPORT
Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the son of mother Yasoda, is very easily available to devotees, but not to tapasvis, yogis, jnanis and others who have a bodily concept of life. Although they may sometimes be called santa-bhaktas, real bhakti begins with dasya-rasa. Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita (4.11):
ye yatha mam prapadyante
tams tathaiva bhajamy aham
mama vartmanuvartante
manusyah partha sarvasah
As living entities surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha. Everyone is seeking Krsna, 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-gita (15.15), vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah: By all the Vedas, it is I who am to be known. Therefore, the karmis, jnanis, yogis and saintly persons are all seeking Krsna. But by following in the footsteps of devotees who are in a direct relationship with Krsna, especially the inhabitants of Vrndavana, one can reach the supreme position of associating with Krsna. As it is said, vrndavanam parityajya padam ekam na gacchati: Krsna does not leave Vrndavana even for a moment. The vrndavana-vasismother Yasoda, Krsnas friends and Krsnas conjugal lovers, the younger gopis with whom He danceshave very intimate relationships with Krsna, and if one follows in the footsteps of these devotees, Krsna is available. Although the nitya-siddha expansions of Krsna always remain with Krsna, if those engaged in sadhana-siddhi follow in the footsteps of Krsnas nitya-siddha associates, such sadhana-siddhas also can easily attain Krsna without difficulty. But there are those who are attached to bodily concepts of life. Lord Brahma and Lord Siva, for example, have very prestigious positions, and thus they have the sense of being very exalted isvaras. In other words, because Lord Brahma and Lord Siva are guna-avataras and have exalted positions, they have some small sense of being like Krsna. But the pure devotees who inhabit Vrndavana do not possess any bodily conception. They are fully dedicated to the service of the Lord in sublime affection, prema. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has therefore recommended, prema pum-artho mahan: the highest perfection of life is prema, pure love in relationship with Krsna. And mother Yasoda appears to be the topmost of devotees who have attained this perfection.

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