SB 1.7.10

सूत उवाच
आत्मारामाश्च मुनयो निर्ग्रन्था अप्युरुक्रमे ।
कुर्वन्त्यहैतुकीं भक्तिमित्थम्भूतगुणो हरिः ॥१०॥

sūta uvāca
ātmārāmāś ca munayo
nirgranthā apy urukrame
kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim
ittham-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ

sūtaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigsutah

a son (born of Lord Brahmā's mind); a son; as Your son (you wanted a son exactly like Me); her son; his son; one son; son (Baladeva, born of Rohiṇī); son; the soma-yajña; the son (Prahlāda); the son; was the son. uvācaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biguvāca

answered; described; explained; he recited; he said; inquired; prayed; replied; said; she said; she spoke; spoke; talked with them.—Sūta Gosvāmī said; ātmārāmāḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigatmaramah

completely self-satisfied.—those who take pleasure in ātmā (generally, spirit self); caplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigca

ca; all these; also; also other bodily forms; also that I have not been able to ask; and (the five gross material elements and the ten acting and knowledge-gathering senses); and; and also; and Devahūti; and for all; and the paraphernalia; as also; as much as; as well; as well as; but; certainly; either; however; indeed; only; or; over and above; respectively; the word ca; this word ca; thus; totally; unlimitedly; verily.—also; munayaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigmunayaḥ

all sages; all the great sages; all the great sages and saintly persons; all the saintly brāhmaṇas; all those great saintly persons; great philosophers and exalted sages; great sages; great saintly persons; great saintly persons who have completely rejected material aspirations, fruitive activities and so forth; great saintly persons who have completely rejected material aspirations, fruitive activities, and so forth; great thinkers and sages; O great sages; O sages; sages; saintly persons; saints; the muni followers of the Vedānta; the great sages; the great sages, headed by Vyāsadeva, etc; the great saintly persons; the great thinkers; the Kumāras; the philosophers; the sages; the saintly persons; the seven sages; thinkers.—sages; nirgranthāḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bignirgranthāḥ

nirgranthāḥ; freed from all bondage; without interest in any material desire.—freed from all bondage; apiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigapi

also; api; a still more secluded place; again; alas; also (confirms); also (the human beings); also; although (I am in such a position); although; although apparently different; although he is; although He is so; although it is so; although not exposed to common eyes; although one; although there is; although there was; and also; as also; as He is; as well as; as you have stated; at the same time; better than that; certainly; definitely; despite; either; else; especially; even; even if; even if the body is so exalted; even though; even though it is so; even though new calves were present; even though there is; even with; exactly; for the sake of; I am wondering; if; if also; if so; in due course; in spite of; in spite of this situation; including; indeed; it may be; just now; may be; moreover; of the word api; or; others; over and above; so; still; surely; the word api; then; though; thus; verily; virtually; whether.—in spite of; urukrameplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigurukrame

unto the great adventurer; unto the most powerful; unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, whose activities are wonderful; unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who acts uncommonly; unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose actions are uncommon.—unto the great adventurer; kurvantiplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigkurvanti

act; are keeping; create; do; do it; do render; effect or bring; execute; inspires; perform; such things are done; they act; they do (for others); they make; they perform; will give.—do; ahaitukīmplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigahaitukīm

causeless, or without material desires; unalloyed; without motives.—unalloyed; bhaktimplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigbhaktim

devotion; devotional service; love and faith in devotional service; service unto the Lord.—devotional service; itthamplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigittham

ittham; all these topics of conversation; as aforementioned; because of this (as stated above); in these features; in this; in this manner; in this way; in this way, as aforesaid; like this; of such power; such; this; thus; thus, by Brahman realization; upon this.-bhūtaplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigbhuta

all living entities; all that is created or born; an ordinary ghost; and of the Bhūtas; body; by other living entities; by the five material elements; created; creation; ego; elements; everything that be; evil spirits; ghost; ghosts; ghosts named Bhūtas; gross material elements; jinn; living entities; living entity; material elements; material ingredients; of all existence; of different nations; of living entities; of ordinary living entities; of the living beings; of the living entities; of the material elements; other living beings; other living entities; past; the evil spirits; the five elements; the five gross elements (the sky, etc.); the five gross elements; the five material elements; the ghost; the gross; the gross elements; the material elements; the material energy; the physical elements; to other living entities; with all the gross material elements.—such wonderful; guṇaḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_biggunah

a great quality; good quality; material quality; modes of nature; objects of sense perception; perfections; possessing qualities; qualities; quality; quality or intelligence; the object of sense perception; the three qualities; transcendental qualities; who has transcendental qualities; whose property of the intelligence.—qualities; hariḥplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bighariḥ

a lion; Hari; Hari, the Lord; He is actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari; Indra; King Indra; Kṛṣṇa; lion; Lord Hari; Lord Hari, who takes away all the miserable conditions of material existence; Lord Kṛṣṇa; Lord Viṣṇu; Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa; not different from the Lord; of the Lord; the holy name of the Lord; the lion; the Lord; the Lord Hari; the Lord, the Personality of Godhead; the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Lord, who mitigates all the miseries of the living entity; the Lord, who vanquishes all miseries; the Personality of Godhead; the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa; the Supreme Being; the Supreme Lord; the Supreme Personality of Godhead (in the form of Vāmana); the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Ajita; the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, in the form of Mohinī; the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa; the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nṛsiṁhadeva; the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu; the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who can take away everything; the vanquisher of all inauspiciousness; who can take away all the illusion of the living entities; Śrī Hari.—of the Lord. ¶

All different varieties of ātmārāmas [those who take pleasure in ātmā, or spirit self], especially those established on the path of self-realization, though freed from all kinds of material bondage, desire to render unalloyed devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead. This means that the Lord possesses transcendental qualities and therefore can attract everyone, including liberated souls. ¶

Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained this ātmārāma śloka very vividly before His chief devotee Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī. He points out eleven factors in the śloka, namely (1) ātmārāma, (2) munayaḥ, (3) nirgrantha, (4) api, (5) ca, (6) urukrama, (7) kurvanti, (8) ahaitukīm, (9) bhaktim, (10) ittham-bhūta-guṇaḥ and (11) hariḥ. According to the Viśva-prakāśa Sanskrit dictionary, there are seven synonyms for the word ātmārāma, which are as follows: (1) Brahman (the Absolute Truth), (2) body, (3) mind, (4) endeavor, (5) endurance, (6) intelligence and (7) personal habits. ¶

The word munayaḥ refers to (1) those who are thoughtful, (2) those who are grave and silent, (3) ascetics, (4) the persistent, (5) mendicants, (6) sages and (7) saints. ¶

The word nirgrantha conveys these ideas: (1) one who is liberated from nescience, (2) one who has no connection with scriptural injunction, i.e., who is freed from the obligation of the rules and regulations mentioned in the revealed scriptures like ethics, Vedas, philosophy, psychology and metaphysics (in other words the fools, illiterate, urchins, etc., who have no connection with regulative principles), (3) a capitalist, and also (4) one who is penniless. ¶

According to the Śabda-kośa dictionary, the affix ni is used in the sense of (1) certainty, (2) counting, (3) building, and (4) forbiddance, and the word grantha is used in the sense of wealth, thesis, vocabulary, etc. ¶

The word urukrama means “the one whose activities are glorious.” Krama means “step.” This word urukrama specifically indicates the Lord’s incarnation as Vāmana, who covered the whole universe by immeasurable steps. Lord Viṣṇu is powerful, and His activities are so glorious that He has created the spiritual world by His internal potency and the material world by His external potency. By His all-pervading features He is everywhere present as the Supreme Truth, and in His personal feature He is always present in His transcendental abode of Goloka Vṛndāvana, where He displays His transcendental pastimes in all variegatedness. His activities cannot be compared to anyone else’s, and therefore the word urukrama is just applicable to Him only. ¶

According to Sanskrit verbal arrangement, kurvanti refers to doing things for someone else. Therefore, it means that the ātmārāmas render devotional service unto the Lord not for personal interest but for the pleasure of the Lord, Urukrama. ¶

Hetu means “causal.” There are many causes for one’s sense satisfaction, and they can be chiefly classified as material enjoyment, mystic powers and liberation, which are generally desired by progressive persons. As far as material enjoyments are concerned, they are innumerable, and the materialists are eager to increase them more and more because they are under the illusory energy. There is no end to the list of material enjoyments, nor can anyone in the material universe have all of them. As far as the mystic powers are concerned, they are eight in all (such as to become the minutest in form, to become weightless, to have anything one desires, to lord it over the material nature, to control other living beings, to throw earthly globes in outer space, etc.). These mystic powers are mentioned in the Bhāgavatam. The forms of liberation are five in number. ¶

Therefore, unalloyed devotion means service to the Lord without desire for the above-mentioned personal benefits. And the powerful Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa can be fully satisfied by such unalloyed devotees free from all sorts of desires for personal benefit. ¶

Unalloyed devotional service of the Lord progresses in different stages. Practice of devotional service in the material field is of eighty-one different qualities, and above such activities is the transcendental practice of devotional service, which is one and is called sādhana-bhakti. When unalloyed practice of sādhana-bhakti is matured into transcendental love for the Lord, the transcendental loving service of the Lord begins gradually developing into nine progressive stages of loving service under the headings of attachment, love, affection, feelings, affinity, adherence, following, ecstasy, and intense feelings of separation. ¶

The attachment of an inactive devotee develops up to the stage of transcendental love of God. Attachment of an active servitor develops up to the stage of adherence, and that for a friendly devotee develops up to the stage of following, and the same is also the case for the paternal devotees. Devotees in conjugal love develop ecstasy up to the stage of intense feelings of separation. These are some of the features of unalloyed devotional service of the Lord. ¶

According to Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, the import of the word ittham-bhūta is “complete bliss.” Transcendental bliss in the realization of impersonal Brahman becomes comparable to the scanty water contained in the pit made by a cow’s hoof. It is nothing compared with the ocean of bliss of the vision of the Personality of Godhead. The personal form of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is so attractive that it comprehends all attraction, all bliss and all tastes (rasas). These attractions are so strong that no one wants to exchange them for material enjoyment, mystic powers and liberation. There is no need of logical arguments in support of this statement, but out of one’s own nature one becomes attracted by the qualities of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. We must know for certain that the qualities of the Lord have nothing to do with mundane qualities. All of them are full of bliss, knowledge and eternity. There are innumerable qualities of the Lord, and one is attracted by one quality while another is attracted by another. ¶

Great sages, such as the four bachelor-devotees Sanaka, Sanātana, Sananda and Sanat-kumāra, were attracted by the fragrance of flowers and tulasī leaves anointed with the pulp of sandalwood offered at the lotus feet of the Lord. Similarly, Śukadeva Gosvāmī was attracted by the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Śukadeva Gosvāmī was already situated in the liberated stage, yet he was attracted by the pastimes of the Lord. This proves that the quality of His pastimes has nothing to do with material affinity. Similarly, the young cowherd damsels were attracted by the bodily features of the Lord, and Rukmiṇī was attracted by hearing about the glories of the Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa attracts even the mind of the goddess of fortune. He attracts, in special cases, the minds of all young girls. He attracts the minds of the elderly ladies by paternal affection. He attracts the mind of the male in the humors of servitude and friendship. ¶

The word hari conveys various meanings, but the chief import of the word is that He (the Lord) vanquishes everything inauspicious and takes away the mind of the devotee by awarding pure transcendental love. By remembering the Lord in acute distress one can be free from all varieties of miseries and anxieties. Gradually the Lord vanquishes all obstacles on the path of devotional service of a pure devotee, and the result of nine devotional activities, such as hearing and chanting, becomes manifested. ¶

By His personal features and transcendental attributes, the Lord attracts all psychological activities of a pure devotee. Such is the attractive power of Lord Kṛṣṇa. The attraction is so powerful that a pure devotee never hankers for any one of the four principles of religion. These are the attractive features of the transcendental attributes of the Lord. And adding to this the words api and ca, one can increase the imports unlimitedly. According to Sanskrit grammar there are seven synonyms for the word api. ¶

So by interpreting each and every word of this śloka, one can see unlimited numbers of transcendental qualities of Lord Kṛṣṇa that attract the mind of a pure devotee. ¶