Verse-17
Chapter 7 — Gyan Vigyan Yoga
Verse 17
🕉 Original Sanskrit Shloka
teşāṁ jñānī nityayukta ekabhaktirviśiṣyate
priyo hi jñānino'tyarthamaham sa ch mama priyaḥ
🕉 English Translation
Hai gyani mager shreshtha charon mein hee
Jo ek roop ho karta bhakti meri.
Pyara mai lagtaa bahut gyani ko,
Mujhko bhi usseh bahut pyar ho.
📜 Translation
English
Amongst these four devotees the one who is in constant union with Me, the devotee of knowledge is the one who excels, because the man of wisdom who knows Me in essence is supremely dear to Me and I am dear to him.
Though all the four types of devotees are devoted to the Lord but apart from the man of knowledge others have some or the other desire lurking in them. The man seeking material objects desires to get his selfish ends fulfilled from the Lord; the man in distress seeks deliverance from his sufferings from the Lord, the seeker does not entertain worldly desire but does have the desire for attaining the divine; but the man of knowledge is such a devotee who is devoid of any kind of desire. Where the constant abidance in divine emotions occurs naturally; where devotion is single-pointed, and not concentrated elsewhere; there are no other emotions of any kind at all:
The man of knowledge does not have attachment anywhere else neither in this world nor in the world beyond. Dedication, concentration of the intellect, direction, affection-all are for the Supreme! Come what may, the bond of affection flows continuously-unrestricted-unbroken. Several efforts were made to deviate Prahlad from his path; but the centre of affection remained that only One! On Meera were inflicted so many sufferings and tortures; but the love for the Lord remained undeterred... Mere toh Girdhar Gopal dosro na koi' For Me exists only Lord Krishna and none else. The very nature of the Lord is love-love is Lord and Lord is love. When one after withdrawing his attention from all else, collects and dedicates one pointed affection to Him, then by itself, naturally the Lord's affection also surges for him. The devotee with knowledge does not consider any state or direction without Him; for this reason the showering of Lord's affection is felt naturally on him.
But this does not mean that other devotees are of an inferior kind or the Lord is indifferent towards them. In the following verse, is the description of the speciality of the man of knowledge along with it.