न वै जनो जातु कथंचनाव्रजे- न्मुकुन्दसेव्यन्यवदङ्ग संसृतिम् । स्मरन्मुकुन्दाङ्घ्र्युपगूहनं पुन- र्विहातुमिच्छेन्न रसग्रहो यत: ॥१९॥

na vai jano jÄtu kathañcanÄvrajen
mukunda-sevy anyavad aá¹…ga saá¹sá¹›tim
smaran mukundÄá¹…ghry-upagÅ«hanaá¹ punar
vihÄtum icchen na rasa-graho janaḥ


Text

Oh! The person who serves Mukunda will never under any condition return to the material world, unlike practitioners of other processes. Remembering the embrace of the Lord’s lotus feet, eager for that taste he has experienced, he will not desire to give up those feet again.

Purport

This verse elaborates the point that there is no misfortune for the devotee. Even if overcome because of poor determination, the person who serves Mukunda neverna jatu), returns to samsara, the place for enjoying the results of karma, whereas those practicing karma (anyavat) return. That is because he does not experience happiness and distress from karmas, since he experiences only the fruit of happiness and distress directly given by the Lord.

tvad avagami na vetti bhavad-uttha-subhasubhayor

When a person realizes You, he no longer cares about his good and bad fortune arising from past pious and sinful acts, since it is You alone who control this good and bad fortune. SB 10.87.40

Na karma-bandhanam janma vaisnavanam ca vidyate

The Vaisnavas do not have rebirth caused by karma. Padma Purana

Remembering from previous practice alone the mental embrace (upaguhanam) of the Lord’s lotus feet, he has no desire to give that up. The verse does not say “remembering his lotus feet†but rather “remembering the embrace of his lotus feet.†And the word “again†is used. The implication of these two words is that even though he may give up by his own choice the worship, once, twice or three times because of poor determination, after some time, by remembering his previous state of bliss from remembering the Lord and also remembering his present state of distress from not remembering the Lord, he repents. “Oh! Oh! What have I foolishly done? Let that be. I will not again abandon worship of Lord.†He again begins worshipping the Lord.

The verse also uses the phrase “does not desire to give up†instead of “does not give up.†This implies that he desires that he be devoid of pride in his practice. The accomplishment is in the hands of the Lord. The cause of not desiring to give up is then mentioned. Rasa-graha means one who is eager for tasting, or one who has a taste which is something like a ghost which cannot be given up, “haunted by rasa.†The meaning is then that worship after the stages of nistha, ruci and asakti, becomes actual rasa at the stage of rati. However, even from the first day of worshipping the Lord, there is certainly a portion of tasting rasa in a very covered form. Thus it is said:

bhaktih paresanubhavo viraktir anyatra caisa trika eka-kalah
prapadyamanasya yathasnatah syus tustih pustih ksud-apayo ’nu-ghasam

Devotion, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from other things-these three occur simultaneously for one who has taken shelter of Krsna, in the same way that pleasure, fullness of the stomach and relief from hunger are experienced simultaneously, with each bite, for a person engaged in eating. SB 11.2.42