saká¹›d yad-aá¹…ga-pratimÄntar-ÄhitÄ
manomayÄ« bhÄgavatÄ«á¹ dadau gatim
sa eva nityÄtma-sukhÄnubhÅ«ty-abhi-
vyudasta-mÄyo 'ntar-gato hi kiá¹ punaḥ
saká¹›t - once only; yat - whose; aá¹…ga-pratimÄ - the form of the Supreme Lord (there are many forms, but Kṛṣṇa is the original form); antaḥ-ÄhitÄ - placing within the core of the heart, somehow or other; manaḥ-mayÄ« - thinking of Him even by force; bhÄgavatÄ«m - which is competent to offer devotional service to the Lord; dadau - Kṛṣṇa gave; gatim - the best destination; saḥ - He (the Supreme Personality of Godhead); eva - indeed; nitya - always; Ätma - of all living entities; sukha-anubhÅ«ti - anyone thinking of Him immediately enjoys transcendental pleasure; abhivyudasta-mÄyaḥ - because all illusion is completely removed by Him; antaḥ-gataḥ - He is always present within the core of the heart; hi - indeed; kim punaḥ - what to speak.
If even only once or even by force one brings the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead into one’s mind, one can attain the supreme salvation by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, as did AghÄsura. What then is to be said of those whose hearts the Supreme Personality of Godhead enters when He appears as an incarnation, or those who always think of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the source of transcendental bliss for all living entities and by whom all illusion is completely removed?
The process for receiving the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is described here. Yat-pÄda-paá¹…kaja-palÄÅ›a-vilÄsa-bhaktyÄ (BhÄg. 4.22.39). Simply by thinking of Kṛṣṇa, one can attain Him very easily. Kṛṣṇa is also described as having His lotus feet always within the hearts of His devotees (bhagavÄn bhakta-há¹›di sthitaḥ). In the case of AghÄsura, one may argue that he was not a devotee. The answer to this is that he thought of Kṛṣṇa for a moment with devotion. BhaktyÄham ekayÄ grÄhyaḥ. Without devotion, one cannot think of Kṛṣṇa; and, conversely, whenever one thinks of Kṛṣṇa, one undoubtedly has devotion. Although AghÄsura’s purpose was to kill Kṛṣṇa, for a moment AghÄsura thought of Kṛṣṇa with devotion, and Kṛṣṇa and His associates wanted to sport within AghÄsura’s mouth. Similarly, PÅ«tanÄ wanted to kill Kṛṣṇa by poisoning Him, but Kṛṣṇa took her as His mother because He had accepted the milk of her breast. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trÄyate mahato bhayÄt (Bg. 2.40). Especially when Kṛṣṇa appears as an avatÄra, anyone who thinks of Kṛṣṇa in His different incarnations (rÄmÄdi-mÅ«rtiá¹£u kalÄ-niyamena tiá¹£á¹han), and especially in His original form as Kṛṣṇa, attains salvation. There are many instances of this, and among them is AghÄsura, who attained the salvation of sÄrÅ«pya-mukti. Therefore the process is satataá¹ kÄ«rtayanto mÄá¹ yatantaÅ› ca dá¹›á¸ha-vratÄḥ (Bg. 9.14). Those who are devotees always engage in glorifying Kṛṣṇa. Advaitam acyutam anÄdim ananta-rÅ«pam: when we speak of Kṛṣṇa, we refer to all His avatÄras, such as Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, NÄrÄyaṇa, Viṣṇu, Lord Caitanya, Kṛṣṇa-BalarÄma and ÅšyÄmasundara. One who always thinks of Kṛṣṇa must attain vimukti, special salvation as the Lord’s personal associate, not necessarily in Vá¹›ndÄvana, but at least in Vaikuṇá¹ha. This is called sÄrÅ«pya-mukti.
