na tathÄ me priyatama
Ätma-yonir na Å›aá¹…karaḥ
na ca saṅkarṣaṇo na śrīr
naivÄtmÄ ca yathÄ bhavÄn

2 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: CC(1) , SB(1)

 na - not; tathÄ - in the same way; me - to Me; priya-tamaḥ - most dear; Ätma-yoniḥ - Lord BrahmÄ, who is born from My body; na - nor; saá¹…karaḥ - Lord Åšiva; na - nor; ca - also; saá¹…kará¹£aṇaḥ - My direct expansion Lord Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa; na - nor; Å›rīḥ - the goddess of fortune; na - nor; eva - certainly; ÄtmÄ - My own self as the Deity; ca - also; yathÄ - as much as; bhavÄn - you.


Text

My dear Uddhava, neither Lord BrahmÄ, Lord Åšiva, Lord Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, the goddess of fortune nor indeed My own self are as dear to Me as you are.

Purport

The Lord has described in the previous verses the unalloyed love of His pure devotees for Him, and now the Lord describes His love for His devotees. Ä€tma-yoni means Lord BrahmÄ, who is born directly from the Lord’s body. Lord Åšiva always gives great pleasure to Lord Kṛṣṇa by his constant meditation upon Him, and Saá¹…kará¹£aṇa, or BalarÄma, is the Lord’s brother in kṛṣṇa-lÄ«lÄ. The goddess of fortune is the Lord’s wife, and the word ÄtmÄ here indicates the Lord’s own self as the Deity. None of these personalities — even the Lord’s own self — are as dear to Him as His pure devotee Uddhava, an akiñcana devotee of the Lord. ÅšrÄ«la MadhvÄcÄrya cites from Vedic literature the example that a gentleman sometimes neglects his own interest and that of his children to give charity to a poor beggar. Similarly, the Lord gives preference to a helpless devotee who depends completely on His mercy. The only way to obtain the Lord’s mercy is through His causeless love, and the Lord is most lovingly inclined toward those devotees who are most dependent on Him, just as ordinary mothers and fathers worry more about their helpless children than about those who are self-sufficient. Thus even if one lacks any material qualification, one should simply depend upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without any other interest, and surely one will achieve the highest perfection of life.