एतावानेव लोकेऽस्मिन्पुंसां धर्मः परः स्मृतः ।
भक्तियोगो भगवति तन्नामग्रहणादिभिः ॥२२॥

etÄvÄn eva loke 'smin
puá¹sÄá¹ dharmaḥ paraḥ smá¹›taḥ
bhakti-yogo bhagavati
tan-nÄma-grahaṇÄdibhiḥ

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

 etÄvÄn - this much; eva - indeed; loke asmin - in this material world; puá¹sÄm - of the living entities; dharmaḥ - the religious principles; paraḥ - transcendental; smá¹›taḥ - recognized; bhakti-yogaḥ - bhakti-yoga, or devotional service; bhagavati - to the Supreme Personality of Godhead (not to the demigods); tat - His; nÄma - of the holy name; grahaṇa-Ädibhiḥ - beginning with chanting.


Text

Devotional service, beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society.

Purport

As stated in the previous verse, dharmaá¹ bhÄgavatam, real religious principles, are bhÄgavata-dharma, the principles described in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam itself or in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ, the preliminary study of the BhÄgavatam. What are these principles? The BhÄgavatam says, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra: in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam there are no cheating religious systems. Everything in the BhÄgavatam is directly connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The BhÄgavatam further says, sa vai puá¹sÄá¹ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoká¹£aje: the supreme religion is that which teaches its followers how to love the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is beyond the reach of experimental knowledge. Such a religious system begins with tan-nÄma-grahaṇa, chanting of the holy name of the Lord (Å›ravaṇaá¹ kÄ«rtanaá¹ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaá¹ pÄda-sevanam). After chanting the holy name of the Lord and dancing in ecstasy, one gradually sees the form of the Lord, the pastimes of the Lord and the transcendental qualities of the Lord. This way one fully understands the situation of the Personality of Godhead. One can come to this understanding of the Lord, how He descends into the material world, how He takes His births and what activities He performs, but one can know this only by executing devotional service. As stated in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ, bhaktyÄ mÄm abhijÄnÄti: simply by devotional service one can understand everything about the Supreme Lord. If one fortunately understands the Supreme Lord in this way, the result is tyaktvÄ dehaá¹ punar janma naiti: after giving up his material body, he no longer has to take birth in this material world. Instead, he returns home, back to Godhead. That is the ultimate perfection. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (8.15):

mÄm upetya punar janma
 duḥkhÄlayam aÅ›ÄÅ›vatam
nÄpnuvanti mahÄtmÄnaḥ
 saá¹siddhiá¹ paramÄá¹ gatÄḥ

“After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogÄ«s in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.â€