Hahaaha this passage is the essence of all Bhakti. Only very few can truly understand it. Please allow me to elaborate:
In short, Bhakti means Krsna Anushilam (the desire to please the senses of Krsna). A Bhakta's only goal and source of pleasure is the please the senses of the Lord. However, Lord Krsna is called Bhakta Vatsala (loving of His devotees) and He reciprocates. Krsna loves His devotees so much, that they are more dear to Him then His own self. They can control Krsna with their Love. When His devotees are in trouble Krsna will come running. He may tolerate it when demons attack Him, but when they attack His devotees, He never tolerates it. Radharani, who is Krsna's greatest devotees is so great that She can control Krsna by Her love. That is why, when we serve the devotees and worship them, Krsna is more pleases then being directly worshiped Himself! This is the purport of this verse. Someone who worships Krsna's devotees are truly His devotees because they understand His heart, and know how to please Him. Another hidden purport of this verse, is that all the primary devotees of Krsna (like Radha, Baladeva etc) are all manifestations of Krsna Himself ahah!!
In Chaitanya Bhagavata, Vrndavana das Thakur gives the following verses. Please read them carefully with the commentary of Jagad Guru Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur:
amara bhaktera puja-ama haite bada”
sei prabhu vede-bhagavate kaila dadha
TRANSLATION
That same Supreme Personality of Godhead has declared in the Vedas and Shrimad Bhagavatam, “Worship of My devotees is superior to worship of Me.”
COMMENTARY
The devotees who worship the opulent feature of the Lord first develop in their hearts the conception that only the worship of the Supreme Lord is important. This conception, however, diminishes the glories of worshiping the devotees and exhibits their lack of love and devotion for the Supreme Lord.
As stated in the Padma Purana:
aradhananam sarvesham vishnor aradhanam param
tasmat parataram devi tadiyanam samarcanam
arcayitva tu govindam tadiyan narcayet tu yah
na sa bhagavato jneyah kevalam dambhikah smritah
“Of all types of worship, worship of Lord Vishnu is best, and better than the worship of Lord Vishnu is the worship of His devotee, the Vaishnava. One who performs worship of Lord Govinda but fails to worship His devotees should be understood to be not a devotee of the Lord but simply a victim of false pride.”
The word dadha means dridha, or “determination.” In the path of awe and reverence, the Supreme Lord alone is worshiped and His servants are the worshipers. But in the path of spontaneous attachment, awe and reverence are not prominent in the relationship between the object of worship and the worshiper; rather, the attitude of service is prominent. The servants have great pride in their service. Therefore the servants in madhurya-rasa consider themselves greater than their worshipable Lord Krishna. In other words, such persons consider their worshipable Lord as their subordinate, or under their control.
The superiority of worshiping the Lord’s devotees is celebrated in the Vedas. Some examples are found in the following statements.
The Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.10) states: tasmad atma-jnam hy arcayed bhuti-kamah-“By worshiping the devotees of the Lord, all one’s desires will be fulfilled.” Baladeva Vidyabhushana has written in his Govinda-bhashya commentary on the Vedanta-sutras (3.3.51): atma-jnam bhagavat-tattva-jnam tad bhaktam ity arthah; bhuti-kamo moksha-paryanta-sampatti-lipsur ity arthah. In other words, if one wants the highest benediction, he should serve the devotees of the Lord.
In Madhvacarya’s commentary on the Vedanta-sutras (3.3.47), he quotes the following from the Poshayana-shrutis: tanupasva tanupacarasva tebhyah shrinu hi te tamavantu-“Worship the devotees of the Lord, serve the devotees of the Lord, and hear from the devotees of the Lord, for they will protect you.”
In the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (6.23) it is stated:
yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau
tasyaite kathita hy arthah prakashante mahatmanah
“Only unto those great souls who have implicit faith in both the Lord and the spiritual master are all the imports of Vedic knowledge automatically revealed.” There are many similar statements found in the Vedas.
In the Itihasa-samuccaya it is stated:
tasmad vishnu-prasadaya vaishnavan paritoshayet
prasada-sumukho vishnus tenaiva syan na samshayah
“In order to attain the mercy of Lord Vishnu, one should satisfy the Vaishnavas. There is no doubt that by their mercy, Vishnu will be pleased.” There are many similar statements in the Vaishnava literatures.
TEXT 9
mad-bhakta-pujabhyadhika sarva-bhuteshu man-matih
TRANSLATION
“Worshiping My devotees is better than directly worshiping Me.”
COMMENTARY
When the great devotee Uddhava inquired about pure devotional service and knowledge of the Supreme Lord for the welfare of the living entities, Lord Krishna glorified His devotees in this verse from the Shrimad Bhagavatam (11.19.21) while describing the various limbs of pure devotional service.
TEXT 10
eteke karila age bhaktera vandana
ataeva ache karya siddhira lakshana
TRANSLATION
I have therefore offered my prayers first to the devotees, as this is the secret for attaining perfection.
COMMENTARY
In the Adi Purana, it is stated:
ye me bhakta-janah partha na me bhaktash ca te janah
mad bhaktanam ca ye bhaktas te me bhaktatamah matah
“My dear Partha, those who claim to be My devotees are not My devotees, but those who claim to be devotees of My devotees are actually My devotees.”
Also in the Shrimad Bhagavatam (3.17.2) it is said:
durapa hy alpa-tapasah seva vaikuntha-vartmasu
yatropagiyate nityam deva-devo janardanah
“Persons whose austerity is meager can hardly obtain the service of the pure devotees who are progressing on the path back to the kingdom of Godhead, the Vaikunthas. Pure devotees engage one hundred percent in glorifying the Supreme Lord, who is the Lord of the demigods and the controller of all living entities.”
In the Padma Purana, Uttara-khanda, it is stated:
arcayitva tu govindam tadiyan narcayet tu yah
na sa bhagavato jneyah kevalam dambhikah smritah
tasmad sarva-prayatnena vaishnavan pujayet sada
sarvam tarati duhkhaugham mahabhagavatarcanat
“One who performs worship of Lord Govinda but fails to worship His devotees should be understood to be not a devotee of the Lord but simply a victim of false pride. One should always worship the Vaishnavas by all means, for by worshiping the great devotees one is freed from all miseries.”
In this way various other statements glorifying the worship of pure devotees are found in the scriptures.
The word karya-siddhi is explained by Baladeva Vidyabhushana in his Govinda-bhashya commentary on the Vedanta-sutras (3.3.51), wherein he quotes from the Shandilya-smriti as follows:
siddhir bhavati va neti samshayo ‘cyuta sevinam
nihsamshayas tu tad bhakta paricaryaratatmanam
kevalam bhagavat-pada- sevaya vimalam manah
na jayate yatha nityam tad bhakta-caranarcanat
“One may doubt whether the servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead will attain perfection, but there is absolutely no doubt that those who are attached to serving His devotees will attain perfection. One’s mind is not as fully purified by serving the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord as it is by serving the feet of His devotees.”
Shrila Kaviraja Gosvami has written in the Chaitanya-caritamrita (Adi 1.20-21) as follows: “In the beginning of this narration, simply by remembering the spiritual master, the devotees of the Lord, and the Personality of Godhead, I have invoked their benedictions. Such remembrance destroys all difficulties and very easily enables one to fulfill his own desires.”
Jaya Nitaai!
