Verse 2.3.136

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.3.136:

अन्यथेतर-कर्माणीवैतेऽपि स्यूर् न सङ्गताः ।
कायेन्द्रियात्म-चेष्टातो ज्ञानेनात्मनि शोधिते ॥ १३६ ॥

anyathetara-karmāṇīvaite'pi syūr na saṅgatāḥ |
kāyendriyātma-ceṣṭāto jñānenātmani śodhite || 136 ||

anyathā–otherwise; itara-karmāṇi–other activities; iva–like; ete–they; api–also; syūḥ na–they can not be; saṅgatāḥ–because of contact; kāya–with the body; indriya–and senses; ātmaceṣṭātaḥ–from the activities of the soul; jñānena–through knowledge; ātmani–in the self; śodhite–purified.

If bhakti to the Lord were also to be an activity of the senses like all other mundane activities, then it could not be the function of the soul. Alternatively, it may be said that if by knowledge, the soul were to be cleansed of the entanglement of activities with the body and senses, then the nine processes of bhakti, like material activities, could not be functions of the soul. This is because the process of bhakti, unlike material activities, is not rooted in the living being’s false ego of being the doer. Bhakti mercifully sports on her own accord in the soul that is purified of the false ego of being the doer.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

The Vaikuṇṭha pārṣadas say, “Otherwise, if navadhā-bhakti were just activity of the mundane senses, then were the soul to be cleansed of its entanglement of activities with the body and senses through knowledge (jñāna) or wisdom (viveka), the process of navadhā-bhakti would also be reproachable like all other mundane activities, both regular (nitya) and occasional (naimittika). In other words, if navadhā-bhakti was just activity of the mundane senses, it could not be the function, or dharma, of the soul.”

“Indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartante–All the senses are engaged with their respective sense objects.” According to this logic of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā (5.9), the truth of the self (ātma-tattva) can be obtained by the knowledge of being free from the false ego of being the doer. Jñanīs (persons advanced in such knowledge) also discard all mundane objects through this very wisdom. However, the process of devotion (bhakti-vidhi) is not within the jursdiction of mundane nitya and naimittika activities, nor can it be separated from the soul through the culture of knowledge or wisdom.