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  • kiṁ kāvyena kaves tasya kiṁ kāṇḍena dhanuṣmataḥ |
    parasya hṛdaye lagnaṁ na ghūrṇayati yac chiraḥ ||
    (Nala-campū: 1.5; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.1.195)

    “What good is a poet’s poetry or a bowman’s arrow which strikes the heart of another but do not cause the head [of the other] to spin?”

    Read on →: kiṁ kāvyena kaves tasya kiṁ kāṇḍena dhanuṣmataḥ

  • itara-pāpa-phalāni yathecchayā
    vitara tāni sahe caturānana |
    arasikeṣu kavitva-nivedanaṁ
    śirasi mā likha mā likha mā likha ||
    (Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)

    “I shall bear [all] those other reactions to my sins you allocate as per your wish, O Brahmā. Just do not write, do not write, do not write on my forehead, “Presenting poetics to the tasteless.”

    Read on →: itara-pāpa-phalāni yathecchayā

  • sarva-laukikātīte’pi tasmin laukikārtha-viśeṣopamā-dvārā lokānāṁ buddhi-praveśaḥsyād iti kenāpy aṁśenopameyam |
    (Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.1)

    “People’s intellect can have [some limited] entrance into that [i.e., the subject matter of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, bhakti-rasa, and so forth], even though it is beyond everything of the world, through comparisons [made] with particular worldly objects. Thus, it is comparable in some respect [i.e., things of the world can be compared to particular aspects of it as required to convey general knowledge of those aspects of its nature].”

    Read on →: sarva-laukikātīte’pi tasmin laukikārtha-viśeṣopamā-dvārā

  • kāvya-śāstra-vinodena kālo gacchati dhīmatām | 
    vyasanena tu mūrkhāṇāṁ nidrayā kalahena vā ||
    (Hitopadeśa: Mitra-lābha, 1)

    “The time of the wise is spent with the joy of kāvya-śāstra, whereas that of fools with vice, sleep, and quarrel.”

    Read on →: kāvya-śāstra-vinodena kālo gacchati dhīmatām

  • saṁsāra-viṣa-vṛkṣasya dve phale hy amṛtopame |
    kāvyāmṛta-rasāsvādaḥ saṅgamaḥ sajjanaiḥ saha ||
    (Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāra)

    “On the poisonous tree of saṁsāra only two fruits are like nectar: tasting the rasa of the nectar of poetry (kāvya) and associating with sādhus.”

    Read on →: saṁsāra-viṣa-vṛkṣasya dve phale hy amṛtopame

  • viśiṣṭāḥ śabdā viśiṣṭā arthāś ca militvā kāvyatāṁ yānti |
    (Samudra-bandha on Bhāmahālaṅkāra 1.16)

    “Special sounds and special meanings come together and become poetry.”

    Read on →: viśiṣṭāḥ śabdā viśiṣṭā arthāś ca militvā kāvyatāṁ yānti

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