emana kṛpālu nāhi śuni tribhuvane |
kṛṣṇa-premā haya yāra dūra-daraśane ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.16.121)
“We do not hear of anyone so gracious in the three worlds, by [even] the distant sight of whom prema for Kṛṣṇa manifests.”
sarvāṇi mad-dhiṣṇyatayā bhavadbhiś
carāṇi bhūtāni sutā dhruvāṇi |
sambhāvitavyāni pade pade vo
vivikta-dṛgbhis tad uhārhaṇaṁ me ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.5.26)
“[Ṛṣabhadeva:] O sons! All beings, moving and stationary, are to be honored from moment to moment by you all possessed of prowess and pure vision [i.e., vision free from observation of envy and the like] as being abodes of me. That itself is worship of me.”
sā rādhikā bhagavatī kvacid īkṣyate cet
premā tadānubhavam ṛcchati mūrtimān saḥ |
śakyeta ced gaditum eṣa tayā tadaiva
śrūyeta tattvam iha ced bhavati sva-śaktiḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.233)
“If ever she, Bhagavatī Rādhikā, is seen, then one attains experience of the embodiment of prema, and if this [i.e., prema] can ever be described by her, only then the essential nature [of that prema] shall be heard about, if one’s ability for that remains.”
sāmānyataḥ kiñcid idaṁ mayoktaṁ
vaktuṁ viśeṣeṇa na śakyate tat |
premā tu kṛṣṇe vraja-yoṣitāṁ yas
tat-tattvam ākhyātum alaṁ kathaṁ syām ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.231)
“This much [about prema] is said by me in general. I am not able to describe that in depth. Indeed how would I be able to describe the essential nature of the prema for Kṛṣṇa of the ladies of Vraja?”
aurva-stomāt kaṭur api kathaṁ durbalenorasā me
tāpaḥ prauḍho hari-virahajaḥ sahyate tan na jāne |
niṣkrāntā ced bhavati hṛdayād yasya dhūma-cchaṭāpi
brahmāṇḍānāṁ sakhi kulam api jvālayā jājvalīti ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.187)
“[Rādhā to Viśākhā:]
Scorching even more so
Than a cluster of submarine volcanos,
How is the brutal heat [alt., sorrow, or, pain]
Produced by separation from Hari
Endured by my weak chest?
This I do not know.
If even a puff of its smoke
Is released from my heart,
O Sakhī,
Even the multitude of universes
Will be incinerated in a blaze.”
gurubhir api niṣiddhā tām ahaṁ yāvad akṣṇoḥ
padam anayam ananta-śreyasāṁ sadma rādhām |
tṛṣitam iva mano me prekṣate tanvi tāvad
diśi diśi viharantīṁ śyāmalāṁ śālabhañjīm ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.27)
“[A gopī newly arrived near Vṛṣabhānupura:]
O slender one [i.e., O Sakhī],
Although forbidden by elders,
Ever since I brought that Abode of infinite virtue,
Rādhā,
Onto the path of my eyes,
My mind,
As though thirsty,
Sees a sporting swarthy figure
In every direction.”
lokottara-padārthānāṁ prabhāvaḥ ko’py anargalaḥ |
ratiṁ tad-viṣayaṁ cāsau bhāsayet tūrṇam ekadā ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.16)
“Otherworldly objects have extraordinary unchecked potency, and one [such object] can immediately at once manifest rati [for Śrī Kṛṣṇa] and the object thereof [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself, the object of rati].”
adbhuta nigūḍha premera mādhurya-mahimā |
āpani āsvādi’ prabhu dekhāilā sīmā ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.17.67)
“The greatness of the sweetness (mādhurya) of prema is astonishing and highly confidential. Personally relishing [this], Prabhu showed the extremity [thereof].”
bhrātaḥ premṇaḥ svarūpaṁ yat tad dhi jānanti tad-vidaḥ |
yasya cittārdratā-jātaṁ bāhyaṁ kampādi-lakṣaṇam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.226)
“Brother, only the experiencers thereof know that which is the essential nature of prema and of which the external characteristics of trembling and so on are produced by meltedness of the heart.”
vimuktākhila-tarṣair yā muktir api vimṛgyate |
yā kṛṣṇenātigopyāśu bhajadbhyo’pi na dīyate ||
sā bhukti-mukti-kāmatvāc chuddhāṁ bhaktim akurvatām |
hṛdaye sambhavaty eṣāṁ kathaṁ bhāgavatī ratiḥ ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.3.42–43)
“That which is sought even by the liberated who are completely free from all [extraneous] desires, which is highly confidential and [which is] not given by Kṛṣṇa quickly even to worshippers [of himself]—how can [that] rati for Bhagavān appear in the heart of those who do not perform pure bhakti on account of being possessed of desire for enjoyment or liberation?”
