sarvathaiva durūho’yam abhaktair bhagavad-rasaḥ |
tat-pādāmbuja-sarvasvair bhaktair evānurasyate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.131; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.23.100)
“This Bhagavad-rasa is in all cases difficult to comprehend for non-bhaktas. It is relished only by bhaktas whose all is his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] lotus feet.”
phalgu-vairāgya-nirdagdhāḥ śuṣka-jñānāś ca haitukāḥ |
mīmāṁsakā viśeṣeṇa bhakty-āsvāda-bahirmukhāḥ ||
ity eṣa bhakti-rasikaiś caurād iva mahānidhiḥ |
jaran-mīmāṁsakād rakṣyaḥ kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasaḥ sadā ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.129–130)
“Those burnt by useless non-attachment, those of dry knowledge, logicians, and in particular examiners (mīmāṁsakas) are averse to relishing bhakti. Thus, like a great treasure from a thief, this Kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa is always to be protected from old mīmāṁsakas [and to be protected as appropriate from the others] by bhakti-rasikas.”
tan niśamyātha munayo vismitā mukta-saṁśayāḥ |
bhūyāṁsaṁ śraddadhur viṣṇuṁ yataḥ śāntir yato’bhayam ||
dharmaḥ sākṣād yato jñānaṁ vairāgyaṁ ca tad-anvitam |
aiśvaryaṁ cāṣṭadhā yasmād yaśaś cātma-malāpaham ||
munīnāṁ nyasta-daṇḍānāṁ śāntānāṁ sama-cetasām |
akiñcanānāṁ sādhūnāṁ yam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim ||
sattvaṁ yasya priyā mūrtir brāhmaṇās tv iṣṭa-devatāḥ |
bhajanty anāśiṣaḥ śāntā yaṁ vā nipuṇa-buddhayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.89.14–17)
“Then, hearing that [i.e., Bhṛgu’s account of his meetings with Brahmā, Śiva, and Viṣṇu], the sages became amazed, freed from doubt, and possessed of immense śraddhā in Viṣṇu, from whom comes peace; from whom comes fearlessness; from whom comes direct dharma, [direct] knowledge (jñāna), and non-attachment (vairāgya) following that; from whom comes eightfold metaphysical power, glory, and removal of the impurities in the psyche; whom they [i.e., the wise] call the ultimate refuge of the sages, of those who have laid down the staff, of the tranquil, and of the equanimous—the divested, the sādhus; whose dear form is Existence [i.e., Brahman]; [whose] iṣṭa-devatās are the brāhmaṇas; and whom those who are desireless, tranquil, and of sharp intellect worship.”
tasmān mad-bhakti-yuktasya yogino vai mad-ātmanaḥ |
na jñānaṁ na ca vairāgyaṁ prāyaḥ śreyo bhaved iha ||
yat karmabhir yat tapasā jñāna-vairāgyataś ca yat |
yogena dāna-dharmeṇa śreyobhir itarair api ||
sarvaṁ mad-bhakti-yogena mad-bhakto labhate’ñjasā |
svargāpavargaṁ mad-dhāma kathañcid yadi vāñchati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.20.31–33)
“Therefore, for a yogī engaged in bhakti to me with mind on me, neither jñāna nor vairāgya shall in general be a means of benefit here. What can come to be by means of righteous acts, what can come to be by means of austerity, and what can come to be by means of jñāna and vairāgya, as well as by yoga, charity, and other means of benefit—all of that, as well as Svarga, apavarga [i.e., mukti], and my abode, my bhakta attains quickly by means of the practice (yoga) of bhakti to me if one somehow desires [to attain any of those ends].”
mallānām aśanir nṛṇāṁ nara-varaḥ strīṇāṁ smaro mūrtimān
gopānāṁ sva-jano’satāṁ kṣiti-bhujāṁ śāstā sva-pitroḥ śiśuḥ |
mṛtyur bhoja-pater virāḍ aviduṣāṁ tattvaṁ paraṁ yogināṁ
vṛṣṇīnāṁ para-devateti vidito raṅgaṁ gataḥ sāgrajaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.43.17)
“Being perceived as
A lighting bolt by the wrestlers,
The best of men by the menfolk,
Kāmadeva embodied by women,
A kinsmen by the cowherds,
A punisher by the kings,
A child by his parents,
Death by the ruler of the Bhogas [viz., Kaṁsa],
A [mere, ordinary human] kṣatriya by the ignorant,
The Supreme Reality by the yogīs,
And the Supreme Devatā by the Vṛṣṇis,
He entered the area
Along with his elder brother.”
śṛṅgaṁ hi manmathodbhedas tad-āgamana-hetukaḥ |
uttama-prakṛti-prāyo rasaḥ śṛṅgāra iṣyate ||
(Sāhitya-darpaṇa: 3.183; cited in the Locana-rocanī-ṭīkā on Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 1.21)
“Since [the word] śṛṅga [lit., ‘peak’] refers to the emergence of amorous passion [lit., ‘the Mind-churner’] (Manmatha) [viz., Kāmadeva], the rasa the cause of which is the arising of that [i.e., of the emergence of amorous passion] and the basis of which primarily is the exalted [i.e., a nāyaka and nāyikā of exalted character] is called śṛṅgāra.”
sā vāg yayā tasya guṇān gṛṇīte
karau ca tat-karma-karau manaś ca |
smared vasantaṁ sthira-jaṅgameṣu
śṛṇoti tat-puṇya-kathāḥ sa karṇaḥ ||
śiras tu tasyobhaya-liṅgam ānamet
tad eva yat paśyati tad dhi cakṣuḥ |
aṅgāni viṣṇor atha taj-janānāṁ
pādodakaṁ yāni bhajanti nityam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.80.3–4)
“That by which his qualities are praised is speech. Further, those which perform actions for him are hands. Further, that which shall remember [his] dwelling in the stationary and the moving is a mind. That which listens to purifying narrations of him is an ear. Indeed that which shall bow to both images of him is a head. That which beholds specifically those [i.e., images of him] is certainly an eye. Likewise, those which regularly honor the foot-wash of Viṣṇu and his devotees are limbs.”
jayati jana-nivāso devakī-janma-vādo
yadu-vara-pariṣat svair dorbhir asyann adharmam |
sthira-cara-vṛjina-ghnaḥ susmita-śrī-mukhena
vraja-pura-vanitānāṁ vardhayan kāma-devam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.90.48; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 3.23; Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.154; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.1; Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.5.430; Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 63, 116, 136, 182; Prīti Sandarbha: 52; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.13.79; Ānanda-candrikā-ṭīkā on Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 15.185)
“He who is the abode of all beings [alt., he whose abode is all beings],
He whose birth is said to be from Devakī,
He whose retinue is the best of the Yadus,
He who destroys adharma with his own arms,
He who dispels the distress of the stationary and the moving—
Enkindling divine desire in the women of the abode of Vraja
With his beautiful, sweetly smiling face—
Triumphs!”
kathaṁ vinā romaharṣaṁ dravatā cetasā vinā |
vinānandāśru-kalayā śudhyed bhaktyā vināśayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.23)
“How without horripilation, without meltedness of the heart, without a teardrop of bliss—without bhakti—could the heart be purified?”
naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā |
bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī ||
tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye |
ceta etair anāviddhaṁ sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati ||
evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ |
bhagavat-tattva-vijñānaṁ mukta-saṅgasya jāyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.2.18–20)
“When [all] ills are nearly destroyed by service to Bhāgavatas [alt., to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam] continually, bhakti to Bhagavān, he of highest praise, becomes fixed. Then, the mind, situated in sattva and unassailed by states of rajas and tamas—desire, greed, and so forth—becomes satisfied. Realized knowledge [i.e., direct experience] of the essential nature of Bhagavān arises for one who in this way is of satisfied mind and [thus] freed from attachment as a result of the practice of bhakti to Bhagavān.”
