yad yad iṣṭatamaṁ loke yac cātipriyam ātmanaḥ |
tat tan nivedayen mahyaṁ tad ānantyāya kalpate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.11.41; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 8.119, 10.513, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.199, Bhakti Sandarbha: 295)
“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] Whatever is most desired in the world and whatever is most dear to oneself—offer that to me. This leads to the infinite.”
sva-dayita-nija-bhāvaṁ yo vibhāvya sva-bhāvāt
sumadhuram avatīrṇo bhakta-rūpena lobhāt |
jayati kanaka-dhāmā kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmā
harir iha yati-veśaḥ śrī-śacī-sūnur eṣaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.1.3)
“Bearing a golden luster,
The name Kṛṣṇa Caitanya,
And the garb of an ascetic,
He who has descended here [amongst us]
With the form of a bhakta
Out of intense desire
After reflecting on the fine sweetness
Of the bhāva for himself
Of his own beloveds
In comparison to his own bhāva [for them]—
[He,] Hari, the Son of Śrī Śacī,
Triumphs!”
jayati nija-padābja-prema-dānāvatīrṇo
vividha-madhurimābdhiḥ ko’pi kaiśora-gandhiḥ |
gata-parama-daśāntaṁ yasya caitanya-rūpād
anubhava-padam āptaṁ prema gopīṣu nityam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.1.1)
“Someone—
Who descended to bestow prema
For his own lotus feet,
Who is an ocean
Of various sweetnesses,
Who is fragrant with adolescence,
And whose everlasting prema for the gopīs,
Having attained the ultimate limit
Of the highest state,
Has reached the position of experience [for others]
Because of his form of Caitanya—
Triumphs!”
tvaṁ naḥ projjhya kaṭhora yāmuna-taṭe kasmād akasmād gato
diṣṭyā dṛṣṭim ito’si hanta niviḍāśleṣaiḥ sakhīn prīṇaya |
brūmaḥ satyam adarśane tava manāk kā dhenavaḥ ke vayaṁ
kiṁ goṣṭhaṁ kim abhīṣṭam ity acirataḥ sarvaṁ viparyasyati ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 3.3.42)
[Śrīdāma to Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] “O Cruel One! Why did you suddenly leave us on the bank of the Yamunā and go away? Fortunately you have been seen here [again by us]. Hanta! [Now] Satisfy your friends with firm embraces! Truly we say that immediately without the sight of you, who are the cows? Who are we? What is Vraja? What is dear [alt., desired]? Instantaneously, everything changes.”
devaḥ sevyatayā yathā sphurati me devyas tathāsya priyāḥ
sarvaḥ prāṇa-samānatāṁ pracinute tad-bhakti-bhājāṁ gaṇaḥ |
smṛtvā sāhasikaṁ bibhemi tam ahaṁ bhaktābhimānonnataṁ
prītiṁ tat-praṇate khare’py avidadhad yaḥ svāsthyam ālambate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 3.2.50)
“As Deva [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] appears [to me] as my object of service, so do his divine beloveds. The multitude of those possessed of bhakti to him are all considered [by me] equal to my very life. I become afraid [however] upon remembering that lout puffed up with the pride of being a bhakta who abides in contentment while failing to honor [i.e., express prīti towards] even a donkey bowed to him [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa].”
yadavadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravinde
nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīt |
tadavadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne
bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭhu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.72)
“Ever since my mind began to delight in the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, the abode of newer and newer rasa, oh, whenever remembrance of [past] association with women occurs, my face recoils sharply and I spit.”
sakhyāṁ sva-sneho, yathā—
śaila-mūrdhni hariṇā viharantī
roma-kuḍmala-karmabita-mūrtiḥ |
rādhikā salalitaṁ lalitāyāḥ
paśya mārṣṭi lulitālakam āsyam ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 13.104)
“Personal [i.e., a nāyikā’s own] affection for sakhīs is [described] as follows: ‘[Rūpa Mañjarī says to a sakhī of Lalitā:] Look! While sporting with Hari atop the mountain, her figure inlaid with budding pores [i.e., horripilation], Rādhikā wipes Lalitā’s charming face with disheveled locks.”
sañcārī syāt samāno vā kṛṣṇa-ratyāḥ suhṛd-ratiḥ |
adhikā puṣyamāṇā ced bhāvollāsā ratiḥ ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.128)
“Rati for a friend (suhṛt) that is equal or otherwise to [i.e., lesser than] rati for Kṛṣṇa shall be [considered] a sañcāri [-bhāva]. If it is [sometimes] greater and flourishing [more so than one’s Kṛṣṇa-rati], [then] it is [called] bhāvollāsa-rati.”
aghahara tava vīrya-proṣitāśeṣa-cintāḥ
parihṛta-gṛha-vāstu-dvāra-bandhānubaddhāḥ |
nija-nijam iha rātrau prāṅganaṁ śobhayantaḥ
sukham avicalad-aṅgāḥ śerate paśya gopāḥ ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.4.174)
“O Aghahara, look at the gopas, who have cast away all worries by virtue of your vigor, given up the obligation of locking the doors of their households, finely decorated their own courtyards, and comfortably, with unmoving bodies, gone to sleep at night here [in Vraja].”
māṅgalyaṁ jagatām eva viśvāsāspadatā matā ||
yathā—
anyāyyaṁ na harāv iti vyapagata-dvārārgalā dānavā
rakṣī kṛṣṇa iti pramattam abhitaḥ krīḍāsu raktāḥ surāḥ |
sākṣī vetti sa bhaktim ity avanata-vrātāś ca cintojjhitāḥ
ke viśvambhara na tvad-aṅghri-yugale viśrambhitāṁ bhejire ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.259–260)
“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s quality of] Being the object of the entire world’s faith is considered [his quality of] auspiciousness (māṅgalya), [which is illustrated] as follows: ‘Because “There is no injustice in Hari,” the Dānavas [i.e., asuras] leave theirs doors unbolted, because “Kṛṣṇa is our protector,” the suras [i.e., devas] are carelessly absorbed in play all around, and because “He, the witnesser, knows our bhakti,” the humble [lit., “those who are bent down,” i.e., bhaktas] are worry-free. O Maintainer of the world! Who has not fostered confidence in your feet?”
