yuvatīnāṁ yathā yūni yūnāṁ ca yuvatau yathā |
mano’bhiramate tadvan mano’bhiramatāṁ tvayi ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 6.128.258; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 8.437; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.153; Bhakti Sandarbha: 217)
“As the minds of young ladies delight in a young man, and the minds of young men delight in a young lady, so may my mind delight in you.”
tat-tad-viśeṣo nirvācyo’nanta-śaktyāpi nāparaḥ |
mahārti-janake tasmin ko vā dhīmān pravartate ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.191)
“Further detail about all of that is not effable even with Ananta’s [alt., endless] śakti. And what intelligent person pursues that which is a cause of great heartache?”
mat-sevayā pratītaṁ te sālokyādi-catuṣṭayam |
necchanti sevayā pūrṇāḥ kuto’nyat kāla-viplutam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.4.67)
“Being fulfilled by service [to me], they do not desire the four [types of mukti] beginning with sālokya [that can be] attained by service to me, much less anything else that is dissipated in time.”
na vayaṁ sādhvi sāmrājyaṁ svārājyaṁ bhaujyam apy uta |
vairājyaṁ pārameṣṭhyaṁ vā ānantyaṁ vā hareḥ padam ||
kāmayāmaha etasya śrīmat-pāda-rajaḥ śriyaḥ |
kuca-kuṅkuma-gandhāḍhyaṁ mūrdhnā voḍhuṁ gadābhṛtaḥ ||
vraja-striyo yad vāñchanti pulindyas tṛṇa-vīrudhaḥ |
gāvaś cārayato gopāḥ pāda-sparśaṁ mahātmanaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.83.41–43; cited in Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.43; Prīti Sandarbha: 108; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.59)
“[Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s sixteen thousand queens say:] O Sādhvi, [i.e., O Draupadī], neither universal sovereignty [over the earth], nor sovereignty over Svarga, nor the enjoyment [of these forms of sovereignty], nor extensive sovereignty [i.e., attainment of the siddhis of minuteness (aṇimā) and so on], nor the dominion of Brahmā, nor the unlimited [i.e., the unlimited bliss experienced in realization of Brahman], nor even the abode of Hari [i.e., sālokya-, sāmīpya, sārṣṭi, or sārūpya-mukti]—we desire [none of these and instead desire] to bear atop our heads his—the Club-bearer’s [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s]—blessed foot-dust enriched with the fragrance of kuṅkuma from the bosom of Śrī [i.e., Śrī Rādhā], since the ladies of Vraja, the Pulindī women, the grass and creepers [of Vraja], and the cowherds [there] tending the cows [all] long for the touch of the feet of he of most exalted disposition [i.e., they too all long for the touch of Kṛṣṇa’s feet].”
prāṇair viyuktā na bhavanti yāvat
tāvad vinodaṁ karuṇa tyajaitam |
kṛṣṇānyathā goṣṭha-janaika-bandho
gantāsi śokaṁ mṛdula-svabhāvaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.239)
“[Baladeva appeals to Kṛṣṇa lying motionless in the coils of Kāliya:] Before they become deprived of their prāṇas,
O Compassionate One,
Stop this play.
Otherwise,
O Kṛṣṇa,
O you whose only kinsmen are the people of the cowherd community,
You who are of tender disposition
Will undergo sorrow.”
devānāṁ śuddha-sattvānām ṛṣīṇāṁ cāmalātmanām |
bhaktir mukunda-caraṇe na prāyeṇopajāyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.14.2; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.545; Bhakti Sandarbha: 134)
“[Even] In devas of pure mind or ṛṣis of taintless mind, bhakti to Mukunda’s feet generally does not manifest.”
gopīṣu ca sadā tāsu pratyekaṁ koṭi-koṭiṣu |
parā prītiḥ kṛpāsaktir api sā tasya vīkṣyate || …
tatrāpi yāṁ prati prema-viśeṣo’sya yadekṣyate |
tadā pratīyate kṛṣṇāsyaiṣaiva nitarāṁ priyā ||
sarvās tad-ucitāṁ tās tu krīḍā-sukha-paramparām |
sarvadānubhavantyo’pi manyante prema na prabhoḥ ||
pratyekaṁ cintayanty evam aho kiṁ bhavitā kiyat |
saubhāgyaṁ mama yena syāṁ kṛṣṇasyādhama-dāsy api ||
aho svāmin gabhīro’yaṁ dustarko mahatām api |
gāḍha-prema-rasāveśa-svabhāva-mahimādbhutaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.214, 216–219)
“That paramount love (prīti), grace (kṛpā), and attachment (āsakti) of his towards every one of those crores and crores of gopīs is always observable. … Yet in that regard [i.e., even when he treats all of them as equally dearmost to him], when a special form of his prema is observable [on occasion] towards one [of them in particular], then by all means she alone is regarded [by the rest of them] as dear to Kṛṣṇa. Even though all of them, who are worthy of that [i.e., of the special form of prema Kṛṣṇa expresses whereby one of them in particular is regarded as dearmost to him], constantly experience a succession of the bliss of play [with him], they do not conceive of Prabhu’s prema [i.e., they do not actually think, ‘I am dearmost to Śrī Kṛṣṇa’]. Every one of them thinks [i.e., desires] thus, ‘Aho! Will some little good fortune to me whereby I can become even a lowly maidservant of Kṛṣṇa?’ Aho! Svāmī! [i.e., O Lord!] This greatness the nature of which is absorption in the rasa of intense prema is difficult to comprehend even for mahats, deep, and astonishing.”
māthurottama tatratyaṁ mahāścaryam idaṁ śṛṇu |
kathyamānaṁ mayā kiñcit śrī-kṛṣṇasya prabhāvataḥ ||
bālakās taruṇā vṛddhā gopās te koṭi-koṭiśaḥ |
sarve vidur mahāpreyān ahaṁ kṛṣṇasya netaraḥ ||
tathaiva vyavahāro’pi teṣāṁ kṛṣṇe sadekṣyate |
pratyekaṁ teṣu tasyāpi viśuddhas tādṛg eva saḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.210–212)
“O best among those from Mathurā, hear of this great wonder found there. Something [of it] can be related by me by the power of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The children, the youth, and the elderly—all of those crores and crores of cowherds—feel, ‘I am most dear to Kṛṣṇa; not anyone else.’ Their behavior too with Kṛṣṇa is always observable to be exactly so, and that of his as well with every one of them is pure and exactly such.”
te deva-siddha-parigīta-pavitra-gāthā
ye sādhavaḥ sama-dṛśo bhagavat-prapannāḥ |
tān nopasīdata harer gadayābhiguptān
naiṣāṁ vayaṁ na ca vayaḥ prabhavāma daṇḍe ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.3.27; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.218)
“[Yamarāja to his attendants:] Do not approach those who have taken shelter in Bhagavān, [thus] are of equal vision, [thus] are of excellent character, [thus] are celebrated with pure glorifications by the devas and siddhas, and are fully protected by the club of Hari. We, as well as time, do not have the power to punish them.”
sadā vaijātyam āptānāṁ jīvānām api tattvataḥ |
aṁśatvenāpy abhinnatvād vijātīya-bhidā mṛtā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.195)
“Because of even the jīvas who are eternally possessed of categorical distinctiveness (vaijātya) [in relation to Parabrahman] being [nevertheless] non-distinct [from Parabrahman] by virtue of [their] also being a part (aṁśa) [of Parabrahman] in essential nature (tattvataḥ), an interclass distinction (vijātīya-bhidā) [in regard to Parabrahman] is quashed.”
