jala-sthalaukasaḥ sarve nava-vāri-niṣevayā |
abibhran ruciraṁ rūpaṁ yathā hari-niṣevayā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.20.13)
“All [living beings] dwelling on land and in water bore a bright appearance by partaking of the fresh water [of the monsoon rains] just as [all living beings do] by serving Hari.”
na mayy ekānta-bhaktānāṁ guṇa-doṣodbhavā guṇāḥ |
sādhūnāṁ sama-cittānāṁ buddheḥ param upeyuṣām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.20.36; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.210; Bhakti Sandarbha: 177, 312, 321; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.293
“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] Bhaktas who are one-pointed upon me, are sādhu [i.e., free from attachment and aversion (rāga and dveṣa)], are equanimous, and have attained that which is beyond the intellect, have no qualities [i.e., merits, sins, or otherwise] produced by qualities and faults [i.e., produced by observance of injunctions and neglect of prohibitions].”
ekāntino yasya na kañcanārthaṁ
vāñchanti ye vai bhagavat-prapannāḥ |
atyadbhutaṁ tac-caritaṁ sumaṅgalaṁ
gāyanta ānanda-samudra-magnāḥ ||
tam akṣaraṁ brahma paraṁ pareśam
avyaktam ādhyātmika-yoga-gamyam |
atīndriyaṁ sūkṣmam ivātidūram
anantam ādyaṁ paripūrṇam īḍe ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.3.20–21; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.193; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.37; Bhakti Sandarbha: 165)
“[Gajendra to Śrī Bhagavān:] I praise him, the Supreme Brahman, the Supreme Īśa—inexhaustible, unmanifest, knowable by means of the yoga related to the Self, beyond the senses, as though minute, very far off, infinite, original, and fully complete—from whom the one-pointed, those who have taken full shelter in Bhagavān and are immersed in an ocean of bliss by singing of his highly astonishing and most auspicious activities, desire no object whatsoever.”
kā vidyā hari-bhaktir eva na punar vedādi-niṣṇātatā
kīrtiḥ kā bhagavat-paro’yam iti yā khyātir na dānādijā |
kā śrīḥ tat-priyatā na vai dhana-jana-grāmādi-bhūyiṣṭhatā |
kiṁ duḥkhaṁ bhagavat-priyasya viraho no hṛd-vraṇādi-vyathā ||8||
bhagavān: bhadram | ke muktāḥ?
rāmānandaḥ: pratyāsattir hari-caraṇayoḥ sānurāge na rāge
prītiḥ premātiśayini harer bhakti-yoge na yoge |
āsthā tasya praṇaya-rabhasasyopadehe na dehe
yeṣāṁ te hi prakṛti-sarasā hanta muktā na muktāḥ ||9||
bhagavān : bhavatu |
kiṁ geyaṁ vraja-keli-karma kim iha śreyaḥ satāṁ saṅgatiḥ
kiṁ smartavyam aghāri-nāma kim anudhyeyaṁ murāreḥ padam |
kva stheyaṁ vraja eva kiṁ śravaṇayor ānandi vṛndāvana-
krīḍaikā kim upāsyam atra mahasī śrī-kṛṣṇa-rādhābhidhe ||10||
bhagavān: bhadram |
(Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭakam: 7.8–10; cited in Alaṅkāra-kaustubha: 8.233–234, 236)
“Bhagavān: What is knowledge?
“Rāmānanda: Hari-bhakti alone [is knowledge], and not, rather, expertise in the Vedas and so on.
“Bhagavān: What is glory?
“Rāmānanda: The renown, ‘He is devoted to Bhagavān’ [is glory] and not that produced by giving and so on.
“Bhagavān: What is wealth?
“Rāmānanda: Fondness for him [i.e., Bhagavān, is wealth], and certainly not an abundance of money, people [i.e., relatives, friends, followers, man-power, or otherwise], villages [i.e., land, property, social influence, etc.] and so on.
“Bhagavān: What is suffering?
“Rāmānanda: The separation of one dear to Bhagavān [is suffering], and not the pain of a wound in the heart or otherwise.
“Bhagavān: Very well. Who is liberated?
“Rāmānanda: Hanta! Those of rasa-laden disposition [alt., nature] who have close contact with [alt., affinity (āsakti) for] those possessed of loving attachment (anurāga) to Hari’s feet and not [rather close contact with or affinity for] attachment (rāga) [to objects of the senses (viṣaya)], [who] have fondness (prīti) for bhakti-yoga filled with a profusion of prema related to Hari, and not [rather] for yoga [i.e., jñāna-, karma-, or aṣṭāṅga-yoga, etc.], and [who] have conviction in the body suitable for he of fervent love (praṇaya) and not [rather conviction] in the [worldly] body, are liberated, and not [rather] the liberated [i.e., those who think themselves liberated].
“Bhagavān: Let it be. What is to be sung?
“Rāmānanda: The acts of play in Vraja.
“Bhagavān: What is the highest good (śreyas) here [in this world]?
“Rāmānanda: The association of the sat.
“Bhagavān: What is to be remembered?
“Rāmānanda: The name of Agha’s Foe.
“Bhagavān: What is to be meditated upon?
“Rāmānanda: The feet of Mura’s Foe.
“Bhagavān: Where is one to be stationed?
“Rāmānanda: In Vraja alone.
“Bhagavān: What is delighting to the ears?
“Rāmānanda: The play in Vṛndāvana alone.
“Bhagavān: What is the object to be approached [i.e., worshiped] here?
“Rāmānanda: The object of worship is the [two-fold] brilliance known as Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā.
“Bhagavān: Very well.”
śrīmad-rūpa-padābja-dhūlim alike nityaṁ dadhe yā manāg
ghrātā hṛn-madhupaṁ mamānayad aho kṛṣṇāṅghri-tṛṣṇāṅghripam |
yaḥ saṁsāra-mataṅgajāṅga-madirāṁ vyasmārayat svai rasair
yad-gandhāṇu-lavo’pi karṣati dhṛtottarṣaṁ munīndrān api ||
(Stavāmṛta-laharī: Nikuñja-keli-virudāvalī: 70)
“Aho!
Forever I hold upon my forehead
The pollen of the lotus feet of Śrīmad Rūpa,
Which upon being smelled [just] slightly
Have drawn the bee [lit., nectar-drinker] of my heart
To the desire-tree of Kṛṣṇa’s feet,
Which with their own nectars
Have caused forgetfulness of the rut juice
Of the elephant of saṁsāra,
And even a minute trace of the fragrance of which
Attracts even the best of the sages
And fills them with intense desire.”
vyāmohāya carācarasya jagatas te te purāṇāgamās
tāṁ tām eva hi devatāṁ paramikāṁ jalpantu kalpāvadhi |
siddhānte punar eka eva bhagavān viṣṇuḥ samastāgama-
vyāpāreṣu vivecana-vyatikaraṁ nīteṣu niścīyate ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 5.97.27; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.107; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.4.142; Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.2.53; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.20.142)
“Let the various Purāṇas and Āgamas chatter about the [supposed] supremacy of various devatās for the sake of deluding the world of moving and stationary beings to the end of the kalpa. When, however, the expressions of all the Āgamas are brought into conjoint examination, then, in accord with their siddhānta, one alone, Bhagavān Viṣṇu, is ascertained [to be supreme].”
nāsac-chāstreṣu sajjeta nopajīveta jīvikām |
vādavādāṁs tyajet tarkān pakṣaṁ kañca na saṁśrayet ||
na śiṣyān anubadhnīta granthān naivābhyased bahūn |
na vyākhyām upayuñjīta nārambhān ārabhet kvacit ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.13.7–8; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.113)
“[Śrī Nārada to Śrī Yudhiṣṭhira regarding rules for a sannyāsī:] One should not foster attachment to texts related to the unreal (asat-śāstra), one should not subsist on a vocation, one should avoid arguments based on assertions regarding propositions, and one should not take any particular side [in such arguments]. One should not be followed by [many] disciples, one should not study many texts, one should not engage in teaching [many texts], and one should never start undertakings.”
anādy-avidyā-yuktasya puruṣasyātma-vedanam |
svato na sambhavād anyas tattvajño jñānado bhavet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.22.10)
“Knowledge of self shall not come about on its own for a living being beset with beginningless ignorance. [Therefore,] Another, a Knower of the reality and Bestower of [that] knowledge, shall be [i.e., must exist and also bestow that knowledge upon the jīva].”
bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ śraddhayātmā priyaḥ satām |
bhaktiḥ punāti man-niṣṭhā śvapākān api sambhavāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.21; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.602; Bhakti Sandarbha: 147, 241; Prīti Sandarbha: 1; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.20.135)
“[Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] I, the Self—the Beloved—of the sat, am attainable by means of one-pointed bhakti with śraddhā. Bhakti fixed upon me purifies even dog-cookers of their birth.”
na sādhayati māṁ yogo na sāṅkhyaṁ dharma uddhava |
na svādhyāyas tapas tyāgo yathā bhaktir mamorjitā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.20; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.601; Bhakti Sandarbha: 78, 103, 147, 327; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.20.134)
“[Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] O Uddhava, neither yoga, nor sāṅkhya, nor dharma, nor study, nor austerity, nor renunciation cause attainment of me like powerful bhakti to me [does].”
