aho bhagavato līlā-mādhurya-mahimādbhutaḥ |
tad-eka-niṣṭhā-gāmbhīryaṁ sevakānāṁ ca tādṛśam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.69)
“[Śrī Nārada along with Uddhava to Gopa Kumāra:] Aho! The wonder of the greatness of the mādhurya of Bhagavān’s līlā! [And] The depth of the one-pointed fixity upon him of his servants is like that as well!”
vraja-bhūmāv ayaṁ jātas tasyāṁ gopatvam ācarat |
gopālopāsanā-niṣṭho viśiṣṭo’sman mahāśayaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.62)
“[Śrī Uddhava along with Śrī Nārada to Gopa Kumāra:] He was born in the land of Vraja, he has engaged in cowherding (gopatva) there, and he has fixity in worship (upāsanā) of Gopāla. This great soul is superior to us.”
etāvatālaṁ viśvātman sarva-sampat-samṛddhaye |
asmin loke’tha vāmuṣmin puṁsas tvat-toṣa-kāraṇam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.81.11)
“[Queen Rukmiṇī to Śrī Kṛṣṇa after he partook of the first handful of the rice brought by Sudāmā Vipra:] ‘There is no need of this much [i.e., of eating the second handful]. O you who are the Self of the universe, the means of your satisfaction leads to the increase of all types of fortune for a person in this world and the next.”
padaṁ dūrataraṁ tad vai tat-sukhānubhavas tathā |
tat-sādhanam api prārthyam asmākam api durghaṭam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.61)
“[Śrī Nārada along with Uddhava to Gopa Kumāra:] Indeed that very far off abode [i.e., Goloka], the experience of the bliss there, and even the means of attainment (sādhana) of that, is to be prayed for and [is] difficult to attain even for us.”
uddhavāyam aho gopa-putro govardhanodbhavaḥ |
mādṛśāṁ tvādṛśānāṁ ca mṛgyan vastu sudurlabham ||
itas tato bhraman vyagraḥ kadācid api kutracit |
nātikramati cittāntarlagnaṁ taṁ śokam ārtidam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.58–59)
“[Śrī Nārada of Gopa Kumāra:] Aho! Uddhava! This son of a cowherd born in Govardhana, restless and wandering here and there searching for an object most difficult to attain [i.e., completely unattainable] for those like me [i.e., bhaktas of Śrī Bhagavān] and those like you [i.e., friends of Śrī Bhagavān], never anywhere overcomes that sorrow fixed in his heart that causes it to ache.”
śrutaya ūcuḥ—
kandarpa-koṭi-lāvaṇye tvayi dṛṣṭe manāṁsi naḥ |
kāminī-bhāvam āsādya smara-kṣubdhāny asaṁśayam |
yathā tval-loka-vāsinyaḥ kāma-tattvena gopikāḥ |
bhajanti ramaṇaṁ matvā cikīrṣājani nas tathā ||
śrī-bhagavān uvāca—
durlabho durghaṭaś caiva yuṣmākaṁ sumanorathaḥ |
mayānumoditaḥ samyak so’pi bhavitum arhati ||
āgāmini viriñcau tu jāte sṛṣṭy-artham udyate |
kalpaṁ sārasvataṁ prāpya vraje gopyā bhaviṣyatha ||
pṛthivyāṁ bhārate kṣetre māthure mama maṇḍale |
vṛndāvane bhaviṣyāmi preyān vo rāsa-maṇḍale ||
jāra-dharmeṇa susnehaṁ sudṛḍhaṁ sarvato’dhikam |
mayi samprāpya sarve’pi kṛtakṛtyā bhaviṣyatha ||
(Bṛhad Vāmana Purāṇa; cited in the Locana-rocanī-ṭīkā and Ānanda-candrikā-ṭīkā on Ujjvala-nīlamāṇi: 3.47)
“The Śrutis say, ‘Upon seeing you possessed of the loveliness of a crore of Kandarpas, our minds take on the bhāva of a ladylove (kāminī) and are undoubtedly agitated by passion. As the gopikās residing in your abode worship you with the essence of kāma, having accepted you as their lover, so [too] our desire has arisen to do so.’ Śrī Bhagavān says, ‘This excellent desire of you all is difficult to attain and difficult to accomplish. [When] Approved by me in full [however], it too can come to be. When a future Brahmā is born and arises for the purpose of emanation [of the universe], you all will arrive in the Sārasvata-kalpa and become gopīs in Vraja. In the rāsa circle in Vṛndāvana within my district of Mathurā in the land of Bhārata on Earth, I will become the beloved of you all. Attaining in full profound affection for me that is profoundly firm and all-surpassing, you all too will become successful.”
naiṣa jñānavatā śakyas tapasā naiva cejyayā |
saṁprāptum indriyāṇāṁ tu saṁyamenaiva śakyate ||
bāhye cābhyantare caiva karmaṇi manasi sthitaḥ |
nirmalī-kurute buddhyā so’mutrānantyam aśnute ||
yathā hiraṇyakartā vai rūpyam agnau viśodhayet |
bahuśo’tiprayatnena mahatātma-kṛtena ha ||
tadvaj jāti-śatair jīvaḥ śudhyate’nena karmaṇā |
yatnena mahatā caivāpy eka-jātau viśudhyate ||
līlayālpaṁ yathā gātrāt pramṛjyād ātmano rajaḥ |
bahu-yatnena mahatā doṣa-nirharanaṁ tathā ||
(Mahābhārata: Śānti-parva, 280.9–14)
“He [i.e., Śrī Bhagavān] is attainable neither by possessing knowledge (jñāna), nor by austerity (tapas), nor by sacrifice. He is able to be attained in full, rather, only by control of the senses. Remaining steadfast in the mind in the midst of external and internal acts [i.e., perseveringly engaging in external acts that are means of purifying the mind, such as sacrifices and austerities, and internal acts that are means of purifying the mind, such as non-attachment and meditation], one purifies [the mind] by means of the intellect (buddhi) and in the hereafter tastes the Infinite [i.e., attains mokṣa and experiences Śrī Bhagavān]. As a goldsmith should highly purify wrought gold with persevering effort performed repeatedly indeed by he himself, so a jīva is purified by these acts over the course of hundreds of births, and someone may indeed be highly purified in one birth as a result of great effort. As one should sportively wipe a small amount of dust away from the body [before it creates a difficult to remove stain], so the complete removal of faults [from the mind] should be accomplished with great persevering effort [lest those faults become even more deeply ingrained in the psyche].”
vyādhasyācaraṇaṁ dhruvasya ca vayo vidyā gajendrasya kā
kubjāyāḥ kim u nāma rūpam adhikaṁ kiṁ tat sudāmno dhanam |
vaṁśaḥ ko vidurasya yādava-pater ugrasya kiṁ pauruṣaṁ
bhaktyā tuṣyati kevalaṁ na ca guṇair bhakti-priyo mādhavaḥ ||
(An unidentified south kavi; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.593; Padyāvalī: 8)
“Did the hunter have good conduct?
Did Dhruva have age?
Did Gajendra have knowledge?
Did Kubjā have special beauty?
Did Sudāmā have wealth?
Did Vidura have a noble lineage?
Did the King of the Yadus, Ugrasena, have valor?
He whose pleasure is bhakti,
Mādhava,
Is satisfied only by bhakti,
And not by qualities [such as those aforementioned].”
dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam |
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahāmuni-kṛte kiṁ vāparair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.1.2; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.396; Tattva Sandarbha: 19, 26, 50; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 84; Paramātma Sandarbha: 106, Bhakti Sandarbha: 106, 115, 217; Prīti Sandarbha: 16, 18, 73; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā and Bhakti-sāra-pradarśinī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.244)
“Here [i.e., in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam], for the sādhus who are free from envy, is the highest dharma wherein deceit is utterly rejected. Here is the Reality, the real object to be be known, which bestows the highest good and uproots the three miseries. What need is there of any other [śāstra] than this Śrīmad Bhāgavatam compiled by the best of the sages [i.e., Vedavyāsa]? [There is no such need because] Here Īśvara is bound within the heart by the fortunate who desire to serve immediately, from that [very] moment [they begin to listen].”
akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ |
tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena yajeta puruṣaṁ param ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.3.10; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.575; Tattva Sandarbha: 30; Bhakti Sandarbha: 31, 98, 115, 121, 165, 216; Prīti Sandarbha 216; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.36, 24.85, 24.191)
“Whether desireless, desirous of everything, or desirous of mokṣa, one of great intelligence should worship the Supreme Puruṣa with strong bhakti-yoga.”
