alpa-mātraṁ kṛto dharmo bhavej jñānavatāṁ mahān |
mahān api kṛto dharmo hy ajñānān niṣphalo bhavet ||
(Mahābhārata: 13.227.28)
“Dharma performed even slightly shall be great for one possessed of knowledge. Dharma performed even greatly shall be fruitless as a result of ignorance.”
rase sāraś camatkāraḥ sarvatrāpy anubhūyate |
tac camatkāra-sāratve sarvatrāpy adbhuto rasaḥ ||
(Sāhitya-darpaṇa 3.3; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 110)
“In rasa, astonishment is perceived to be the essence indeed in all cases. Therefore, because of the essence being astonishment, rasa is adbhuta [i.e., wonder] indeed in all cases.”
śrīmad-govinda-padāravinda-makaranda-lubdha-cetobhiḥ |
govinda-bhāṣyam etat pāṭhyaṁ śapatho’rpito’nyebhyaḥ ||
(Govinda-bhāṣya: Upasaṁhāra, 2)
“This Govinda-bhāṣya is to be studied by those whose minds are desirous of the nectar of the lotus feet of Śrīmad Govinda. A curse [i.e., a prohibition on studying it] is cast upon others [i.e., those devoid of such desire, who read it].”
veda-gamyaḥ paraḥ śuddha iti me dhīyate matiḥ ||
adhyātma-dhyāna-saṁbhūta-bhūtaṁ dīpavat sphuṭam |
jñānaṁ viddhi śubhācāre tena yānti parāṁ gatim ||
(Mahābhārata: 12.220.100)
“[Bhīṣmadeva:] The pure Supreme is knowable through the Veda. This is my firmly held view. O you of fine conduct, know knowledge (jñāna) to be that which is born of meditation related to the higher self and [self-] evident like a lamp. Thereby, one attains the supreme destination.”
veda-gamyaṁ paraṁ śuddham iti satyā parā śrutiḥ |
(Mahābhārata: 12.220.97)
“‘The pure Supreme is knowable through the Veda.’ This śruti [i.e., statement] is supremely true.”
veda-gamyaḥ paro’cintya iti paurāṇikā viduḥ ||
(Mahābhārata: 12.220.96)
“The ancients know, ‘The Supreme is inconceivable and knowable through the Veda.’”
gokulotsava-līlāyāḥ samāptau sad-rasāmbudheḥ |
anyatra kaḥ pravarteta vinā nija-durāgraham ||
(Bṛhad Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.35.26)
“At the conclusion of this līlā of the Joy of Gokula [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa], who is an ocean of true rasa, who would pursue anything else without [i.e., were it not for] their own willfulness?”
jayanti vraja-devyas tā yāsāṁ gītārtham īpsati |
ajño’pi yāsāṁ māhātmya-prapatty-eka-balādayam ||
(Bṛhad Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.35.2)
“Glory to the devīs of Vraja, the meaning of whose song [i.e., the Yugala-gītā] even this ignorant person desires to understand, he whose sole strength and so forth is their greatness and surrender unto them!”
śrī-kṛṣṇātivaśīkāra-cuñcor jiṣṇu-śiromaṇeḥ |
premṇā hāsa ivāyaṁ śrī-rāsaḥ śrīr api nāpa yam ||
śāstra-buddhi-vivekādyair api durgamam īkṣyate |
gopīnāṁ rasa-vartmedaṁ tāsām anugatīr vinā ||
(Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.33.39)
“This Śrī Rāsa [i.e., this beautiful Rāsa-līlā], which even Śrī [i.e., Lakṣmī] did not attain, is like a smile with prema of the crest-jewel of conquerors renowned for greatly captivating Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This path of the gopīs’ rasa is seen to be difficult to comprehend even with [knowledge of] śāstra, intelligence, discernment, and so forth without anugati of [i.e., following] them [i.e., the gopīs].”
yasmin sat-karṇa-pīyuṣe yaśas-tīrtha-vare sakṛt |
śrotrāñjalir upaspṛśya dhunute karma-vāsanām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.24.62)
“One who with the cupped hands of the ears once sips the nectar for the ears of sādhus, the excellent tīrtha [i.e., sacred water] of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] glory, dispels [i.e., purifies oneself of] [all] inclinations (vāsanās) for karma.”
