smartavyaṁ satataṁ viṣṇor vismartavyo na jātucit |
sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.8; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.113)
“Viṣṇu is to be remembered always and is never to be forgotten. All injunctions and prohibitions should be servants of these two [principles].”
ādadānas tṛṇaṁ dantair idaṁ yāche punaḥ punaḥ |
śrīmad rūpa-padāmbhoja-dhūliḥ syāṁ janma-janmani ||
(Muktā-caritam)
“Taking a blade of grass between my teeth, I pray for this again and again, ‘May I be a speck of dust at the lotus feet of Śrīmad Rūpa birth after birth.‘”
yad yatnataḥ śama-damātma-viveka-yogair
adhyātma-lagnam avikāram abhūn mano me |
rūpasya tat-smita-sudhaṁ sadayāvalokam
āsādya mādyati hareś caritair idānīm ||
(Stavāvalī: Abhīṣṭa-sūcana, 2)
“Because of whose care my mind, through equipoise [i.e., fixity upon Bhagavān], restraint [of the senses], discernment [i.e., discrimination between the self and non-self], and yoga [i.e., meditation], became fixed in the higher self [i.e., Bhagavān] and undisturbed [by lust, anger, and so forth]—by receiving now the nectar of that Rūpa’s smile and [his] gracious glance, my mind becomes maddened by the acts of Hari!”
kālena vṛndāvana-keli-vārttā
lupteti tāṁ khyāpayituṁ viśiṣya |
kṛpāmṛtenābhiṣiṣeca devas
tatraiva rūpaṁ ca sanātanaṁ ca ||
(Caitanyacandrodaya-nāṭaka: 9.38; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.119)
“In the course of time, discussion of the play [i.e., līlā of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa] in Vṛndāvana was lost. Therefore, to distinguish and disseminate this, Deva [i.e., Śrīman Mahāprabhu], specifically in this respect, anointed Rūpa and Sanātana with the nectar of his grace.”
rucim udvahatas tatra janasya bhajane hareḥ |
viṣayeṣu gariṣṭho’pi rāgaḥ prāyo vilīyate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.254)
“For a person endowed with ruci there in bhajana of Hari, even the heaviest attachment to the sense objects largely dissolves.”
bhakti-nirdhūta-doṣāṇāṁ prasannojjvala-cetasām |
śrī-bhāgavata-raktānāṁ rasikāsaṅga-raṅgiṇām ||
jīvanī-bhūta-govinda-pāda-bhakti-sukha-śriyām |
premāntaraṅga-bhūtāni kṛtyāny evānutiṣṭhatām ||
bhaktānāṁ hṛdi rājantī saṁskāra-yugalojjvalā |
ratir ānanda-rūpaiva nīyamānā tu rasyatām ||
kṛṣṇādibhir vibhāvādyair gatair anubhavādhvani |
prauḍhānanda-camatkāra-kāṣṭhām āpadyate parām ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.7–10)
“In the hearts of bhaktas who have been purified by bhakti of all faults [e.g., attachment, aversion, delusion, etc.], whose hearts are clear [i.e., fit for the manifestation of higher pure existence (śuddha-sattva-viśeṣa)] and bright [i.e., all knowing by virtue of this manifestation], who cherish [tasting] Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, who rejoice in the company relishers of rasa, whose life is the wealth of the bliss of bhakti to the feet of Govinda, and who engage in all of prema’s natural activities—rati, which is bliss itself, appears bright as a result of the two types of saṁskāras [i.e., impressions in the citta made by pure bhakti in one’s previous births and one’s present birth], reaches the state of being relishable [i.e., of being rasa] on the pathway of perception on account of present vibhāvas and so forth [i.e., anubhāvas, sāttvika-bhāvas, vyabhichārī-bhāvas], beginning with Kṛṣṇa, and reaches the highest pinnacle of intense bliss and wonder [i.e., transforms into sneha, māna, praṇaya, anurāga, bhāva, and mahābhāva].”
mahāśakti-vilāsātmā bhāvo’cintya-svarūpa-bhāk |
raty-ākhyā ity ayaṁ yukto na hi tarkeṇa bādhitum |
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.92)
“This bhāva, known as rati, by constitution an expression of the supreme potency [i.e., the hlādinī-śakti], and [thus] possessed of an inconceivable nature, is not fit to be assailed with argument.”
bhagavān api tā rātṛīḥ śāradotphulla-mallikāḥ |
vīkṣya rantuṁ manaś cakre yogamāyām upāśritaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.29.1)
“Seeing those nights in the autumn blooming with jasmine flowers, even Bhagavān made up his mind to enjoy and took recourse to yogamāyā.”
santi yadyapi me prājyā līlās tās tā manoharāḥ |
na hi jāne smṛte rāse mano me kīdṛśaṁ bhavet ||
(Bṛhad Vāmana Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.209)
[Bhagavān:] “Although I have many well-known enchanting līlās, when I remember the rāsa-līlā, I do not know what becomes of my mind.”
rasānubhavino hy atra dvividhāḥ—pibatety upadeśyāḥ, svatas tad-anubhavi-līlā-parikarāś ca | tatra līlā-parikarā eva rasa-sāram anubhavanti antaraṅgatvāt; pare tu yat kiñcid eva bahiraṅgatvāt | yadyapy evaṁ, tathāpi tad-anubhava-maya-rasa-sāraṁ svānubhava-mayena rasenaikatayā vibhāvya pibata; yatas tādṛśatayā tādṛśa-śuka-mukhād vigalitaṁ pravāha-rūpeṇa vahantam ity arthaḥ |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.1.3)
“Experiencers of rasa here are of two types: (1) those who are to be instructed, ‘drink (pibata) [that Bhāgavata-rasa],’ and (2) līlā-companions (parikaras) who naturally experience that [i.e., Bhāgavata-rasa, by virtue of their being direct participants in Bhagavān’s līlā]. In this regard, only līlā-companions experience the essence of rasa, on account of their being intimate, whereas the others [i.e., sādhakas who have reached the level of bhāva-bhakti, experience] only something [i.e., a small amount of that rasa], on account of their being peripheral [i.e., their still being sādhakas and situated within physical bodies in saṁsāra rather in the immediate midst of Bhagavān’s līlā]. Although this is such, still [i.e., the intention of the phrase ‘pibata Bhāgavatam rasam’ is as follows,] considering the essence of rasa within their [i.e., the līlā-companions’] experience to be one with the rasa within one’s own experience, drink [Bhāgavata-rasa], since, on account of uniformity [i.e., the ‘oneness’ of rasa that comes about through identification with the experience of rasa of a līlā-parikara], that [i.e., Bhāgavata-rasa] flowed out, that is, flowed forth in the form of a stream, from the mouth of Śuka, who was [in this way also] uniform [i.e., Śukadeva in this way identified his experience with the experience companions of Bhagavān in the līlās he described and this facilitated rasa flowing through him to the listeners of the Bhāgavatam, so if listeners also identify with the experience of rasa of līlā-companions, then they too will experience this flowing stream of Bhāgavata-rasa].”
