vayaṁ dhanyatamā loke guro’pi kṣatra-bandhavaḥ |
vayaṁ pibāmo muhus tvattaḥ puṇyaṁ kṛṣṇa-kathāmṛtam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.12.43)
[Parīkṣit Mahārāja to Śukadeva Gosvāmī:] “O guru, although we are [just] relatives of kṣatriyas [i.e., we are the lowest of kṣatriyas], we are the most fortunate in the world, for we are drinking repeatedly the pure nectar of Kṛṣṇa-kathā from you.”
asyā janma-lakṣaṇaṁ bhakti-vyatirekeṇānyatrānabhirucim upalakṣya—sā śraddadhānasya vivardhamānā viraktim anyatra karoti puṁsaḥ | hareḥ padānusmṛti-nirvṛtasya samasta-duḥkhāpyayam āśu dhatte ||
(Excerpted from Bhakti Sandarbha: 310)
“Indicating the absence of relish [alt., pleasure, inclination, interest, desire] for anything apart from bhakti to be the characteristic of its [i.e., rāgānugā-bhakti’s] appearance [i.e., to be the characteristic of taste (ruci) for a specific rāga and its manners of expression (paripāṭis)], [it is stated in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.5.13]: ‘That [i.e., inclination, meaning, taste, for discussion of Hari], upon flourishing, produces disinterest in all else in a person endowed with śraddhā. The dissolution of all suffering of one who is delighted by continuous remembrance of Hari’s feet is quickly effected.’”
yāvaj jano bhajati no bhuvi viṣṇu-bhakti-
vārttā-sudhā-rasa-viśeṣa-rasaika-sāram |
tāvaj jarā-maraṇa-janma-śatābhighāta-
duḥkhāni tāni labhate bahu-dehajāni ||
(Padma Purāṇa: Pātāla-khaṇḍa, 85.33; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.607; Bhakti Sandarbha: 115)
“As long as a human being on earth does not partake of [i.e., take shelter with bhakti in] the one essence—the rasa of the exceptional nectar of the tidings of Viṣṇu-bhakti—then one undergoes the sufferings of the lashings of hundreds of infirmities, deaths, and births begotten by numerous bodies [i.e., the severe suffering of saṁsāra is extinguished only when one attains Viṣṇu-bhakti, and thus attaining it is imperative].”
vayaṁ tu na vitṛpyāma uttama-śloka-vikrame |
yac chṛṇvatāṁ rasa-jñānāṁ svādu svādu pade pade ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.1.19)
“We, however, are not fully satiated with the prowess of he of the highest glory (Uttamaśloka) [i.e., Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa], which for listeners cognizant of rasa becomes sweeter and sweeter step by step [and moment by moment].”
