jaya gaura-bhakta-gaṇa gaura yā̐ra prāṇa |
saba bhakta mili more bhakti deha dāna ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.11.8)
“Glory to Gaura’s bhaktas, whose very life is Gaura! May you all together bestow upon me the gift of bhakti.”
akṣṇoḥ phalaṁ tvādṛśa-darśanaṁ hi
tanoḥ phalaṁ tvādṛśa-gātra-saṅgaḥ |
jihvā-phalaṁ tvādṛśa-kīrtanaṁ hi
sudurlabhā bhāgavatā hi loke ||
(Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya: 13.2; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.20.61)
“The sight of someone like you is indeed the fulfillment of the eyes, the touch of someone like you is the fulfillment of the body, and praising someone like you is indeed the fulfillment of the tongue, as in this world Bhāgavatas are very rare to find.”
viṣṇu-bhaktam athāyātaṁ yo dṛṣṭvā sumukhaḥ priyaḥ |
praṇāmādi karoty eva vāsudeve yathā tathā |
sa vai bhakta iti jñeyaḥ sa punāti jagat trayam ||
(Liṅga Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.34)
“One who upon seeing a Viṣṇu-bhakta coming pleasingly with a bright face offers obeisance and so forth, as is done for Vāsudeva, certainly should be considered a bhakta. He purifies the three worlds.”
ye me bhakta-janāḥ pārtha na me bhaktāś ca te janāḥ |
mad-bhaktānāñ ca ye bhaktās te me bhakta-tamā matāḥ
(Ādi Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.133; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.218; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.11.28)
“O Arjuna, those persons who are bhaktas of me [i.e., who are focused only on me and neglect my bhaktas]—those persons are not my bhaktas [i.e., they are not my bhaktas in the full and proper sense]. Those who are bhaktas of my bhaktas are considered my best bhaktas [i.e., I consider those who have bhakti both for me and for my bhaktas to truly be my bhaktas].“
yena sarvātmanā viṣṇu-bhaktyā bhāvo niveśitaḥ |
vaiṣṇaveṣu kṛtātmatvān mahābhāgavato hi saḥ ||
(Garuḍa Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.37)
“One by whom one’s being (bhāva) is completely absorbed in Viṣṇu-bhakti by virtue of being dedicated to the Vaiṣṇavas is certainly a Mahābhāgavata.”
kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma,— ataeva ‘śānta’ |
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali ‘aśānta’ ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.149)
“A devotee of Kṛṣṇa is free from desire and thus peaceful. Those who desire enjoyment, liberation, or supernatural power are not peaceful.”
ye caitanya-padāravinda-madhupāḥ sat-prema-bhūṣojjvalāḥ
śuddha-svarṇa-ruco dṛg-ambu-pulaka-svedaiḥ sad-aṅga-śriyaḥ |
sevopāyana-pāṇayaḥ smita-mukhāḥ śuklāmbarāḥ sad-varāḥ
śrīvāsādi-mahāśayān sukha-mayān dhyāyema tān pārṣadān ||
(Gaura-govindārcana-smaraṇa-paddhati: 1.53; cited in Sādhanāmṛta-candrikā: 2.13)
“Bees [lit., nectar-drinkers] in the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya,
Radiant with the ornaments of true prema,
Their lusters pure gold,
Their fine figures adorned with tears, horripilation, and perspiration,
Their hands filled with service offerings,
Their faces smiling,
And their garments white—
We meditate upon them,
The best of the sādhus,
The great souls led by Śrīvāsa,
The joyful associates [of Śrī Gaurāṅga].”
tri-bhuvana-vibhava-hetave’py akuṇṭha-
smṛtir ajitātma-surādibhir vimṛgyāt |
na calati bhagavat-padāravindāl
lava-nimiṣārdham api yaḥ sa vaiṣṇavāgryaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.53; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.53; Bhakti Sandarbha: 14, 196, 198, 278)
“One of unchecked remembrance who does not even for the sake of dominion over the three worlds diverge for even half a blink of an eye or half of a sixth of that from Bhagavān’s lotus feet, which are to be sought after [even] by the suras and others whose self is Ajita [i.e., the Unconquerable One, viz., Bhagavān], is the foremost Vaiṣṇava.”
bhakti-siddhās trividhāḥ—prāpta-bhagavat-pārṣada-dehāḥ, nirdhūta-kaṣāyāḥ, mūrcchita-kaṣāyāś ca | yathā śrī-nāradādayaḥ, śrī-śukadevādayaḥ, prāg-janma-gata-nāradādayaś ca … | … tad evaṁ samāna-premṇi trividhe pūrva-pūrvādhikyaṁ jñeyam | kvacit sthite’pi prākṛta-dehāditve yadi premṇaḥ parimāṇataḥ svarūpato vādhikyaṁ dṛśyate, tadā premādhikyenaivādhikyaṁ jñeyam | tac ca bhajanīyasya bhagavato’ṁśāṁśitva-bhedena bhajataś ca dāsya-sakhyādi-bhedena svarūpādhikyaṁ, premāṅkura-premādi-bhedena parimāṇādhikyaṁ ca prīti-sandarbhe vivṛtya darśayiṣyāmaḥ |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.44; Bhakti Sandarbha: 187)
“Siddhas in bhakti [i.e., those who have achieved success on the path of bhakti] are of three types: (1) those who have attained the forms of associates of Bhagavān, (2) those who have been completely purged of impurities, and (3) those whose impurities are ineffective [lit., ‘fainted’], as in the case of (1) Śrī Nārada and others, (2) Śrī Śukadeva and others, and (3) Nārada in his previous life and others. … Thus, in this way, the superiority of the former and the former [thereof] is to be understood in regard to these three types [of siddha-bhaktas] similar with respect to their possessing prema [i.e., the three types of siddha-bhaktas, all endowed with prema for Bhagavān, have been listed in order from greater to lesser]. If sometimes, even while the material body and so forth remain, a superiority in the measure or nature of [a bhakta’s] prema is seen, then superiority [of that bhakta in whom it is seen] based solely on [that] superiority in prema is to be understood. Furthermore, this superiority in nature [i.e., in the nature of prema], based on a distinction in regard to Bhagavān, the object of worship, being [manifest in reciprocation with the prema of a particular bhakta in either] a partial manifestation (aṁśa) or [his] complete manifestation (aṁśī), and based on a distinction in regard to the worshipper’s [particular type of rati, namely,] dāsya, sakhya, and so forth, and [the] superiority in measure [of a bhakta’s prema] based on a distinction between a sprout of prema [i.e., rati], prema, and so forth [i.e., on which stage of prema is manifest in the bhakta, that is, the initial stage of rati, the general stage of prema, or any of the further advanced stages of prema beginning with sneha], will be shown and described in detail in Prīti Sandarbha [Anucchedas 98–104].”
ātma-koṭi-guṇaṁ kṛṣṇe premāṇaṁ paramaṁ gatāḥ |
nityānanda-guṇāḥ sarve nitya-siddhā mukundavat ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.290)
“All of those whose qualities are eternal and blissful like Mukunda’s and who have paramount prema for Kṛṣṇa which is a crore of times more than their prema for their own self are nitya-siddhas [i.e., eternally realized].”
