paraṁ saukhyaṁ hi nairāśyaṁ svairiṇy apy āha piṅgalā |
taj jānatīnāṁ naḥ kṛṣṇe tathāpy āśā duratyayā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.47.47)
[The Vraja-gopīs:] “Although the prostitute Piṅgalā said that hopelessness is the greatest happiness [see SB 11.8.44], still, even though we know this, our hope for Kṛṣṇa is unassailable [i.e., impossible to give up].”
rāgamayī bhaktira haya ‘rāgātmikā’ nāma |
tāhā śuni lubdha haya kona bhāgyavān ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.147)
“Bhakti constituted of rāga is called rāgātmikā. Hearing of it, some fortunate person becomes intensely desirous [of it].”
iṣṭe gāḍha-tṛṣṇā ‘rāga’—ei svarūpa-lakṣaṇa |
iṣṭe āviṣṭatā—ei taṭastha-lakṣaṇa ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.146)
“Intense thirst for the object of one’s desire is the intrinsic characteristic of rāga. Absorption in the object of one’s desire is the extrinsic characteristic of rāga.”
iṣṭe svārasikī rāgaḥ paramāviṣṭatā bhavet |
tan-mayī yā bhaved bhaktiḥ sātra rāgātmikoditā ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.272)
“That which is a cause of intense natural absorption in the object of one’s desire [i.e., intense desire constituted of prema] shall be [called] rāga. That bhakti which is constituted of that [i.e., such rāga] shall be called rāgātmikā [-bhakti] here [i.e., in this text].”
tad dhi tat-tad-vraja-krīḍā-dhyāna-gāna-pradhānayā |
bhaktyā sampadyate preṣṭha-nāma-saṅkīrtanojjvalam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.218)
“That [i.e., that prema], bright with saṅkīrtana of the names of the Beloved [i.e., the names of Bhagavān, or the names of those beloved to one’s Iṣṭadeva], is certainly manifested through bhakti predominated by meditation on and singing of the varieties of play in Vraja.”
kleśa-ghnī śubhadā mokṣa-laghutā-kṛt sudurlabhā |
sāndrānanda-viśeṣātmā śrī-kṛṣṇākarṣiṇī ca sā ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.17)
“It [i.e., uttamā-bhakti] is (1) a destroyer of affliction and (2) a bestower of good fortune [in the stage of sādhana], (3) a belittler of liberation and (4) very difficult to attain [at the stage of bhāva], and (5) a special form of intense bliss and (6) an attractor of Śrī Kṛṣṇa [at the stage of prema].”
