śuddha-sattva-viśeṣātmā prema-sūryāṁśu-sāmya-bhāk |
rucibhiś citta-māsṛṇya-kṛd asau bhāva ucyate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.3.1)
“That [i.e., that aspect of uttamā-bhakti] which is constituted of a special aspect of śuddha-sattva, is a bearer of resemblance to a ray of the sun of prema, and is a melter of the heart with hankerings, is called bhāva [-bhakti].”
mātar gopa-kiśoraṁ taṁ tvañ ca rāsa-rasāmbudhim |
tat-prema-mohitābhiḥ śrī-gopībhir abhito vṛtam ||
amūṣāṁ dāsyam icchantī tādṛśa-prema-bhaṅgibhiḥ |
nityaṁ bhajasva tan-nāma-saṅkīrtana-parāyaṇā ||
(Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.154–5)
“The Adolescent Cowherd, the Ocean of the rasa of rāsa, surrounded on all sides by the beautiful gopīs enchanted by prema for him—O Mother, you too should always worship him with similar means of prema [i.e., with means of prema similar to those of the gopīs’ prema], desiring servitude to them [i.e., to the gopīs] and being absorbed in saṅkīrtana of his name.”
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., the prema that leads to attainment of the Beloved, one’s Iṣṭa-deva, in Goloka], bright with saṅkīrtana of the names of the Beloved, is certainly manifested through bhakti in which meditation on and singing of the [Beloved’s] various acts of play in Vraja are primary.”
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].”
