yathā cintāmaṇiḥ śreṣṭho yathā gauś ca yathā satī |
yathā dvijo yathā gaṅgā tathāsau mantra uttamaḥ ||
(Trailokya-sammohana-tantra; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.185)
“As a thought-jewel, a cow, a chaste wife, a twice-born, and the Gaṅgā are the best [among their respective classes], so this mantra [i.e., the eighteen-syllable Gopāla-mantra] is foremost [among mantras].”
nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ |
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto’bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.503; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.233; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 47; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.17.133)
“[Translated according to the interpretation of Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmīpāda:] The name is a thought-jewel, Kṛṣṇa [himself], an embodiment of consciousness and rasa, complete, pure, and eternally liberated, because of the name and the bearer of the name being non-different.”
yasya kānti-lava-spṛṣṭaṁ kāṁsyaṁ tāmra-mayas trapu |
pāṣāṇādikam anyad vā sarvaṁ bhavati kāñcanam ||
cintāmaṇiḥ sa vijñeyo munibhiḥ siddha-sādhanaḥ |
(Skanda Purāṇa: Brahmottara-khaṇḍa)
“The effective means by the minute touch of the luster of which bell metal, copper, tin, stone, and so forth, as well as all else, becomes gold is known as a cintāmaṇi [lit., ‘thought-jewel’] by the sages.”
