yasya svarūpaṁ kavayo vipaścito
guṇeṣu dāruṣv iva jāta-vedasam |
mathnanti mathnā manasā didṛkṣavo
gūḍhaṁ kriyārthair nama īritātmane ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.18.36)
“Obeisance unto he of manifested self whose true nature, hidden by activities and objects, the wise and learned, desirous of seeing, kindle amid the guṇas with the kindling rod of the mind like fire amid pieces of wood.”
kathayasva mahābhāga yathāham akhilātmani |
kṛṣṇe niveśya niḥsaṅgaṁ manas tyakṣye kalevaram ||
śṛṇvataḥ śraddhayā nityaṁ gṛṇataś ca svaceṣṭitam |
kālena nātidīrgheṇa bhagavān viśate hṛdi ||
praviṣṭaḥ karṇa-randhreṇa svānāṁ bhāva-saroruham |
dhunoti śamalaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ salilasya yathā śarat ||
dhautātmā puruṣaḥ kṛṣṇa-pāda-mūlaṁ na muñcati |
mukta-sarva-parikleśaḥ pānthaḥ sva-śaraṇaṁ yathā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.8.3–6; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 268; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.36)
“[Parīkṣit Mahārāja to Śukadeva Gosvāmī:] O you of great fortune, please speak so that I shall give up the body absorbing the mind free from attachment in Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Self of all. Within not a very long time, Bhagavān enters the heart of one who hears and speaks about his own activities continuously with śraddhā. Having entered through the holes of the ears into the lotus of the bhāva of those who are his own, Kṛṣṇa cleanses away contamination [of the heart] just as the autumn [cleans away contamination] of water. A person of cleansed heart does not leave the base of Kṛṣṇa’s feet just as a traveller by whom all hardship has been given up does not leave his own home [after having returned there].”
tasmād bhārata sarvātmā bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ |
śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca smartavyaś cechatābhayam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.1.5; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.7; Bhakti Sandarbha: 25, 125; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.110)
“[Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Mahārāja Parīkṣit:] O descendant of Bharata! The Self of all, Bhagavān, Īśvara, Hari, is to be heard about, to be praised, and to be remembered by one desirous of fearlessness.”
etan nirvidyamānānām icchatām akuto-bhayam |
yogināṁ nṛpa nirṇītaṁ harer nāmānukīrtanam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.1.11; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.414; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.230; Bhakti Sandarbha: 115, 198, 265, 275)
“O King, this anukīrtana of Hari’s name, wherein there is no fear from anywhere, is enjoined for the indifferent, the desirous, and the yogīs.”
tṛṇād api sunīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā |
amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ ||
(Padyāvalī: 32; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 269; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.17.31, 3.6.239, 3.20.21)
“Hari is to be praised always
By one who is far lower than even grass,
Tolerant like a tree,
Undesirous of respect,
And respectful [to all as appropriate].”
sa uttamaśloka mahan-mukha-cyuto
bhavat-padāmbhoja-sudhā-kaṇānilaḥ |
smṛtiṁ punar vismṛta-tattva-vartmanāṁ
kuyogināṁ no vitaraty alaṁ varaiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.20.25; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 257)
“[Mahārāja Pṛthu to Śrī Bhagavān:] O you of highest praise! The air suffused with drops of the nectar from your lotus feet and cast forth from the mouths of mahātmās confers remembrance again to faulty yogīs who have forgotten the path of Truth (Tattva). [Therefore,] Away with [other] boons.”
bahubhir militvā kīrtanaṁ saṅkīrtanam ity ucyate | tat tu camatkāra-viśeṣa-poṣāt pūrvato’py adhikam iti jñeyam |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 269)
“Kīrtana [performed] by many [who have] gathered together is called saṅkīrtana. This [i.e., saṅkīrtana] is to be known as superior even to the former [i.e., kīrtana] because of [its] fostering a special type of wondrousness.”
te ca prāṇi-mātrāṇām eva paramopakartāraḥ, kim uta sveṣām |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 269)
“They [i.e., my bhaktas who sing of my līlās] are the foremost benefactors of all living beings, and all the more of themselves.”
aśeṣa-saṅkleśa-śamaṁ vidhatte
guṇānuvāda-śravaṇaṁ murāreḥ |
kiṁ vā punas tac-caraṇāravinda-
parāga-sevā-ratir ātma-labdhā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.7.14)
“Hearing and recounting the qualities of Murāri produces destruction of suffering completely, so how much more does attachment (rati), attained of its own accord, to service to the pollen of his lotus feet [produce]?”
likhita granthera yadi kari anuvāda |
tabe se granthera artha pāiye āsvāda ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.17.311)
“If I recapitulate [alt., translate] what is written in a text, then I get a taste of the meaning of that text.”
