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.”
nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād
bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-’bhirāmāt |
ka uttamaśloka-guṇānuvādāt
pumān virajyeta vinā paśughnāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.1.4)
“Other than one who slaughters animals, what person could desist from narration of the qualities of he of highest praise [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa], which is sung continuously by those whose thirst [i.e., desire for objects of the senses] has been quenched [i.e., the liberated], which is the cure for material existence, and which is a delight to the ears and mind?”
āyur harati vai puṁsām udyann astaṁ ca yann asau |
tasyarte yat kṣaṇo nīta uttamaḥ-śloka-vārttayā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.3.17)
“Rising and setting, the revolving sun takes away the life of people, except those who spend their time talking about he of highest praise.”
uvāsa katicin māsān gopīnāṁ vinudan śucaḥ |
kṛṣṇa-līlā-kathāṁ gāyan ramayām āsa gokulam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.47.54)
“He [i.e., Uddhava] resided [there, i.e., in Vraja] for some months and dispelled the gopīs’ sorrow. By singing narrations of Kṛṣṇa’s līlā, he delighted Gokula.”
tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavo
yasmin prati-ślokam abaddhavaty api |
nāmāny anantasya yaśo’ṅkitāni yac
chṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.5.11; 12.12.52)
“Destructive of humanity’s sins is any composition of language in which, even if devoid of [syntactical] sense, there are names marked with [i.e., derived from descriptions of] the glories of Ananta [i.e., Bhagavān, lit., “he who is without end”] in every verse, since sādhus hear, sing, and speak [those names in the process of reciting the composition].”
śrutaḥ saṅkīrtito dhyātaḥ pūjitaś cādṛto’pi vā |
nṛṇāṁ dhunoti bhagavān hṛt-stho janmāyatāśubham ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.3.46)
“When heard about, highly praised, meditated upon, worshipped, or even honored, Bhagavān, situated in the heart, removes ten-thousand births of human beings’ inauspiciousness.”
vāgbhiḥ stuvanto manasā smarantas
tanvā namanto’py aniśaṁ na tṛptāḥ |
bhaktāḥ sravan-netra-jalāḥ samagram
āyur harer eva samarpayanti ||
(Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya: 12.37; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.3.29)
“Although they are continuously praising him with their words, remembering him with their minds, and bowing to him with bodies, they are not satiated. The bhaktas, their eyes flowing with tears, offer their entire lives to Hari alone.”
yathā yathātmā parimṛjyate’sau
mat-puṇya-gāthā-śravaṇābhidhānaiḥ |
tathā tathā paśyati vastu sūkṣmaṁ
cakṣur yathaivāñjana-samprayuktam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.26; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 80, 147)
[Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] “To whatever extent the mind is purified by hearing and reciting narrations of my virtuous acts, to that same extent, it, like an eye treated with collyrium, perceives the subtle reality [i.e., my nature, figure, qualities, and līlā in actuality].”
