rāsa-līlā jayaty eṣā yayā saṁyujyate’niśam |
harer vidagdhatā-bheryā rādhā-saubhāgya-dundubhiḥ ||
(Sāraṅga-raṅgadā-ṭīkā on Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta: 3)
“This rāsa-līlā—
By which the dundubhi of Rādhā’s charm
Is continuously united
With the bheri of Hari’s cleverness—
Triumphs!”
karṇākarṇi sakhī-janena vijane dūtī-stuti-prakriyā
patyur vañcana-cāturī guṇanikā kuñja-prayāṇe niśi |
bādhiryaṁ guru-vāci veṇu-virutāv utkarṇateti vratān
kaiśoreṇa tavādya kṛṣṇa guruṇā gaurī-gaṇaḥ paṭhyate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.333)
“[A messenger informs Kṛṣṇa:] Whispering ear to ear with a friend,
Fine technique in praising messengers in private,
Dexterity in deception of the husband,
Steady practice of sneaking out to an arbor at night,
Deafness to the speech of elders,
Keeping the ears pricked at the sound of the flute—
O Kṛṣṇa,
Today,
With the guru of your adolescence,
Fair young women [viz., the gopīs]
Are studying all these rites.”
sā maṇḍalī-bandhana-cāturī prabhoḥ
sā nṛtya-gītādi-kālāsu dakṣatā |
sāpūrva-śobhādhikatā-paramparā
muñcāti ceto mama viśva-mohinī ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.156)
“That skill of Prabhu in assembling [the gopīs] in a circle,
That expertise [of Prabhu] in the arts of dancing, singing, and so forth
[i.e., and in play in the water, in the forest, and elsewhere],
And that successive flow of a profusion
Of extraordinary beauty,
Enchanting to the world,
Steals away my heart.”
bibhemy asmād dhanta durbodha-līlāt
kva tat tasyāḥ sāra-saubhagya-dānam |
kva sadyo’ntardhānato rodanābdhāv
anāthāyā yātanaikākinī yā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.154)
“Hanta! I fear he of unfathomable līlā! Where is that granting of the ultimate fortune to her? And where is that solitary anguish of hers as she was helpless in an ocean of [her own] tears because of his sudden disappearance?”
aho vaidagdhī sā madhura-madhurā śrī-bhagavataḥ
samākarṣaty uccair jagati kṛtinaḥ kasya na manaḥ |
kula-strīṇāṁ tāsāṁ vana-bhuvi tathākarṣaṇam atho
tathā vāk-cāturyaṁ sapadi ruditaṁ tābhir api yat ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.151)
“Aho! What adept’s mind in this world does Śrī Bhagavān’s sweet, sweet artistry [in flute playing], [his] thereby attracting those noble women [i.e., the gopīs] into the region of the forest, and [his] similar expertise with speech because of which weeping was resorted to immediately even by them [i.e., the gopīs, once he spoke to them upon their arrival in his midst in the forest], not intensely attract in full?”
pada-dyuti-vinirdhuta-smara-parārdha-rūpoddhatir
dṛg-añcala-kalā-naṭī-paṭimabhir mano-mohinī |
sphuran-nava-ghanākṛtiḥ parama-divya-līlā-nidhiḥ
kriyāt tava jagat-trayī-yuvati-bhāgya-siddhir mudam ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 1.5)
“[Paurṇamāsī blesses Śrī Rādhā:] He by the luster of whose feet
The pride of beauty
In a hundred quadrillion Kāmadevas
Is destroyed,
He alluring to the mind
By means of the deftness of the dancing
Of the artistry [i.e., side-long glances] in the corners of his eyes,
His whose figure resembles a shining fresh cloud,
He who is an ocean of paramount, divine līlā,
He who is the fruition of the good fortune
Of the young women throughout the three worlds—
May [he] bring about your delight.”
rāso hi tasya bhagavattva-viśeṣa-gopyaḥ
sarvasva-sāra-paripākamayo vyanakti |
utkṛṣṭata-mādhurīmāpara-sīma-niṣṭhāṁ
lakṣmyā manoratha-śatair api yo durāpaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.150)
“Rāsa, the confidential, special feature of his Bhagavattva [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s ‘Bhagavān-hood’] constituted of the complete perfection of the essence of his whole being which is difficult to attain [even] for Lakṣmī even with hundreds of yearnings divulges the culmination of the ultimate limit of the sweetness of his excellence.”
mantrās tu kṛṣṇa-devasya sākṣād bhagavato hareḥ |
sarvāvatāra-bījasya sarvato vīryavattamāḥ ||
tatrāpi bhagavattāṁ svāṁ tanvato gopa-līlayā |
tasya śreṣṭhatamā mantrās teṣv apy aṣṭādaśākṣaraḥ ||
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.155, 159)
“Mantras of Kṛṣṇadeva, that is, Bhagavān Hari himself, he who is the source of all avatāras, however, are the most potent of all. … Therein, furthermore, the mantras related to him spreading his own Bhagavattā [i.e., nature of Bhagavān] by means of [his] līlā as a cowherd are the best of all, and even among those, the eighteen-syllable [mantra, i.e., the Gopāla-mantra, is the very best of all].”
sarveṣāṁ mantra-varyāṇāṁ śreṣṭho vaiṣṇava ucyate |
viśeṣāt kṛṣṇa-manavo bhoga-mokṣaika-sādhanam ||
yasya yasya ca mantrasya yo yo devas tathā punaḥ |
abhedāt tan-manūnāṁ ca devatā saiva bhāṣyate ||
kṛṣṇa eva paraṁ brahma sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ |
smṛti-mātreṇa teṣāṁ vai bhukti-mukti-phala-pradaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Gautamīya Tantra; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.156–158)
“Among all excellent mantras, the Vaiṣṇava [mantras] are said to be the best, and in particular Kṛṣṇa-mantras are the primary means of attaining enjoyment and mokṣa. Because of the non-difference between whichever deva and whichever mantra, the particular devatā of those mantras is also addressed [in the mantra, i.e., the mantra related to any particular deva is non-different from that deva, and thus whenever the mantra related to a particular deva is chanted, the deva of the mantra is directly addressed]. Kṛṣṇa is verily the Supreme Brahman, the embodiment of eternal being, consciousness, and bliss, and the bestower of the results of enjoyment and mukti upon them [i.e., upon the seekers of those objects] just by means of remembrance [i.e., just as a result of his being remembered by those seekers of enjoyment or mukti when they chant a mantra related to him].”
na cāntar na bahir yasya na pūrvaṁ nāpi cāparam |
pūrvāparaṁ bahiś cāntar jagato yo jagac ca yaḥ ||
taṁ matvātmajam avyaktaṁ martya-liṅgam adhokṣajam |
gopikolūkhale dāmnā babandha prākṛtaṁ yathā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.9.13–14)
“Who has neither interior, nor exterior, nor anterior, nor posterior, who is the anterior, posterior, interior, and exterior of the universe, who is the universe, and who is beyond sensory perception, unmanifest, and possessed of human characteristics—considering him her son, the gopīkā bound [him] with a rope to a mortar like an ordinary child.”
