vinā bhavet kiṁ hari-dāsa-varya-
padāśrayaṁ bhaktir ataḥ śrayāmi |
yam eva saprema nijeśayoḥ śrī-
govardhano me diśatām abhīṣṭam ||
(Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda’s Govardhanāṣṭakam: 8)
“Can bhakti [to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa] ever manifest without the shelter of the feet of the best of Hari’s servants?[Never.] Therefore, I take shelter In [Govardhana,] he who is endowed with prema for his own Īśas. May Śrī Govardhana fulfill my desire.”
śrī-rādhāyāḥ praṇaya-mahimā kīdṛśo vānayaivā-
svādyo yenādbhuta-madhurimā kīdṛśo vā madīyaḥ |
saukhyañ cāsyā mad-anubhavataḥ kīdṛśaṁ veti lobhāt
tad-bhāvāḍhyaḥ samajani śacī-garbha-sindhau harīnduḥ ||
(Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.1.6)
“‘What is the greatness of Śrī Rādhā’s love? What sort of astonishing sweetness of mine is relishable only by her through that [love]? And what sort of happiness does she feel as a result of experiencing me?’ Out of such intense desire [i.e., intensely desiring to experience these three mysteries], the moon Hari, endowed with her bhāva, arose from the ocean of Śacī’s womb.”
cirād āśā-mātraṁ tvayi viracayantaḥ sthira-dhiyo
vidadhyur ye vāsaṁ madhurima-gabhīre madhupure |
dadhānaḥ kaiśore vayasi sakhitāṁ gokula-pate
prapadyethās teṣāṁ paricayam avaśyaṁ nayanayoḥ ||
(Lalita-mādhava-nāṭakam: 10.37)
“[Rādhā to Kṛṣṇa:] O Lord of Gokula, please appear bearing your companionship in your adolescent age [i.e., accompanied by your friends beginning with Śrīdāma in your form of an adolescent flute-player] before the eyes of those of steady mind who have long resided in profoundly sweet Madhupurī [i.e., Mathurā Maṇḍala] desiring only you.”
vrajendra-kula dugdha-sindhu kṛṣṇa tāhe pūrṇa indu
janmi kailā jagat ujora |
kānty-amṛta yebā piye nirantara piyā jiye
vraja-janera nayana-cakora ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.19.36)
“The family of Vraja’s King is an ocean of milk, and Kṛṣṇa is the full moon that has arisen from there and illuminated the world. The eyes of the people of Vraja are cakora birds who drink the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s luster and live by [only] drink it continuously.”
haṁsaḥ padma-vanaṁ samicchhati yathā nīlāmbudaṁ cātakaḥ
kokaḥ koka-nada-priyaṁ prati-dinaṁ candraṁ cakoras tathā |
ceto vāñchati mām ekaṁ paśupate cinmārga-mṛgyaṁ vibho
gaurīnātha bhavat padābja-yugalaṁ kaivalya-saukhya-pradam ||
(Śaṅkarācārya‘s Śivānanda-laharī: 59)
“As the swan longs for the lotus cluster,
The cātaka for the dark blue cloud,
The cakravāka for the sun,
The cakora for the moon, day after day,
So, my heart hankers only for your lotus feet,
Which are the goal of the spiritual path,
And which grant the joy of kaivalya,
O all-pervading One, O Lord of all beings, O husband of Gaurī!”
antaḥ-śuddhir bahiḥ-śuddhis tapaḥ-śānty-adayas tathā |
amī guṇāḥ prapadyante hari-sevābhikāminām ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.263)
“Internal purity, external purity, austerity, peacefulness, and so forth—all these qualities take shelter in those who are desirous of serving Hari.”
tat tu laukika-sad-bandhu-buddhyā prema bhayādi-jam |
vighnaṁ nirasya tad-gopa-gopī-dāsyepsayārjayet ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.217)
“With desire for servitude to the gopas and gopīs and the mentality of a real, worldly friend [i.e., relating to Śrī Kṛṣṇa as one’s true and dear friend just as husbands, sons, and others are related to in worldly life], one should overcome the obstacles produced by fear and so forth [e.g., reverence, lack of faith, and shyness] and obtain that prema.”
tathāpi tṛptiḥ kasyāpi naivodeti kadācana |
prema-tṛṣṇā ca vividhā dainya-mātā vivardhate ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.213)
“Still [i.e., even though every Vraja-vāsīs feels that they alone are the most dear to Kṛṣṇa, acts as such with Kṛṣṇa, and observes Kṛṣṇa genuinely reciprocate with them as such], satiation never arises within even one of them. [Rather,] The thirst produced by [their] prema, which is variegated and the mother of dainya (humility), increases [continuously].”
na hy anyatra spṛhā anyatra ratiḥ |
(Durgama-saṅgaminī-ṭīkā to Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.3.41)
“It is not that there can be desire elsewhere and rati elsewhere.
kṣāntir avyartha-kālatvaṁ viraktir māna-śūnyatā |
āśā-bandhaḥ samutkaṇṭhā nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ ||
āsaktis tad-guṇākhyāne prītis tad-vasati-sthale |
ity ādayo’nubhāvāḥ syur jāta-bhāvāṅkure jane ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: Pūrva-vibhāga, 3.25–26)
“(1) Forbearance, (2) not wasting time, (3) non-attachment, (4) pridelessness, (5) hopefulness, (6) longing, (7) constant taste for chanting the name, (8) attachment to discussion of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] qualities, and (9) fondness for his abode—these and other indications shall manifest in a person in whom the sprout of bhāva has arisen.”
