aho bata śvapaco’to garīyān
yaj-jihvāgre vartate nāma tubhyam |
tepus tapas te juhuvuḥ sasnur āryā
brahmānūcūr nāma gṛṇanti ye te ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.33.7)
“Aho bata [i.e., how astonishing]! A dog-cooker on the tip of whose tongue your name is present is thus highly honorable. Those who take your name have undergone austerity, conducted sacrifices, bathed [in all tīrthas], become noble, and studied the Veda.”
maivaṁ mamādhamasyāpi syād evācyuta-darśanam |
hriyamāṇaḥ kāla-nadyā kvacit tarati kaścana ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.38.5; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.44)
“[Akrūra muses:] It is not like that. Although [I am] fallen, I may indeed have darśana of Acyuta. Sometimes someone being carried by the river of time crosses over.”
jayati jayati nāmānanda-rūpaṁ murārer
viramita-nija-dharma-dhyāna-pūjādi-yatnam |
katham api sakṛd āttaṁ muktidaṁ prāṇināṁ yat
paramam amṛtam ekaṁ jīvanaṁ bhūṣaṇaṁ me ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.1.9)
“The name of Murāri—
A form of bliss—
That by which the difficulty
Of one’s duties, meditation, ritual worship, and so forth
Is terminated,
That which is a bestower of mukti for living beings
Upon being uttered [even] once by any means,
And which for me is alone
The supreme nectar,
[Supreme] enlivenment,
And [supreme] ornament—
Triumphs!
Triumphs!”
chalaṁ ca na labhe kiñcid yenādyaṁ paripālayan |
nibandhaṁ sva-kṛtaṁ bhrātar ānayāmy ātmanaḥ padam ||
tat te mayy akṛpāṁ vīkṣya vyagro’nugraha-kātaraḥ |
anādiṁ setum ullaṅghya tvaj-janmedam akārayam ||
śrīmad-govardhane tasmin nija-priyatamāspade |
svayam evābhavaṁ tāta jayantākhyaḥ sa te guruḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.4.84–86)
“[Śrī Vaikuṇṭhanātha Bhagavān to Gopa Kumāra:] Following in full the primordial rule established by myself, I did not find any pretext on which I could bring you to my own abode. Thus, seeing your ungraciousness towards me, feeling anxious, and being overcome with compassion, I transgressed my beginningless law and caused this birth of yours there in that dearmost abode of my own, blessed Govardhana. My dear boy, I myself specifically became your guru, he whose name is Jayanta.”
sāṅketyaṁ pārihāsyaṁ vā stobhaṁ helanam eva vā |
vaikuṇṭha-nāma-grahaṇam aśeṣāgha-haraṁ viduḥ ||
patitaḥ skhalito bhagnaḥ sandaṣṭas tapta āhataḥ |
harir ity avaśenāha pumān nārhati yātanāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.2.14–15)
“[The emissaries of Viṣnu to the emissaries of Yama:] Whether as a designation, a joke, an interposition, or indeed a disrespect [alt., or just an act of ease], know an utterance of the name of Vaikuṇṭha [i.e., of Śrī Bhagavān] to be a remover of all sins. Having fallen, slipped, been injured, been bitten, been burnt, or been beaten, a person who helplessly says ‘Hari’ does not deserve tribulations.”
sakṛn manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor
niveśitaṁ tad-guṇa-rāgi yair iha |
na te yamaṁ pāśa-bhṛtaś ca tad-bhaṭān
svapne’pi paśyanti hi cīrṇa-niṣkṛtāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.1.19; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 74)
“Those here [i.e., in this world] by whom the mind has once been placed upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and been colored by his qualities do not, even in dreams, see Yama or his chain-carrying soldiers since they have [effectively] observed atonement [for their sins by having placed the mind on Bhagavān and consequently are sinless].”
prabhu kahe—ihā haite yāha vṛndāvana |
nirantara kara kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana ||
eka nāmābhāse tomāra pāpa-doṣa yābe |
āra nāma haite kṛṣṇa-caraṇa pāibe ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.25.198–199)
“Prabhu said [to Subuddhi Rāya], ‘Go from here to Vṛndāvana, and always engage in saṅkīrtana of Kṛṣṇa’s name. By one [instance of] nāmābhāsa, the plight of your pāpa will go away, and through the name you will attain Kṛṣṇa’s feet.’”
para-vakra-gatañ cāpi viṣṇor nāma śrutaṁ mayā |
kṛta-dveṣasya viprāṇāṁ pratyakṣo’bhavad acyutaḥ ||
(Varāha Purāṇa: 37.33)
[Upon being liberated from the body of a tiger he received as a result of being cursed by brāhmaṇas for disrespecting them, Mahārāja Dīrghabāhu marvels at how he receives such fortune just by hearing the name Nārāyaṇa recited by a brāhmaṇa whom he (in the form of a tiger) was in the process of attacking as the brāhmaṇa was bathing in a river:] “And even though Viṣṇu’s name has [only] been heard by me from another’s mouth [i.e., even though I myself did not even chant Viṣṇu’s name], Acyuta has appeared before my eyes, I who have committed malice towards brāhmaṇas.”
madhura-madhuram etan maṅgalaṁ maṅgalānāṁ
sakala-nigama-vallī-sat-phalaṁ cit-svarūpam |
sakṛd api parigītaṁ śraddhayā helayā vā
bhṛgu-vara nara-mātraṁ tārayet kṛṣṇa-nāma ||
(Skanda Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.451; Tattva Sandarbha: 15; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 35; Bhakti Sandarbha: 172)
“O best of the Bhṛgus, the name of Kṛṣṇa, the sweetest of the sweet, the most auspicious of the auspicious, the eternal [alt., true] spiritual fruit of the vine of all the Nigamas [i.e., Vedas], can deliver any human being when chanted even once, faithfully or negligently.”
