advaitam acyutam anādim ananta‑rūpam
ādyaṁ purāṇa‑puruṣaṁ nava‑yauvanaṁ ca |
vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma‑bhaktau
govindam ādi‑puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi ||
(Brahma-saṁhitā: 5.33)
“Incomparable,
Undiminishing,
Without beginning,
Infinite in form,
Original,
Prior to the Puruṣa,
Also ever-youthful,
Difficult to understand in the Vedas,
And not difficult to understand
Through bhakti from the heart—
I worship him,
Govinda,
The Original Puruṣa.”
tat-saundaryaṁ sā ca lāvaṇya-lakṣmīs
tan-mādhuryaṁ tasya kiṁ varṇitaṁ syāt |
dravyair yogyā laukikair nopamā syāt
kiṁ vānyena dvārakendreṇa nāpi ||
kṛṣṇo yathā nāgara-śekharāgryo
rādhā tathā nāgarikā-varāgryā |
rādhā yathā nāgarikā-varāgryā
kṛṣṇo tathā nāgara-śekharāgryaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.110–111)
“Can that beauty, that wealth of loveliness, or that sweetness of his [i.e., Kṛṣṇa’s] be described? Neither with worldly objects, nor with others [i.e., Nārāyaṇa of Vaikuṇṭha, or Rāma of Ayodhyā], nor even the Lord of Dvārakā shall any comparison [thereof] be appropriate. [There is only one appropriate object of comparison:] As Kṛṣṇa is the foremost of cultured lovers, so Rādhā is the foremost of cultured ladyloves, and as Rādhā is the foremost of cultured ladyloves, so Kṛṣṇa is the foremost of cultured lovers.”
tasmān nandātmajo’yaṁ te nārāyaṇa-samo guṇaiḥ |
śriyā kīrtyānubhāvena gopāyasva samāhitaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.8.19)
[Gargācārya to Nanda Mahārāja:] “Therefore, O Nanda, attentively protect this son of yours who in qualities, beauty, glory, and influence is equal to Nārāyaṇa [alt., is he to whom Nārāyaṇa is equal in some, but not all, respects].”
yasya brahmeti saṁjñāṁ kvacid api nigame yāti cin-mātra-sattāpy
aṁśo yasyāṁśakaiḥ svair vibhavati vaśayann eva māyāṁ pumāṁś ca |
ekaṁ yasyaiva rūpaṁ vilasati parama-vyomni nārāyaṇākhyaṁ
sa śrī-kṛṣṇo vidhattāṁ svayam iha bhagavān prema tat-pāda-bhājām ||
(Tattva Sandarbha: 8)
“He whose existence purely as consciousness is called Brahman in parts of the Vedas, whose expansion the Puruṣa [i.e., Mahāviṣṇu] controls māyā [i.e., the material energy] and manifests as his own sub-expansions, and whose particular form known as Nārāyaṇa enjoys in Paravyoma [lit., ‘the higher sky,’ i.e., the spiritual world]—may [he,] Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Svayaṁ Bhagavān, bestow prema upon the servants of his feet here [i.e., in this world].”
