rase sāraś camatkāraḥ sarvatrāpy anubhūyate |
tac camatkāra-sāratve sarvatrāpy adbhuto rasaḥ ||
(Sāhitya-darpaṇa 3.3; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 110)
“In rasa, astonishment is perceived to be the essence indeed in all cases. Therefore, because of the essence being astonishment, rasa is adbhuta [i.e., wonder] indeed in all cases.”
yat pālitaṁ tāta-mukhair vardhitaṁ
līlā-rasair mitra-gaṇair niṣevitam |
bhaktaiḥ sadāsvāditam etad ālibhiḥ
śrī-rādhayā kṛṣṇa-rasāmṛtaṁ phalam ||
(Govinda-līlāmṛta: 23.92)
“This fruit—Kṛṣṇa, the nectar of rasa [i.e., Kṛṣṇa, who is the nectar of prema personified]—which is continuously nourished with the rasas of līlās [i.e., with līlās full of varieties of rasa] by his father and so forth, [continuously] increased [with the rasas of līlās] by his friends, and [continuously] served [with the rasas of līlās] by his bhaktas [i.e., his servants], is [continuously] tasted [through the rasas of līlās] by Śrī Rādhā and friends.”
akhila-rasāmṛta-mūrtiḥ |
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.1)
“The embodiment of the nectar of all rasas [Śrī Kṛṣṇa …].”
itara-pāpa-phalāni yathecchayā
vitara tāni sahe caturānana |
arasikeṣu kavitva-nivedanaṁ
śirasi mā likha mā likha mā likha ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“I shall bear [all] those other reactions to my sins you allocate as per your wish, O Brahmā. Just do not write, do not write, do not write on my forehead, “Presenting poetics to the tasteless.”
hṛd-vapre nava-bhakti-śasya-vitateḥ sañjīvanī svāgamā-
rambhe kāma-tapa-rtu-dāha-damanī viśvāpagollāsinī |
dūrān me maru-śākhino’pi sarasī-bhāvāya bhūyāt prabhu-
śrī-caitanya-kṛpā-niraṅkuśa-mahā-mādhurya-kādambinī ||
(Mādhurya-kādambinī: 1.1)
“The revitalizer of the grains of young bhakti in the field of the heart, the subduer from its outset of the burning of the hot season of kāma, the delighter of the rivers of the world—may that great, unrestrained cloud bank (kādambinī) of the mellifluousness (mādhurya) of Prabhu Śrī Caitanya’s grace from afar fill even me, a [dry] tree in the desert, with rasa [i.e., water, alt., bhakti-rasa].”
raso vai saḥ, rasaṁ hy evāyaṁ labdhvānandī bhavati, eṣa hy evānandayāti |
(Taittirīya Upaniṣad: 2.7.1)
“He [i.e., Brahman] indeed is rasa, and only upon attaining him does one become blissful, since he alone causes bliss.”
vayaṁ tu na vitṛpyāma uttama-śloka-vikrame |
yac chṛṇvatāṁ rasa-jñānāṁ svādu svādu pade pade ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.1.19)
“We, however, are not fully satiated with the prowess of he of the highest glory (Uttamaśloka) [i.e., Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa], which for listeners cognizant of rasa becomes sweeter and sweeter step by step [and moment by moment].”
kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasāsvādavatāṁ kiṁ syān na sundaram ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.4.39)
“For those who taste the rasa of Kṛṣṇa-bhakti, what shall not be beautiful?”
