śruti-pramāṇo dharmo hi vṛddhānām iti bhāṣitam |
sūkṣmā gatir hi dharmasya bahu-śākhā hy anantikā ||
(Mahābhārata: 3.200.2)
“The means of knowing (pramāṇa [of]) dharma is hearing [i.e., learning from those who understand it], and [in regard to dharma] there is a saying of the wise: ‘The course of dharma is subtle, many-branched, and without end.’”
sad-guroḥ sakāśād vedāntādy-akhila-śāstrārtha-vicāra-śravaṇa-dvārā yadi sā āvaśyaka-parama-kartavyatvena jñāyate, punaś ca … yadi viparīta-bhāvanā-tyājakau manana-yogyatā-mananābhiniveśau syātāṁ, tataḥ śraddadhānaiś ca sā bhaktir upāsana-dvārā labhyate |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 7)
“If, through hearing deliberation upon the meaning of all the śāstras beginning with Vedānta from a sad-guru, that [i.e., bhakti] is understood to be the supreme necessary duty, and furthermore … if they [i.e., listeners] develop capability for contemplation, and absorption in contemplation, which dispel contradictory notions, then that, bhakti, is attainable through upāsana by those endowed with śraddhā.”
pibanti ye bhagavata ātmanaḥ satāṁ
kathāmṛtaṁ śravaṇa-puṭeṣu sambhṛtam |
punanti te viṣaya-vidūṣitāśayaṁ
vrajanti tac-caraṇa-saroruhāntikam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.2.37; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.441; Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.3.124; Paramātma Sandarbha: 108; Bhakti Sandarbha: 30, 86)
“Those who drink, held in the cups of their ears, the nectar of kathā about Bhagavān, the Ātmā of the sādhus, purify their hearts contaminated by viṣaya and reach the presence of his lotus feet.”
śrutaḥ saṅkīrtito dhyātaḥ pūjitaś cādṛto’pi vā |
nṛṇāṁ dhunoti bhagavān hṛt-stho janmāyatāśubham ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.3.46)
“When heard about, highly praised, meditated upon, worshipped, or even honored, Bhagavān, situated in the heart, removes ten-thousand births of human beings’ inauspiciousness.”
yebā nāhi bujhe keha śunite śunite seha
ki adbhuta caitanya-carita |
kṛṣṇe upajibe prīti jānibe rasera rīti
śunilei baḍa haya hita ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.2.87)
“How wonderful! By continuously hearing about Caitanya’s līlā, even someone who does not understand it will develop prīti for Kṛṣṇa and understand the way of rasa. Simply by listening, such great benefit occurs!”
gaura-kathā payorāśī kṛṣṇa-dāsa tāhe bhāsi
āniyāche amṛtera dhāra |
sei kāvya-sudhā pāne vaiṣṇava śītala prāṇe
āra pite cāhe bāra bāra ||
(Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura)
“After floating out into the milk reservoir of discussion of Gaura, Kṛṣṇa Dāsa has brought back a stream of nectar. By drinking the nectar of this poetry, Vaiṣṇavas’ hearts are cooled, and they desire to drink more again and again.”
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].”
rāgamayī bhaktira haya ‘rāgātmikā’ nāma |
tāhā śuni lubdha haya kona bhāgyavān ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.147)
“Bhakti constituted of rāga is called rāgātmikā. Hearing of it, some fortunate person becomes intensely desirous [of it].”
mat-kathā-vācakaṁ nityaṁ mat-kathā-śravaṇe ratam |
mat-kathā-prīti-manasaṁ nāhaṁ tyakṣyāmi taṁ naram ||
(Viṣṇu-dharma; Skanda Purāṇa: 2.5.16.53; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 269)
“[Bhagavān:] I never abandon that person who always recounts discussion of me, who engages in hearing discussion of me, or whose mind fosters fondness (prīti) for discussion of me.”
yac chraddhayā śrutavatyā ca bhaktyā
sammṛjyamāne hṛdaye’vadhāya |
jñānena vairāgya-balena dhīrā
vrajema tat te’ṅghri-saroja-pīṭham ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.5.42)
“Meditating upon the seat of your lotus feet in our hearts fully purified by bhakti cultivated through hearing with śraddhā, and having become sagacious by virtue of knowledge and the strength of vairāgya, let us approach that [i.e., let us take shelter at that seat of your lotus feet].”
