nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ
śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam |
pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayaṁ
muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.1.3)
“O relishers of rasa! O aesthetes! Drink continuously and [even] beyond [the attainment of] liberation the rasa of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the fruit of the wish-fulfilling tree of the Vedas, which has fallen from the mouth of Śuka [i.e., Śukadeva Gosvāmī] and is constituted of liquid nectar.”
aho kṛṣṇa-rasāviṣṭaḥ sadā nāmāni kīrtayet |
kṛṣṇasya tat-priyāṇāñ ca bhaiṣmyādīnāṁ gurur mama ||
gopīnāṁ vitatādbhuta-sphuṭatara-premānalārciśchaṭā-
dagdhānāṁ kila nāma-kīrtana-kṛtāt tāsāṁ viśeṣāt smṛteḥ |
tat-tīkṣṇa-jvalanocchikhāgra-kaṇikāsparśena sadyo mahā-
vaikalyaṁ sa bhajan kadāpi na mukhe nāmāni kartuṁ prabhuḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.157–158)
“Aho! My guru [i.e., Śukadeva Gosvāmī], absorbed in Kṛṣṇa-rasa, can continuously chant the names of Kṛṣṇa and his dear ones beginning with Rukmiṇī. [My] Prabhu [however] can never pronounce with his mouth the names of the gopīs, who are burned by the myriad of flames of the fire of their profuse, astonishing, full-blown prema because he immediately becomes greatly overwhelmed by the touch of the sparks from the tips of the high flames of that searing fire by performing kīrtan of their names and thus remembering them in particular.”
yaḥ svānubhāvam akhila-śruti-sāram ekam
adhyātma-dīpam atititīrṣatāṁ tamo’ndham |
saṁsāriṇāṁ karuṇayāha purāṇa-guhyaṁ
taṁ vyāsa-sūnum upayāmi guruṁ munīnām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.2.3)
“I take shelter in him, Vyāsa’s son, the guru of the sages [i.e., he who spoke instructions even in the presence of his gurus Nārada and Vyāsa], who compassionately spoke for saṁsārīs [i.e., people of all times] desiring to completely cross over the blinding darkness [i.e., avidyā] this confidential Purāṇa [i.e., Śrīmad Bhāgavatam], which is self-endowed with magnificence [i.e., which conveys the supremacy of rasa and is the cause of Śukadeva being most exalted among all the sages], the essence of all the Śrutis [alt., the essence of all that can be heard], unparalleled, and the illuminator of the higher self.”
