sūryakānter raver yogād vahnis tatra prajāyate |
evaṁ vai sādhu-saṁyogād dharau bhaktiḥ prajāyate ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 6.132.13)
“Fire manifests there from the combination of a sun-crystal [lsy., a magnifying class] and the sun. Similarly, bhakti to Hari verily manifests from association with a sādhu.”
antaḥ-śuddhir bahiḥ-śuddhis tapaḥ-śānty-adayas tathā |
amī guṇāḥ prapadyante hari-sevābhikāminām ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.263)
“Internal purity, external purity, austerity, peacefulness, and so forth—all these qualities take shelter in those who are desirous of serving Hari.”
vīkṣe divyākṣi-lakṣaiḥ sthira-cara-suṣamāṁ saurabhaṁ ghrāṇa-lakṣair
jighrāmy ākarṇaye ca śravaṇa-vitatibhis tvad-guṇān atyudārān |
pat-koṭyā tvayaṭeyaṁ yadi ca kara-śiraḥ koṭibhis tvāṁ nameyaṁ
no tṛptir me tathāpi priyatama-paramānanda-vṛndāvanādya ||
(Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta: 4.53)
“O dearmost, supremely blissful Vṛndāvana! If today I beheld the exquisite beauty of the mobile and immobile beings within you with hundreds of thousands of divine eyes, I smelled your fragrance with hundreds of thousands of noses, I heard your most exalted virtues with numerous ears, I were to roam about you with tens of millions of feet, and I were to bow to you with tens of millions of hands and feet, still I would feel no satiation.”
didṛkṣus tad ahaṁ bhūyaḥ praṇidhāya mano hṛdi |
vīkṣamāṇo’pi nāpaśyam avitṛpta ivāturaḥ ||
evaṁ yatantaṁ vijane mām āhāgocaro girām |
gambhīra-ślakṣṇayā vācā śucaḥ praśamayann iva ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.6.20–21)
[Nārada:] “Desiring to see that [form of Bhagavān] again, I fixed my mind in my heart. Though I looked intently, I did not see [him]. Not fully satiated, I became as though diseased. As I endeavored in this way in seclusion, he who is inexpressible by words then spoke to me with deep, gentle words which somewhat alleviated my distress.”
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].”
itthaṁ vasaṁs tatra cireṇa vāñchitaṁ
vāñchādhikaṁ cāvirataṁ paraṁ phalam |
cittānupūrtyānubhavann api dhruvaṁ
vastu-svabhāvena na tṛptim āpnuyām ||
ato vraja-strī-kuca-kuṅkumācitaṁ
manoramaṁ tat-pada-paṅkaja-dvayam |
kadāpi kenāpi nijendriyādinā
na hātum īśe lava-leśam apy aham ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.368–9)
[Gopa Kumāra:] “Even by residing there [i.e., in Goloka] in this way and indeed continuously experiencing to the complete fulfillment of my heart that supreme result which was both what I had long desired and beyond [even] that desire, I could not attain satiation on account of the nature of that substance [i.e., prema]. Thus, I am not able to give up for even a fraction of a second by any means at any time with my senses or anything else his two charming lotus feet smeared with the kumkum from the breasts of the ladies of Vraja.”
tatratyaṁ yac ca tad duḥkhaṁ tat sarva-sukha-mūrdhasu |
sa narīnarti śokaś ca kṛtsnānanda-bharopari ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.367)
“The sorrow existing there [i.e., in Goloka] dances vigorously atop the heads of all forms of happiness, and the grief [existing there] dances vigorously above the multitude of all forms of bliss.”
tathāpi tṛptiḥ kasyāpi naivodeti kadācana |
prema-tṛṣṇā ca vividhā dainya-mātā vivardhate ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.213)
“Still [i.e., even though every Vraja-vāsīs feels that they alone are the most dear to Kṛṣṇa, acts as such with Kṛṣṇa, and observes Kṛṣṇa genuinely reciprocate with them as such], satiation never arises within even one of them. [Rather,] The thirst produced by [their] prema, which is variegated and the mother of dainya (humility), increases [continuously].”
bhakteḥ phalaṁ paraṁ prema tṛpty-abhāva-svabhāvakam |
avāntara-phaleṣv etad ati-heyaṁ satāṁ matam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.210)
“The supreme result of bhakti is prema, the nature of which is the absence of satiation. Among the secondary results [of bhakti], this [i.e., the state of being an ātmārāma] is considered by sādhus to be shunned completely.”
śrī-kṛṣṇacandra kasyāpi tṛptir astu kadāpi na |
bhavato’nugrahe bhaktau premṇi cānanda-bhājane ||
vidagdha-nikarācārya ko nāmāyaṁ varo mataḥ |
svabhāvo mat-kṛpā-bhakti-premṇāṁ vyakto’yam eva yat ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.135–6)
[Nārada said:] “O Śrī Kṛṣṇacandra, may no one ever feel satiated by your grace, by bhakti [to you], or by prema [for you], all of which are reservoirs of bliss.”
[Bhagavān replies Nārada:] “O ācārya of the clever, what kind of benediction is this? This nature of my grace, bhakti [to me], and prema [for me] is well known.”
