na kaścin mat-paraṁ loke tejasā yaśasā śriyā |
vibhūtibhir vābhibhaved devo’pi kim u pārthivaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.72.11)
[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] “No one in this world, [not] even a deva, much less a king, with power, fame, beauty, or resources, can subjugate one who is given over to me [i.e., one who has nothing in the world except me, so there is certainly no way anyone can subjugate you, Yudhiṣṭhira].”
na me‘bhaktaś catur-vedī mad-bhaktaḥ śva-pacaḥ priyaḥ |
tasmai deyaṁ tato grāhyaṁ sa ca pūjyo yathā hy aham ||
(Itihāsa-samuccaya; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.127 and Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.50, 2.20.58)
“One who knows the four Vedas but is not my bhakta is not dear to me, whereas my bhakta, even if he is a dog-cooker [i.e., an outcaste], is [dear to me]. To him, things are fit to be given, and from him, things are fit to be accepted. He is indeed as worshippable as I am.”
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.”
yatra yatra mahīpāla vaiṣṇavī vartate kathā |
tatra tatra harir yāti gaur yathā suta-vatsalā ||
(Skanda Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 269)
“O Protector of the earth, Hari goes wherever kathā of the Vaiṣṇavas [i.e., discussion of Viṣṇu or Vaiṣṇavas] is present like a cow full of affection for its calf.”
yasmai dattaṁ ca yaj-jñānaṁ jñāna-dātā hariḥ svayam |
jñānena tena sa stauti bhāva-grāhī janārdanaḥ ||
(Nārada Pañcarātra: 1.12.40)
“One offers praises [to Hari] with the knowledge which Hari himself, the bestower of knowledge, has bestowed upon one, but Janārdana [i.e., “the instigator of the people”] is a partaker of bhāva [i.e., Hari relishes primarily the bhāva of his bhaktas, and not their knowledge].”
mūrkho vadati viṣṇāya dhīro vadati viṣṇave |
ubhayos tu samaṁ puṇyaṁ bhāva-grāhī janārdanaḥ ||
(Caitanya-bhāgavata: 1.11.108)
“[When making offerings with mantras to Bhagavān Viṣṇu:] An uneducated persons says, “Viṣṇāya,” and a learned person says, “Viṣṇave,” but their merit is the same [i.e., they both attain the same benefit from performing the offering even though one uses correct grammar and the other does not], as Janārdana [i.e., “the instigator of the people”] is a partaker of bhāva.”
yat-prīṇanād barhiṣi deva-tiryaṅ-
manuṣya-vīrut-tṛṇam āviriñcāt |
prīyeta sadyaḥ sa ha viśva-jīvaḥ
prītaḥ svayaṁ prītim agād gayasya ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.15.13)
“He because of whose pleasure the devas, animals. human beings, and plants beginning with Brahmā immediately become pleased, [he who is] the very life of the universe, [and] pleasure himself [i.e., the very embodiment of pleasure], became pleased at the sacrifice of [King] Gaya.”
jīva-rāśibhir ākīrṇa aṇḍa-kośāṅghripo mahān |
tan-mūlatvād acyutejyā sarva-jīvātma-tarpaṇam||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.14.36)
“The vast tree of this universe is filled with multitudes of jīvas. Worship of Acyuta satisfies all jīvas and one’s self because He is the root of the tree.”
yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena
tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ |
prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇāṁ
tathaiva sarvārhaṇam acyutejyā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.31.14)
“As the trunks, branches, and sub-branches of a tree are all satiated by watering the root thereof, and as [satiation] of the sense organs comes about as a result of an offering [of food] to the vital air, so exactly honoring of all [beings] comes about by worship of Acyuta.”
man-nimittaṁ kṛtaṁ pāpam api dharmāya kalpate |
mām anādṛtya dharmo’pi pāpaṁ syān mat-prabhāvataḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa; Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.110, 10.263)
[Bhagavān:] “By my power, even sin that is committed for me is considered dharma, and even dharma that disregards me can become sin.”
