aho bhagavato līlā-mādhurya-mahimādbhutaḥ |
tad-eka-niṣṭhā-gāmbhīryaṁ sevakānāṁ ca tādṛśam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.69)
“[Śrī Nārada along with Uddhava to Gopa Kumāra:] Aho! The wonder of the greatness of the mādhurya of Bhagavān’s līlā! [And] The depth of the one-pointed fixity upon him of his servants is like that as well!”
vraja-bhūmāv ayaṁ jātas tasyāṁ gopatvam ācarat |
gopālopāsanā-niṣṭho viśiṣṭo’sman mahāśayaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.62)
“[Śrī Uddhava along with Śrī Nārada to Gopa Kumāra:] He was born in the land of Vraja, he has engaged in cowherding (gopatva) there, and he has fixity in worship (upāsanā) of Gopāla. This great soul is superior to us.”
etāvatālaṁ viśvātman sarva-sampat-samṛddhaye |
asmin loke’tha vāmuṣmin puṁsas tvat-toṣa-kāraṇam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.81.11)
“[Queen Rukmiṇī to Śrī Kṛṣṇa after he partook of the first handful of the rice brought by Sudāmā Vipra:] ‘There is no need of this much [i.e., of eating the second handful]. O you who are the Self of the universe, the means of your satisfaction leads to the increase of all types of fortune for a person in this world and the next.”
padaṁ dūrataraṁ tad vai tat-sukhānubhavas tathā |
tat-sādhanam api prārthyam asmākam api durghaṭam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.61)
“[Śrī Nārada along with Uddhava to Gopa Kumāra:] Indeed that very far off abode [i.e., Goloka], the experience of the bliss there, and even the means of attainment (sādhana) of that, is to be prayed for and [is] difficult to attain even for us.”
uddhavāyam aho gopa-putro govardhanodbhavaḥ |
mādṛśāṁ tvādṛśānāṁ ca mṛgyan vastu sudurlabham ||
itas tato bhraman vyagraḥ kadācid api kutracit |
nātikramati cittāntarlagnaṁ taṁ śokam ārtidam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.58–59)
“[Śrī Nārada of Gopa Kumāra:] Aho! Uddhava! This son of a cowherd born in Govardhana, restless and wandering here and there searching for an object most difficult to attain [i.e., completely unattainable] for those like me [i.e., bhaktas of Śrī Bhagavān] and those like you [i.e., friends of Śrī Bhagavān], never anywhere overcomes that sorrow fixed in his heart that causes it to ache.”
śrutaya ūcuḥ—
kandarpa-koṭi-lāvaṇye tvayi dṛṣṭe manāṁsi naḥ |
kāminī-bhāvam āsādya smara-kṣubdhāny asaṁśayam |
yathā tval-loka-vāsinyaḥ kāma-tattvena gopikāḥ |
bhajanti ramaṇaṁ matvā cikīrṣājani nas tathā ||
śrī-bhagavān uvāca—
durlabho durghaṭaś caiva yuṣmākaṁ sumanorathaḥ |
mayānumoditaḥ samyak so’pi bhavitum arhati ||
āgāmini viriñcau tu jāte sṛṣṭy-artham udyate |
kalpaṁ sārasvataṁ prāpya vraje gopyā bhaviṣyatha ||
pṛthivyāṁ bhārate kṣetre māthure mama maṇḍale |
vṛndāvane bhaviṣyāmi preyān vo rāsa-maṇḍale ||
jāra-dharmeṇa susnehaṁ sudṛḍhaṁ sarvato’dhikam |
mayi samprāpya sarve’pi kṛtakṛtyā bhaviṣyatha ||
(Bṛhad Vāmana Purāṇa; cited in the Locana-rocanī-ṭīkā and Ānanda-candrikā-ṭīkā on Ujjvala-nīlamāṇi: 3.47)
“The Śrutis say, ‘Upon seeing you possessed of the loveliness of a crore of Kandarpas, our minds take on the bhāva of a ladylove (kāminī) and are undoubtedly agitated by passion. As the gopikās residing in your abode worship you with the essence of kāma, having accepted you as their lover, so [too] our desire has arisen to do so.’ Śrī Bhagavān says, ‘This excellent desire of you all is difficult to attain and difficult to accomplish. [When] Approved by me in full [however], it too can come to be. When a future Brahmā is born and arises for the purpose of emanation [of the universe], you all will arrive in the Sārasvata-kalpa and become gopīs in Vraja. In the rāsa circle in Vṛndāvana within my district of Mathurā in the land of Bhārata on Earth, I will become the beloved of you all. Attaining in full profound affection for me that is profoundly firm and all-surpassing, you all too will become successful.”
barhendrāyudha-ramyāya jagaj-jīvana-dāyine |
rādhā-vidyud-vṛtāṅgāya kṛṣṇāmbhodāya te namaḥ ||
(Stava-mālā: Praṇāma-praṇaya-stava, 10)
“Obeisance unto you,
Dark Cloud,
You whose body is surrounded
By streaks of lightning,
You who are the bestower of water upon the world,
You who appear beautiful
With a rainbow
Of peacock feathers
[Outspread as peacocks dance to announce you].”
naiṣa jñānavatā śakyas tapasā naiva cejyayā |
saṁprāptum indriyāṇāṁ tu saṁyamenaiva śakyate ||
bāhye cābhyantare caiva karmaṇi manasi sthitaḥ |
nirmalī-kurute buddhyā so’mutrānantyam aśnute ||
yathā hiraṇyakartā vai rūpyam agnau viśodhayet |
bahuśo’tiprayatnena mahatātma-kṛtena ha ||
tadvaj jāti-śatair jīvaḥ śudhyate’nena karmaṇā |
yatnena mahatā caivāpy eka-jātau viśudhyate ||
līlayālpaṁ yathā gātrāt pramṛjyād ātmano rajaḥ |
bahu-yatnena mahatā doṣa-nirharanaṁ tathā ||
(Mahābhārata: Śānti-parva, 280.9–14)
“He [i.e., Śrī Bhagavān] is attainable neither by possessing knowledge (jñāna), nor by austerity (tapas), nor by sacrifice. He is able to be attained in full, rather, only by control of the senses. Remaining steadfast in the mind in the midst of external and internal acts [i.e., perseveringly engaging in external acts that are means of purifying the mind, such as sacrifices and austerities, and internal acts that are means of purifying the mind, such as non-attachment and meditation], one purifies [the mind] by means of the intellect (buddhi) and in the hereafter tastes the Infinite [i.e., attains mokṣa and experiences Śrī Bhagavān]. As a goldsmith should highly purify wrought gold with persevering effort performed repeatedly indeed by he himself, so a jīva is purified by these acts over the course of hundreds of births, and someone may indeed be highly purified in one birth as a result of great effort. As one should sportively wipe a small amount of dust away from the body [before it creates a difficult to remove stain], so the complete removal of faults [from the mind] should be accomplished with great persevering effort [lest those faults become even more deeply ingrained in the psyche].”
atha parikarāṇām api bhāveṣu tāratamyaṁ vivecanīyaṁ, yeṣāṁ bhagavattaivopajīvyā | tatra bhagavattā tāvat sāmānyato dvividhaiva—paramaiśvarya-rūpā parama-mādhurya-rūpā ceti | aiśvaryaṁ prabhutā | mādhuryaṁ nāma ca śīla-guṇa-rūpa-vayo-līlānāṁ sambandha-viśeṣāṇāṁ ca manoharatvaṁ, paramatvaṁ ca cāsamordhvatvam | atha bhaktādi-catur-vidhāḥ parikarāpi dvividhāḥ | paramaiśvaryānubhava-pradhānāḥ parama-mādhuryānubhava-pradhānāś ca | tatraiśvarya-mātrasya sādhvasa-sambhrama-gaurava-buddhi-janakatvaṁ mādhurya-mātrasya prīti-janakatvam iti sarvānubhava-siddham eva | tatas tatraiśvarya-mādhuryayoḥ paramatvam iti tābhyāṁ yathāsaṅkhyaṁ sādhvasādīnāṁ prīteś ca paramatvam eva syāt |
(Excerpt from Prīti Sandarbha: 97)
“Now, the gradation among the bhāvas of even the parikaras (companions) [of Śrī Bhagavān], whose sole sustenance is Bhagavattā [i.e., the myriad of characteristics that constitute the essential nature of Bhagavān, as opposed to the Brahman aspect (Brahmatva) of Bhagavān], is to be deliberated upon. In that regard, Bhagavattā is in general only of two types: that the form of which is paramount aiśvarya (paramaiśvarya) and that the form of which is paramount mādhurya (parama-mādhurya). Aiśvarya refers to powerfulness (prabhutā) [alt., Godhood], and mādhurya refers to charmingness [lit., ‘being captivating to the mind’] of disposition, qualities, figure, age, and līlā, as well as of specific relations [i.e., forms of relationship]. [The aforementioned] ‘Paramountness’ (paramatva) [of the aiśvarya and the mādhurya of Bhagavān’s Bhagavattā], furthermore, refers to [their] being unequaled and unsurpassed (asamordhvatva) [by any other feature of Śrī Bhagavān, much less by any feature of any other entity subordinate to him].
“Now, parikaras too, who are of four types beginning with bhaktas [i.e., those whose principal rati is dāsya and so forth], are also of two [general] types: those in whom experience of paramount aiśvarya is predominant (paramaiśvaryānubhava-pradhāna) and those in whom experience of paramount mādhurya is predominant (mādhuryānubhava-pradhāna). In this regard, only aiśvarya’s being productive of alarm (sādhavasa), reverential excitement (sambhrama), and a sense of superiority (gaurava-buddhi), and only mādhurya’s being productive of prīti, is certainly established by the experience of everyone. Thus, there is the paramountness (paramatva) of the aiśvarya and the mādhurya [of Śrī Bhagavān’s Bhagavattā] in this regard [i.e., such paramountness is also to be considered present in the nature of Śrī Bhagavān], and the definitive paramountness of alarm and so forth and of prīti [that bhaktas experience in response to Śrī Bhagavān’s Bhagavattā] shall come about respectively because of these two [i.e., because of the paramount aiśvarya and the paramount mādhurya in Śrī Bhagavān’s Bhagavattā].”
vidagdhānāṁ ca yathā vanitānurāgāsvādane vāñchā na tathā tat-sparśādāv api |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 376)
“The cultured [i.e., rasikas], furthermore, do not have desire even for the touch and so forth of the beloved woman (vanitā) as they do for relishment of her love (anurāga).”
