sarvathaiva durūho’yam abhaktair bhagavad-rasaḥ |
tat-pādāmbuja-sarvasvair bhaktair evānurasyate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.131; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.23.100)
“This Bhagavad-rasa is in all cases difficult to comprehend for non-bhaktas. It is relished only by bhaktas whose all is his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] lotus feet.”
phalgu-vairāgya-nirdagdhāḥ śuṣka-jñānāś ca haitukāḥ |
mīmāṁsakā viśeṣeṇa bhakty-āsvāda-bahirmukhāḥ ||
ity eṣa bhakti-rasikaiś caurād iva mahānidhiḥ |
jaran-mīmāṁsakād rakṣyaḥ kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasaḥ sadā ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.129–130)
“Those burnt by useless non-attachment, those of dry knowledge, logicians, and in particular examiners (mīmāṁsakas) are averse to relishing bhakti. Thus, like a great treasure from a thief, this Kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa is always to be protected from old mīmāṁsakas [and to be protected as appropriate from the others] by bhakti-rasikas.”
tasmān mad-bhakti-yuktasya yogino vai mad-ātmanaḥ |
na jñānaṁ na ca vairāgyaṁ prāyaḥ śreyo bhaved iha ||
yat karmabhir yat tapasā jñāna-vairāgyataś ca yat |
yogena dāna-dharmeṇa śreyobhir itarair api ||
sarvaṁ mad-bhakti-yogena mad-bhakto labhate’ñjasā |
svargāpavargaṁ mad-dhāma kathañcid yadi vāñchati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.20.31–33)
“Therefore, for a yogī engaged in bhakti to me with mind on me, neither jñāna nor vairāgya shall in general be a means of benefit here. What can come to be by means of righteous acts, what can come to be by means of austerity, and what can come to be by means of jñāna and vairāgya, as well as by yoga, charity, and other means of benefit—all of that, as well as Svarga, apavarga [i.e., mukti], and my abode, my bhakta attains quickly by means of the practice (yoga) of bhakti to me if one somehow desires [to attain any of those ends].”
jayati jana-nivāso devakī-janma-vādo
yadu-vara-pariṣat svair dorbhir asyann adharmam |
sthira-cara-vṛjina-ghnaḥ susmita-śrī-mukhena
vraja-pura-vanitānāṁ vardhayan kāma-devam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.90.48; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 3.23; Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.154; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.1; Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.5.430; Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 63, 116, 136, 182; Prīti Sandarbha: 52; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.13.79; Ānanda-candrikā-ṭīkā on Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 15.185)
“He who is the abode of all beings [alt., he whose abode is all beings],
He whose birth is said to be from Devakī,
He whose retinue is the best of the Yadus,
He who destroys adharma with his own arms,
He who dispels the distress of the stationary and the moving—
Enkindling divine desire in the women of the abode of Vraja
With his beautiful, sweetly smiling face—
Triumphs!”
atha vaidhī-lakṣanaṁ—śravaṇa-kīrtanādīni śāstra-śāsana-bhayena yadi kriyante tadā vaidhī bhaktiḥ |
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu-bindu: 8)
“Now, the characteristic of vaidhī [-bhakti is stated]: when hearing, praising, and so forth are done out of fear of the ruling of śāstra, then vaidhī-bhakti [is being practiced].”
pīyūṣa-dyutibhiḥ stanādri-patitaiḥ kṣīrotkarair jāhnavī
kālindī ca vilocanābja-janitair jātāñjana-śyāmalaiḥ |
ārān madhyama-vedim āpatitayoḥ klinnā tayoḥ saṅgame
vṛttāsi vraja-rājñi tat suta-mukha-prekṣāṁ sphuṭaṁ vāñchasi ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 3.4.58)
“[When Mother Yaśodā travelled to Kurukṣetra on the pretext of a solar eclipse with great desire to see Śrī Kṛṣṇa, a feminine ascetic previously known to her says the following upon meeting her there:]
The Gaṅgā has appeared from the streams of milk (kṣīra)
Endowed with luster like nectar
Falling from the mountains of your breasts,
And the Kālindī [has appeared from the streams of water (kṣīra), that is, tears]
Produced by your lotus eyes
That are black because of your mascara [running off into them].
You have been bathed at the confluence of these two [rivers]
That have descended from above
Onto the altar of your midsection
[alt., They—the Gaṅgā and Kālindī—have in this way descended
And joined at Prayāga].
Thus, O Queen of Vraja!
You clearly desire to behold the face of your son
[Since it is well known
That people only go to bath at Prayāga
When they desire to attain the sight of Śrī Bhagavān].”
vinyasta-śruti-pālir adya muralī-nisvāna-śuśrūṣā
bhūyaḥ prasrava-varṣiṇī dviguṇitotkaṇṭhā pradoṣodaye |
gehād aṅganam aṅganāt punar asau gehaṁ viśanty ākulā
govindasya muhur vrajendra-gṛhiṇī panthānam ālokate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 3.4.55)
“Today [i.e., throughout the day]
Wishing with her ears pricked
To hear the sound of the flute,
And again at the onset of evening,
With doubled longing
And milk streaming [from her breasts]
As she repeatedly entered the courtyard from the house
And the house from the courtyard,
The anxious queen of Vraja
Looked again and again at Govinda’s path
[i.e., the path by which he was expected to soon return home from the forest].”
niculita-giri-dhātu-sphīta-patrāvalīkān
akhila-surabhi-reṇūn kṣālayadbhir yaśodā |
kuca-kalasa-vimuktaiḥ sneha-mādhvīka-medhyais
tava navam abhiṣekaṁ dugdha-pūraiḥ karoti ||
(Lalita-mādhava-nāṭaka: 1.46; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sidhu: 3.4.47)
“[O Kṛṣṇa!]
Yaśodā conducts your first bath [after you return from the forest in the afternoon]
With the supremely pure streams of milk
Replete with the honey of her affection
Released from the urns of her breasts
That wash away all the dust from [i.e., raised by] the cows,
By which your leaves [i.e., the decorative leaf designs drawn on your body] made of minerals
Become covered over.”
tanau mantra-nyāsaṁ praṇayati harer gadgadamayī
sabāṣpākṣī rakṣā-tilakam alike kalpayati ca |
snuvānā pratyūṣe diśati ca bhuje kārmaṇam asau
yaśodā mūrteva sphurati suta-vātsalya-paṭalī ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 3.4.14)
“Early in the morning,
Stuttering,
Her eyes filled with tears,
Milk flowing [from her breasts],
She performs mantra-nyāsa on Hari’s body,
Draws a tilaka for protection on his forehead,
And places a spell-infused root on his arms;
Yaśodā shines
Like the embodiment
Of a profusion of affection for a son.”
kṣaumaṁ vāsaḥ pṛthu-kaṭi-taṭe bibhratī sūtra-naddhaṁ
putra-sneha-snuta-kuca-yugaṁ jāta-kampaṁ ca subhrūḥ |
rajjv-ākarṣa-śrama-bhuja-calat-kaṅkaṇau kuṇḍale ca
svinnaṁ vaktraṁ kabara-vigalan-mālatī nirmamantha ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.9.3; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 3.4.12)
“Bearing a linen garment bound with a cord
Around her wide hips,
Shaking breasts
Flowing [with milk]
Out of affection for her son,
Bangles moving along her arms
In the midst of the labor of pulling the [churning] ropes,
[Swaying] Earrings,
And a perspiring face,
She of fine brows [viz., Yaśodā],
With mālatī flowers falling from her braid,
Churned [the yoghurt].”
