tathaiva kāliya-damaḥ punaḥ punas
tathaiva govardhana-dharaṇaṁ muhuḥ |
parāpi līlā vividhādbhutāsakṛt
pravartate bhakta-manoharā prabhoḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.356)
“So indeed the subduing of Kāliya occurs again and again. So indeed the lifting of Govardhana occurs repeatedly. Various other astonishing līlās of Prabhu captivating of the minds of bhaktas too take place repeatedly.”
tat-tad-viśeṣo nirvācyo’nanta-śaktyāpi nāparaḥ |
mahārti-janake tasmin ko vā dhīmān pravartate ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.191)
“Further detail about all of that is not effable even with Ananta’s [alt., endless] śakti. And what intelligent person pursues that which is a cause of great heartache?”
na vayaṁ sādhvi sāmrājyaṁ svārājyaṁ bhaujyam apy uta |
vairājyaṁ pārameṣṭhyaṁ vā ānantyaṁ vā hareḥ padam ||
kāmayāmaha etasya śrīmat-pāda-rajaḥ śriyaḥ |
kuca-kuṅkuma-gandhāḍhyaṁ mūrdhnā voḍhuṁ gadābhṛtaḥ ||
vraja-striyo yad vāñchanti pulindyas tṛṇa-vīrudhaḥ |
gāvaś cārayato gopāḥ pāda-sparśaṁ mahātmanaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.83.41–43; cited in Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.43; Prīti Sandarbha: 108; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.59)
“[Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s sixteen thousand queens say:] O Sādhvi, [i.e., O Draupadī], neither universal sovereignty [over the earth], nor sovereignty over Svarga, nor the enjoyment [of these forms of sovereignty], nor extensive sovereignty [i.e., attainment of the siddhis of minuteness (aṇimā) and so on], nor the dominion of Brahmā, nor the unlimited [i.e., the unlimited bliss experienced in realization of Brahman], nor even the abode of Hari [i.e., sālokya-, sāmīpya, sārṣṭi, or sārūpya-mukti]—we desire [none of these and instead desire] to bear atop our heads his—the Club-bearer’s [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s]—blessed foot-dust enriched with the fragrance of kuṅkuma from the bosom of Śrī [i.e., Śrī Rādhā], since the ladies of Vraja, the Pulindī women, the grass and creepers [of Vraja], and the cowherds [there] tending the cows [all] long for the touch of the feet of he of most exalted disposition [i.e., they too all long for the touch of Kṛṣṇa’s feet].”
prāṇair viyuktā na bhavanti yāvat
tāvad vinodaṁ karuṇa tyajaitam |
kṛṣṇānyathā goṣṭha-janaika-bandho
gantāsi śokaṁ mṛdula-svabhāvaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.239)
“[Baladeva appeals to Kṛṣṇa lying motionless in the coils of Kāliya:] Before they become deprived of their prāṇas,
O Compassionate One,
Stop this play.
Otherwise,
O Kṛṣṇa,
O you whose only kinsmen are the people of the cowherd community,
You who are of tender disposition
Will undergo sorrow.”
gopīṣu ca sadā tāsu pratyekaṁ koṭi-koṭiṣu |
parā prītiḥ kṛpāsaktir api sā tasya vīkṣyate || …
tatrāpi yāṁ prati prema-viśeṣo’sya yadekṣyate |
tadā pratīyate kṛṣṇāsyaiṣaiva nitarāṁ priyā ||
sarvās tad-ucitāṁ tās tu krīḍā-sukha-paramparām |
sarvadānubhavantyo’pi manyante prema na prabhoḥ ||
pratyekaṁ cintayanty evam aho kiṁ bhavitā kiyat |
saubhāgyaṁ mama yena syāṁ kṛṣṇasyādhama-dāsy api ||
aho svāmin gabhīro’yaṁ dustarko mahatām api |
gāḍha-prema-rasāveśa-svabhāva-mahimādbhutaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.214, 216–219)
“That paramount love (prīti), grace (kṛpā), and attachment (āsakti) of his towards every one of those crores and crores of gopīs is always observable. … Yet in that regard [i.e., even when he treats all of them as equally dearmost to him], when a special form of his prema is observable [on occasion] towards one [of them in particular], then by all means she alone is regarded [by the rest of them] as dear to Kṛṣṇa. Even though all of them, who are worthy of that [i.e., of the special form of prema Kṛṣṇa expresses whereby one of them in particular is regarded as dearmost to him], constantly experience a succession of the bliss of play [with him], they do not conceive of Prabhu’s prema [i.e., they do not actually think, ‘I am dearmost to Śrī Kṛṣṇa’]. Every one of them thinks [i.e., desires] thus, ‘Aho! Will some little good fortune to me whereby I can become even a lowly maidservant of Kṛṣṇa?’ Aho! Svāmī! [i.e., O Lord!] This greatness the nature of which is absorption in the rasa of intense prema is difficult to comprehend even for mahats, deep, and astonishing.”
māthurottama tatratyaṁ mahāścaryam idaṁ śṛṇu |
kathyamānaṁ mayā kiñcit śrī-kṛṣṇasya prabhāvataḥ ||
bālakās taruṇā vṛddhā gopās te koṭi-koṭiśaḥ |
sarve vidur mahāpreyān ahaṁ kṛṣṇasya netaraḥ ||
tathaiva vyavahāro’pi teṣāṁ kṛṣṇe sadekṣyate |
pratyekaṁ teṣu tasyāpi viśuddhas tādṛg eva saḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.210–212)
“O best among those from Mathurā, hear of this great wonder found there. Something [of it] can be related by me by the power of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The children, the youth, and the elderly—all of those crores and crores of cowherds—feel, ‘I am most dear to Kṛṣṇa; not anyone else.’ Their behavior too with Kṛṣṇa is always observable to be exactly so, and that of his as well with every one of them is pure and exactly such.”
sadā vaijātyam āptānāṁ jīvānām api tattvataḥ |
aṁśatvenāpy abhinnatvād vijātīya-bhidā mṛtā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.195)
“Because of even the jīvas who are eternally possessed of categorical distinctiveness (vaijātya) [in relation to Parabrahman] being [nevertheless] non-distinct [from Parabrahman] by virtue of [their] also being a part (aṁśa) [of Parabrahman] in essential nature (tattvataḥ), an interclass distinction (vijātīya-bhidā) [in regard to Parabrahman] is quashed.”
paramātmā parabrahma sa eva parameśvaraḥ |
ity evam eṣām aikyena sajātīya-bhidā hatā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.194)
“He specifically, Paramātmā, is Parabrahman and is the Supreme Īśvara. Thus, in this way, because of their oneness, an intraclass distinction (sajātīya-bhidā) is negated.”
muktau sva-tattva-jñānena māyāpagamato hi saḥ |
nivartate ghanānanda-brahmāṁśānubhavo bhavet ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.188)
“That [i.e., the delusion of saṁsāra] ceases on account of the withdrawal of māyā in [i.e., upon the attainment of] mukti by means of knowledge of the essential nature (tattva) of the self, and [then for a jīva who thus becomes liberated] the experience of [only] a part (aṁśa) of the condensed bliss of Brahman shall occur.”
sac-cid-ānanda-rūpānāṁ jīvānāṁ kṛṣṇa-māyayā |
anādy-avidyayā tattva-vismṛtyā saṁsṛtir bhramaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.187)
“The transmigration (saṁsṛti) [i.e., saṁsāra]—the delusion—of the jīvas, who are eternal being, consciousness, and bliss in constitution, occurs because of oblivion in regard to [their own] essential nature (tattva) because of beginningless ignorance (anādi-avidyā) by means of Kṛṣṇa’s māyā.”
