sadācāraṁ vinā pāpena citte maline sati bhaktau pravṛttir api na syād |
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta-ṭīkā: 2.3.171)
“Without sadācāra, when the mind is contaminated by pāpa, then even inclination for bhakti cannot come about.”
kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasāsvādavatāṁ kiṁ syān na sundaram ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.4.39)
“For those who taste the rasa of Kṛṣṇa-bhakti, what shall not be beautiful?”
sa-premakā bhaktir atīva-durlabhā
svargādi-bhogaḥ sulabho’bhavaś ca saḥ |
cintāmaṇiḥ sarva-janair na labhyate
labhyeta kācādi kadāpi hāṭakam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.4.232)
“Bhakti endowed with prema is extremely rare to attain. Enjoyment of Svarga and so forth, and even non-birth [i.e., non-rebirth], are [relatively] easy to attain. A thought-jewel is not attained by everyone. [Rather,] Glass and so forth is attained, and sometimes gold.”
vanaṁ gṛhaṁ no’bhavad ālayo vanaṁ
dviṣat suhṛd bandhu-gaṇaś ca vairiṇaḥ |
viṣaṁ ca pīyūṣam utāmṛtaṁ viṣaṁ
yad-artham asmāt tvād ṛte mriyāmahe ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.292)
“[The gopīs to Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] Without you, for the sake of whom the forest has become our home and our abode the forest, our enemies well-wishers, and our friends enemies, poison ambrosia and even nectar poison, we are dying.”
prāg yady api prema-kṛtāṁ priyāṇāṁ
viccheda-dāvānala-vegato’ntaḥ |
santāpa-jātena duranta-śokā-
veśena gāḍhaṁ bhavatīva duḥkham ||
tathāpi sambhoga-sukhād api stutaḥ
sa ko’py anirvācya-tamo mano-ramaḥ |
pramoda-rāśiḥ pariṇāmato dhruvaṁ
tatra sphuret tad-rasikaika-vedyaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.125–126)
[Bhagavān to Nārada:] “Although at first it is as if there occurs intense sorrow, created by prema, arising from absorption in endless grief produced by anguish within as a result of the onslaught of the forest fire of separation from those who are dear, still, this [sorrow] ultimately and certainly manifests some most ineffable heart-satisfying abundance of bliss which is praised more so than the joy of union and knowable only by rasikas.”
tad-eka-rasa-lokasya saṅge’bhivyaktatāṁ svataḥ |
prayāsyad api tad vastu gopanīyaṁ prayatnataḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.219)
“Even though that substance [i.e., that prema] will naturally become manifest in the association of a person whose only love is for that [prema], it should be kept hidden with effort.”
nidānaṁ tu paraṁ premṇaḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-karuṇā-bharaḥ |
kasyāpy udety akasmād vā kasyacit sādhana-kramāt ||
yathodārān milaty annaṁ pākvaṁ vā pāka-sādhanam |
sādhakasyocyate śāstra-gatyāyaṁ sādhana-kramaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.215–216)
“But the primary cause of [such] prema is an abundance of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s grace. That manifests for some without cause and for some through a course of sādhanas, just as either cooked food or the ingredients for cooking come [to someone] from a generous person. This course of sādhanas for a sādhaka [through which an abundance of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s grace manifests] is [now going to be] described [by me] in accord with śāstra.”
sarva-prapañcātītānāṁ teṣāṁ vaikuṇṭha-vāsinām |
tasya vaikuṇṭha-lokasya tasya tan-nāyakasya ca ||
tāni māhātmya-jātāni prapañcāntargataiḥ kila |
dṛṣṭāntair nopayujyante na śakyante ca bhāṣitum ||
tathāpi bhavato brahman prapañcāntargatasya hi |
prapañca-parivārāntardṛṣṭi-garbhita-cetasaḥ ||
tad-dṛṣṭānta-kulenaiva tat tat syād bodhitaṁ sukham |
tathety ucyeta yat kiñcit tad-āgaḥ kṣamatāṁ hariḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.4.40–43)
“The greatnesses of the residents of Vaikuṇṭha beyond the entire phenomenal world, of Vaikuṇṭhaloka, and of its master [i.e., Vaikuṇṭhanātha, who like Vaikuṇṭhaloka and its residents is so also beyond the entire phenomenal world] are certainly not fit, and not able, to be described with examples from within the phenomenal world. Still, O brāhmaṇa, for you who are within the phenomenal world and the inner vision [i.e., awareness] of whose mind is filled with the coverings of the phenomenal world, those [greatnesses] can be easily made known only through such examples [i.e., examples drawn from the phenomenal world]. ‘It may be said to be such.’ May Hari forgive the offense of whatever may be said as such [i.e., whatever may be said of those greatnesses by means of stating examples drawn from the phenomenal world, such as, ‘He [i.e., Bhagavān] is like an emperor’].”
sarva-pramāṇānāṁ ca madhye’nubhava-pramāṇasya śreṣṭhayāt |
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta-ṭīkā: 2.1.110)
“Amid all pramāṇas (means of knowing), the best is the pramāṇa of experience.”
sal-lakṣaṇaṁ prema-bharasya kṛṣṇe
kaiścid rasajñair uta kathyate tat |
premṇo bhareṇaiva nijeṣṭa-nāma-
saṅkīrtanaṁ hi sphurati sphuṭārtyā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.3.166)
“It [i.e., nāma-saṅkīrtana] is even said by some knowers of rasa to be the foremost characteristic of a profusion of prema for Kṛṣṇa, as saṅkīrtana of the names of one’s own Iṣṭa with pronounced heartache certainly manifests with a profusion of prema.”
