purāṇam ity eva na sādhu sarvaṁ
na cāpi kāvyaṁ navam ity avadyam |
santaḥ parīkṣyānyatarad bhajante
mūḍhaḥ para-pratyaya-neya-buddhiḥ ||
(Mālavikāgnimitra: 1.2)
“Not all [poems] are good because they are ancient. And a poem is not contemptible because it is modern. The wise examine and favor either of the two [according to their respective merit]. The fool is he whose intellect has to be led by the convictions of others.”
advaitaṁ sukha-duḥkhayor anuguṇaṁ sarvāsvavasthāsu yad
viśrāmo hṛdayasya yatra jarasā yasminn ahāryo rasaḥ |
kālenāvaraṇātyayāt pariṇate yat sneha-sāre sthitaṁ
bhadraṁ tasya sumānuṣasya katham apy ekaṁ hi tat prāpyate ||
(Uttara-Rāma-carita: 1.39; Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha: 1020)
[Rāma muses about Sītā’s love for him as she sleeps in his lap:] “That which is uniform in happiness and distress, which is congenial in all circumstances, wherein there is repose for the heart, within which rasa cannot be drawn away by old age, and which through time, with the removal of reserve, abides in the fully distilled essence of affection—the special blessedness of that [love] is somehow attained only by the most fortunate human being.”
laukikānāṁ hi sādhūnām arthaṁ vāg anuvartate |
ṛṣīṇāṁ punar ādyānāṁ vācam artho’nudhāvati ||
(Uttara-rāma-carita of Bhavabhūti; Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāra)
“The speech of ordinary adepts [i.e., kavis] follows the object [they describe], whereas the object runs after the speech of the original ṛṣis.”
vāg-arthāv iva sampṛktau vāg-artha-pratipattaye |
jagataḥ pitarau vande pārvatī-parameśvarau ||
(Raghu-vaṁśa)
“I offer obeisance to Pārvatī and Parameśvara [Śiva], the parents of the world, who are united like speech and [its] meaning, for [gaining] understanding of speech and [its] meaning [or, to understand the meaning of the Veda].”
