bhavatīm abhivādya cāṭubhir
varam ūrjeśvari varyam arthaye |
bhavadīyatayā kṛpāṁ yathā
mayi kuryād adhikāṁ bakāntakaḥ ||
(Stava-mālā: Utkalikā-vallariḥ, 20)
“O Ūrjeśvarī [i.e., O Rādhā, presiding goddess over Kārtika], I salute you, and with endearing words I pray for this finest benediction: may Bakāntaka [i..e, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the killer of Bakāsura], bestow greater grace upon me on account of [my] being your own.”
āśā-bharair amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ kathañcit
kālo mayātigamitaḥ kila sāmprataṁ hi |
tvaṁ cet kṛpāṁ mayi vidhāsyasi naiva kiṁ me
prāṇair vrajena ca varoru bakāriṇāpi ||
(Vilāpa-kusumāñjali: 102)
“With an abundance of hope,
Which is made up of an ocean of nectar,
Somehow
A very long time has been passed by me
[Here on the bank of your kuṇḍa].
If you will indeed not bestow your grace upon me
At least certainly now [after so long],
Then what [is the use] of my vital airs,
Vraja,
Or, O you of fine thighs,
Even Baka’s Foe?”
pādābjayos tava vinā vara-dāsyam eva
nānyat kadāpi samaye kila devi yāce |
sakhyāya te mama namo’stu namo’stu nityaṁ
dāsyāya te mama raso’stu raso’stu satyam ||
(Vilāpa-kusumāñjali: 16)
“O Devī! Certainly I never pray at any time for anything other than the finest servitude unto your lotus feet. May my obeisance be offered, may my obeisance be offered forever, unto to friendship with you, and may my loving attachment be, may my loving attachment forever be to servitude unto you. This is my vow.”
yasyaḥ kadāpi vasanañcala-khelanottha-
dhanyātidhanya-pavenena kṛtārthamānī |
yogindra-durgama-gatir madhusūdano’pi
tasyā namo’stu vṛṣabhānu-bhuvo diśe’pi ||
(Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi: 2)
“May my obeisance be offered towards even the direction of Vṛṣabhānu’s Daughter, she by the auspicious, most auspicious, breeze produced by the edge of whose cloth even Madhusūdana, the difficult to attain goal of the best of yogīs, considers himself fulfilled.”
lakṣmīr yad-aṅghri-kamalasya nakhāñcalasya
saundarya-bindum api nārhati labdhum īśe |
sā tvaṁ vidhāsyasi na cen mama netra-dānaṁ
kiṁ jīvitena mama duḥkha-davāgnidena ||
(Vilāpa-kusumāñjali: 101)
“O Īśā, if you—she even a drop of the beauty of the tips of the nails of whose lotus feet [even] Lakṣmī is unable to attain—do not grant me eyes [i.e., vision of your līlā and so forth], [then] what is the use of this life of mine which causes a forest fire of suffering?”
devī kṛṣṇamayī proktā rādhikā para-devatā |
sarva-lakṣmīmayī sarva-kāntiḥ sammohinī parā ||
(Bṛhad Gautamīya Tantra; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.4.83, 2.23.68)
“She is known as Devī, Kṛṣṇamayī, Rādhikā, Paradevatā, Sarvalakṣmīmayī, Sarvakānti, Sammohinī, and Parā.”
hlādinīra sāra ‘prema’, prema-sāra ‘bhāva’ |
bhāvera parama-kāṣṭhā, nāma ‘mahābhāva’ ||
mahābhāva-svarūpā śrī-rādhā-ṭhākurāṇī |
sarva-guṇa-khani kṛṣṇa-kāntā-śiromaṇi ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.4.68–9)
“The essence of hlādinī is prema, the essence of prema is bhāva, and the acme of bhāva is known as mahābhāva. The embodiment of mahābhāva is Śrī Rādhā Ṭhākurāṇī. She is the mine of all good qualities and the crest-jewel of Kṛṣṇa’s lovers.”
devo bhūtvā yajed devaṁ nādevo devam arcayet |
(Tantra-śāstra; cited in Tattva Sandarbha: 22, Bhagavat Sandarbha: 64, and Bhakti Sandarbha: 306)
“Becoming a deva, worship the deva. A non-deva cannot worship a deva.”
aham ity anyathā-buddhiḥ pramattasya yathā hṛdi |
utsarpati rajo ghoraṁ tato vaikārikaṁ manaḥ ||
rajo-yuktasya manasaḥ saṅkalpaḥ sa-vikalpakaḥ |
tataḥ kāmo guṇa-dhyānād duḥsahaḥ syād dhi durmateḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.13.9–10)
[In response to Uddhava’s inquiry as to why human beings engage in sensual enjoyment even though they generally know it ultimately results only in suffering, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa says:] “When a false notion of ‘I’ [i.e., identification with the material body and mind] surges in the heart of a bewildered person [i.e., someone devoid of proper discrimination], then frightful rajas surges in the sāttvika mind [i.e., even though the mind is sāttvika by nature]. Resolve along with fancy arise in a mind possessed by rajas, and then irresistible desire arises because of the deluded person’s [consequent] meditation on qualities [i.e., mental absorption in the qualities of the object of the mind’s resolve and fancy].”
apriyāṇy api kurvāṇo yaḥ priyaḥ priya eva saḥ |
dagdha-mandira-sāre’pi kasya vahnāv anādaraḥ ||
(Hitopadeśa: 2.133; Mahāsubhāsīta-saṅgraha: 2198)
“Even after doing displeasing things, one who is dear certainly remains dear. Even after burning down one’s home and property, by whom is fire disrespected?”
