kurvann api vyalīkāni yaḥ priyaḥ priya eva saḥ |
aśeṣa-doṣa-duṣṭo’pi kāyaḥ kasya na vallabhaḥ ||
(Hitopadeśa: 2.132; Samayocita-padya-ratna-mālikā)
“Even after committing wrongs, one who is dear certainly remains dear. Even though it is culpable of endless faults, for whom is the body not beloved?”
śreyaś ca preyaś ca manuṣyam etas
tau samparītya vivinakti dhīraḥ |
śreyo hi dhīro’bhipreyaso vṛṇīte
preyo mando yoga-kṣemān vṛṇīte ||
(Kaṭha Upaniṣad: 1.2.2)
“Śreyas and preyas present themselves to human beings, and the wise fully assess and discriminate between them. The wise choose śreyas exclusively over preyas, but the foolish choose preyas to gain [what they lack] and preserve [what they have, in the worldly sense].”
anyac chreyo’nyad utaiva preyas
te ubhe nānārthe puruṣaṁ sinītaḥ |
tayoḥ śreya ādadānasya sādhu
bhavati hīyate’rthād ya u preyo vṛṇīte ||
(Kaṭha Upaniṣad: 1.2.1)
“Śreyas and preyas are distinct from one another, though with various goals, they both bind the living being. One who between them chooses śreyas reaches the true goal, and one who chooses preyas falls from it.”
ity unmatta-vaco gopyaḥ kṛṣṇānveṣaṇa-kātarāḥ |
līlā bhagavatas tās tā hy anucakrus tad-ātmikāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.30.14)
“Having spoken such maddened words, the gopīs, distraught as they searched for Kṛṣṇa, acted out the various līlās of Bhagavān, their minds absorbed in him.”
rādhāyā bhavataś ca citta-jatunī svedair vilāpya kramād
yuñjann adri-nikuñja-kuñjara-pate nirdhūta-bheda-bhramam |
citrāya svayam anvarañjayad iha brahmāṇḍa-harmyodare
bhūyobhir nava-rāga-hiṅgula-bharaiḥ śṛṅgāra-kāruḥ kṛtī ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.155; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 81; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.8.194)
[Vṛndā addresses Kṛṣṇa:] “O elephant king of the mountain arbors, the expert artisan of amorous love has gradually melted the lac of the hearts of Rādhā and yourself with heat, stirred them, removed any appearance of separation [between them, i.e., made them one], and then personally dyed them with a rich abundance of fresh red vermillion dye to decorate [alt., to paint a picture within] the interior of the palace of the universe.”
atra kṛtānukaraṇaṁ nāma līlākhyo nāyikānubhāvaḥ | tad uktaṁ kriyānukaraṇaṁ līleti | prakṛtiṁ svabhāvam | tādṛśa-premāveśo jātaḥ | yena tat-svabhāva-nija-svabhāvayor aikyam eva tāsu jātam ity arthaḥ | yathā śrīmad-ujjvala-nīlamaṇau mahā-bhāvodāharaṇam—rādhāyā bhavataś ca … |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 81)
“Here [in reference to the līlā described in SB 1.9.40 and 10.30.14–23], imitation of deeds, which is called līlā, is an ensuant (anubhāva) of a nāyikā [i.e., the gopīs]. This is stated [in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 10.28]: kriyānukaraṇaṁ līlā [“imitating actions [of one’s beloved] is [called] līlā”]. ‘Nature’ (prakṛti) means svabhāva. Absorption in such prema arose [in the gopīs] whereby a oneness arose in them of his svabhāva with their own svabhāvas, as [is described] in the illustration of mahābhāva in Śrīmad Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: rādhāyā bhavataś ca ….”
vijaya-ratha-kuṭumba ātta-totre
dhṛta-haya-raśmini tac-chriyekṣaṇīye |
bhagavati ratir astu me mumūrṣor
yam iha nirīkṣya hatā gatāḥ sva-rūpam ||
lalita-gati-vilāsa-valguhāsa-
praṇaya-nirīkṣaṇa-kalpitoru-mānāḥ |
kṛtam anukṛtavatya unmadāndhāḥ
prakṛtim agan kila yasya gopa-vadhvaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.9.39–40; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 81)
[Bhīṣmadeva:] “Let me, desiring death, have rati for Bhagavān, who is sightly on account of his splendor, holding the reins of horses [in his left hand] and grasping a whip [with his right] as he protects the chariot of Vijaya [i.e., Arjuna]; by seeing whom the dead [in the battle of Kurukṣetra] attained their own forms [i.e., mukti]; and whose nature the wives of the gopas verily attained as they were highly honored by [his] charming movements, play, attractive smiles, and loving glances, [thus] blinded by [the] madness [of prema], and [so became] engaged in imitating his deeds.”
rādhā’jānād asaṅge danuja-vijayinaḥ saṅgam ārād asaṅgaṁ
saṅge caivaṁ samantād gṛha-samaya-sukha-svapna-śītādikāni |
etasyā vṛttir eṣājani sapadi yadānyad vicitraṁ tadāsīt
kāntā-kānta-svabhāvo’py ahaha yad anayor vaiparītyāya jajñe ||
(Gopāla-campū: Pūrva, 33.6)
“Rādhā experiences union with the Victor over the Dānavas [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] in separation, and separation in the midst of union, and in this way she also experiences her house, the time, happiness, dreams, cold, and other things all around her [i.e., she experiences her house to be the forest and the forest to be her house, the present time to be another time and another time to be the present time, happiness to be suffering and suffering to be happiness, dreams to be wakefulness and wakefulness to be dreams, cold to be heat and heat to be cold, and so on]. When this condition of hers manifested, then immediately another wonder occurred. Ahaha! Even the dispositions of the female lover and male lover manifested in reverse.”
nirupadhi hi prema kathañcid apy upadhiṁ na sahata iti pūrvārdhe bhagavatoḥ kṛṣṇa-rādhayor anupadhi-prema śrutvā tad eva puruṣārthīkṛtam | bhagavatā mukha-pidhānaṁ cāsya tad-rahasyatva-prakāśakam |
(Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭakam: 7.17)
“Guileless prema does not tolerate any sort of guile. After hearing of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā’s guile-free prema in the first half [of the verse], Bhagavān determined it to be the puruṣārtha, and Bhagavān’s covering his [i.e., Rāmānanda’s] mouth is indicative of its [i.e., the statement in the first half of the verse’s] confidentiality [alt., it is indicative of the confidentiality between them, i.e., Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa].”
dhṛta-phaṇa iva bhogī gāruḍīyasya gānaṁ
tad-uditam atiratyākarṇayan sāvadhānam |
vyadhikaraṇatayā vānanda-vaivaśyato vā
prabhur atha kara-padmenāsyāpy adhatta ||
(Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭakam: 7.16)
“Like a snake with its hood drawn out listening to the song of a snake-charmer, Prabhu listened attentively with great delight to his [i.e., Rāmānanda Rāya’s] statement and then stopped him [from speaking any further] with his lotus hand either because of incongruity [i.e., because this was not the time he wanted this secret revealed] or because he was overwhelmed with bliss.”
