madhye-nabhaḥ sammilane’py alūnair
javāt praviṣṭair hṛdaye mithas tau |
kaṭākṣa-bāṇair api modam āptau
premno vicitrā hi gatir durūhā ||
(Govinda-līlāmṛta: 5.42)
“Although the arrows of their side-long glances collided in mid-air, and although without breaking these arrows swiftly pierced each of their hearts, they both felt bliss. The movements of prema are indeed marvellous and mysterious.”
tvaṁ sākṣāt kṛṣṇacandrasya paripūrṇatamasya ca |
goloke go-gaṇair yukte gopī-gopāla-saṁyute ||
tvaṁ hi govardhano nāma vṛndāraṇye virājase |
tvaṁ no girīṇāṁ sarveṣāṁ giri-rājo’si sāmpratam ||
namo vṛndāvanāṅkāya tubhyaṁ goloka-mauline |
pūrṇa-brahmātapatrāya namo govardhanāya ca ||
(Garga-saṁhitā: 2.2.13–5)
[The Himālayas praise Govardhana as he descends to the earth:] “You are known as Govardhana and you reside in Goloka, replete with the cows, cowherd men, and cowherd women of the Suprememost Being Kṛṣṇacandra. You are now the king of all of us mountains. Obeisance and obeisance unto you, the lap of Vṛndāvana, the crown of Goloka, and the umbrella of the Supreme Brahman.”
śrī-kṛṣṇa-dāsa-varyo’yaṁ śrī-govardhana-bhūdharaḥ |
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 16.232)
“The best of the servants of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is Govardhan.”
deve varṣati yajña-viplava-ruṣā vajrāsma-varṣānilaiḥ
sīdat-pāla-paśu-striy ātma-śaraṇaṁ dṛṣṭvānukampy utsmayam |
utpāṭyaika-kareṇa śailam abalo līlocchilīndhraṁ yathā
bibrad goṣṭham apān mahendra-mada-bhit prīyān na indro gavām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.26.25)
“Seeing the cowherd men, animals, and women sheltered in Him suffering from the lightning, hail, and wind cast down by Indra, who was angered by the disruption of the sacrifice, He compassionately smiled, lifted up Govardhan with one hand like a child playfully lifting up a mushroom, and protected Vraja. May this destroyer of Indra’s pride, the Lord of the cows, be pleased with us.”
aho kṛṣṇa-rasāviṣṭaḥ sadā nāmāni kīrtayet |
kṛṣṇasya tat-priyāṇāñ ca bhaiṣmyādīnāṁ gurur mama ||
gopīnāṁ vitatādbhuta-sphuṭatara-premānalārciśchaṭā-
dagdhānāṁ kila nāma-kīrtana-kṛtāt tāsāṁ viśeṣāt smṛteḥ |
tat-tīkṣṇa-jvalanocchikhāgra-kaṇikāsparśena sadyo mahā-
vaikalyaṁ sa bhajan kadāpi na mukhe nāmāni kartuṁ prabhuḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.157–158)
“Aho! My guru [i.e., Śukadeva Gosvāmī], absorbed in Kṛṣṇa-rasa, can continuously chant the names of Kṛṣṇa and his dear ones beginning with Rukmiṇī. [My] Prabhu [however] can never pronounce with his mouth the names of the gopīs, who are burned by the myriad of flames of the fire of their profuse, astonishing, full-blown prema because he immediately becomes greatly overwhelmed by the touch of the sparks from the tips of the high flames of that searing fire by performing kīrtan of their names and thus remembering them in particular.”
veṇu-nāda-sudhā-vṛṣṭyā niṣkramayyokti-mādhurīm |
yāsāṁ naḥ pāyayāmāsa kṛṣṇas tā eva no gatiḥ ||
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.21.7)
“Our refuge is they [i.e., the Vraja-gopīs,] the sweetness of whose speech Kṛṣṇa, with a shower of nectar in the form of the sound of his flute, drew out and caused us to drink.”
tāsāṁ nāthaṁ ballavīnāṁ sametaṁ
tābhiḥ premṇā saṁśrayantī yathoktam |
mātaḥ satyaṁ tat-prasādān mahattvaṁ
tāsāṁ jñātuṁ śakṣyasi tvaṁ ca kiñcit ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.159)
“By taking full shelter with prema [i.e., by becoming fully absorbed in sevā with prema] of the gopīs and their Nātha together with them as described [i.e., without transgressing the rules regarding upāsanā described in śāstra], I promise that you too will be able to understand something of their [i.e., the gopīs’] greatness by their [i.e., the gopīs’ and their Nātha’s] grace [i.e., even though their greatness is indescribable].”
gopīnāṁ paramānanda āsīd govinda-darśane |
kṣaṇaṁ yuga-śatam iva yāsāṁ yena vinābhavat ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.19.16)
“The gopīs felt the highest bliss at the darśana of Govinda, as for them, a moment without him had become like a hundred yugas.”
yāsāṁ budhyeta vāg artho yāsām eva prasādataḥ |
gopīḥ prapadye tā yābhiḥ sa gambhīrāśayo jitaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.21.7)
“I take shelter in the gopīs, the meaning of whose words can be understood only by their grace, and by whom he of deep heart [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] is conquered.”
atha ayauthikyaḥ—
tad-bhāva-baddha-rāgā ye janās te sādhane ratāḥ |
tad-yogyam anurāgaughaṁ prāpyotkaṇṭhānusārataḥ ||
tā ekaśo’thavā dvi-trāḥ kāle kāle vraje’bhavan |
prācīnāś ca navāś ca syur ayauthikyas tato dvidhā |
nitya-priyābhiḥ sālokyaṁ prācīnāś ciram āgatāḥ |
vraje jātā navās tv etā martyāmartyādi-yonitaḥ ||
(Ujjvala-nīlāmaṇī: 3.49; cited in Rāga-vartma-candrikā: 2.7)
“Those persons possessed of rāga [i.e., strong affinity] for that bhāva [i.e., the gopīs’ paroḍhā-bhāva] who engaged in sādhana and upon attaining in accord with their [level of] eagerness an abundance of anurāga [i.e., ardor] befitting that [i.e., that gopī-bhāva] took birth one by one or in twos and threes from time to time in Vraja are [known as] ayauthikyas [i.e., those who engaged in a sādhana and attained siddhi outside of a fixed group]. Ayauthikyas can be of two types: ancient and new. The ancient attained co-residence with the eternal beloveds [of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in his eternal dhāma] long ago [i.e., during previous kalpas], while the new have taken birth in Vraja after being born as mortals, immortals, and so on [i.e., as human beings, devas, animals, and so forth during the present kalpa].”
