jāte nāmāparādhe’pi pramādena kathañcana |
sadā saṅkīrtayan nāma tad-eka-śaraṇo bhavet ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 4.25.22; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.525)
“Even when an offense to the name occurs somehow out of negligence, one should become one whose sole shelter is that [i.e., is the name] and constantly chant the name.”
namanti phalino vṛkṣāḥ namanti guṇino janāḥ |
śuṣka-kāṣṭhaś ca mūrkhaś ca na namanti kadācana ||
(Unknown source)
“Trees full of fruits bow down.
People full of qualities bow down.
Dry wood and fools [however]
Never bow down.”
ādi-purāṇe ca śrīmad-arjuna-vākyaṁ—
trailokye bhagavad-bhaktāḥ ke tvāṁ jānanti marmaṇi |
keṣu vā tvaṁ sadā tuṣṭaḥ keṣu prema tavātulam ||
śrī-bhagavad-vākyaṁ—
na tathā me priyatamo brahmā rudraś ca pārthiva |
na ca lakṣmīr na cātmā ca yathā gopī-jano mama ||
bhaktā mamānuraktāś ca kati santi na bhū-tale |
kintu gopī-janaḥ prāṇādhika-priyatamo mama ||
na māṁ jānanti munayo yoginaś ca parantapa |
na ca rudrādayo devā yathā gopyo vidanti mām ||
na tapobhir na vedaiś ca nācārair na ca vidyayā |
vaśo’smi kevalaṁ premṇā pramāṇaṁ tatra gopikāḥ ||
man-māhātmyaṁ mat-saparyāṁ mac-chraddhāṁ man-manogatam |
jānanti gopikāḥ pārtha nānye jānanti marmaṇi ||
nijāṅgam api yā gopyo mameti samupāsate |
tābhyaḥ paraṁ na me pārtha nigūḍha-prema-bhājanam ||
(Ādi Purāṇa; cited in Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.1.34–40; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.4.184, 213)
“Also a statement of Śrīmad Arjuna [to Śrī Kṛṣṇa] in Ādi Purāṇa: ‘Which bhaktas of Bhagavān throughout the three worlds know you in truth? With whom are you always pleased? For whom do you have unparalleled prema? The reply of Śrī Bhagavān: ‘O royal, neither Brahmā, nor Rudra, nor Lakṣmī, nor myself are so beloved to me as the gopīs. How many devoted bhaktas do I have on the surface of the earth? [So many.] The gopīs, however, are beloved to me more so than [even] my life [so, it goes without saying they are more dear to me than all my other bhaktas]. The sages and yogīs do not know me, O tormenter of enemies. Not even Rudra or any of the other devas know me as the gopīs do. I am not captivated by austerities, by [study of] the Vedas, by observances of conduct, or by knowledge. [Rather, I am captivated] Only by prema. The gopīs are the evidence (pramāṇa) of this. The gopīs know my greatness, my service, my desire, and my intent. O Pārtha, no one else knows [these] in truth. O Pārtha, there are no greater vessels of highly confidential prema for me than the gopīs, who care even for their own bodies as my own [i.e., they care for their own bodies only because they consider them instruments for my service].”
śikṣā-guru īśvarera śikṣā ye nā māne |
nija-doṣe duḥkha pāya sei saba jane ||
(Caitanya-bhāgavata: 3.2.400)
“All those persons who do not follow the teachings of Īśvara, the śikṣā-guru, undergo suffering as a result of their own fault.”
śrī-bṛhad-vāmane ca bhṛgv-ādīn prati śrī-brahma-vākyaṁ—
ṣaṣṭhi-varṣa-sahasrāṇi mayā taptaṁ tapaḥ purā |
nanda-gopa-vraja-strīṇāṁ pāda-reṇūpalabdhaye |
tathāpi na mayā prāptās tāsāṁ vai pāda-reṇavaḥ ||
bhṛgv-ādi-vākyaṁ—
vaiṣṇavānāṁ pāda-rajo gṛhyate tvad-vidhair api |
santi te bahavo loke vaiṣṇavā nāradādayaḥ ||
teṣāṁ vihāya gopīnāṁ pāda-reṇus tvayāpi yat |
gṛhyate saṁśayo me’tra ko hetus tad vada prabho ||
śrī-brahma-vākyaṁ—
na striyo vraja-sundaryaḥ putrāḥ śreṣṭhāḥ śriyo’pi tāḥ |
nāhaṁ śivaś ca śeṣaś ca śrīś ca tābhiḥ samāḥ kvacit ||
(Bṛhad-vāmana Purāṇa; cited in Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.1.31–33)
“A statement of Śrī Brahmā to Bhṛgu and others in Śrī Bṛhad-vāmana Purāṇa: ‘Austerity was practiced by me for 60,000 years to attain the foot-dust of the women of Nanda’s cowherd pasturelands. Still, their foot-dust was not attained by me.’ The reply of Bhṛgu and so forth: ‘[If] The foot-dust of Vaiṣṇavas is honored even by those like yourself, [then] there are many Vaiṣṇavas in the world such as Nārada [whose foot-dust you could honor]. [Still,] Avoiding theirs [i.e., their foot-dust], the foot-dust of the gopīs is honored even by you. I have a doubt about this. Please say, O Prabhu, what is the reason for that?’ The reply of Śrī Brahmā: ‘O sons! The beauties of Vraja are not women. They are superior even to Śrī [i.e., Lakṣmī]. Neither I, nor Śiva, nor Śeṣa, nor Śrī are ever equal to them.”
nikhila-śruti-mauli-ratna-mālā-
dyuti-nīrājita-pāda-paṅkajānta |
api mukta-kulair upāsyamānaṁ
paritas tvāṁ hari-nāma saṁśrayāmi ||
(Stava-mālā: Nāmāṣṭaka, 1)
“O you the tips of whose lotus feet are worshiped by the radiances of the jewel-necklaces of the foremost of the Śrutis! O name of Hari! In all respects, I take shelter fully in you, who are worshiped even by the liberated.”
nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ |
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto’bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.503; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.233; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 47; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.17.133)
“[Translated according to the interpretation of Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmīpāda:] The name is a thought-jewel, Kṛṣṇa [himself], an embodiment of consciousness and rasa, complete, pure, and eternally liberated, because of the name and the bearer of the name being non-different.”
yasya kānti-lava-spṛṣṭaṁ kāṁsyaṁ tāmra-mayas trapu |
pāṣāṇādikam anyad vā sarvaṁ bhavati kāñcanam ||
cintāmaṇiḥ sa vijñeyo munibhiḥ siddha-sādhanaḥ |
(Skanda Purāṇa: Brahmottara-khaṇḍa)
“The effective means by the minute touch of the luster of which bell metal, copper, tin, stone, and so forth, as well as all else, becomes gold is known as a cintāmaṇi [lit., ‘thought-jewel’] by the sages.”
sarvāparādha-kṛd api mucyate hari-saṁśrayaḥ |
harer apy aparādhān yaḥ kuryād dvipada-pāṁsanaḥ ||
nāmāśrayaḥ kadācit syāt taraty eva sa nāmataḥ |
nāmno’pi sarva-suhṛdo hy aparādhāt pataty adhaḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.518–520; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.119-120; Bhakti Sandarbha: 265, 273)
“[Śrī Sanat-kumāra to Śrī Nārada:] Even one who has committed all [types of] offenses (aparādhas) [i.e., sins in general] is delivered [from the consequences of those sins] by taking shelter of Hari, and a reprobate among the two-legged who shall commit offenses (aparādhas) even to Hari verily overcomes [the consequences of those offenses] on account of the name [of Hari] should he at any time take shelter in the name. As a result of offense even to the name [of Hari], the well-wisher of all, [however,] one certainly falls down.”
