Texts

saṁsāra-sindhum ati-dustaram uttitīrṣor

saṁsāra-sindhum ati-dustaram uttitīrṣor
nānyaḥ plavo bhagavato puruṣottamasya |
līlā-kathā-rasa-niṣevanam antareṇa
puṁso bhaved vividha-duḥkha-davārditasya ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.4.40; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 86)

“For a person tormented by the forest fire of various miseries who is desirous of crossing over the exceedingly difficult to cross ocean of saṁsāra, there is no vessel other than honoring the rasa of the narrations of the līlā of Bhagavān Puruṣottama.”

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śīlaṁ saṁvasatā jñeyaṁ śaucaṁ saṁvyavahārataḥ

śīlaṁ saṁvasatā jñeyaṁ śaucaṁ saṁvyavahārataḥ |
prajñā saṁkathanāj jñeyā tribhiḥ pātraṁ parīkṣyate ||
(Unknown source)

“Character is to be known by living together, cleanliness [is to be known] by working together, and wisdom is to be known by conversing together. A recipient is to be examined in these three ways.”

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anāyāsena maraṇaṁ vinā dainyena jīvanam

anāyāsena maraṇaṁ vinā dainyena jīvanam |
anārādhita-govinda-caraṇasya kathaṁ bhavet ||
(Caitanya-bhāgavata: 1.7.136, 2.1.237)

“How can one by whom Govinda’s feet are not worshiped have a death without distress and a life without destitution?”

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yathā caturbhiḥ kanakaṁ parīkṣyate

yathā caturbhiḥ kanakaṁ parīkṣyate
nigharṣaṇa-cchedana-tāpa-tāḍanaiḥ |
tathā caturbhiḥ puruṣaḥ parīkṣyate
tyāgena śīlena guṇena karmaṇā ||
(Cāṇakya-nīti-darpaṇa)

“As gold is to be examined in four ways—by rubbing, cutting, heating, and hitting, so a person is to be examined in four respects: renunciation, character, qualities, and actions.”

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punaḥ pulinam āgatya kalindyāḥ kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāḥ

punaḥ pulinam āgatya kalindyāḥ kṛṣṇa-bhāvanāḥ |
samavetā jaguḥ kṛṣṇaṁ tad-āgamana-kāṅkṣitāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.30.44)

“After coming back to the shore of the Kālindī, they who were absorbed in thought of Kṛṣṇa [i.e., the gopīs] assembled and sang about Kṛṣṇa, longing for his return.”

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tan-manaskās tad-alāpās tad-viceṣṭās tad-ātmikāḥ

tan-manaskās tad-alāpās tad-viceṣṭās tad-ātmikāḥ |
tad-guṇān eva gāyantyo nātmāgārāṇi sasmaruḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.30.43)

“Minds upon him, speaking about him, acting like him, and identifying as him, they sang of his qualities and did not remember their own houses.”

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śrī-vṛndā-vipinaṁ suramyam api tac chrīmān sa govardhanaḥ

śrī-vṛndā-vipinaṁ suramyam api tac chrīmān sa govardhanaḥ
sā rāsa-sthalikāpy alaṁ rasamayī kiṁ tāvad anya-sthalam |
yasyāpy aṁśa-lavena nārhati manāk sāmyaṁ mukundasya tat
prāṇebhyo’py adhika-priyeva dayitaṁ tat-kuṇḍam evāśraye ||
(Stavāvalī: Vraja-vilāsa-stava, 53)

“I take shelter in her kuṇḍa [i.e., Śrī Rādhā Kuṇḍa]—

Dear to Mukunda

Like [Śrī Rādhā,] she who is dearer [to him]

Then even his prāṇas—

[Her kuṇḍa] To even a minute portion of which

The beautiful, greatly charming forest of Vṛndā,

Beautiful Govardhana,

And the rasa-laden Rāsa-sthalī,

Much less any other place,

Do not merit [being considered to possess even] slight equivalence.”

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yasya śrīmac-caraṇa-kamale komale komalāpi

yasya śrīmac-caraṇa-kamale komale komalāpi
śrī-rādhoccair nija-sukha-kṛte sannayantī kucāgre |
bhītāpy ārād atha nahi dadhāty asya kārkaśya-doṣāt
sa śrī-goṣṭhe prathayatu sadā śeṣa-śāyī sthitiṁ naḥ ||
(Stavāvalī: Vraja-vilāsa-stava, 91)

“He whose beautiful, tender lotus feet

Śrī Rādhā intently raised for her own pleasure,

But even then became fearful

Because of the [imagined] fault of hardness

And did not hold atop the tips of her breasts

Although she is [most] tender [in figure]—

May [he,] Śeṣa-śāyī,

Extend to us

Eternal residence in beautiful Vraja.”

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yadā tava sarovaraṁ sarasa-bhṛṅga-saṅghollasat

yadā tava sarovaraṁ sarasa-bhṛṅga-saṅghollasat-
saroruha-kulojjvalaṁ madhura-vāri-sampūritam |
sphuṭat-sarasijākṣi he nayana-yugma-sākṣād babhau
tadaiva mama lālasājani tavaiva dāsye rase ||
(Vilāpa-kusumāñjali: 15)

“O you of blossoming lotus eyes! When your pond appeared before my eyes brimming with sweet water and splendid with clusters of lotuses shining amid swarms of enamored bumblebees, then only did my longing for the rasa of servitude exclusively unto you arise.”

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tatrāprakaṭā dvividhā—mantropāsanāmayī svārasikī ca

tatrāprakaṭā dvividhā—mantropāsanāmayī svārasikī ca | prathamā yathā tat-tad-ekatara-sthānādi-niyata-sthitikā tat-tan-mantra-dhyāna-mayī | … nānā-sthānānusāraṇa-rūpatvād eka-sthāna-niṣṭhāyā mantropāsanāmayyā bhidyate’sau | yathāvasara-vividha-svecchāmayī svārasikī | … nānā-līlā-pravāha-rūpatayā svārasikī gaṅgeva | ekaika-līlātmatayā mantropāsanāmayī tu labdha-tat-sambhava-hrada-śreṇir iva jñeyā | kiṁ ca, mantropāsanāmayyām api vraja-rājādi-sambandhaḥ śrūyate, kim uta svārasikyām iti na kutrāpi tad-rahitatā kalpanīyā | … govindaḥ śrī-vṛndāvana-deva eva … keśavo’pi śrī-mathurā-nātha eva, tau hi vṛndāvana-mathurā-prasiddha-mahā-yoga-pīṭhayos … prāpañcika-loka-dṛṣṭyāṁ śrīmat-pratimākāreṇābhātaḥ, svajana-dṛṣṭyāṁ sākṣād-rūpeṇa ca |
(Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 153)

“Therein, the aprakaṭa [-līlā] is of two types: mantropāsanāmayī and svārasikī. The first [is aprakaṭa-līlā that] is a fixed state amid one of various places and so forth and constituted of a correlated mantra and meditation. … This [i.e., svārasikī-līlā] is distinguished from mantropāsanāmayī, which is fixed at one place, because [its, i.e., svārasikī-līlā’s] being a form of movement amidst various places. Svārasikī is constituted of [Bhagavān’s] various personal wishes [manifesting successively in the flow of time within aprakaṭa-līlā] in accord with circumstances [that arise in various places at various times]. Svārasikī is like the Gaṅgā on account of being of the nature of a [continuous] flow of various līlās. Mantropāsanāmayī, on the contrary, on account of being constituted of one singular līlā, is to be understood to be like a multitude of perceived lagoons produced from that [i.e., from the flow of svārasikī-līlā]. Furthermore, [Bhagavān’s] relation with the king of Vraja and so forth is heard of even in mantropāsanāmayī, and so all the more in svārasikī. Thus, it [i.e., Bhagavān’s līlā, of both the mantropāsanāmayī and svārasikī varieties] are never to be conceived devoid of that [i.e., devoid of him having the relationships that he does with all his various associates in the various abodes of his līlās]. … Govinda, the Lord of Śrī Vṛndāvana … and Keśava, the Lord of Śrī Mathurā—at the well-known mahāyogapīṭhas in Vṛndāvana and Mathurā [respectively] these two … shine in the form of splendid deities in the vision of worldly people and in their direct forms in the vision of their own persons [i.e., bhaktas].”

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