sa ca tad-vraja-lokānāṁ śrīmat-premānuvartinā |
kṛṣṇe śuddhatareṇaiva bhāvenaikena labhyate ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.81)
“And that [i.e., Goloka] is attained only through one-pointed, exceedingly pure bhāva for Kṛṣṇa which follows the beautiful prema of those residents of Vraja.”
ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis
tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ |
goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi ||
(Brahma-saṁhitā: 5.37; cited in Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.92; Ujjvala-nīlāmaṇi: 3.55; Locana-rocanī-ṭīkā and Ānanda-candrikā-ṭīkā on Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 4.3; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 96; Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 177, 186, 188; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.4.72, 2.8.161)
“I serve him, Govinda, the Original Person, the existent Self (Ātmā) of all who resides solely in Goloka and solely with they who by their own nature are potencies ever-manifest [alt., ever-imbued, or, ever reciprocally adored] with rasa constituted of consciousness and bliss.”
yadi vo’sti mayi prītiḥ ślāghyo’haṁ bhavatāṁ yadi |
tadātma-bandhu-sadṛśī buddhir vaḥ kriyatāṁ mayi ||
nāhaṁ devo na gandharvo na yakṣo na ca dānavaḥ |
ahaṁ vo bāndhavo jāto nātaś cintyam ato’nyathā ||
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa: 5.13.11–12; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 325)
“If you all have love (prīti) for me, and if you all [also] consider I am praiseworthy [i.e., a worthy object of reverence], then you all should [give up your awe and reverence of me and] foster the attitude in regard me that I am like the kinsmen (bandhu) of your very self (ātmā) [i.e., that I am one of your fellow cowherds, alt., that I am like the dear friend (bandhu) of your heart (ātmā)]. I am neither a deva, nor a gandharva, nor a yakṣa, nor a dānava. I have been born as your kinsmen (bāndhava—bandhu), and thus from now on I am not to be thought of otherwise [i.e., as anyone other than one of your fellow cowherds and kinsmen; I should not be thought of as any sort of devatā].”
jayati nija-padābja-prema-dānāvatīrṇo
vividha-madhurimābdhiḥ ko’pi kaiśora-gandhiḥ |
gata-parama-daśāntaṁ yasya caitanya-rūpād
anubhava-padam āptaṁ prema gopīṣu nityam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.1.1)
“Someone—
Who descended to bestow prema
For his own lotus feet,
Who is an ocean
Of various sweetnesses,
Who is fragrant with adolescence,
And whose everlasting prema for the gopīs,
Having attained the ultimate limit
Of the highest state,
Has reached the position of experience [for others]
Because of his form of Caitanya—
Triumphs!”
vadānyeśas tṛṣṇā-nicaya-cita-cittaiḥ karuṇa-rāṭ
vipannaiḥ kandarpo yuvati-nikarair mṛtyur aribhiḥ |
adhīśaḥ sad-bhaktaiḥ sahaja-nija-bandhur vraja-janaiḥ
pratītaḥ kṛṣṇo’sāv iti vividha-lokair bahu-vidhaḥ ||
(Govinda-līlāmṛta: 17.20)
“Kṛṣṇa is perceived in many ways by various persons: by those whose hearts are filled with heaps of [worldly] desires as the most capable of the munificent, by the distressed as the king of the compassionate, by young women as Kandarpa [i.e., the ultimate object of love], by enemies as Death, by virtuous bhaktas as the Supreme Lord, and by the people of Vraja as their own natural kinsmen (bandhu).”
aghahara tava vīrya-proṣitāśeṣa-cintāḥ
parihṛta-gṛha-vāstu-dvāra-bandhānubaddhāḥ |
nija-nijam iha rātrau prāṅganaṁ śobhayantaḥ
sukham avicalad-aṅgāḥ śerate paśya gopāḥ ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.4.174)
“O Aghahara, look at the gopas, who have cast away all worries by virtue of your vigor, given up the obligation of locking the doors of their households, finely decorated their own courtyards, and comfortably, with unmoving bodies, gone to sleep at night here [in Vraja].”
bhaktir yā nikhilārtha-varga-jananī yā brahma-sākṣātkṛter
ānandātiśaya-pradā viṣayajāt saukhyād vimuktir yayā |
śrī-rādhā-ramaṇaṁ padāmbuja-yugaṁ yasyā mahān-āśrayo
yā kāryā vraja-lokavat gurutara-premnaiva tasyai namaḥ ||
(Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.1.1)
“Obeisance unto her, Bhakti [Devī],
Who is the mother of all goals
[i.e., the cause of attaining all the puruṣārthas],
Who is the bestower of bliss
Surpassing [that of] Brahman realization,
By whom complete liberation from pleasure
Produced by the sense objects is attained,
Whose principal shelter
Is the two lotus feet of Śrī Rādhā Ramaṇa,
And who is to be performed with very strong prema
Like the people of Vraja.”
aho bhāgyam aho bhāgyaṁ nanda-gopa-vrajaukasām |
yan mitraṁ paramānandaṁ pūrṇaṁ brahma sanātanam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.14.32)
“Aho! The fortune! Aho! The fortune of the residents of Chief Nanda’s Vraja, whose eternal friend is the Complete Brahman, the highest bliss!”
dustyajaś cānurāgo’smin sarveṣāṁ no vrajaukasām |
nanda te tanaye’smāsu tasyāpy autpattikaḥ katham ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.26.13)
“How is it that all of us residents of Vraja have innate, irresistible love for him, O Nanda, your son, and he too has this for us?”
ye sarva-nairapekṣyena rādhā-dāsyecchavaḥ param |
saṅkīrtayanti tan-nāma tādṛśa-priyatā-mayāḥ ||
anyeṣām iva teṣāṁ ca prāpyaṁ ced hṛn na tṛpyati |
aho nanda-yaśodāder na sahe tādṛśīṁ gatim ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.1.21–22)
“If the attainment of those who, without regard for all of this [i.e., all the aforementioned sādhyas and sādhanas of karmīs, jñānīs, and other bhaktas], desire only servitude to Rādhā and engage in saṅkīrtana of his name [i.e., the name of Kṛṣṇa, the relisher of the rāsa dance], filled with such fondness [i.e., the extraordinary prema of the gopīs, the recipients of the very essence of Bhagavān’s grace], is like that of others [i.e., is the same as that of the Yādavas, Pāṇḍavas, and so forth], then my heart is not satisfied. Aho! I cannot tolerate such a destination [being that meant] for Nanda, Yaśodā, and others [i.e., for the people of Vraja led by Nanda and Yaśodā, since an equal result for those who are great and those who are lesser is not befitting].”
