कृष्णैश्वर्याद्यविज्ञानं कृतं नैषामविद्यया ।
किन्तु प्रेमोत्तररसविशेषेणैव तत्कृतम् ॥
kṛṣṇaiśvaryādy-avijñānaṁ kṛtaṁ naiṣām avidyayā |
kintu premottara-rasa-viśeṣeṇaiva tat kṛtam ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 4.4.15)
“Their [i.e., bhaktas’] absence of awareness of Kṛṣṇa’s aiśvarya and so forth is not caused by ignorance (avidyā). Rather, it is caused solely by a particular rasa overlaid with prema.”
bhagavān nāma svarūpa-bhūta-bhagavattā-viśiṣṭaḥ paramānanda-svarūpaḥ | … bhagavattā tu ṣaḍ-vidhatve’pi sāmānyato dvividhā | paramaiśvarya-rūpā parama-mādhurya-rūpā ceti | tatraiśvaryaṁ nāma prabhāvena vaśīkartṛtvaṁ, yad-anubhavena tasmād bhaya-sambhramādi syāt | mādhuryaṁ tu rūpa-guṇa-līlānāṁ rocakatvaṁ, yad-anubhavena tasmin prema syāt | kevalaṁ svarūpaṁ tu svānanda-mātra-samarpakam | tatra mādhuryānubhavas tu tad-dvayasyāpy anubhavam āvṛṇoti | … sa ca mādhuryānubhavo mādhurya-bhāvanātmaka-sādhanotpanna-prema-viśeṣa-labdha-rasa-paryāyāsvāda-viśeṣaḥ | tasmāt tena yad-aiśvaryādy-anubhavāvaraṇaṁ tat-sarvottama-vidyāmayam eveti brahma-jñānād arvācīnā tv avidyā kathaṁ tatrāvakāśaṁ labhatām |
(Excerpt from the Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 4.1.15)
“‘Bhagavān’ refers to he who is the embodiment of the highest bliss inherently endowed with Bhagavattā [i.e., the aggregate of excellences (bhagas) that constitute the essential nature of being Śrī Bhāgavān, viz., complete mastery, potency, fame, wealth, knowledge, and non-attachment as per VP 6.5.74]. … Although Bhagavattā is sixfold [i.e., although it is constituted of the six aforementioned attributes], it is in general twofold: that the form of which is paramount aiśvarya and that the form of which is paramount mādhurya. Therein, ‘aiśvarya’ refers to predominance by means of might, as a result of experience of which fear, reverential excitement (sambhrama), and so forth in regard to him shall arise, whereas mādhurya is pleasurableness of figure, qualities, and līlā, as a result of experience of which prema for him shall arise. [His] Bare essential nature (kevala-svarūpa), however, is only a cause of the bliss of the self [i.e., the bliss of Brahman]. In that regard, experience of [his] mādhurya eclipses experience even of these [other] two [i.e., experience of his bare essential nature, Brahman, and experience of his aiśvarya]. … Furthermore, that experience of [his] mādhurya is a special rasa, or taste, attained from a special form of prema manifest from sādhana constituted of contemplation of [his] mādhurya. Therefore, covering of experience of his aiśvarya and so forth [i.e., and of his bare essential nature, Brahman] by that [i.e., by experience of his mādhurya] is itself constituted of the highest of all [forms of] knowledge of him. Thus, how could ignorance, antithetical [even] to awareness of Brahman, find any scope therein [i.e., in the non-awareness of Brahman and aiśvarya present in those who are absorbed in experience of his mādhurya]?”