कृष्णे गते मधुपुरीं बत बल्लवीनां
भावोऽभवत्सपदि यो लयवह्नितीव्रः ।
प्रेमास्य हेतुरुत तत्त्वमिदं हि तस्य
मा तद्विशेषमपरं बत बोद्धुमिच्छ ॥
kṛṣṇe gate madhupurīṁ bata ballavīnāṁ
bhāvo’bhavat sapadi yo laya-vahni-tīvraḥ |
premāsya hetur uta tattvam idaṁ hi tasya
mā tad-viśeṣam aparaṁ bata boddhum iccha ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.232)
“Bata!
The bhāva of the gopīs,
More intense than the fire of [universal] dissolution,
Which instantly arose
When Kṛṣṇa went to Madhupurī—
The cause of that [bhāva] is prema,
And this [bhāva] is verily the quiddity of it [i.e., of prema].
Bata!
Do not desire to understand
Any other distinguishing characteristic of it [i.e., of prema,
Lest you and I enter an overwhelmingly perfervid state].”