तत्प्रेमशर्मणां सर्वातिशयिधर्मतायामहमपि मर्मवेत्ता, यतः—
हरिर्गोपक्षौणीपतिमिथुनमन्ये च विबुधा
न नः क्रूरं चित्तं मृदुलयितुमीशा लवमपि ।
अहो तेषां प्रेमा विलसति हरौ यस्तु बलवान्
हरेर्वा यस्तेषु द्रुतयति स एव प्रतिपदम् ॥
tat-prema-śarmaṇāṁ sarvātiśayi-dharmatāyām aham api marma-vettā, yataḥ—
harir gopa-kṣauṇī-pati-mithunam anye ca vibudhā
na naḥ krūraṁ cittaṁ mṛdulayitum īśā lavam api |
aho teṣāṁ premā vilasati harau yas tu balavān
harer vā yas teṣu drutayati sa eva pratipadam ||
(Gopāla-Campū: Pūrva, 1.81; 64)
“Even I [who have a most hard heart] am able to understand the secret of the super-excellence of the bliss of that prema [found between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and his companions]: Neither Hari, nor the King and Queen of the land of the cowherds [i.e., Nanda and Yaśodā], nor any other wise persons [of Vraja] are able to soften my hard heart even one bit. But aho! The powerful prema they express for Hari and that Hari expresses for them melts my heart at every step.”
Commentary
A rendering by Ananta Dāsa Bābājī (translated from Bengali) in his Kṛpā-kaṇikā-vyākhyā on Rāga-vartma-candrikā 1.5:
“Neither Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself, nor the king of the cowherds Śrī Nanda, nor Vrajeśvarī Yaśodā, not any other residents of Vraja were able to soften my wicked and hard heart at all. But the natural love (prīti) that the Vraja-vāsīs have for Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Kṛṣṇa has for the Vraja-vāsīs—thought of this flow of bhāva between them is continuously arising in my heart and by that my heart is constantly melting. This is the characteristic of the arising of lobha.”