विषयिणः स्वाभाविको विषयसंसर्गेच्छातिशयमयः प्रेमा रागः, यथा चक्षुरादीनां सौन्दर्यादौ । तादृश एवात्र भक्तस्य श्रीभगवत्यपि राग इत्युच्यते ।
viṣayiṇaḥ svābhāviko viṣaya-saṁsargecchātiśaya-mayaḥ premā rāgaḥ, yathā cakṣur-ādīnāṁ saundaryādau | tādṛśa evātra bhaktasya śrī-bhagavaty api rāga ity ucyate |
(Excerpt from Bhakti Sandarbha: 310)
“A sensuous person’s natural affinity (svābhāvika-prema) constituted of intense desire for contact with sense objects is [called] rāga [i.e., “attachment”], as in the case of [the natural affinity of] the eye and so forth for beauty and so forth [i.e., of each of the senses for ideal forms of their respective objects]. Exactly that [i.e., natural affinity constituted of intense desire] of a bhakta for Śrī Bhagavān too is here [i.e., in the context of rāgānugā-bhakti] called rāga.”