Religion without philosophy is sentiment, or sometimes fanaticism, while philosophy without religion is mental speculation. The ultimate goal is Kṛṣṇa, because the philosophers who are also sincerely searching after the Absolute Truth come in the end to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. The whole process is to understand the real position of the self in relation to the Superself. The indirect process is philosophical speculation, by which, gradually, one may come to the point of Kṛṣṇa consciousness; and the other process is directly connecting everything with Kṛṣṇa in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Of these two, the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is better because it does not depend on purifying the senses by a philosophical process. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is itself the purifying process, and by the direct method of devotional service it is simultaneously easy and sublime.
(Bhagavad-Gita----3:3----purport).

The most confidential part of knowledge is that one should become a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa and always think of Him and act for Him. One should not become an official meditator. Life should be so molded that one will always have the chance to think of Kṛṣṇa. One should always act in such a way that all his daily activities are in connection with Kṛṣṇa. He should arrange his life in such a way that throughout the twenty-four hours he cannot but think of Kṛṣṇa. And the Lord's promise is that anyone who is in such pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness will certainly return to the abode of Kṛṣṇa, where he will be engaged in the association of Kṛṣṇa face to face. This most confidential part of knowledge is spoken to Arjuna because he is the dear friend of Kṛṣṇa. Everyone who follows the path of Arjuna can become a dear friend to Kṛṣṇa and obtain the same perfection as Arjuna.
(Bhagavad-Gita----18:65----purport).

Bhāgavata-dharma is not a concocted sectarian belief, for it entails research to find how everything is connected with Kṛṣṇa (īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam ). According to the Vedic injunctions, sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma: Brahman, the Supreme, is present in everything. Bhāgavata-dharma captures this presence of the Supreme. Bhāgavata-dharma does not consider everything in the world to be false. Because everything emanates from the Supreme, nothing can be false; everything has some use in the service of the Supreme. For example, we are now dictating into a microphone and recording on a dictating machine, and thus we are finding how the machine can be connected to the Supreme Brahman. Since we are using this machine in the service of the Lord, it is Brahman. This is the meaning of sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Everything is Brahman because everything can be used for the service of the Supreme Lord. Nothing is mithyā, false; everything is factual.
(Srimad Bhagavatam----6:16:41----purport).

(8) Sakhyam. In regard to worshiping the Lord as a friend, the Agastya-saṁhitā states that a devotee engaged in performing devotional service by śravaṇam and kīrtanam sometimes wants to see the Lord personally, and for this purpose he resides in the temple. Elsewhere there is this statement: "O my Lord, Supreme Personality and eternal friend, although You are full of bliss and knowledge, You have become the friend of the residents of Vṛndāvana. How fortunate are these devotees!" In this statement the word "friend" is specifically used to indicate intense love. Friendship, therefore, is better than servitude. In the stage above dāsya-rasa, the devotee accepts the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a friend. This is not at all astonishing, for when a devotee is pure in heart the opulence of his worship of the Deity diminishes as spontaneous love for the Personality of Godhead is manifested. In this regard, Śrīdhara Svāmī mentions Śrīdāma Vipra, who expressed to himself his feelings of obligation, thinking, "Life after life, may I be connected with Kṛṣṇa in this friendly attitude."
(Srimad Bhagavatam----7:5:23-24----purport).

Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes (sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1)), but one who has no connection with Kṛṣṇa is disturbed by immediate causes and cannot restrain his vision of separation or differences. When an expert physician treats a patient, he tries to find the original cause of the disease and is not diverted by the symptoms of that original cause. Similarly, a devotee is never disturbed by reverses in life. Tat te 'nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇaḥ (S.B.10:14:8). A devotee understands that when he is in distress, this is due to his own past misdeeds, which are now accruing reactions, although by the grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead these are only very slight. Karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājām (Bs. 5.54). When a devotee under the protection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is to suffer because of faults in his past deeds, he passes through only a little misery by the grace of the Lord. Although the disease of a devotee is due to mistakes committed sometime in the past, he agrees to suffer and tolerate such miseries, and he depends fully on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus he is never affected by material conditions of lamentation, jubilation, fear and so on. A devotee never sees anything to be unconnected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
(Srimad Bhagavatam----10:4:27----purport).

The advantage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is described herein. Kṛṣṇa consciousness gradually develops on the transcendental platform. One may think of Kṛṣṇa as the supreme personality, one may think of Kṛṣṇa as the supreme master, one may think of Kṛṣṇa as the supreme friend, one may think of Kṛṣṇa as the supreme son, or one may think of Kṛṣṇa as the supreme conjugal lover. If one is connected with Kṛṣṇa in any of these transcendental relationships, the course of one's material life is understood to have already ended. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9), tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti: for such devotees, going back home, back to Godhead, is guaranteed. Na punaḥ kalpate rājan saṁsāro jñāna-sambhavaḥ. This verse also guarantees that devotees who constantly think of Kṛṣṇa in a particular relationship will never return to this material world. In this material world of saṁsāra, there are the same relationships.
(Srimad Bhagavatam----10:6:39-40----purport).

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that if an observer immediately remembers the holy name of Kṛṣṇa upon seeing a Vaiṣṇava, that Vaiṣṇava should be considered a mahā-bhāgavata, a first-class devotee. Such a Vaiṣṇava is always aware of his Kṛṣṇa conscious duty, and he is enlightened in self-realization. He is always in love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, and this love is without adulteration. Because of this love, he is always awake to transcendental realization. Because he knows that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the basis of knowledge and action, he sees everything as being connected with Kṛṣṇa. Such a person is able to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa perfectly. Such a mahā-bhāgavata Vaiṣṇava has the transcendental eyes to see who is sleeping under the spell of māyā, and he engages himself in awakening sleeping conditioned beings by spreading the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He opens eyes that are closed by forgetfulness of Kṛṣṇa. Thus the living entity is liberated from the dullness of material energy and is engaged fully in the service of the Lord. The madhyama-adhikārī Vaiṣṇava can awaken others to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and engage them in duties whereby they can advance.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta----2:16:74----purport).

Lord Caitanya, describing the symptoms of a person who has developed from faith to the stage of bhāva, states that such a person is never agitated even if there are causes for agitation. Nor does such a person waste his time even for a moment; he is always anxious to do something for Kṛṣṇa. Even if he has no engagement, he will find some work to do for Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction. Nor does such a person like anything which is not connected with Kṛṣṇa. Although he is situated in the best position, he does not hanker after honor or personal respect. He is confident in his work, and he is never under the impression that he is not making progress toward the supreme goal of life-going back to Godhead. Since he is fully convinced of his progress, he is always confident and keeps himself busy to achieve the highest goal. He is very much attached to gratifying the Lord and in chanting or hearing about the Lord, and he is always attached to describing the transcendental qualities of the Lord. He also prefers to live in holy places like Mathurā, Vṛndāvana or Dvārakā. Such characteristics are visible in one who has developed to the stage of bhāva.
(Teachings of Lord Caitanya).

King Parīkṣit affords a good example of bhāva. When sitting on the banks of the Ganges waiting to meet his death, he said: "All the brāhmaṇas present here, as well as Mother Ganges, should know that I am a soul completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. I do not mind if I am immediately bitten by the snake sent by the brāhmaṇa boy's curse. Let the snake bite me as it likes. I shall be pleased if all of you present here will go on chanting the message of Kṛṣṇa." Such a devotee is always anxious to see that his time is not wasted in anything which is not connected with Kṛṣṇa. Consequently he does not like the benefits derived from fruitive activity, yogic meditation or the cultivation of knowledge. His attachment is to discourses which are favorably related to Kṛṣṇa. Such pure devotees of the Lord always pray to the Supreme Lord with tears in their eyes; their minds are always engaged in recollecting the activities of the Lord, and their bodies are always engaged in offering obeisances. In this way they are satisfied. Any devotee who is acting in devotional service dedicates his life and body for the purpose of the Lord.
(Teachings of Lord Caitanya).

Moist existential ecstatic love aroused in connection with Kṛṣṇa is divided into two: direct and indirect. Rādhārāṇī was weaving a garland of kunda flowers, and upon hearing the vibration of Kṛṣṇa's flute, She immediately stopped Her work. This is an example of direct moistened existential ecstatic love. Indirect moistened existential ecstatic love is described in the following statement: Kṛṣṇa, who is also called Puruṣottama, is to the eyes of mother Yaśodā just like the cloud is to the eyes of the cātakī bird. When Kṛṣṇa had been brought to Mathurā, mother Yaśodā, being very anxious and angry, began to rebuke the King of Mathurā.
(Nectar of Devotion).

How the sons of Pāṇḍu, the Pāṇḍavas, enjoy Kṛṣṇa's association is described as follows: "When Śrī Kṛṣṇa arrived in Indraprastha, the capital of the Kurus, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira immediately came out to smell the flavor of Kṛṣṇa's head." It is the Vedic custom that a superior smells the heads of his subordinates when the subordinates offer respect to the superior by touching his feet. Similarly, Arjuna and Bhīma embraced Kṛṣṇa with great jubilation, and the two younger brothers, namely Nakula and Sahadeva, touched the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa with tears in their eyes and offered their respects. In this way all the five Pāṇḍava brothers enjoyed the fraternal friendship of Kṛṣṇa in transcendental mellow. Of the five Pāṇḍavas, Arjuna is the most intimately connected with Kṛṣṇa. He has a nice bow called Gāṇḍīva in his hand. His thighs are compared to the trunks of elephants, and his eyes are always reddish. When Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are together on a chariot, they become celestial beauties, pleasing to the eyes of everyone. It is said that once Arjuna was lying on his bed with his head upon Kṛṣṇa's lap and was talking and joking with Kṛṣṇa in great relaxation, enjoying Kṛṣṇa's company with smiling and great satisfaction.
(Nectar of Devotion).

When the ecstasy of devotional service produces some kind of lamentation in connection with Kṛṣṇa, it is called devotional service in compassion. The impetuses for this devotional service are Kṛṣṇa's transcendental quality, form and activities. In this ecstasy of devotional service there are sometimes symptoms like regret, heavy breathing, crying, falling on the ground and beating upon one's chest. Sometimes symptoms like laziness, frustration, defamation, humility, anxiety, moroseness, eagerness, restlessness, madness, death, forgetfulness, disease and illusion are also visible. When in the heart of a devotee there is expectation of some mishap to Kṛṣṇa it is called devotional service in bereavement. Such bereavement is another symptom of this devotional service in compassion.
(Nectar of Devotion).