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ta eva niyamāḥ sākṣāt ta eva ca yamottamāḥ |
tapo dānaṁ vrataṁ yajño yena tuṣyaty adhokṣajaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.16.61)
“That by which Adhokṣaja [i.e., Bhagavān] is satisfied is indeed directly the regulation (niyama), and that is indeed the best rule (yama), austerity (tapas), charity (dāna), rite (vrata), and sacrifice (yajña).”
Read on →: ta eva niyamāḥ sākṣāt ta eva ca yamottamāḥ
prathamaṁ varjayed doṣān yugapat pṛthag eva vā |
tathā dharmam avāpnoti doṣa-tyāgo hi duṣkaraḥ |
doṣa-sākalya-santyāgān munir bhavati mānavaḥ ||
duṣkṛta-tyāga-mātreṇa padam ūrdhvaṁ hi labhyate |
(Mahābhārata: 13.232.5, 8)
“First, one should give up faults, all at once or just one by one. Then, one achieves dharma. Giving up faults [however] is certainly difficult to do. [Yet] By completely giving up faults in totality, a human being becomes a sage. … Just by giving up misconduct, a higher standing is attained.”
Read on →: prathamaṁ varjayed doṣān yugapat pṛthag eva vā
tṛṇād api sunīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā |
amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ ||
(Padyāvalī: 32; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 269; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.17.31, 3.6.239, 3.20.21)
“Hari is to be praised always
By one who is far lower than even grass,
Tolerant like a tree,
Undesirous of respect,
And respectful [to all as appropriate].”
Read on →: tṛṇād api sunīcena
guṇeṣv āviśate ceto guṇāś cetasi ca prajāḥ |
jīvasya deha ubhayaṁ guṇāś ceto mad-ātmanaḥ ||
guṇeṣu cāviśac cittam abhīkṣṇaṁ guṇa-sevayā |
guṇāś ca citta-prabhavā mad-rūpa ubhayaṁ tyajet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.13.25–26)
“[Haṁsa Bhagavān to Sanaka and other sages:] O sons! The mind becomes absorbed in the guṇas [i.e., the sense objects], and the guṇas [become absorbed] in the mind. Both the guṇas and the mind are bodies of [i.e., external adjuncts to] the jīva, who is constituted of me. The mind remains absorbed in the guṇas because of constant attendance to the guṇas, and the guṇas likewise remain strongly apparent in the mind. One who is absorbed in my form can abandon them both.”
Read on →: guṇeṣv āviśate ceto guṇāś cetasi ca prajāḥ
niṣeka-garbha-janmāni bālya-kaumāra-yauvanam |
vayo-madhyaṁ jarā mṛtyur ity avasthās tanor nava ||
etā manoratha-mayīr hānyasyoccāvacās tanūḥ |
guṇa-saṅgād upādatte kvacit kaścij jahāti ca ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.22.47–48)
“Impregnation, gestation, birth, childhood [up to five years], boyhood [up to sixteen years], youth [up to forty-five years], middle age [up to sixty years], old age, and death are the nine states of the body. Sometimes someone [i.e., a jīva] takes on these greater and lesser manifestations of another [i.e., of a material body], which are made of desire, as a result of attachment to the guṇas, and [sometimes someone] gives [them] up [as a result of Śrī Bhagavān’s grace].”
Read on →: niṣeka-garbha-janmāni bālya-kaumāra-yauvanam
kāmaṁ bhavaḥ sva-vṛjinair nirayeṣu naḥ stāc
ceto’livad yadi nu te padayo rameta |
vācaś ca nas tulasivad yadi te’ṅghri-śobhāḥ
pūryeta te guṇa-gaṇair yadi karṇa-randhraḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.15.49; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 68, Bhakti Sandarbha: 266, Prīti Sandarbha: 7, 16, 92)
“[The Kumāras to Śrī Bhagavān:] At will let our birth occur in hells as a result of our own wrongful actions if [there] our minds may enjoy in your feet like bees, if our speech may be endowed with the beauty of your feet like tulasī, and if the holes of our ears may be filled with [praise of] your qualities.”
Read on →: kāmaṁ bhavaḥ sva-vṛjinair nirayeṣu naḥ stāc