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ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogā duḥkha-yonaya eva te |
ādy-anta-vantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 5.22)
“The enjoyments produced by contact [of the senses with their respective objects] are verily causes of suffering and possess a beginning and end. O Kaunteya, an intelligent person [i.e., one who properly exercises one’s discernment] does not enjoy them.”
Read on →: ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogā duḥkha-yonaya eva te
kāmaḥ bandhanam evaikan nānyad astīha bandhanam |
kāma-bandhana-mukto hi brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ||
(Mahābhārata: 12.243.7)
“Kāma (desire) is the one and only bondage [i.e., the one and only cause of all the jīva’s bondage in saṁsāra]. There is no other bondage here [i.e., in this world]. One who is free from the bondage of kāma is fit to realize Brahman.”
Read on →: kāmaḥ bandhanam evaikan nānyad astīha bandhanam
bhagavato’nyatra pṛthaṅ na kadācid api yā bhavati sā tv ananyā bhaktiḥ | sarvair api karaṇaiḥ vāsudevād anyan na upalabhyate yayā, sānanyā bhaktiḥ … |
(Śaṅkarācārya’s bhāṣya on Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 11.54)
“That which never manifests separately apart from Bhagavān is ananyā-bhakti [i.e., bhakti which has no other object]. That by which nothing other than Vāsudeva is perceived with all the senses is ananyā-bhakti.”
Read on →: bhagavato’nyatra pṛthaṅ na kadācid api yā bhavati sā tv ananyā bhaktiḥ
yasya sarve samārambhāḥ kāma-saṅkalpa-varjitāḥ |
jñānāgni-dagdha-karmāṇaṁ tam āhuḥ paṇḍitaṁ budhāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 4.19)
“The wise say that one whose every undertaking is free from resolve for an object of desire [i.e., free from being a selfish pursuit], since it is an action burnt by the fire of jñāna, is a paṇḍita [i.e., learned].”
Read on →: yasya sarve samārambhāḥ kāma-saṅkalpa-varjitāḥ
saṅkalpa-jaṁ manoratham |
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.9.27)
“That which is produced from a resolve (saṅkalpa)” refers to a desire [lit., “that which is a chariot of the mind,” i.e., that which leads the mind as a chariot leads a passenger].”
Read on →: saṅkalpa-jaṁ manoratham
na karma-bandhanaṁ janma vaiṣṇavānāṁ ca vidyate |
viṣṇor anucaratvaṁ hi mokṣam āhur manīṣiṇaḥ ||
na dāsyam amareśasya bandhanaṁ parikīrtitam |
sarva-bandhana-nirmuktā hari-dāsā nirāmayāḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 6.229.58-59; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.169–170; Prīti Sandarbha: 16, 45; Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā and Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.9.29)
“The birth of Vaiṣṇavas is not [produced by] bondage in karma, since the wise call being an attendant of Viṣṇu mokṣa. Servitude to the immortal Lord is not described as bondage, since Hari’s servants are completely free from all bondage [i.e., that which causes entanglement in saṁsāra] and unmarred [i.e., faultless, alt., free from disease].”
Read on →: na karma-bandhanaṁ janma vaiṣṇavānāṁ ca vidyate