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- Read on →: ye māṁ bhajanti dāmpatye tapasā vrata-caryayā
ye māṁ bhajanti dāmpatye tapasā vrata-caryayā |
kāmātmāno’pavargeśaṁ mohitā mama māyayā ||
māṁ prāpya māniny apavarga-sampadaṁ
vāñchanti ye sampada eva tat-patim |
te manda-bhāgā niraye’pi ye nṛṇāṁ
mātrātmakatvān nirayaḥ susaṅgamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatan: 10.60.52–53; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 16)“[Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Rukmiṇī Devī:] The desirous who by means of austerity and performance of rites worship me, the master of apavarga [i.e., mokṣa, or, the bestower of prema-bhakti, the ultimate puruṣārtha beyond even mokṣa], for the sake of matrimony [i.e., to enjoy the pleasures of being married] are deluded by my māyā. O Mānini! Those who desire [material] wealth [even] after attaining [alt., propitiating] me, who am the master of that [i.e., of wealth] and the wealth of apavarga, are unfortunate, since that [i.e., wealth] is present even in hell [alt., in births in lower, hellish species and conditions], and hell is a good condition for [such] persons on account of [their] being fixated upon the elements [i.e., on enjoying pleasures of sense objects].”
- Read on →: munaya ūcuḥ
munaya ūcuḥ—
kathaṁ bhaktir bhavet premnā jīvan-muktasya nārada |
jīvan-mukta-śarīrāṇāṁ cit-sattā-niḥspṛhā yataḥ |
virakteḥ kāraṇaṁ bhaktiḥ sā tu muktes tu sādhanam ||
nārada uvāca—
bhadram uktaṁ bhavadbhiś ca muktis turyā parāparā |
nirahaṁ yatra cit-sattā turyā sā muktir ucyate ||
pūrṇāhantāmayī bhaktis turyātītā nigadyate ||
kṛṣṇa-dhāma-mayaṁ brahma kvacit kutrāpi bhāsate ||
nirbījendriyagaṁ tat tu ātmasthaṁ kevalaṁ sukham |
kṛṣṇas tu paripūrṇātmā sarvatra sukha-rūpakaḥ |
bhakti-vṛtti-kṛtābhyāsāt tat-kṣaṇād gocarīkṛtaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Gautamīya Tantra; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 32)“The sages said, ‘O Nārada, how can a jīvan-mukta have bhakti [endowed] with prema, since embodied jīvan-muktas have a conscious existence free from desire [i.e., they have no absorption, inclination, or desire related to the body or things of the world even though they are still embodied and situated within the world]. Bhakti is but a means of detachment (virakti), and that [i.e., detachment] is but a means of mukti.’ “Nārada replied: ‘You all have spoken well. Mukti is the fourth (turyā) [state of consciousness] and superior to the others [i.e., to the other three states of consciousness known as wakefulness, dreaming, and deep sleep]. That wherein there is conscious existence (cit-sattā) devoid of ‘I’ is called the fourth, mukti. Bhakti constituted of complete ‘I’-ness [i.e., the ultimate form of self-identification] is said to be beyond the fourth [i.e., greater than even mukti]. Brahman, constituted of Kṛṣṇa’s luster, sometimes manifests somewhere [i.e., Brahman is manifest only beyond the realm of prakṛti and in inside the realm of Vaikuṇṭha]. It [i.e., Brahman] is self-situated bliss alone known [only] with the seedless sense [i.e., with the potential for perception inherent in the jīva, which is not a faculty constituted of the guṇas of prakṛti, be it an bahiḥkaraṇa or antaḥkaraṇa]. Kṛṣṇa, however, is the fully complete Self (Ātmā) and embodiment of bliss [present] everywhere [i.e., pervasively present throughout the realm of prakṛti and the realm of Vaikiṇṭha who is] brought into one’s range [of perception] immediately as a result of executing repeated performance of the practice of bhakti.’”
- Read on →: evaṁ dīkṣāṁ cared yas tu puruṣo vīta-kalmaṣaḥ
evaṁ dīkṣāṁ cared yas tu puruṣo vīta-kalmaṣaḥ |
sa loke vartamāno’pi jīvan-mukta pramodate ||
uditākṛtir ānandaḥ sarvatra sama-darśakaḥ |
pūrṇāhantāmayī sākṣād bhaktiḥ syāt prema-lakṣaṇā ||
(Bṛhad Gautamīya Tantra; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 32)“A person freed from sin who shall abide by [the] dīkṣā [they have received] rejoices as a jīvan-mukta [i.e., as one who is liberated while living] even while present in the world, being endowed with a manifested form [i.e., a siddha-deha] and bliss, and seeing equally in regard to everything. Direct bhakti possessed of prema and constituted of complete ‘I’-ness [i.e., the ultimate form of self-identification] shall come about [in that person].”
- Read on →: tad evaṁ śrīmat-prīter evāpavargatvena parama-bhagavad-anugraha-mayatvaṁ
tad evaṁ śrīmat-prīter evāpavargatvena parama-bhagavad-anugraha-mayatvaṁ śrī-bhāgavata-śravaṇa-phalatvaṁ puruṣārtheṣu tasyāḥ paramatva-sādhanāya darśitam |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 18)“Thus, in this way, blessed prīti’s being the supreme favor of Bhagavān and the [ultimate] result of hearing Śrīmad Bhāgavatam on account of [its] being the final beatitude (apavarga) [i.e., mukti] has been shown for the sake of establishing its supremacy among the puruṣārthas.”
- Read on →: sa hi bhakta-sukhārtham eva prayatate
sa hi bhakta-sukhārtham eva prayatate, na tu pṛthak sva-sukhārtham, yathā hi bhaktas tat-sukhārtham eveti |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 16)“He [i.e., Bhagavān] endeavors only for the sake of the happiness of [his] bhakta, and not, rather, for the sake of his own happiness separately [from that of his bhakta], just as [his] bhakta does solely for the sake of his happiness.”
- Read on →: śrī-vajra-praśnaḥ
śrī-vajra-praśnaḥ—
kalpānāṁ jīva-sāmye hi muktir naivopapadyate |
kadācid api dharmajña tatra pṛcchāmi kāraṇam ||
ekaikasmin nare muktiṁ kalpe kalpe gate dvija |
abhaviṣyaj jagac chūnyaṁ kālasyāder abhāvataḥ ||
atha śrī-mārkaṇḍeyasyottaram—
jīvasyānyasya sargeṇa nare muktim upāgate |
acintya-śaktir bhagavān jagat pūrayate sadā ||
brahmaṇā saha mucyante brahma-lokam upāgatāḥ |
sṛjyante ca mahā-kalpe tad-vidhāś cāpare janān ||
atra kvacid api kalpe keṣāṁcid api jīvānām anudbuddha-karmatvena suṣuptavat prakṛtāv api līnānām ananta-brahmāṇḍa-gatānām ivānantānām ekasyopādhi-sṛṣṭyā brahmāṇḍa-praveśanaṁ sarga iti jñeyam | apūrva-sṛṣṭau sāditve kṛta-hāny-akṛtābhyāgamaḥ syāt |
(Viṣṇu-dharmottara Purāṇa: 1.81.11–14; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 16)“A question of Śrī Vajra: ‘Because of the kalpas’ even number of jīvas [i.e., because the number of jīvas in the universe remains the same in every kalpa], mukti can never be possible. O knower of dharma, I ask [you] the reason for this. O twice-born, if one human being attained mukti in kalpa after kalpa, the universe would have become empty [by now] because of the non-existence of time’s beginning.’ “Then, the answer of Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya: ‘Whenever a human being attains mukti, Bhagavān, who is possessed of inconceivable potency (śakti), always [re-] fills the universe with an emanation of another jīva. Those who have attain Brahmaloka [i.e., the plane of Brahmā] are liberated along with Brahmā [at the end of the kalpa when the universe is dissolved], and other persons of that type are emanated in the next great kalpa [i.e., at the beginning of the next emanation of the universe].’ “[Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī comments:] In this regard, ‘emanation’ (sarga) [of a jīva] is to be understood as the emanating of [appropriate] adjuncts (upādhis] [i.e., an antaḥkaraṇa, bahiḥkaraṇa, and gross body] and the entering a universe (brahmāṇḍa) of one of the innumerable [jīvas] who are like those situated in the innumerable universes but who are merged in prakṛti as if in deep sleep because of some such jīvas in some kalpa having unaroused karma [i.e., because some jīvas’ beginningless karma does not result in their being emanated into a manifest form of prakṛti, i.e., a universe, during that particular kalpa]. If it [i.e., the emanation of a jīva] had a beginning [i.e., was a creation of a new entity rather than just an emanation of a pre-existent entity] in the unprecedented emanation [i.e., in the beginningless cyclic existence of material universes], loss of what has been made (kṛta-hāni) and attainment of what has not been made would occur [i.e., the results of some actions performed in the past would not bear fruit, since the jīva in such a case would be a created entity who is subject to death, and thus would not have the ability to experience after death the results of the actions that it performed throughout its life; moreover, the jīva would have experiences that are not a result of its past actions since its birth and the circumstances of its life would not be outcomes of actions performed in past lives].”