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  • na manuṣye guṇaḥ kaścid anyo dhanavatām api |
    anāturatvād bhadraṁ te mṛta-kalpā hi rogiṇaḥ ||
    (Mahābhārata: 5.36.65; Vidura-nīti)

    “There is no other quality in a human being, including even affluence, that is more blessed than being healthy [lit., non-diseased]. The sickly are as though already dead.”

    Read on →: na manuṣye guṇaḥ kaścid anyo dhanavatām api

  • api kriyārthaṁ sulabhaṁ samit-kuśaṁ
    jalāny api snāna-vidhi kṣamāṇi te |
    api sva-śaktyā tapasi vartase
    śarīram ādyaṁ khalu dharma-sādhanam ||
    (Kumāra-sambhavam: 5.33; cited in Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha: 2016)

    [Śiva in the form of a young boy asks Pārvatī the following questions as she is performing ongoing penance to attain Śiva as her husband:] “Are samit and kuśa for your rites easy for you to obtain? Do you have suitable water for your regular baths? Are you engaging in austerities according to your ability? The body, indeed, is the primary means of [following] dharma.”

    Read on →: api kriyārthaṁ sulabhaṁ samit-kuśaṁ

  • nara-tanu bhajanera mūla |
    (Prema-bhakti-candrikā: 106)

    “The human body is the basis of bhajana.”

    Read on →: nara-tanu bhajanera mūla

  • sama-doṣaḥ samāgniś ca sama-dhātu-mala-kriyāḥ |
    prasannātmendriya-manāḥ svastha ity abhidhīyate ||
    (Suśruta-saṁhitā: Sūtra-sthāna, 15.10)

    “One whose doṣas [bodily humors, i.e., vāta, pitta, and kapha] are balanced, fires [of digestion and so forth] are balanced, dhātus [seven bodily elements] are balanced, functions of excretion are balanced, and whose self, senses, and mind are tranquil, is said to be healthy.”

    Read on →: sama-doṣaḥ samāgniś ca sama-dhātu-mala-kriyāḥ

  • vanaspater apakvāni phalāni pracinoti yaḥ |
    sa nāpnoti rasaṁ tebhyo bījaṁ cāsya vinaśyati ||
    (Vidura-nīti; Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāra)

    “One who picks the unripened fruits of a tree does not get any juice (rasa) from them, and its [i.e., the tree’s] seed is also destroyed.”

    Read on →: vanaspater apakvāni phalāni pracinoti yaḥ

  • puruṣa-prayojanaṁ tāvat sukha-prāptir duḥkha-nivṛttiś ca |
    puruṣa-prayojanaṁ tāvat sukha-prāptir duḥkha-nivṛttiś ca | śrī-bhagavat-prītau tu sukhatvaṁ duḥkha-nivartakatvaṁ cātyantikam iti | etad uktaṁ bhavati—yat khalu parama-tattvaṁ śāstra-pratipādyatvena pūrvaṁ nirṇītaṁ, tad eva sad-ananta-paramānandatvena siddham | … nānā-svarūpa-dharmato’pi tasya kevalānanda-svarūpatvam eva ca darśitam | tathā-bhūta-mārtaṇḍādi-maṇḍalasya kevala-jyotiṣṭvavat |
    (Prīti Sandarbha: 1)

    “The aim (prayojana) of an embodied being (puruṣa), fundamentally, is the attainment of happiness and elimination of suffering, and only in prīti for Śrī Bhagavān are happiness and elimination of suffering absolute. Thus, this is said: only that Supreme Entity (Parama-tattva), who was ascertained previously [i.e., in the first four sandarbhas] as being the object to be taught by the śāstra, is established [by the śāstra] as being eternal, infinite, paramount bliss. … Although possessed of various inherent characteristics, his [i.e., that Supreme Entity’s] verily being of the nature of bliss alone is also shown [in śāstra, i.e., his fundamental nature, upon which all of his other attributes are based, is bliss (ānanda) alone], just as the sun, which has [within it] the there existent Mārtaṇḍa [i.e., the devatā Sūrya] and so forth [i.e., as well as Sūryadeva’s chariot, horses, etc.], is [fundamentally] of the nature of light alone.”

    Read on →: puruṣa-prayojanaṁ tāvat sukha-prāptir duḥkha-nivṛttiś ca

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