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  • janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam |
    (Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 13.9)

    “Repeated [alt., recurrent] deliberation [alt., reflection] upon the predicament of suffering in the form of birth, death, infirmity, and disease [is an integral aspect of true knowledge].”

    Read on →: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi

  • ahany ahani bhūtāni gacchantīha yamālayam |
    śeṣāḥ sthāvaram icchanti kim āścaryam ataḥ param ||
    (Mahābhārata: Vana-parva, 313.116)

    “Day by day, living beings here [i.e., in this world of saṁsāra] go to the abode of Yama [i.e., they die]. Those who remain [living, however,] seek permanence [i.e., they hope for, expect, and pursue a permanent life within their so evidently impermanent surroundings]. What is more astonishing than this?”

    Read on →: ahany ahani bhūtāni

  • jalāntaś candra-capalaṁ jīvitaṁ khalu dehinām |
    tathā-vidham iti jñātvā śaśvat-kalyāṇam ācaret ||
    (Hitopadeśa: Sandhi, 136)

    “Knowing the life of embodied beings to be unsteady like the reflection of the moon upon water, endeavor for your eternal welfare.”

    Read on →: jalāntaś candra-capalaṁ

  • atha dāsyam | tac ca śrī-viṣṇor dāsaṁ manyatvam—janmāntara-sahasreṣu yasya syān matir īdṛśī | dāso’haṁ vāsudevasya sarvān lokān samuddharet || ity ukta-lakṣaṇam | astu tāvat tad-bhajana-prayāsaḥ kevala-tādṛśatvābhimānenāpi siddhir bhavatīty abhipretyaivottaratra nirdeśaś ca tasya | yathoktaṁ ‘janmāntara’ ity etat-padyasyaivānte ‘kiṁ punas tad-gata-prāṇāḥ puruṣāḥ saṁyatendriyāḥ’ iti | … tad etad-dāsya-sambandhenaiva sarvam api bhajanaṁ mahattaraṁ bhavati … | … dāso’smīty abhimānena samyag eva bhajatāṁ sarvatra sādhane sādhye ca kim avaśiṣyate? tad-adhikam anyat kim api nāsti … |
    (Bhakti Sandarbha: 304–305)

    “That [i.e., dāsya], furthermore, is the state of considering [oneself] a servant of Śrī Viṣṇu as per the characteristic stated here [in Itihāsa-samuccaya, 31.121]: ‘One who after thousands of births shall have such attitude [i.e., sense of identity], ‘I am a servant of Vāsudeva’ can deliver all planes [throughout the universe].’ Let alone the exertion of service to him [i.e., actually performing service to Bhagavān], perfection (siddhi) is attained even through just [having] the attitude of being such [i.e., just by fostering the attitude of being a servant of Bhagavān]. With this intention specifically, its [i.e,, dāsya’s] description is later on [i.e., after the limbs of bhakti that involve specific forms of exertion, e.g., hearing, praising, and so forth]. At the end of this aforementioned verse [beginning] janmāntara …, [the following is stated,] ‘What’s more of persons whose prāṇas are given over to him and whose senses are controlled [i.e., they most certainly can deliver all planes throughout the universe, since even those who are not such but simply foster the attitude of being Bhagavān’s servant do so].’ … Therefore, just by a relationship with this dāsya [i.e., this attitude of being a servant of Bhagavān], even all [other forms of] bhajana becomes greater [i.e., more pleasing to Bhagavān]. … [Furthermore,] For those who engage fully in worship [of Bhagavān] with the attitude, ‘I am a servant [of Bhagavān],’ what remains [unaccomplished] in regard to the practice (sādhana) and the goal (sādhya) in any respect? [Nothing, meaning, fostering the attitude of being a servant of Bhāgavān and putting it into action accordingly is itself accomplishment of the practice and the goal.] There is nothing else greater than that [i.e., than the attitude of identifying oneself as a servant of Bhagavān and accordingly engaging in Bhagavān’s service for his satisfaction].”

    Read on →: atha dāsyam, tac ca śrī-viṣṇor dāsaṁ manyatvam

  • aṅga-śyāmalima-cchaṭābhir abhito mandīkṛtendīvaraṁ
    jāḍyaṁ jāguḍa-rociṣāṁ vidadhataṁ paṭṭāmbarasya śriyā |
    vṛndāraṇya-vilāsinaṁ hṛdi lasad-dāmābhir āmodaraṁ
    rādhā-skandha-niveśitojjvala-bhujaṁ dhyāyema dāmodaram ||
    (Stava-mālā)

    “Let us meditate on Dāmodara—by the splendor of the blackness of whose limbs blue lotuses are belittled, by the radiance of whose silken garments saffron is rendered stunned, who sports in the forest of Vṛndā, who is fragrant with shining garlands on his breast, and whose lustrous arm rests on Rādhā’s shoulder.”

    Read on →: aṅga-śyāmalima-cchaṭābhir abhito mandīkṛtendīvaraṁ

  • saṅketāvasare cyute praṇayataḥ saṁsajjayā rādhayā
    prārabhya bhrū-kuṭiṁ hiraṇya-raśanā-dāmnā nibaddhodaram |
    kārttikyāṁ jananī-kṛtotsava-vara-prastāvanā-pūrvakaṁ
    cāṭūni prathayan tam ātta-pulakaṁ dhyāyema dāmodaram ||
    (Bhaviṣya Purāṇa: Uttara-khaṇḍa; cited in the Sāraṅga-raṅgadā-ṭīkā on Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta: 110)

    “When he missed the time of a tryst [planned for the full moon night in the month of Kārttika, and arrived late], fully prepared Rādhā, out of praṇaya [lsy., intimate love], first furrowed her brows and then bound him around the belly with the band of her golden girdle. When he coaxed her, explaining he had been at the commencement of the grand festival conducted by his mother for Kārttika, she released him. Let us meditate on Dāmodara, seized by horripilation [upon being bound and released by his beloved Rādhā].”

    Read on →: saṅketāvasare cyute praṇayataḥ saṁsajjayā rādhayā

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