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  • sad-guroḥ sakāśād vedāntādy-akhila-śāstrārtha-vicāra-śravaṇa-dvārā yadi sā āvaśyaka-parama-kartavyatvena jñāyate, punaś ca … yadi viparīta-bhāvanā-tyājakau manana-yogyatā-mananābhiniveśau syātāṁ, tataḥ śraddadhānaiś ca sā bhaktir upāsana-dvārā labhyate |
    (Bhakti Sandarbha: 7)

    “If, through hearing deliberation upon the meaning of all the śāstras beginning with Vedānta from a sad-guru, that [i.e., bhakti] is understood to be the supreme necessary duty, and furthermore … if they [i.e., listeners] develop capability for contemplation, and absorption in contemplation, which dispel contradictory notions, then that, bhakti, is attainable through upāsana by those endowed with śraddhā.”

    Read on →: sad-guroḥ sakāśād

  • na karma niṣphalaṁ kuryān nāyatyām asukhodayam |
    (Manu-smṛti: 4.70; cited in Amṛta-ṭīkā to Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇam: Maṅgalācaraṇa, 1)

    “One should perform neither an action that is useless [i.e, has no purpose and will prove fruitless] nor one that gives rise to unhappiness in the future.”

    Read on →: na karma niṣphalaṁ kuryān

  • anubandhaṁ ca saṁprekṣya vipākāṁś caiva karmaṇām |
    utthānam ātmanaś caiva dhīraḥ kurvīta vā na vā ||
    (Mahābhārata: 5.34.9; Vidura-nīti; Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)

    “A wise person should act, or not [act], only after carefully considering the cause and effects [i.e., benefits and harm] of actions, as well as one’s own capacity [i.e., to perform the action].”

    Read on →: anubandhaṁ ca saṁprekṣya

  • anubandhān avekṣeta sānubandheṣu karmasu |
    sampradhārya ca kurvīta na vegena samācaret ||
    (Mahābhārata: 5.34.8; Vidura-nīti)

    “One should act [only] after examining and deliberating upon the causes and effects of actions. One should not act out of impulse.”

    Read on →: anubandhān avekṣeta

  • śuddha-bhaktimatāṁ svata eva śuddhāntaḥ-karaṇatvāt prāṇi-mātrāvajñā prāyo na sambhavet | karma-miśra-bhaktimatāṁ tu sā sambhaved eva yāvad antaḥ-karaṇasyāśuddhiḥ, tasya śuddhau satyāṁ tu sā na tiṣṭhet … |
    (Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭikā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.29.25)

    “Because the antaḥkaraṇas of those engaged in pure bhakti are pure of their own accord, disrespecting any living being is generally not possible [for them]. For those engaged in karma-miśra-bhakti, however, this [i.e., disrespecting others] is certainly possible as long as impurity of the antaḥkaraṇa remains. When it becomes pure, however, this [i.e., disrespecting others] does not remain.”

    Read on →: śuddha-bhaktimatāṁ svata eva

  • līlānukūleṣu janeṣu citte-
    ṣūtpanna-bhāveṣu ca sādhakānām |
    evaṁ-vidhaṁ sarvam idaṁ cakāsti
    svarūpataḥ prākṛtavat pareṣu ||
    (Govinda-līlāmṛta: 7.119)

    “[Why do Rādhā Kuṇḍa and Śyāma Kuṇḍa appear to someone just like ordinary ponds and not as described here in Govinda-līlāmṛta?] All of this [i.e., the entire environment of and around Rādhā Kuṇḍa and Śyāma Kuṇḍa] shines as such [i.e., as has just been elaborately described in Govinda-līlāmṛta] in reality to persons favorable to the līlā [i.e., to nitya-siddha parikaras] and to the minds of sādhakas of manifest bhāva [i.e., to sādhakas who have attained bhāva-bhakti] but as though mundane (prākṛta) to others [i.e., to those in whom bhāva has not manifest].”

    Read on →: līlānukūleṣu janeṣu

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