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dūrān niśamya mahimānam upetya pārśvam
antaḥ praviśya śubha-bhāgavatāmṛtābdheḥ |
paśyāmi kṛṣṇa-karuṇāñjana-nirmalena
hṛl-locanena bhagavad-bhajanaṁ hi ratnam ||
(Viṣṇu Purī’s Bhakti-ratnāvalī: 6)
“After hearing from afar, approaching the bank [i.e., studying], and then entering within [i.e., understanding the confidential meaning of] the greatness of the ocean of the nectar that is the bountiful Bhāgavatam, I see with the eyes of my heart purified by the collyrium of Kṛṣṇa’s compassion that Bhagavad-bhajana alone is the jewel [i.e., bhakti is essential to the attainment of all puruṣārthas and furthermore is the ultimate puruṣārtha itself].”
Read on →: dūrān niśamya mahimānam upetya pārśvam
te’pi tan-mukhataḥ sarvaṁ śrutvā tat-tan-mahādbhutam |
sāra-saṅgrāhiṇo’śeṣam anyat sarvaṁ jahur dṛḍham ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.152)
“Grasping the essence [i.e., the tattva] after hearing from his [i.e., Nārada’s] mouth all of these profound wonders [i.e., the extraordinary things which were experienced by Nārada during his journey for the recipient of the essence of Kṛṣṇa’s grace], they too [i.e., the sages at Prayāga listening to Nārada’s account] resolutely and completely gave up everything else [i.e., jñāna, karma, and all other paths apart from Kṛṣṇa-bhakti].”
Read on →: te’pi tan-mukhataḥ sarvaṁ
bhaktir asya bhajanam | tad ihāmutropādhi-nairāsyenāmuṣmin manaḥ-kalpanam | etad eva ca naiṣkarmyam ||
(Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad: Pūrva, 14; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.166; Bhakti Sandarbha 169, 234)
“Bhakti is worship (bhajana) of him [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa]. It is engaging the mind in him free from upādhis (adjuncts) [i.e., desires] related to this world and the next [i.e., engaging in hearing, praising, remembering, and so forth related to him without any motivation of attaining anything related to this world or the next but rather with the motivation solely of attaining him such that one can serve and satisfy him]. And this is indeed [secondarily] naiṣkarmya [i.e., mukti, syn., jñāna; lit., exoneration from and transcendence of karma].”
Read on →: bhaktir asya bhajanam
daivādhīnaṁ jagat sarvaṁ janma-karma-śubhāśubham |
saṁyogaś ca viyogaś ca na ca daivāt paraṁ balam ||
kṛṣṇāyattaṁ ca tad daivaṁ sa daivāt paratas tataḥ |
bhajanti satataṁ santaḥ paramātmānam īśvaram ||
daivaṁ vardhayituṁ śaktaḥ kṣayaṁ kartuṁ svalīlayā |
na daiva-baddhas tad bhaktaś cāvināśī ca nirguṇaḥ ||
(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa)
“The entire world, along with birth, karma, auspiciousness, inauspiciousness, meeting and separation, is under the control of destiny (daiva). There is no power greater than destiny, yet that destiny is dependent on Kṛṣṇa. He is thus greater than destiny. Sādhus [thus] always worship the Paramātmā, Īśvara [i.e., Kṛṣṇa]. He can expand and diminish destiny by means of his līlā. Bhaktas [of Kṛṣṇa] are thus unbound by destiny, imperishable, and beyond the guṇas.”
Read on →: daivādhīnaṁ jagat sarvaṁ
na vā etad viṣṇudatta mahad-adbhutaṁ yad asambhramaḥ sva-śiraś-chedana āpatite’pi vimukta-dehādy-ātma-bhāva-sudṛḍha-hṛdaya-granthīnāṁ sarva-sattva-suhṛd-ātmanāṁ nirvairāṇāṁ sākṣād bhagavatānimiṣāri-varāyudhenāpramattena tais tair bhāvair abhirakṣyamāṇānāṁ tat-pāda-mūlam akutaścid-bhayam upasṛtānāṁ bhāgavata-paramahaṁsānām |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.9.20)
[Śukadeva to Parīkṣit Mahārāja:] “O Viṣṇudatta, it is not greatly astonishing that the topmost ascetic devotees of Bhagavān (Bhāgavata-paramahaṁsas) are undisturbed even in the event of their own head being cut off, as they are completely free from the extremely tight knot in the heart of identification with the body and so forth [i.e., the mind, etc.], are by nature well-wishers of all beings, are free from enmity, are completely protected by ever-vigilant Bhagavān himself armed with the most excellent disc of time in various states of being [i.e., in various forms, such as Bhadrakālī (in this particular case in the life of Jaḍa Bharata), or, on account of his (i.e., Bhagavān’s) various qualities], and have approached the soles of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] feet, wherein there is no fear [whatsoever].”
Read on →: na vā etad viṣṇudatta
na tathā me priyatama ātma-yonir na śaṅkaraḥ |
na ca saṅkarṣaṇo na śrīr naivātmā ca yathā bhavān ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.15)
“Neither he who is self-born [i.e., Brahmā], nor Śaṅkara [i.e., Śiva], nor Saṅkarṣaṇa [i.e., Balarāma], nor Śrī [i.e., Lakṣmī], nor even my own Self are so dearmost to me as you [O Uddhava].”
Read on →: na tathā me priyatama