etāṁ sa āsthāya parātma-niṣṭhām
adhyāsitāṁ pūrvatamair mahadbhiḥ |
ahaṁ tariṣyāmi duranta-pāraṁ
tamo mukundāṅghri-niṣevayaiva ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.23.57; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.3.6)
“Taking shelter in fixity in the higher self [alt., Self], as it was practiced by the great souls of the past, I shall cross over the insurmountable darkness [i.e., saṁsāra] by serving the feet of Mukunda.”
mātāpy ekā pitāpy ekā mama ca tasya pakṣiṇo |
ahaṁ munibhir ānītas sa cānīto gavāśanaiḥ |
ahaṁ munīnāṁ vacanaṁ śṛṇomi gavāśanānāṁ sa śṛṇoti vākyam |
na tasya doṣo na ca me guṇo vā saṁsargajā doṣa-guṇā bhavanti ||
(Unknown Source)
[A parrot explains why he and his brother speak and act very differently:] “Although the other bird and I have the same mother and the same father, I was taken by sages, and he was taken by cow-eaters [from our parents’ nest when we were young]. I hear the speech of sages, and he hears the statements of cow-eaters. So, there is no fault on his part or any quality on my part. Faults and qualities are produced by association.”
śrī-sanātana-pādābja-dvandvaṁ vande muhur muhuḥ |
yat prasāda-lavenāpi kṛṣṇe bhakti-raso bhavet ||
(Sādhana-dīpikā: 8)
“I offer obeisance again and again unto the two lotus feet of Śrī Sanātana, by even a trace of whose grace bhakti-rasa related to Kṛṣṇa can manifest.”
vairāgya-yug-bhakti-rasa-prayatnair
apāyayan mām anabhīpsum andham |
kṛpāmbudhir yaḥ para-duḥkha-duḥkhī
sanātanaṁ taṁ prabhum āśrayāmi ||
(Vilāpa-kusumañjali: 6)
“The ocean of grace,
Sorrowful [only] because of others’ sorrow,
Who induced me,
[Although I was] Blind and unwilling,
To drink the rasa of bhakti
Combined with non-attachment (vairāgya)—
I take shelter in him,
My master
Sanātana.”
yadi na samuddharanti yatayo hṛdi kāma-jaṭā
duradhigamo’satāṁ hṛdi gato’smṛta-kaṇṭha-maṇiḥ |
asu-tṛpa-yoginām ubhayato’py asukhaṁ bhagavann
anapagatāntakād anadhirūḍha-padād bhavataḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.87.39)
“O Bhagavān, if ascetics do not fully eradicate the roots of desire in the heart, then although you are present in the heart [of these ascetics], you become difficult to attain like a forgotten jewel on the neck, and yogīs who [merely] satisfy the life airs [i.e., who do not sincerely practice yoga to attain you but rather only for bodily and other worldly benefits] attain only distress from both sides [i.e., in this world and the next] because of not being free from causes of death [i.e., because they continue to undergo the threefold sufferings of material existence while living] and because of not having realized your nature [i.e., because they remain subject to saṁsāra in the hereafter].”
atas tad-apavādārthaṁ bhaja sarvātmanā harim |
paśyaṁs tad-ātmakaṁ viśvaṁ sthity-utpatty-apyayā yataḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.29.79)
“Therefore, to counteract that [i.e., the jīva’s bondage in avidyā by means of karma perpetuated by the mind’s functioning on the basis of saṁskāras], worship Hari with your full being, seeing the universe to be constituted of him and [its] existence, emanation, and dissolution to occur because of him.”
śruti-ratna-vibhūṣaṇa-ruci-jita-pūṣaṇam alidūṣaṇa-nayanānta-gatiṁ
yamunā-taṭa-talpita-puṣpam analpita-mada-jalpita-dayitāpta-ratim |
vandemahi vandita-nandam amandita-kulam andhita-khala-kaṁsa-matiṁ
tvām iha dāmodara haladhara-sodara hara no daram anubaddha-ratim ||
(Stava-mālā: Tribhaṅgī-pañcakam, 5)
“Unto you whose jeweled earrings have conquered the splendor of the sun, you whose sidelong glances belittle black bees, you who lie on a bed of flowers on the bank of the Yamunā, you who become delighted by the plentiful proud words of your beloved, you by whom Nanda is venerated, you who are of a prominent family, you who blinded the mind of wicked Kaṁsa, you who are bound by rati [to your bhaktas]—we offer obeisance. O Dāmodara! O Brother of Haladhara [i.e., O Kṛṣṇa, brother of Balarāma]! Please remove our fear here [i.e., our fear related to saṁsāra].”
saṁsāro hi deha-geha-pati-putrādy-āsakti-rūpas … |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.6.40)
“Saṁsāra is attachment to one’s body, house, husband, sons, and so forth.”
tṛṣṇaiva saṁsāras … |
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.1.4)
“Thirst [i.e., desire] is itself saṁsāra.”
tās tu vṛndāvaneśvaryāḥ sakhyaḥ pañca-vidhā matāḥ |
sakhyaś ca nitya-sakhyaś ca prāṇa-sakhyaś ca kāścana |
priya-sakhyaś ca parama-preṣṭha-sakhyaś ca viśrutāḥ ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 4.50)
“The sakhīs of Vṛndāvaneśvarī [i.e., Śrī Rādhā] are considered to be of five types. They are known as sakhīs, nitya-sakhīs, prāṇa-sakhīs, priya-sakhīs, and parama-preṣṭha-sakhīs.”
