rātrir gamiṣyati bhaviṣyati suprabhātaṁ
bhāsvān udeṣyati hasiṣyati paṅkajaśrīḥ |
itthaṁ vicintayati koṣa-gate dvirephe
hā hanta hanta nalinīṁ gaja ujjahāra ||
(Unknown Source)
“The night shall pass, the fine dawn shall arrive, the bright sun shall rise, and the beautiful lotus shall bloom—as a bee remaining inside the whorl [of a lotus] is thinking thus, alas, alas, an elephant has uprooted the lotus.”
samāsaktaṁ yadā cittaṁ jantor viṣaya-gocare |
yady evaṁ brahmaṇi syāt tat ko na mucyeta bandhanāt ||
(Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad: 6.34.5)
“When a living being’s citta is fully attached to the sphere of the sense objects, if it were to become such [i.e., if it were to become instead fully attached] to Brahman, then who would not become liberated from bondage?”
ayaṁ nijaḥ paro veti gaṇanā laghu-cetasām |
udāra-caritānāṁ tu vasudhaiva kuṭumbakam ||
(Hitopadeśa: Mitra-lābhaḥ, 71)
“‘This is mine,’ or ‘this is someone else’s,’ is the supposing of the small-minded, whereas for those of magnanimous character, the world itself is a family.”
aśanaṁ me vasanaṁ me jāyā me bandhu-vargo me |
iti me me kurvāṇaṁ hanti kāla-vṛko puruṣājam ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“‘My food, my cloth, my wife, my relations’—saying, ‘my,’ ‘my’ [continuously], this goat of a man is devoured by the wolf of time.”
yathaihikāmuṣmika-kāma-lampaṭaḥ
suteṣu dāreṣu dhaneṣu cintayan |
śaṅketa vidvān kukalevarātyayād
yas tasya yatnaḥ śrama eva kevalam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.19.14)
“The endeavor of a learned person [i.e., the study of śāstra and practice of yoga of one] who fears the passing of the repulsive body, just like someone covetous of objects of enjoyment in the present and the afterlife who worries about his sons, wives, and possessions, is just mere labor [i.e., one’s study of śāstra and practice of yoga are fruitless unless one successfully fixes the mind on Bhagavān and gives up sāṁsārka attachment and thereby fear of death].”
athātmano’rtha-bhūtasya yato’nartha-paramparā |
saṁsṛtis tad-vyavacchedo bhaktyā paramayā gurau ||
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ samāhitaḥ |
sadhrīcīnena vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca janayiṣyati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.29.36–37)
“Therefore, termination of [ignorance,] that because of which the succession of anarthas, saṁsāra, exists for the ātmā, the [truly] existent entity, occurs through pure bhakti to Guru [i.e., Bhagavān, or, the teacher of Bhagavad-bhakti], for fully performed bhakti-yoga to Vāsudeva, Bhagavān [i.e., bhakti performed entirely for Bhagavān’s satisfaction without any separate interest—prema-bhakti], will produce real non-attachment (vairāgya) and knowledge (jñāna).”
kalpayitvātmanā yāvad ābhāsam idam īśvaraḥ |
dvaitaṁ tāvan na viramet tato hy asya viparyayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.12.10)
[Translation based on Bhāvārtha-dīpikā:] “As long as the jīva is not capable by means of the ātmā [i.e., by virtue of self-realization, ātma-sākṣātkāra] of determining this [i.e., the body, senses, and so forth] to be a guise [i.e., a mere false appearance], then duality [i.e., perception of distinctions such as, “He is a man; she is a woman,”] does not cease, and certainly thereby one’s misapprehension [i.e., one’s mentality of enjoyment] remains.”
anādy-avidyopahatātma-saṁvidas
tan-mūla-saṁsāra-pariśramāturāḥ |
yadṛcchayopasṛtā yam āpnuyur
vimuktido naḥ paramo gurur bhavān ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.24.46)
[Satyavrata Rāja to Matsya Avatāra:] “He whom those here whose awareness of the self has been covered by beginningless ignorance (anādi-avidyā) and who are [thus] suffering from the toil of saṁsāra, the root of which is this [viz., beginningless ignorance], can independently [i.e., only by his favor, or, by the independent grace of his bhakta] become sheltered in and attain—he who is the Bestower of ultimate liberation and our Supreme Guru—you—he who by means of whose service [i.e., by means of bestowing service to himself] dispels the unrighteous mentality of these unknowing persons [like ourselves] bound by their own karma who perform karma which is [ultimately] dissatisfying out of desire for [the attainment of] satisfaction—are [thus] our Guru [by so dispelling our unrighteous mentality] and able to sever the knot in our hearts [i.e., the ignorance situated therein].
doṣa-mūlaṁ hi jīvasya parama-tattva-jñānābhāva evety uktam—‘bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt’ ity ādau, ‘īśād apetasya’ ity-ādibhiḥ | atas taj-jñānam eva śuddhatvam … |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 1)
“The root of the jīva’s deficiency (doṣa) is only the absence of awareness of the Supreme Entity (Parama-tattva), as stated by [the phrase], ‘For one who is averse to the Lord’ (Īśād apetasya) in [the verse] bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād … [i.e., SB 11.2.37]. Therefore, only awareness of him [i.e., the Supreme Entity] is purity.”
pathye sati gadārtasya kim auṣadha-niṣevaṇaiḥ |
pathye’sati gadārtasya kim auṣadha-niṣevaṇaiḥ ||
(Vaidya-jīvana: 1.10)
“When someone suffering from a disease follows a proper diet, then what is the use of taking medicine? [And] When someone suffering from a disease does not follow a proper diet, then what is the use of taking medicine?”
