pratiṣṭhā-rajjūbhir baddhaṁ kāmādyair vartma-pātibhiḥ |
chittvā tāḥ saṁharantas tān aghāreḥ pāntu māṁ bhaṭāḥ ||
(Vraja-vilāsa-stava: 1)
“I have been bound with the ropes of pratiṣṭhā by the highwaymen of kāma and so forth. May the soldiers of Agha’s Foe [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s bhaktas] protect me by cutting away these ropes and routing these highwaymen.”
sarva-tyāge’py aheyāyāḥ sarvānartha-bhuvaś ca te |
kuryuḥ pratiṣṭhā-viṣṭhāyā yatnam asparśane varam ||
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 20.370)
“It is best that they [i.e., one-pointed bhaktas of Śrī Bhagavān] shall try to be untouched by the stool of pratiṣṭhā, which is the cause of all anarthas and difficult to abandon even after the renunciation of all else.”
jñātiṁ vidyāṁ mahattvaṁ ca rūpaṁ yauvanam eva ca |
yatnena parivarjeta pañcaite bhakti-kaṇṭakaḥ ||
(Garga-saṁhitā: 10.62.7)
“Kinsmen, learning, greatness, beauty, and youth—carefully elude these five impediments [lit., “thorns”] to bhakti.”
anartham arthataḥ paśyann arthaṁ caivāpy anarthataḥ |
indriyaiḥ prasṛto bālaḥ suduḥkhaṁ manyate sukham ||
(Mahābhārata: 5.34.59; Vidura-nīti: 213; cited in Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“Seeing anartha within artha and artha within anartha [i.e., seeing nonsense within sense and even sense within nonsense, misfortune within fortune and even fortune within misfortune, evil within good and even good within evil, etc.], the fool, pulled by the senses, considers great suffering to be happiness.”
anartha-makarāgārād asmāt saṁsāra-sāgarāt ।
uḍḍīyate nirudvegaṁ sarva-tyāgena putraka ॥
(Yoga Vāsiṣṭha: 6.111.9; cited in Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“O son, through complete renunciation [i.e., by giving up all worldly interests, attachments, and engagements], one serenely flies up and away from this ocean of saṁsāra, the dwelling place of the sea monsters of anarthas [i.e., evils, vices, misfortunes, diversions, etc.].”
ūrjitaṁ sarvato balavat paramānanda-rūpatvāt—ko hy evānyāt kaḥ prāṇyāt yad eṣa ākāśa ānando na syāt iti śruteḥ |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavata: 1.3.3; Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 3)
“‘Potent’ [alt., ‘powerful’, or, ‘excellent’] (ūrjita) means the most powerful of all, because of [Bhagavān’s form] being the embodiment of the supreme bliss, as it is stated in the Śruti [i.e., Taitirīya Upaniṣad: 2.7.1]: ‘If he, Bliss, were not present in the sky [of the heart], who indeed would breathe? Who would live?’”
sā hovāca maitreyī—yan nu ma iyaṁ bhagoḥ sarvā pṛthivī vittena pūrṇā syāt kathaṁ tenāmṛtā syām? iti | neti hovāca yājñavalkyo—yathaivopakaraṇavatāṁ jīvitaṁ, tathaiva te jīvita syāt | amṛtatvasya tu nāśāsti vitteneti | sā hovāca maitreyī—yenāhaṁ nāmṛtā syāṁ, kim ahaṁ tena kuryāṁ ? yad eva bhagavān veda tad eva me brūhīti |
(Bṛhadāranyaka Upaniṣad: 2.4.2–3; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 1)
“Maitreyī said, ‘O fortunate one, if indeed this entire earth, full of wealth, were to belong to me, would I become immortal by that?’
“‘No,’ replied Yājñavalkya, ‘Your life would become just like the life of those who possess [all] means of subsistence. There is no hope, however, of immortality through wealth.‘
“Maitreyī said, ‘What shall I do with that by which I cannot become immortal? O fortunate one, please tell me that alone which you know [to me the means to become immortal].’”
guru-bhaktyā sa milati smaraṇāt sevyate budhaiḥ |
milito’pi na labhyeta jīvair ahamikā-paraiḥ ||
(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 209)
“One meets [i.e., attains] he who is served by the wise [i.e., Bhagavān] through remembrance (smaraṇa) as a result of bhakti to [one’s] guru [i.e., remembrance of Bhagavān whereby he is served and satisfied develops as a result of bhakti to one’s guru], but even if he [i.e., Bhagavān] is met, he cannot be attained [i.e., he is not truly attained or appreciated] by jīvas who are engrossed in egotism.”
ahaṅkāra-nivṛttānāṁ keśavo nahi dūragaḥ |
ahaṅkāra-yutānāṁ hi madhye parvata-rāśayaḥ ||
(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 236)
“Keśava is not far from those who are free from egotism, but there are mountain ranges between [him and] those who are possessed of egotism.”
bahu-rūpa ivābhāti māyayā bahu-rūpayā |
ramamāṇo guṇeṣv asyā mamāham iti manyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.9.2)
“The ātmā [i.e., “self”] appears as if to be of many [different] forms [i.e., those of a child, an elder, etc., and those of a human, a deva, an animal, etc.] through māyā, which is of many [different] forms, and, enjoying amid its [i.e., māyā’s] guṇas [i.e., within various bodies, etc.], thinks of ‘my’ and ‘I’ [i.e., identifies with these forms fabricated by māyā].”
