sādhūnāṁ sama-cittānāṁ mukunda-caraṇaiṣiṇām |
upekṣyaiḥ kiṁ dhana-stambhair asadbhir asad-āśrayaiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.10.18)
“What purpose do sādhus who are of equal mind and desirous [only] of Mukunda’s feet have with those who are proud of wealth, asat, sheltered in the asat, and [thus] fit to be ignored?”
paropadeśa-velāyāṁ śiṣṭāḥ sarve bhavanti vai |
vismarantīha śiṣṭatvaṁ svakārye samupasthite ||
(Mahābhārata)
“At the time of giving advice to others, everyone is certainly wise [alt., cultured, proper, etc., or so they think]. When their own duty [alt., tasks, responsibility, difficulty, etc.] arises [however] they then forget all their wisdom [alt., culturedness, propriety, etc.].”
vilajjamānayā yasya sthātum īkṣā-pathe’muyā |
vimohitā vikatthante mamāham iti durdhiyaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.5.13)
“The ignorant, deluded by māyā, who is ashamed to stand in Vāsudeva’s purview, boast of ‘I’ and ‘mine’.”
brahman yam anugṛhṇāmi tad viśo vidhunomy aham |
yan madaḥ puruṣaḥ stabdho lokaṁ māṁ cāvamanyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.22.24; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 47)
“[Śrī Bhagavān:] O Brahmā, from one whom I favor I remove that wealth by which the person becomes proud, obstinate, and disrespectful towards the world and myself.”
na tatra mūḍhā gacchanti puruṣā viṣayātmakāḥ |
dambha-lobha-bhaya-droha-krodha-mohair abhidrutāḥ ||
nirmamā nirahaṅkārā nirdvandvāḥ saṁyatendriyāḥ |
dhyāna-yoga-ratāś caiva tatra gacchanti sādhavaḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 2.95.16–18; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 10)
“Foolish persons absorbed in objects of the senses and overpowered by deceit [alt., arrogance], greed, fear, enmity, anger, and delusion, do not reach there [i.e., the supreme abode of Viṣṇu]. Only sādhus free from possessiveness, free from egotism, free from duality, of controlled senses, and engaged in the practice of meditation (dhyāna-yoga) reach there.”
munaya ūcuḥ—
kathaṁ bhaktir bhavet premnā jīvan-muktasya nārada |
jīvan-mukta-śarīrāṇāṁ cit-sattā-niḥspṛhā yataḥ |
virakteḥ kāraṇaṁ bhaktiḥ sā tu muktes tu sādhanam ||
nārada uvāca—
bhadram uktaṁ bhavadbhiś ca muktis turyā parāparā |
nirahaṁ yatra cit-sattā turyā sā muktir ucyate ||
pūrṇāhantāmayī bhaktis turyātītā nigadyate ||
kṛṣṇa-dhāma-mayaṁ brahma kvacit kutrāpi bhāsate ||
nirbījendriyagaṁ tat tu ātmasthaṁ kevalaṁ sukham |
kṛṣṇas tu paripūrṇātmā sarvatra sukha-rūpakaḥ |
bhakti-vṛtti-kṛtābhyāsāt tat-kṣaṇād gocarīkṛtaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Gautamīya Tantra; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 32)
“The sages said, ‘O Nārada, how can a jīvan-mukta have bhakti [endowed] with prema, since embodied jīvan-muktas have a conscious existence free from desire [i.e., they have no absorption, inclination, or desire related to the body or things of the world even though they are still embodied and situated within the world]. Bhakti is but a means of detachment (virakti), and that [i.e., detachment] is but a means of mukti.’ “Nārada replied: ‘You all have spoken well. Mukti is the fourth (turyā) [state of consciousness] and superior to the others [i.e., to the other three states of consciousness known as wakefulness, dreaming, and deep sleep]. That wherein there is conscious existence (cit-sattā) devoid of ‘I’ is called the fourth, mukti. Bhakti constituted of complete ‘I’-ness [i.e., the ultimate form of self-identification] is said to be beyond the fourth [i.e., greater than even mukti]. Brahman, constituted of Kṛṣṇa’s luster, sometimes manifests somewhere [i.e., Brahman is manifest only beyond the realm of prakṛti and in inside the realm of Vaikuṇṭha]. It [i.e., Brahman] is self-situated bliss alone known [only] with the seedless sense [i.e., with the potential for perception inherent in the jīva, which is not a faculty constituted of the guṇas of prakṛti, be it an bahiḥkaraṇa or antaḥkaraṇa]. Kṛṣṇa, however, is the fully complete Self (Ātmā) and embodiment of bliss [present] everywhere [i.e., pervasively present throughout the realm of prakṛti and the realm of Vaikiṇṭha who is] brought into one’s range [of perception] immediately as a result of executing repeated performance of the practice of bhakti.’”
evaṁ dīkṣāṁ cared yas tu puruṣo vīta-kalmaṣaḥ |
sa loke vartamāno’pi jīvan-mukta pramodate ||
uditākṛtir ānandaḥ sarvatra sama-darśakaḥ |
pūrṇāhantāmayī sākṣād bhaktiḥ syāt prema-lakṣaṇā ||
(Bṛhad Gautamīya Tantra; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 32)
“A person freed from sin who shall abide by [the] dīkṣā [they have received] rejoices as a jīvan-mukta [i.e., as one who is liberated while living] even while present in the world, being endowed with a manifested form [i.e., a siddha-deha] and bliss, and seeing equally in regard to everything. Direct bhakti possessed of prema and constituted of complete ‘I’-ness [i.e., the ultimate form of self-identification] shall come about [in that person].”
kāmaḥ krodhas tathā lobho harṣo māno madas tathā |
ṣaḍ-vargam utsṛjed enaṁ tasmiṁs tyakte sukhī nṛpaḥ ||
(Hitopadeśa: Sandhi, 102)
“Give up the six enemies: lust, anger, greed, pleasure, egotism, and pride. O King, one who rejects them is happy in this world.”
athāta ānanda-dughaṁ padāmbujaṁ
haṁsāḥ śrayerann aravinda-locana |
sukhaṁ nu viśveśvara yoga-karmabhis
tvan-māyayāmī vihatā na māninaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.29.3; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 326)
[Translation as per Śrīdhara Svāmī’s ṭīkā:] “Therefore, O lotus-eyed One, O Lord of the universe, swans [i.e., those who are expert in discriminating between the essential and non-essential] take shelter in your bliss-exuding lotus feet happily and certainly, as they [i.e., your bhatkas] are not impeded by your māyā and thus are not proud on account of yoga or karma [i.e., they do not, like yogīs and karmīs, neglect to take shelter in your feet].”
evaṁ vimṛśya guṇato manasas try-avasthā
man-māyayā mayi kṛtā iti niścitārthāḥ |
sañchidya hārdam anumāna-sad-ukti-tīkṣṇa-
jñānāsinā bhajata mākhila-saṁśayādhim ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.13.33)
“Deliberating in this way and becoming certain, ‘The three states of the mind [i.e., wakefulness, dreaming, and deep sleep] are manifest in me because of my illusion,’ completely cut away the foundation of all doubts [i.e., the ahaṅkāra] with the sharp sword of knowledge in the form of inference and the statements of the sat [i.e., the teachings of sādhus and the śāstra], and worship me situated in the heart.”
