analaḥ śīta-nāśāya viṣa-nāśāya gāruḍam |
viveko duḥkha-nāśāya sarva-nāśāya durmatiḥ ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“Fire destroys cold, gāruḍa [i.e., a charm applied in the case of snake bites] destroys poison, discrimination destroys sorrow, and foolishness [alt., ignorance, delusion, misunderstanding, conceit, depression, enmity, etc.] destroy everything.”
nirviṇṇasya viraktasya puruṣasyokta-vedinaḥ |
manas tyajati daurātmyaṁ cintitasyānucintayā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.20.23)
“The mind of a person who is disinterested, detached, cognizant of what has been said, and thoughtful, by means of contemplation gives up ill-naturedness.”
duṣkṛtotthāḥ durabhiniveśa-dveṣa-rāgādyāḥ pūrvoktāḥ kleśā eva |
(Mādhurya-kādambinī: 3.1)
“Anarthas arising from misdeeds are the [five] aforementioned afflictions: (1) durabhiniveśa, troublesome absorption [in the objects of the senses; alt., fear of death]; dveṣa, aversion [to that which opposes one’s desires]; rāga, attachment [to that which facilitates one’s desires]; and so forth [i.e., asmitā, identification (with a false senses of self), and avidyā, ignorance (of the true self)].”
paraṁ padaṁ vaiṣṇavam āmananti tad
yan neti netīty atad-utsisṛkṣavaḥ |
visṛjya daurātmyam ananya-sauhṛdā
hṛdopaguhyāvasitaṁ samāhitaiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.6.32)
“‘Not this,’ ‘not this, …’ those who are in this way desirous of giving up the unreal [i.e., the non-self] and [so also] of undivided affinity [i.e., of one-pointed affinity for Viṣṇu], having given up ill-naturedness [i.e., the notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine’], speak of the supreme nature of Viṣṇu, which is embraced with the heart and understood by the resolute [i.e., those absorbed in samādhi].”
na rarājoḍupaś channaḥ sva-jyotsnā-rājitair ghanaiḥ |
ahaṁ-matyā bhāsitayā sva-bhāsā puruṣo yathā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.20.19)
“The moon covered by clouds illuminated by its own light does not shine, just as the puruṣa [i.e., the jīva, or, the Supreme Īśvara] covered by egotism [i.e., avidyā, ignorance] illuminated by its own light [i.e., consciousness] does not [shine either].”
mūrkho dehādy-ahaṁ-buddhiḥ |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.19.42)
[Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] “A fool is one whose sense of ‘I’ is fixed in the body and so forth [and whose sense of “mine” is so also fixed in the bodily].”
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].”
yadaivam etena viveka-hetinā
māyāmayāhaṅkaraṇātma-bandhanam |
chittvācyutātmānubhavo’vatiṣṭhate
tam āhur ātyantikam aṅga samplavam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.4.34; cited in Paramātma Sandarbha: 84)
“O King! When in this way the ātma’s [i.e., the self’s] bondage—the notion of ‘I’ constituted of māyā—is cut away with the sword of discernment and one is situated in unwavering experience of the Ātmā, then that is called absolute dissolution [i.e., mukti].”
