ajñāna-nivṛtteḥ prāk pauruṣa-tyāgo māndyam eva
ajñāna-nivṛtteḥ prāk pauruṣa-tyāgo māndyam eva |
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.19.13)
“Giving up exertion [alt., valor] before the cessation of ignorance is simply foolishness.”
Anartha-nivṛtti
asaṅkalpāj jayet kāmaṁ
asaṅkalpāj jayet kāmaṁ krodhaṁ kāma-vivarjanāt |
arthānarthekṣayā lobhaṁ bhayaṁ tattvāvamarśanāt ||
ānvīkṣikyā śoka-mohau dambhaṁ mahad-upāsayā |
yogāntarāyān maunena hiṁsāṁ kāmādy-anīhayā ||
kṛpayā bhūtajaṁ duḥkhaṁ daivaṁ jahyāt samādhinā |
ātmajaṁ yoga-vīryeṇa nidrāṁ sattva-niṣevayā ||
rajas tamaś ca sattvena sattvaṁ copaśamena ca |
etat sarvaṁ gurau bhaktyā puruṣo hy añjasā jayet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavata: 7.15.22–25)
“One can conquer desire (kāma) with negative resolve [e.g., resolutions such as ‘this is not for my enjoyment’ in regard to objects of desire], anger with rejection of desire [for violence], greed with vision of the detriment (anartha) [i.e., the meaninglessness, vice, etc.] within desired ends (arthas), fear with consideration of truth, lamentation and delusion with rational examination [i.e., discrimination between the self and non-self], pride with service to great persons, obstacles in yoga with silence, violence with indifference to desire and so forth. One can overcome suffering caused by other beings with compassion [i.e., actions performed for their benefit], suffering caused by destiny [i.e., foreboding] with meditation [on Bhagavān], suffering caused by the self [i.e., the body] with the strength of yoga [e.g., prāṇayāma, etc.], sleep with a sattvic diet, rajas [i.e., passion] and tamas [i.e., ignorance] with sattva [i.e., goodness], and sattva with composure [i.e., indifference towards even sattvic action]. A person can quickly conquer all of these [however] by means of bhakti to the guru.”
kintu yadi latāra saṅge uṭhe ‘upaśākhā’
kintu yadi latāra saṅge uṭhe ‘upaśākhā’ |
bhukti-mukti-vāñchā, yata asaṅkhya tāra lekhā ||
‘niṣiddhācāra’, ‘kuṭīnāṭī’, ‘jīva-hiṁsana’ |
‘lābha’, ‘pūjā’, ‘pratiṣṭhādi’ yata upaśākhā-gaṇa ||
seka-jala pāñā upaśākhā bāḍi yāya |
stabdha hañā mūla-śākhā bāḍite nā pāya ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.160)
“With the creeper [of bhakti] arise weeds, desires for enjoyment and mukti, which are innumerable. Forbidden behavior, deceit, harming living beings, [seeking] profit, adoration, prestige, and so on, are some of these weeds. These weeds grow by absorbing the sprinkled water [i.e., the water meant for the creeper of bhakti], and the host plant becomes stunted and unable to grow.”
bhakty-utthās te ca mūla-śākhāta
bhakty-utthās te ca mūla-śākhāta upaśākhā iva bhaktyaiva dhanādi-lābha-pūjā-pratiṣṭhādyāḥ sva-vṛttibhiḥ sādhaka-cittam apy uparajya sva-vṛddhyā mūla-śākhām iva bhaktim api kuṇṭhayituṁ prabhavantīti |
(Mādhurya-kādambinī: 3.15)
“Also, those detriments (anarthas) arising from bhakti—the attainment of wealth and so on, [receiving] adoration, [gaining] prestige (pratiṣṭhā), and so forth specifically because of bhakti—are like sub-branches from the main branch [of a creeper], taint even the mind of a sādhaka with their own modes of being, and with their own growth cause constriction even of bhakti, the main branch [of the creeper from which they grow].”
aparādhotthā ity atra nāmāparādhā eva gṛhyante
aparādhotthā ity atra nāmāparādhā eva gṛhyante |
(Mādhurya-kādambinī: 3.1)
“Anarthas arising from offences are accepted to mean the [ten] offences to the name.”
sukṛtotthā bhogābhiniveśā vividhā eva
sukṛtotthā bhogābhiniveśā vividhā eva |
(Mādhurya-kādambinī: 3.1)
“Anarthas arising from pious deeds are absorption in various forms of enjoyment.”
duṣkṛtotthāḥ durabhiniveśa
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)].”
anarthāś catur-vidhāḥ
anarthāś catur-vidhāḥ—duṣkṛtotthāḥ sukṛtotthā aparādhotthā bhakty-utthāś ceti |
(Mādhurya-kādambinī: 3.1)
“Anarthas are of four types: those arising from misdeeds, those arising from pious deeds, those arising from offenses (aparādha), and those arising from bhakti.”
ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo
ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo’tha bhajana-kriyā |
tato’nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ |
athāsaktis tato bhāvas tataḥ premābhyudañcati |
sādhakānām ayaṁ premnaḥ prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.4.15–16)
“First śraddhā, then sādhu-saṅga, then bhajana-kriyā, then anartha-nivṛtti, then niṣṭhā, then ruci, then āsakti, then bhāva, and then prema appear. These are the stages in the appearance of prema in a sādhaka.”
kauṭilyam aśraddhā
yataḥ kauṭilyam, aśraddhā bhagavan-niṣṭhā-cyāvaka-vastv-antarābhiniveśaḥ, bhakti-śaithilyaṁ, sva-bhakty-ādi-kṛta-mānitvam ity evam-ādīni mahat-saṅgādi-lakṣāṇa-bhaktyāpi nivartayituṁ duṣkarāṇi cet, tarhi tasyāparādhasyaiva kāryāṇi, tāny eva ca prācīnasya tasya liṅgāni | … śrī-bhagavati śrī-gurau tad-bhaktādiṣu cāntarānādarādāv api sati bahis tad-arcanādy-ārambhaḥ kauṭilyam | … athāśraddhā dṛṣṭe śrute’pi tan-mahimādau viparīta-bhāvanādinā viśvāsābhāvaḥ | … atha bhakti-śaithilyaṁ yenādhyātmikādi-sukha-duḥkha-niṣṭhaivollasati | … bhakty-ādi-kṛtābhimānatvaṁ cāparādha-kṛtam eva, vaiṣṇavāvamānādi-laksaṇāparādhāntara-janakatvāt |
(Bhakti-sandarbha: 153, 155, 159)
“If (1) crookedness, (2) aśraddhā, (3) absorption in other objects that erodes fixity upon Bhagavān, (4) slackening in bhakti, (5) pridefulness in one’s acts of bhakti and so forth, and other such [behaviors] are difficult to abstain from even by means of bhakti in the form of association with the great (mahat) and so forth, then they are effects of one’s aparādha [committed in this life] and indicators of that [i.e., aparādha committed] in the past [i.e., in previous lives]. … Externally performing worship and so forth of Śrī Bhagavān, śrī guru, his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] bhaktas, and others even while bearing disrespect and so forth towards them internally is [called] crookedness (kauṭilya). … The absence of conviction (viśvāsa) in his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] greatness and so forth, even when it is seen or heard of, as a result of contrary opinion and so forth [e.g., assumption of deception, assumption of impossibility, etc.] is [called] aśraddhā [“faithlessness”]. … Slackening in bhakti is that by which fixity upon pleasures and pains related to the self and so forth [i.e., (1) related to one’s own body and mind (ādhyātmika), (2) related to other living beings (ādhibhautika), and (3) related to natural phenomena (ādhidaivika)] increases. … Pridefulness in one’s acts of bhakti and so forth is created by aparādha because of [it, i.e., such pridefulness] being a cause of other aparādhas, such as disrespecting Vaiṣṇavas [i.e., because an act that is not an effect of aparādha will not give rise to a further effect that is an aparādha, pridefulness in one’s own acts of bhakti is inferred to be an effect of aparādha since it leads to aparādhas such as disrespecting Vaiṣṇavas].”