kathaṁ vinā romaharṣaṁ dravatā cetasā vinā |
vinānandāśru-kalayā śudhyed bhaktyā vināśayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.23)
“How without horripilation, without meltedness of the heart, without a teardrop of bliss—without bhakti—could the heart be purified?”
naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā |
bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī ||
tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye |
ceta etair anāviddhaṁ sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati ||
evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ |
bhagavat-tattva-vijñānaṁ mukta-saṅgasya jāyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.2.18–20)
“When [all] ills are nearly destroyed by service to Bhāgavatas [alt., to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam] continually, bhakti to Bhagavān, he of highest praise, becomes fixed. Then, the mind, situated in sattva and unassailed by states of rajas and tamas—desire, greed, and so forth—becomes satisfied. Realized knowledge [i.e., direct experience] of the essential nature of Bhagavān arises for one who in this way is of satisfied mind and [thus] freed from attachment as a result of the practice of bhakti to Bhagavān.”
adhokṣajālambham ihāśubhātmanaḥ
śarīriṇaḥ saṁsṛti-cakra-śātanam |
tad brahma-nirvāṇa-sukhaṁ vidur budhās
tato bhajadhvaṁ hṛdaye hṛd-īśvaram ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.7.37)
“The wise know the impure mind’s contact with Adhokṣaja [i.e., Bhagavān] to be destructive of the cycle of saṁsāra for an embodied being in this world and to be [inclusive of] the bliss of immersion (nirvāṇa) in Brahman. Therefore, you all should worship the Lord of the heart in the heart.”
nāsti tṛṣṇā-samaṁ duḥkhaṁ nāsti tyāga-samaṁ sukham |
sarvān kāmān parityajya brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ||
(Unknown source)
“There is no suffering like desire. There is no satisfaction like renunciation. Completely relinquishing all desires, one becomes fit for the state of [i.e., experience of] Brahman.”
vimuñcati yadā kāmān mānavo manasi sthitān |
tarhy eva puṇḍarīkākṣa bhagavattvāya kalpate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.10.9)
“O you of lotus eyes! When a human being completely casts away desires situated in the mind, only then does one become fit for Bhagavattva.”
mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes
tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgi-saṅgam |
mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā
vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo ye |
ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā
janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu ||
gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu
na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.5.2–3; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.17, 69; Bhakti Sandarbha: 186; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.82)
“Service to the mahats is said to be the door to ultimate mukti, and attachment to those who are attached to women [is said to be] the door to darkness. The mahāntas are they who are of equal mind, tranquil, free from anger, friendly, and virtuous, or, they who (1) have made affection [i.e., prema] for me, Īśa, their aim, (2) are unpossessed of affinity for persons fixated upon affairs related to bodily maintenance and houses accompanied by wives, children, and friends, and (3) are possessed of only so much wealth [as is necessary] in this world.”
yayā hṛt-kṣobha-rāhityān mahākautukato’pi te |
vṛttaṁ bhāva-viśeṣena tat-tal-loke’cyutekṣaṇaṁ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.251)
“Because of which [i.e., because of being unknowing], your sight of Acyuta occurred on those various lokas [i.e., in Svarga, Mahar, and so on] by means of your special bhāva [in relation to Bhagavān] on account of your absence of agitation of mind and your great curiosity.”
cet kṛṣṇacandrasya mahāvatāras
tādṛg-nija-prema-vitāna-kārī |
syād vā kadācid yadi rādhikāyāḥ
premānubhūtiṁ tad upaity athāpi ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.234)
“If a great avatāra of Kṛṣṇacandra who is a distributor of such prema for himself, or, if [such a great avatāra] of Rādhikā, should ever come about, then too one would attain experience of that prema.”
emana kṛpālu nāhi śuni tribhuvane |
kṛṣṇa-premā haya yāra dūra-daraśane ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.16.121)
“We do not hear of anyone so gracious in the three worlds, by [even] the distant sight of whom prema for Kṛṣṇa manifests.”
bhrātaḥ premṇaḥ svarūpaṁ yat tad dhi jānanti tad-vidaḥ |
yasya cittārdratā-jātaṁ bāhyaṁ kampādi-lakṣaṇam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.226)
“Brother, only the experiencers thereof know that which is the essential nature of prema and of which the external characteristics of trembling and so on are produced by meltedness of the heart.”
