jīva-rāśibhir ākīrṇa aṇḍa-kośāṅghripo mahān |
tan-mūlatvād acyutejyā sarva-jīvātma-tarpaṇam||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.14.36)
“The vast tree of this universe is filled with multitudes of jīvas. Worship of Acyuta satisfies all jīvas and one’s self because He is the root of the tree.”
sṛṣṭy-ādikaṁ harir naiva prayojanam apekṣya tu |
kurute kevalānandād yathā mattasya nartanam ||
pūrṇānandasya tasyeha prayojana-matiḥ kutaḥ |
muktā apy āpta-kāmāḥ syuḥ kim utāsyākhilātmanaḥ ||
(Nārāyaṇa-saṁhitā; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 47; Paramātma Sandarbha: 93; Govinda-bhāṣya on Vedānta-sūtra: 2.1.33)
“Hari does not require any motive for emanation and so forth [of the material universes]. He acts purely out of bliss, like the dancing of an intoxicated person. Since he is full of bliss, how can he have any thought of a motive? Even liberated beings are of satisfied desire, so how much more so must be the Ātmā of all?”
evaṁ sva-citte svata eva siddha
ātmā priyo’rtho bhagavān anantaḥ |
taṁ nirvṛto niyatārtho bhajeta
saṁsāra-hetūparamaś ca yatra ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.2.6; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 2)
“As such [i.e., being detached from mundanity], resolute and fulfilled, one should engage in worship of him [Hari], [since he is] self-existent within one’s own consciousness, the Self, beloved, real, glorious, and without end, wherein [i.e., within such worship] there is cessation of the cause of saṁsāra and so forth [i.e., attainment of him.”
nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo
na medhayā na bahunā śrutena |
yam evaiṣa vṛṇute tena labhyaḥ
tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛṇute tanūṁ svām ||
(Kaṭha Upaniṣad: 1.2.23; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 121)
“The Ātmā is attainable neither by exposition, nor by intellect, nor by extensive hearing [of śāstra]. The Ātmā is attainable by one whom he chooses. To him [who is so chosen] the Ātmā reveals his own form.”
sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ paśyed bhagavad-bhāvam ātmanaḥ |
bhūtāni bhagavaty ātmany eṣa bhāgavatottamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.45)
“One who can see the presence of one’s own Bhagavān [i.e., one’s Iṣṭadevatā] within all entities and [all] entities within the Bhagavān within oneself [i.e., within one’s Iṣṭadevatā] is a topmost bhāgavata.”
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].”
ātma-māyām ṛte rājan parasyānubhavātmanaḥ |
na ghaṭetārtha-sambandhaḥ svapna-draṣṭur ivāñjasā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.9.1)
[Śukadeva to Parīkṣit:] “Without the māyā of the Self, O King, a relationship of that which is distinct [from material objects] and constituted of consciousness with [material] objects does not actually occur, as [no relationship] of the seer of a dream [with objects in a dream actually occurs].”
tattvam ātmastham ajñātvā mūḍhaḥ śāstreṣu muhyati |
gopaḥ kakṣa-gate chāge kūpe paśyati durmatiḥ ||
(Garuḍa Purāṇa)
“Unaware of the truth situated in the ātmā, the fool becomes bewildered in the śāstras just like a foolish cowherd who looks in a well for a goat [which he is unaware is] in his arms.”
vidvān apītthaṁ danujāḥ kuṭumbaṁ
puṣṇan sva-lokāya na kalpate vai
yaḥ svīya-pārakya-vibhinna-bhāvas
tamaḥ prapadyeta yathā vimūḍhaḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.6.16)
[Prahlāda Mahārāja:] “O sons of Danu, although learned [in śāstra], one who bears the disposition of distinction between one’s own and others’, by maintaining his family in this way, is not at all able to look at himself [i.e., to deliberate upon the ātmā] and like a complete fool proceeds into darkness.”
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].”
