na hy ato’nyaḥ śivaḥ panthā viśataḥ saṁsṛtāv iha |
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogo yato bhavet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.2.33; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.566; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 85; Bhakti Sandarbha 28, 86, 115)
“For someone immersed here in saṁsāra, there is certainly no other auspicious path than that by which bhakti-yoga to Bhagavān Vāsudeva can come into being.”
vihāya kāmān yaḥ sarvān pumāṁś carati niḥspṛhaḥ |
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ sa śāntim adhigacchati ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 2.71)
“A person who forsakes all objects of desire and proceeds free from desire, free from attachment, and free from egotism attains peace.”
asyānyatrātma-paryante syāt sarvatraiva mūḍhatā |
kṛṣṇa-sphūrti-viśeṣas tu na kadāpy atra līyate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.4.98)
“One’s [i.e., one who has entered the state of moha’s] stupor in regard to everything otherwise, including one’s self [i.e., body] can occur, but herein [i.e., in this state of moha, that is, stupor of the mind (hṛn-mūḍhatā), as defined previously in BRS 2.4.82] a particular manifestation (sphūrti) of Kṛṣṇa is never withdrawn.”
suptir nidrā-vibhāvā syān nānārthānubhavātmikā |
indriyoparati-śvāsa-netra-saṁmīlanādi-kṛt ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.4.176)
“Sleep (nidrā) wherein there are variegated bhāvas constituted of experience of various objects shall be [called] supti [i.e., light sleep, or, dreaming]. It is a cause of inactivity of the senses, heavy breathing, shutting the eyes, and so forth.”
yuktāsya sphūrti-mātreṇa nirviśeṣeṇa kenacit |
hṛn-mīlanāt puro’vasthā nidrā bhakteṣu kathyate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.4.176)
“The state, prior to the shutting [down] of the mind (hṛt) [i.e., the state prior to the state of an absence of external functions (bahir-vṛtty-abhāva) in the citta], endowed only with some unspecific manifestation (sphūrti) of him [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] is called nidrā (sleep) in the case of bhaktas.”
aho bhāgyam aho bhāgyaṁ nanda-gopa-vrajaukasām |
yan mitraṁ paramānandaṁ pūrṇaṁ brahma sanātanam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.14.32)
“Aho! The fortune! Aho! The fortune of the residents of Chief Nanda’s Vraja, whose eternal friend is the Complete Brahman, the highest bliss!”
ete hi yādavāḥ sarve mad-gaṇā eva bhāmini |
sarvadā mat-priyā devi mat-tulya-guṇa-śālinaḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.292)
“All these Yādavas, O Bhāminī [i.e., Satyabhāmā, lit., ‘O beautiful young woman’], are certainly my associates. O Devī, they hold me dear, and they possess qualities like my own.”
yadyapi pūrvānusāreṇa candrādayas tasya dṛṣṭāntatā-leśam api nārhanti, tathāpi sādhāraṇa-lokānāṁ tad-dvārā tan-mahima-praveśārtham eva te dṛṣṭāntitāḥ | yatra tu tad-antaraṅga-parikarair api tādṛśaṁ varṇyate, tatra sākṣād bhagavad-vibhūti-rūpa-tal-līlā-parikarā eva candrādayo dṛṣṭāntitā iti sarvatra jñeyam |
(Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.46)
“Although, in accord with the former [comment made earlier on this subject in regard to BRS 1.1.1], the moon and so forth are not fit even in the least to be objects of comparison with him [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa], still they are cited as objects of comparison [with him] for the purpose of common people’s entering into his greatness thereby. Where, however, such [objects of comparison] are described even by his intimate retinue, there only the moon and so forth that are directly [part of] the retinue in his līlā in the form of Bhagavān’s splendors (vibhūtis) are cited as objects of comparison [with him]. This is to be understood in all cases.”
sodāharaṇam iti—atrodāharaṇāni caturbhiḥ pramāṇair labdhāni | śāstreṇa, tat-tātparyeṇa, tad-anusāri-mahājana-prasiddhyā, tat-tad-anusāri-sambhavena ca |
(Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.44)
“‘With illustration’ here means illustrations attained by four pramāṇas (means of knowing): (1) by śāstra, (2) by its intention (tātparya), (3) by the realization of mahājanas following that [i.e., the śāstra’s intention], and (4) by that which is produced following that [realization] of that [intention of the śāstra].”
titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām |
ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ ||
mayy ananyena bhāvena bhaktiṁ kurvanti ye dṛḍhām |
mat-kṛte tyakta-karmāṇas tyakta-svajana-bāndhavāḥ ||
mad-āśrayāḥ kathā mṛṣṭāḥ śṛṇvanti kathayanti ca |
tapanti vividhās tāpā naitān mad-gata-cetasaḥ ||
ta ete sādhavaḥ sādhvi sarva-saṅga-vivarjitāḥ |
saṅgas teṣv atha te prārthyaḥ saṅga-doṣa-harā hi te ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.25.21–24; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.81)
“[Bhagavān Kapila:] Those who are forbearing, compassionate, well-wishing of all embodied beings, without enemies, peaceful, and possessed of the adornment of good disposition are the sādhus. They who with unalloyed bhāva engage in resolute bhakti to me, they who have given up karmas and given up relatives and friends for me, they who hear and recount pure narrations about me, they of mind given over to me whom the various miseries do not trouble—O Sādhvī [i.e., O pure Mother], they are the sādhus, and [they] are completely free from all attachment. Therefore, attachment to them is to be desired by you, as they are removers of the fault of attachment.”
