nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati |
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.17.28; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.190; Bhakti-rasāmṛa-sindhu: 1.2.33; Prīti Sandarbha: 21, 47)
[Śiva to Pārvatī:] “All who are devoted to Nārāyaṇa do not become afraid under any circumstances. They are seers of the same object amid Svarga, liberation, and even Naraka.”
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.”
yat pṛthivyāṁ vrīhi-yavaṁ hiraṇyaṁ paśavaḥ striyaḥ |
na duhyanti manaḥ-prītiṁ puṁsaḥ kāma-hatasya te ||
na jātu kāmaḥ kāmānām upabhogena śāṁyati |
haviṣā kṛṣṇa-vartmeva bhūya evābhivardhate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.19.13–14; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 98)
“All the rice, barley, gold, animals, and women on earth cannot satisfy the mind of a person afflicted with desire. Desire is never extinguished by enjoyment of objects of desire. It is only again further increased [thereby] like a fire by oblations [of ghee].”
naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā tvat-prasādān mayācyuta |
sthito’smi gata-sandehaḥ kariṣye vacanaṁ tava ||
(Bhagavad-gītā: 18.73)
“[Arjuna to Kṛṣṇa:] O Acyuta, by your grace, my misunderstanding is dispelled, and remembrance has been attained by me. I am steady, free from doubt. I shall follow your instruction.”
evaṁ vimṛśya guṇato manasas try-avasthā
man-māyayā mayi kṛtā iti niścitārthāḥ |
sañchidya hārdam anumāna-sad-ukti-tīkṣṇa-
jñānāsinā bhajata mākhila-saṁśayādhim ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.13.33)
“Deliberating in this way and becoming certain, ‘The three states of the mind [i.e., wakefulness, dreaming, and deep sleep] are manifest in me because of my illusion,’ completely cut away the foundation of all doubts [i.e., the ahaṅkāra] with the sharp sword of knowledge in the form of inference and the statements of the sat [i.e., the teachings of sādhus and the śāstra], and worship me situated in the heart.”
tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā |
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 4.34)
“Learn that [knowledge] through obeisance, inquiry, and service. Knowers and seers of the reality will teach [that] knowledge to you.”
dharma-mūlaṁ hi bhagavān sarva-vedamayo hariḥ |
smṛtaṁ ca tad-vidāṁ rājan yena cātmā prasīdati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.11.7; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 58)
“O King, the basis of dharma [i.e., the pramāṇa, the means of knowing dharma], by which the ātmā [i.e., the mind] is satisfied, definitively is Bhagavān, Hari, the embodiment [i.e., the source] of all the Vedas, and that which is remembered by those who know him [i.e., the Smṛti-śāstras].”
śuddha-bhaktimatāṁ svata eva śuddhāntaḥ-karaṇatvāt prāṇi-mātrāvajñā prāyo na sambhavet | karma-miśra-bhaktimatāṁ tu sā sambhaved eva yāvad antaḥ-karaṇasyāśuddhiḥ, tasya śuddhau satyāṁ tu sā na tiṣṭhet … |
(Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭikā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.29.25)
“Because the antaḥkaraṇas of those engaged in pure bhakti are pure of their own accord, disrespecting any living being is generally not possible [for them]. For those engaged in karma-miśra-bhakti, however, this [i.e., disrespecting others] is certainly possible as long as impurity of the antaḥkaraṇa remains. When it becomes pure, however, this [i.e., disrespecting others] does not remain.”
pibanti ye bhagavata ātmanaḥ satāṁ
kathāmṛtaṁ śravaṇa-puṭeṣu sambhṛtam |
punanti te viṣaya-vidūṣitāśayaṁ
vrajanti tac-caraṇa-saroruhāntikam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.2.37; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.441; Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.3.124; Paramātma Sandarbha: 108; Bhakti Sandarbha: 30, 86)
“Those who drink, held in the cups of their ears, the nectar of kathā about Bhagavān, the Ātmā of the sādhus, purify their hearts contaminated by viṣaya and reach the presence of his lotus feet.”
yathā hemni sthito vahnir durvarṇaṁ hanti dhātu-jam |
evam ātma-gato viṣṇur yoginām aśubhāśayam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.3.47)
“As fire set upon gold removes discoloration caused by metals, so Viṣṇu situated in the mind [removes] the inauspicious thoughts of yogīs.”
