yo māṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu santam ātmānam īśvaram |
hitvārcāṁ bhajate mauḍhyād bhasmany eva juhoti saḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.29.22; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 106)
[Kapiladeva:] “One who disregards me, the Self, the Īśvara, present in all beings, and worships a deity out of ignorance only makes oblations into ashes.”
sac-cid-ānanda-rūpānāṁ jīvānāṁ kṛṣṇa-māyayā |
anādy-avidyayā tattva-vismṛtyā saṁsṛtir bhramaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.187)
“The transmigration (saṁsṛti) [i.e., saṁsāra]—the delusion—of the jīvas, who are eternal being, consciousness, and bliss in constitution, occurs because of oblivion in regard to [their own] essential nature (tattva) because of beginningless ignorance (anādi-avidyā) by means of Kṛṣṇa’s māyā.”
na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ |
na karma-phala-saṁyogaṁ svabhāvas tu pravartate ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 5.14)
“The Lord creates neither the doership, nor the actions, nor the connection with the results of actions of a person. Rather, the disposition (svabhāva) [of a person] prompts [these].”
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ |
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 18.55)
“By bhakti, one knows me truly, as far as, and as to who, I am. Then, having known me truly, thereafter one enters [me].”
anādy-avidyā-yuktasya puruṣasyātma-vedanam |
svato na sambhavād anyas tattvajño jñānado bhavet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.22.10)
“Knowledge of self shall not come about on its own for a living being beset with beginningless ignorance. [Therefore,] Another, a Knower of the reality and Bestower of [that] knowledge, shall be [i.e., must exist and also bestow that knowledge upon the jīva].”
sa yad ajayā tv ajām anuśayīta guṇāṁś ca juṣan
bhajati sarūpatāṁ tad anu mṛtyum apeta-bhagaḥ |
tvam uta jahāsi tām ahir iva tvacam ātta-bhago
mahasi mahīyase’ṣṭa-guṇite’parimeya-bhagaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.87.38; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 24; Paramātma Sandarbha: 39)
“Since he [i.e., the jīva], however, can lie down with the unborn [i.e., ignorance (avidyā) on account of the unborn (ajayā) [i.e., māyā], he partakes of the qualities [of the unborn] and thereafter of likeness [to those qualities of the unborn], becomes deprived of fortune (apeta-bhagaḥ), and undergoes death [i.e., saṁsāra]. You, on the contrary, shun her [i.e., the unborn, i.e., māyā], like a serpent [its] skin, and, being possessed of fortune, are exalted in [your own] eightfold greatness, being of immeasurable fortune.”
nṛṣu tava māyayā bhramam amīṣv avagatya bhṛśaṁ
tvayi sudhiyo’bhave dadhati bhāvam anuprabhavam |
katham anuvartatāṁ bhava-bhayaṁ tava yad bhrū-kuṭiḥ
sṛjati muhus trinemir abhavac-charaṇeṣu bhayam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.87.32)
[Translated according to Śrī Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda’s commentary:] “Understanding the ignorance as a consequence of your māyā among these human beings wherefrom repeated birth ensues, the wise foster bhāva [i.e., render service] profusely for you, Non-existence [i.e., you who are the cause of liberation from material existence]. How could your followers have any distress on account of [material] existence, since the furrowing of your brows—time (trinemi)—creates distress perpetually for those who are not in your shelter?”
naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ
na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam |
kutaḥ punaḥ śaśvad abhadram īśvare
na cārpitaṁ karma yad apy akāraṇam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.5.12; cited in Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.554; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 70, Bhakti Sandarbha: 3, 5, 23, 115, 116, 217; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.19)
“[Śrī Nārada to Śrī Vyāsa:] Even untainting jñāna of Brahman (naiṣkarmya) [when] devoid of bhāva for Acyuta does not shine greatly [i.e., does not lead to direct experience of Brahman], so how much less so does ever-inauspicious karma not offered to Īśvara, even which [i.e., when it] is causeless?”
tasyā eva praticchāyā-rūpā māyā guṇātmikā ||
mithyā-prapañca-jananī mithyā-bhrānti-tamomayī |
ato’nirūpyānityādyā jīva-saṁsāra-kāriṇī ||
aṣṭamāvaraṇāsyādhiṣṭhātrī mūrtimatī hi yā |
kāryākāra-vikārasyāprāptyā prakṛtir ucyate ||
yasyās tv atikrameṇaiva muktir bhaktiś ca sidhyati |
utpāditaṁ yayā viśvam aindrajālikavan mṛṣā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.4.179–182)
“Her [i.e., Bhagavān’s superior potency’s (parā-śakti’s)] semblance is [his inferior (aparā) śakti known as] māyā constituted of the guṇas, who is the mother of the false phenomenal world (prapañca), constituted of the darkness of delusions based on falsity, thus unascertainable, impermanent, primordial, the cause of the jīvas’ saṁsāra, possessed of form as the superintendent of the eight coverings [of the brahmāṇḍa], and called prakṛti on account of [her] non-obtainment of transformations in the form of [the] effects [she produces]; only by crossing beyond whom [i.e., her] mukti, as well as bhakti, is attained, and by whom [i.e., her], like a magician, the universe is falsely produced.”
bhakty-astreṇa tyājayitvā viṣayān sva-mano yatiḥ |
dhvastāvidyo’vadhatte yaḥ kṛṣṇaṁ muktaḥ sa ucyate ||
bhakty-abhāvān mano-vṛttīr āśrayad vāsanāmayam |
avidyāṁ yasya puṣṇāti sa pumān baddha ucyate ||
(Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.11.17)
“An ascetic who with the weapon of bhakti removes viṣayas from his own mind and, having destroyed ignorance (avidyā), attends to [i.e., devotedly serves] Kṛṣṇa is called a mukta [i.e., one who is liberated from saṁsāra]. A person who nourishes his avidyā by taking shelter in functions (vṛttis) of the mind based on inclinations (vāsanās) as a result of a lack of bhakti is called baddha [i.e., bound in saṁsāra].”
