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].”
anādy-avidyā-yuktasya puruṣasyātma-vedanam Read on →
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.”
sa yad ajayā tv ajām anuśayīta guṇāṁś ca juṣan Read on →
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?”
nṛṣu tava māyayā bhramam amīṣv avagatya bhṛśaṁ Read on →
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.”
tasyā eva praticchāyā-rūpā māyā guṇātmikā Read on →
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].”
bhakty-astreṇa tyājayitvā viṣayān sva-mano yatiḥ Read on →
niṣeka-garbha-janmāni bālya-kaumāra-yauvanam |
vayo-madhyaṁ jarā mṛtyur ity avasthās tanor nava ||
etā manoratha-mayīr hānyasyoccāvacās tanūḥ |
guṇa-saṅgād upādatte kvacit kaścij jahāti ca ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.22.47–48)
“Impregnation, gestation, birth, childhood [up to five years], boyhood [up to sixteen years], youth [up to forty-five years], middle age [up to sixty years], old age, and death are the nine states of the body. Sometimes someone [i.e., a jīva] takes on these greater and lesser manifestations of another [i.e., of a material body], which are made of desire, as a result of attachment to the guṇas, and [sometimes someone] gives [them] up [as a result of Śrī Bhagavān’s grace].”
niṣeka-garbha-janmāni bālya-kaumāra-yauvanam Read on →
nātaḥ parataro loke puṁsaḥ svārtha-vyatikramaḥ |
yad-adhy anyasya preyastvam ātmanaḥ sva-vyatikramāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgatavatam: 4.22.32)
“There is no neglect of one’s own interest in this world greater than one’s own neglect of the self (ātmā) [i.e., of one’s true nature as an eternal spiritual entity distinct from the gross and subtle bodies], [the self solely] for the sake of which there is dearness of another [i.e., of any other thing, person, etc., e.g., one’s body gross and subtle bodies, family, wealth, etc.].”
nātaḥ parataro loke puṁsaḥ svārtha-vyatikramaḥ Read on →
dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā samānaṁ vṛkṣaṁ pariṣasvajāte |
tayor anyaḥ pippalaṁ svādv atty anaśnann anyo abhicākaśīti ||
samāne vṛkṣe puruṣo nimagno’niśayā śocati muhyamānaḥ |
juṣṭaṁ yadā paśyaty anyam īśam asya mahimānam iti vīta-śokaḥ ||
(Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad: 3.1.1–2)
“Two birds of beautiful plumage,
Ever-united in friendship,
Perch on the same tree.
Among them,
One eats the tasty berry [of the tree],
And the other, not eating, watches over [the first].
On the same tree,
The puruṣa [i.e., the embodied living entity], absorbed,
Laments because of [his] powerlessness, being deluded.
When he sees the other, the Lord, satisfied, and his [i.e., the Lord’s] greatness, he becomes free from lamentation.”
dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā samānaṁ vṛkṣaṁ pariṣasvajāte Read on →
alpa-mātraṁ kṛto dharmo bhavej jñānavatāṁ mahān |
mahān api kṛto dharmo hy ajñānān niṣphalo bhavet ||
(Mahābhārata: 13.227.28)
“Dharma performed even slightly shall be great for one possessed of knowledge. Dharma performed even greatly shall be fruitless as a result of ignorance.”
alpa-mātraṁ kṛto dharmo bhavej jñānavatāṁ mahān Read on →
yasmin sat-karṇa-pīyuṣe yaśas-tīrtha-vare sakṛt |
śrotrāñjalir upaspṛśya dhunute karma-vāsanām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.24.62)
“One who with the cupped hands of the ears once sips the nectar for the ears of sādhus, the excellent tīrtha [i.e., sacred water] of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] glory, dispels [i.e., purifies oneself of] [all] inclinations (vāsanās) for karma.”
yasmin sat-karṇa-pīyuṣe yaśas-tīrtha-vare sakṛt Read on →
