siddhiś cātrāntaḥkaraṇa-kāmādi-doṣa-kṣaya-kāri-paramānanda-paramakāṣṭhā-gāmi-śrī-hari-sphuraṇa-rūpaiva jñeyā |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 173)
“And siddhi [“attainment”] is to be understood specifically in the form of a manifestation (sphuraṇa) of Śrī Hari [in the antaḥkaraṇa] that destroys the faults of kāma and so forth in the antaḥkaraṇa (psyche) and leads to the highest limit of the highest bliss.”
bhakti-siddhās trividhāḥ—prāpta-bhagavat-pārṣada-dehāḥ, nirdhūta-kaṣāyāḥ, mūrcchita-kaṣāyāś ca | yathā śrī-nāradādayaḥ, śrī-śukadevādayaḥ, prāg-janma-gata-nāradādayaś ca … | … tad evaṁ samāna-premṇi trividhe pūrva-pūrvādhikyaṁ jñeyam | kvacit sthite’pi prākṛta-dehāditve yadi premṇaḥ parimāṇataḥ svarūpato vādhikyaṁ dṛśyate, tadā premādhikyenaivādhikyaṁ jñeyam | tac ca bhajanīyasya bhagavato’ṁśāṁśitva-bhedena bhajataś ca dāsya-sakhyādi-bhedena svarūpādhikyaṁ, premāṅkura-premādi-bhedena parimāṇādhikyaṁ ca prīti-sandarbhe vivṛtya darśayiṣyāmaḥ |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.44; Bhakti Sandarbha: 187)
“Siddhas in bhakti [i.e., those who have achieved success on the path of bhakti] are of three types: (1) those who have attained the forms of associates of Bhagavān, (2) those who have been completely purged of impurities, and (3) those whose impurities are ineffective [lit., ‘fainted’], as in the case of (1) Śrī Nārada and others, (2) Śrī Śukadeva and others, and (3) Nārada in his previous life and others. … Thus, in this way, the superiority of the former and the former [thereof] is to be understood in regard to these three types [of siddha-bhaktas] similar with respect to their possessing prema [i.e., the three types of siddha-bhaktas, all endowed with prema for Bhagavān, have been listed in order from greater to lesser]. If sometimes, even while the material body and so forth remain, a superiority in the measure or nature of [a bhakta’s] prema is seen, then superiority [of that bhakta in whom it is seen] based solely on [that] superiority in prema is to be understood. Furthermore, this superiority in nature [i.e., in the nature of prema], based on a distinction in regard to Bhagavān, the object of worship, being [manifest in reciprocation with the prema of a particular bhakta in either] a partial manifestation (aṁśa) or [his] complete manifestation (aṁśī), and based on a distinction in regard to the worshipper’s [particular type of rati, namely,] dāsya, sakhya, and so forth, and [the] superiority in measure [of a bhakta’s prema] based on a distinction between a sprout of prema [i.e., rati], prema, and so forth [i.e., on which stage of prema is manifest in the bhakta, that is, the initial stage of rati, the general stage of prema, or any of the further advanced stages of prema beginning with sneha], will be shown and described in detail in Prīti Sandarbha [Anucchedas 98–104].”
ātma-koṭi-guṇaṁ kṛṣṇe premāṇaṁ paramaṁ gatāḥ |
nityānanda-guṇāḥ sarve nitya-siddhā mukundavat ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.290)
“All of those whose qualities are eternal and blissful like Mukunda’s and who have paramount prema for Kṛṣṇa which is a crore of times more than their prema for their own self are nitya-siddhas [i.e., eternally realized].”
icchet punas tādṛśam eva bhāvaṁ
kliṣṭaṁ kathañcit tad-abhāvataḥ syāt |
yeṣāṁ na bhātīti mate’pi teṣāṁ
gāḍhopakārī smṛti-daḥ priyāṇām ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.128)
[Bhagavān to Nārada:] “The heart will want such bhāva [i.e., such apparent sorrow] again, and will become distressed by any sort of absence of it. This bhāva, even in the view of those in whom it does not arise, is the greatest benefactor, since it is a producer of remembrance of those who are dear.”
asmākaṁ tu mataṁ tat te’nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇaḥ ity-ādi-vacanatas tathā bhakter anāyāsa-siddhatva-śravaṇāt tathā bhaktir eva bhaktim utpādayati iti nyāyāc ca śrī-bhagavat-kṛpayā tad-eka-mātrāpekṣasya sukhaṁ sampadyate |
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā: 2.2.213)
“Our view, however, is that in accord with statements such as tat te’nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇaḥ [in SB 10.14.8], because it is heard that bhakti is established without difficulty, and in accord with the principle that bhakti itself produces bhakti, the happiness [i.e., the superlative happiness of niṣṭhā in bhakti] of one who depends only on him [i.e., Bhagavān] manifests [just by] by the grace of Śrī Bhagavān [i.e., taking up any other process, such as karma or jñāna, for the sake of citta-śuddhi is unnecessary].”
kiṁ durāpādanaṁ teṣāṁ puṁsām uddāma-cetasām |
yair āśritas tīrtha-padaś caraṇo vyasanātyayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.23.42)
“What is difficult to attain for those persons of unfettered mind [i.e., of strong mind, or, even alternately, of uncontrolled mind] who take shelter in the feet of he whose feet are the origin of all tīrthas, the feet which bring about the cessation of [all] plight [i.e., saṁsāra itself]?”
tasmāt tvam uddhavotsṛjya codanāṁ praticodanām |
pravṛttiñ ca nivṛttiñ ca śrotavyaṁ śrutam eva ca ||
mām ekam eva śaraṇam ātmānaṁ sarva-dehinām |
yāhi sarvātma-bhāvena mayā syā hy akuto-bhayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.12.14–5)
“Therefore, O Uddhava, abandoning injunctions and prohibitions [i.e., the injunctions and prohibitions given in the Śruti and the Smṛti], engagement and resignation [i.e., the dharmas of a gṛhastha and of a sannyāsī], and that which is to be heard and that which has been heard [i.e., all that pertains to such dharmas and the injunctions and prohibitions related to them in śāstra; alt., all else that is to be heard from śāstra, that is, all that is said in śāstra related to the jñāna-mārga], you should take shelter exclusively in me alone, the Ātmā of all embodied beings, with the full existence of your self. With me [i.e., thus becoming situated in my shelter], be completely fearless.”
manye’kutaścid-bhayam acyutasya
pādāmbujopāsanam atra nityam |
udvigna-buddher asad-ātma-bhāvād
viśātmanā yatra nivartate bhīḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.33; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.258; Bhakti Sandarbha: 59)
“I affirm that here [i.e., in saṁsāra], worship of the lotus feet of Acyuta, wherein fear ceases in all respects, is complete fearlessness [i.e., is the ultimate safety and well-being] for those whose minds are perpetually disturbed because of identification with the unreal [i.e., the non-self: the material body and mind].”
ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ prātikūlya-vivarjanam |
rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāso goptṛtve varaṇaṁ tathā ||
ātma-nikṣepa-kārpaṇye ṣaḍ-vidhā śaraṇāgatiḥ ||
(Vaiṣṇava Tantra; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.676; Bhakti Sandarbha: 173, 236; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.100; Gītā-bhūṣaṇa-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 18.66)
“A resolve of favorability, letting go of unfavorability, conviction that he [i.e., Bhagavān] will protect, accepting [his] guardianship, pledging oneself [to him], and humility [alt., wretchedness, neediness, heartache] are the six aspects of śaraṇāgati.”
na sambhāṣet striyaṁ kāñcit pūrva-dṛṣṭāṁ ca na smaret |
kathāṁ ca varjayet tāsāṁ na paśyel likhitām api ||
etac catuṣṭayaṁ mohāt strīṇām ācarato yateḥ |
cittaṁ vikriyate’vaśyaṁ tad-vikārāt praṇaśyati ||
(Nārada Parivrājaka Upaniṣad: 4.3–4)
“One should not converse with a woman, and one should not remember one who was seen previously. One should not speak of them, and one should not even look at a picture of them. The mind of an ascetic who engages in [any of] these four [activities] is certainly disturbed as a result of bewilderment [i.e., the bewilderment that arises as a result of these activities], and as a result of that agitation, he is ruined.”
