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.”
he śrīvāsādaya iha kṛpā-mūrtayo gauracandra-
premāmbudheḥ sura-viṭapinaḥ śānta-saumya-svabhāvāḥ |
dīnoddhāre prabala-niyamāḥ premadā yūyam eva
tasmād ajñaṁ prapada-rajasā pāpinaṁ māṁ punīta ||
(Sādhanāmṛta-candrikā: 1.12)
“O Śrīvāsa and so forth! O Embodiments of grace! You are all desire-trees [manifest] from the ocean of prema for Gauracandra, of peaceful and tranquil nature, and givers of prema who are most firm in your vows to deliver the poor. Therefore, please purify me, an ignorant sinner, with the dust from the tips of our feet.”
yeṣāṁ viśveśvare viṣṇau śive bhaktir na vidyate |
na teṣāṁ vacanaṁ grāhyaṁ dharma-nirṇaya-siddhaye ||
(Skanda Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 12.419)
“The statements of those who do not have bhakti to auspicious Viṣṇu, the Lord of Universe, [alt., to the Lord of the Universe, Viṣṇu, and Śiva] are not acceptable for the purpose of ascertaining dharma.”
arcayanti sadā viṣṇuṁ mano-vāk-kāya-karmabhiḥ |
teṣāṁ hi vacanaṁ kāryaṁ te hi viṣṇu-samā matāḥ ||
(Viṣṇu Rahasya; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 12.414)
“The directives of those who constantly worship Viṣṇu with their minds, words, bodies, and actions should be followed, since they are indeed considered equal to Viṣṇu.”
dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītaṁ
na vai vidur ṛṣayo nāpi devāḥ |
na siddha-mukhyā asurā manuṣyāḥ
kuto nu vidyādhara-cāraṇādayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.3.19; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 110, 165)
“Indeed, neither the ṛṣis, nor even the devas, nor the principal siddhas understand the dharma directly enjoined by Bhagavān [alt., the dharma performed purely to attain Bhagavān], so how would asuras, human beings, vidyādharas, cāraṇas, and others [understand it]?”
vande gurūn īśa-bhaktān īśam īśāvatārakān |
tat-prakāśāṁś ca tac-chaktīḥ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-saṁjñakam ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.1.1)
“I offer obeisance unto my gurus, the Lord’s bhaktas, the Lord’s avatāras, the Lord’s manifestations, the Lord’s śaktis, and the Lord [himself], known as Kṛṣṇa Caitanya.”
bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta-saṅgena parijāyate |
sat-saṅgaḥ prāpyate puṁbhiḥ sukṛtaiḥ pūrva-sañcitaiḥ ||
(Bṛhan Nāradīya Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.279)
“Bhakti, however, manifests from association with bhaktas of Bhagavān, and [such] association with sādhus is attained by human beings by previously accumulated sukṛti.”
bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir
anyatra caiṣa trika eka-kālaḥ |
prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus
tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣud-apāyo’nughāsam ||
ity acyutāṅghriṁ bhajato’nuvṛttyā
bhaktir viraktir bhagavat-prabodhaḥ |
bhavanti vai bhāgavatasya rājaṁs
tataḥ parāṁ śāntim upaiti sākṣāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.42–43; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 262, 340; Prīti Sandarbha: 1)
“Bhakti, experience of the Supreme Lord, and detachment from all else—this triad shall occur at one time for one who has taken shelter just as satisfaction, nourishment, and relief from hunger shall for one who eats with each mouthful. Thus, O King, bhakti, detachment, and understanding of Bhagavān occur for a bhāgavata [i.e., a bhakta] engaged in bhajana continuously to the feet of Acyuta, and thereafter one attains complete peace directly.”
daivādhīnaṁ jagat sarvaṁ janma-karma-śubhāśubham |
saṁyogaś ca viyogaś ca na ca daivāt paraṁ balam ||
kṛṣṇāyattaṁ ca tad daivaṁ sa daivāt paratas tataḥ |
bhajanti satataṁ santaḥ paramātmānam īśvaram ||
daivaṁ vardhayituṁ śaktaḥ kṣayaṁ kartuṁ svalīlayā |
na daiva-baddhas tad bhaktaś cāvināśī ca nirguṇaḥ ||
(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa)
“The entire world, along with birth, karma, auspiciousness, inauspiciousness, meeting and separation, is under the control of destiny (daiva). There is no power greater than destiny, yet that destiny is dependent on Kṛṣṇa. He is thus greater than destiny. Sādhus [thus] always worship the Paramātmā, Īśvara [i.e., Kṛṣṇa]. He can expand and diminish destiny by means of his līlā. Bhaktas [of Kṛṣṇa] are thus unbound by destiny, imperishable, and beyond the guṇas.”
na vā etad viṣṇudatta mahad-adbhutaṁ yad asambhramaḥ sva-śiraś-chedana āpatite’pi vimukta-dehādy-ātma-bhāva-sudṛḍha-hṛdaya-granthīnāṁ sarva-sattva-suhṛd-ātmanāṁ nirvairāṇāṁ sākṣād bhagavatānimiṣāri-varāyudhenāpramattena tais tair bhāvair abhirakṣyamāṇānāṁ tat-pāda-mūlam akutaścid-bhayam upasṛtānāṁ bhāgavata-paramahaṁsānām |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.9.20)
[Śukadeva to Parīkṣit Mahārāja:] “O Viṣṇudatta, it is not greatly astonishing that the topmost ascetic devotees of Bhagavān (Bhāgavata-paramahaṁsas) are undisturbed even in the event of their own head being cut off, as they are completely free from the extremely tight knot in the heart of identification with the body and so forth [i.e., the mind, etc.], are by nature well-wishers of all beings, are free from enmity, are completely protected by ever-vigilant Bhagavān himself armed with the most excellent disc of time in various states of being [i.e., in various forms, such as Bhadrakālī (in this particular case in the life of Jaḍa Bharata), or, on account of his (i.e., Bhagavān’s) various qualities], and have approached the soles of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] feet, wherein there is no fear [whatsoever].”
