alaukika-padārthānām acintyā śaktir īdṛśī |
bhāvaṁ tad-viṣayaṁ cāpi yā sahaiva prakāśayet ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.244)
“Such is the inconceivable śakti of these [five] extraordinary things [i.e., limbs of bhakti], which manifest simultaneously bhāva and its object [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa].”
durūhādbhuta-vīrye’smin śraddhā dūre’stu pañcake |
yatra svalpo’pi sambandhaḥ sad-dhiyāṁ bhāva-janmane ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.238; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.133)
“Let alone having śraddhā in them [i.e., performing them with śraddhā], even slight connection with these five [limbs of bhakti of difficult to comprehend and wonderful power [i.e., even slight performance without śraddhā of sādhu-saṅga, nāma-kīrtana, Bhāgavata-śravaṇa, Mathurā-vāsa, or śrī-mūrti-sevā] gives rise to bhāva in those of pure mind [i.e., those whose minds are free from aparādha].”
astu tāvat śuddha-bhakty-ābhāsasya vārttā | aparādhatvena dṛśyamāno’py asau mahā-prabhāvo dṛśyate | … atha śrī-bhagavad-vaśīkāritāyām api sakṛd alpa-prayāsātmikāyā api bhakteḥ kāraṇatā dṛśyate | tad evaṁ yathārtha eva tan-māhātmye saty api yatra samprati tat-tad-bhajana-phalodayo na dṛśyate, kutracic chāstre ca purātanānām apy anyathā śrūyate tatra nāmārthavāda-kalpanā vaiṣṇavānādarādayo durantā aparādhā eva pratibandha-kāraṇaṁ vaktavyam | … yathā prāyeṇādhunikānām … tādṛśāparādhe bhakti-stambhaś … | ataḥ … āvṛttir asakṛd-upadeśāt ity-ādau ca puruṣāṇāṁ prāyaḥ sāparādhatvābhiprāyeṇaivāvṛtti-vidhānam | … atrāparādhālambanatvenaiva vartamānānāṁ pāpa-vāsanānāṁ sahaivāparādhena nāśa iti tātparyam | etādṛśa-pratibandhāpekṣayaivoktaṁ viṣṇu-dharme—rāgādi-dūṣitaṁ cittaṁ nāspadaṁ madhusūdane | badhnāti na ratiṁ haṁsaḥ kadācit kardamāmbuni || na yogyā keśavaṁ stotuṁ vāg duṣṭā cānṛtādinā | tamaso nāśanāyālaṁ nendor lekhā ghanāvṛtā || iti | siddhānām āvṛttis tu pratipadam eva sukha-viśeṣodayārthā | asiddhānām āvṛtti-niyamaḥ phala-paryāpti-paryantas tad-antarāye’parādhāvasthiti-vitarkāt |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 153)
“Let alone mention of a semblance of pure bhakti [itself], this [i.e., a semblance of pure bhakti] appearing even with the characteristic of being an aparādha is seen to possess great power [e.g., a mouse which performed the act of waving a ghee wick before a deity in the course of trying to remove the wick from its mouth became reborn as a queen with niṣṭhā for the bhakti-sādhana of offering ghee lamps to Bhagavān and then attained Bhagavān’s abode]. … Furthermore, even a single act of bhakti constituted of slight effort being a cause even of bringing Śrī Bhagavān under control is seen [in accounts related in śāstra]. … Therefore, even though its [i.e., bhakti’s] greatness is indeed real, where the manifestation of the result of various types of bhajana is not seen, and in some śāstras where otherwise [i.e., non-attainment of such results] is heard of even in the case of ancient persons, there [i.e., in those cases] it is to be said that the difficult to overcome aparādhas of arthavāda and kalpanā regarding the name, disregard for Vaiṣṇavas, and so forth, are alone the cause of obstruction [of the results of bhakti becoming manifest]. … As for the most part in the case of people of the present-day … because such aparādha is present, there is obstruction of bhakti [i.e., non-manifestation of bhakti’s effects]. … Thus, injunctions [in śāstra] for repetition [of bhakti-sādhana practices], such as (VS 4.1.1), ’Repetition [of sādhana practices] should be done repeatedly because of instructions [to do so in the śāstra]’ (āvṛttir asakṛd upadeśāt), carry the import that people in general are implicated in aparādha. … Here [i.e., in regard to bhakti-sādhana’s purification of aparādha], the intention is that there occurs destruction of [one’s] present inclinations (vāsanās) for sin (pāpa), which are entirely based on [previously committed] aparādhas, along with the aparādhas themselves. Specifically in regard to such obstruction [i.e., the obstruction of bhakti’s effects by aparādha], there is a statement in the Viṣṇu-dharma: ‘A heart polluted by attachment (rāga) and so forth is not a place for Madhusūdana, as a swan is never bound by affection to muddy water. Speech contaminated by untruth and so forth is unfit to praise Keśava, as the rays of the moon blocked by clouds are not able to dispel darkness.’ The repetition [of bhakti-sādhana practices, such as hearing of and praising Bhagavān] of siddhas [i.e., siddha-bhaktas in contrast to non-siddhas, that is, people in general and sādhakas, as discussed above], on the contrary, is a result of the manifestation of special joy at every moment [which they experience as a result of engaging in bhakti]. The regulation [given in śāstra] of repetition for non-siddhas is [applicable] up to attainment of the result [i.e., up to the attainment of siddhi in bhakti] because the existence of aparādha is conjectured when obstruction to it [i.e., to the manifestation of the effect of bhakti] is present.”
yac chraddhayā śrutavatyā ca bhaktyā
sammṛjyamāne hṛdaye’vadhāya |
jñānena vairāgya-balena dhīrā
vrajema tat te’ṅghri-saroja-pīṭham ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.5.42)
“Meditating upon the seat of your lotus feet in our hearts fully purified by bhakti cultivated through hearing with śraddhā, and having become sagacious by virtue of knowledge and the strength of vairāgya, let us approach that [i.e., let us take shelter at that seat of your lotus feet].”
yathāgninā hema malaṁ jahāti
dhmātaṁ punaḥ svaṁ bhajate ca rūpam |
ātmā ca karmānuśayaṁ vidhūya
mad-bhakti-yogena bhajaty atho mām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.25; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 112)
[Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] “As gold smelted with fire sheds dross and regains its own form [i.e., returns to its pure state], so the ātmā through bhakti-yoga to me casts off [the dross of] the residual effects of karma [i.e., the vāsanās produced by karma] and thereafter [i.e., still, even after becoming completely purified] serves me [i.e., attains through a manifestation of great prema the complete path of service to me; alt., attains a pure form resembling my own and serves me directly in my abode].”
yathā yathātmā parimṛjyate’sau
mat-puṇya-gāthā-śravaṇābhidhānaiḥ |
tathā tathā paśyati vastu sūkṣmaṁ
cakṣur yathaivāñjana-samprayuktam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.26; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 80, 147)
[Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] “To whatever extent the mind is purified by hearing and reciting narrations of my virtuous acts, to that same extent, it, like an eye treated with collyrium, perceives the subtle reality [i.e., my nature, figure, qualities, and līlā in actuality].”
