Uttama-bhakti

na hy aṅgopakrame dhvaṁso mad-dharmasyoddhavāṇv api

na hy aṅgopakrame dhvaṁso mad-dharmasyoddhavāṇv api |
mayā vyavasitaḥ samyaṅ nirguṇatvād anāśiṣaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.29.20; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.527; Rāga-vartma-candrikā: 1.12)

“Indeed, O Uddhava, there is certainly no loss even slightly in an undertaking of dharma related to me that is without interest in benedictions since it is determined to be proper by me on account of [its] being beyond the guṇas.”

Read on →

na hy aṅgopakrame dhvaṁso mad-dharmasyoddhavāṇv api Read on →

tomāra bhajana-phala—tomāte prema-dhana

tomāra bhajana-phala—tomāte prema-dhana |
viṣaya lāgi tomāya bhaje sei mūrkha-jana ||
sei śuddha-bhakta—ye tomā bhaje tomā lāgi |
āpanāra sukha-duḥkhe haya bhoga-bhogī ||
tomāra anukampā cāhe, bhaje anukṣaṇa |
acirāte mile tāre tomāra caraṇa ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.9.69, 75–76)

“[Śrī Kāśī Miśra to Śrīman Mahāprabhu:] The result of worship of you is the wealth of prema for you. A person who worships you for the sake of objects of the senses (viṣaya) is a fool. … He is a pure bhakta who worships you for your sake and is an endurer of the experience of his own happiness and suffering [i.e., he does not worship you for the sake of attaining personal happiness or removing personal suffering]. He desires [only] your grace and worships [you] at every moment. Your feet reach him before long.”

Read on →

tomāra bhajana-phala—tomāte prema-dhana Read on →

satyāśiṣo hi bhagavaṁs tava pāda-padmam

satyāśiṣo hi bhagavaṁs tava pāda-padmam
āśīs tathānubhajataḥ puruṣārtha-mūrteḥ |
apy evam arya bhagavān paripāti dīnān
vāśreva vatsakam anugraha-kātaro’smān ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.9.17; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 6)

“[Dhruva Mahārāja:] O Bhagavān! For those who in this [aforementioned] manner continuously worship [you], the lotus feet of you who are the embodiment of the ultimate goal (puruṣārtha-mūrti) are certainly the true blessing in comparison to [all other] blessings. Although this is so, O Master, O Bhagavān, you protect us, who are lowly, like a cow anxious to nurture a new-born calf.”

Read on →

satyāśiṣo hi bhagavaṁs tava pāda-padmam Read on →

yadyapy akiñcanā bhaktir evābhidheyeti

yadyapy akiñcanā bhaktir evābhidheyeti tat-kāraṇatvena tad-bhakta-saṅga evābhidheye sati … |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 202)

“Although unconditional (akiñcanā) bhakti is certainly the abhidheya [i.e., the principal direction of the śāstra, the means to attain the highest end], association with his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] bhaktas is certainly [also] the abhidheya because of its being the cause thereof [i.e., of unconditional (akiñcanā) bhakti].”

Read on →

yadyapy akiñcanā bhaktir evābhidheyeti Read on →

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje |
ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.2.6)

“That [dharma] because of which causeless and unobstructed bhakti to Adhokṣaja [i.e., Bhagavān, lit., ‘he who is transcendent’] can come to be, and by which the self [i.e., the mind] becomes fully satisfied, is alone the highest dharma for humanity.”

Read on →

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje Read on →

kāyena dūre vrajinaṁ tyajantī

kāyena dūre vrajinaṁ tyajantī
japantam antaḥkaraṇe hasantī |
samādhi-yoge ca bahir bhavantī
sandṛśyate kāpi mukunda-bhaktiḥ ||
(Unknown source; cited in Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.221)

“Extraordinary Mukunda-bhakti can be seen naturally avoiding from afar one engaged in karma, laughing at one engaged in japa within the mind, and leaving one fixed in samādhi.”

Read on →

kāyena dūre vrajinaṁ tyajantī Read on →

karmārpaṇaṁ dvividham—bhagavat-prīṇana-rūpaṁ

karmārpaṇaṁ dvividham—bhagavat-prīṇana-rūpaṁ, tasmiṁs tat-tyāga-rūpaṁ ceti | … atra nimittāni ca trīṇi—kāmanā, naiṣkarmyaṁ, bhakti-mātraṁ ceti | niṣkāmatvaṁ tu kevalaṁ na sambhavati, yad yad dhi kurute jantus tat tat kāmasya ceṣṭitam ity ukteḥ | atra kāmanā-naiṣkarmyayoḥ prāyaḥ karma-tyāgaḥ | prīṇanaṁ tu tad-ābhāsa eva, svārtha-paratvāt | bhaktau punaḥ prīṇanam eva, bhaktes tu tad-eka-jīvanatvāt | … parama-bhaktās tu bhagavat-paritoṣaṇaṁ prīṇanam eva prārthayante … |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 224)

“Offering karma [to Bhagavān] is of two types: that in the form of pleasing Bhagavān (Bhagavat-prīṇana) [i.e., making an offering of one’s karma to please Bhagavān], and in the form of giving that [i.e., karma] to him [i.e., offering karma to him without any intention to please him]. … There are three causes in this regard [i.e., the desired object of those who offer their karma to Bhagavān is one of three types]: a desire (kāmanā) [i.e., the fulfillment of a particular worldly desire], freedom from karma (naiṣkarmya) [i.e., attaining mukti], and bhakti alone [i.e., attaining bhakti for its own sake]. Pure desirelessness (niṣkāmatva) is not at all possible, as per the statement [in Manu-smṛti 2.4], ‘Indeed anything a person does is an act of desire.’ Herein [i.e., in regard to these three causes], in the case of [the causes of] desire (kāmanā) and naiṣkarmya, for the most part giving up of karma occurs [i.e., these two causes mostly fall into the second of the two aforementioned categories of offering karma to Bhagavān, that is, simply giving over one’s karma to Bhagavān without any specific intent to please him]. Pleasing [Bhagavān] is present only in appearance in them [i.e., it is not really there] because their [i.e., these actions] being self-interested. In the case of bhakti [i.e., in the case of offering karma to Bhagavān with the desire only of attaining bhakti], on the contrary, pleasing [Bhagavān] alone is present [in such an offering of karma] because of that [i.e., pleasing Bhagavān] being the very life of bhakti. … Great bhaktas pray only for the complete satisfaction of Bhāgavan, that is, pleasing [Bhagavān].”

Read on →

karmārpaṇaṁ dvividham—bhagavat-prīṇana-rūpaṁ Read on →

sa eva bhakti-yogākhya ātyantika udāhṛtaḥ

sa eva bhakti-yogākhya ātyantika udāhṛtaḥ |
yenātivrajya triguṇāṁ mad-bhāvāyopapadyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.29.14; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.174)

“This [i.e., nirguṇa-bhakti] alone, known as bhakti-yoga, by which one surpasses the three guṇas and becomes fit for my bhāva [i.e., fit to experience my direct presence (bhāva), or, fit to attain prema (bhāva) for me], is declared the absolute [i.e., the supreme puruṣārtha].”

Read on →

sa eva bhakti-yogākhya ātyantika udāhṛtaḥ Read on →

eṣā akiñcanātyantikīty-ādi-saṁjñā bhaktir dvividhā—vaidhī rāgānugā ceti

eṣā akiñcanātyantikīty-ādi-saṁjñā bhaktir dvividhā—vaidhī rāgānugā ceti | tatra vaidhī śāstrokta-vidhinā pravartitā | sa ca vidhir dvividhaḥ—tatra prathamaḥ pravṛtti-hetuḥ, tad anukrama-kartavyākartavyānāṁ jñāna-hetuś ca | … atha vaidhī-bhedāḥ śaraṇāpatti-śrī-gurv-ādi-sat-sevā-śravaṇa-kīrtanādayaḥ | ete ca pratyekam api dvi-trādayaḥ samudityāpi kāraṇāni bhavanti, tathā śravaṇāt |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 235–236)

“This bhakti, which is referred to as unconditional (akiñcanā), paramount (ātyantikī), and so forth, is of two types [in terms of sādhana, or, means by which it becomes manifest]: vaidhī and rāgānugā. Therein, vaidhī [i.e., vaidhī-bhakti] is motivated by injunctions stated in śāstra. Those injunctions, furthermore, are of two types: therein the first is those which are a cause of engagement (pravṛtti), and [the second] those which are a cause of knowledge of order [i.e., the order which things are to be done], what is to be done (kartavya), and what is not to be done (akartavya). … Now, the divisions of vaidhī [i.e., the various forms of vaidhī-bhakti] are śaraṇāpatti [i.e., taking shelter in Bhagavān], service to the sat beginning with śrī guru, hearing [about Bhagavān], praising [him], and so on. These [i.e., the various forms of vaidhī-bhakti], furthermore, both individually and in combinations of two, three, or more, become means [by which bhāva manifests] because of hearing so [i.e., because examples of bhāva becoming manifest through engagement in them are heard about in śāstra].”

Read on →

eṣā akiñcanātyantikīty-ādi-saṁjñā bhaktir dvividhā—vaidhī rāgānugā ceti Read on →

Type your query and press enter

Scroll to Top