hitvātma-māyā-racitā gṛhāpatya-suhṛt-striyaḥ |
tamo viśanty anicchanto vāsudeva-parāṅmukhāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.5.18)
“Giving up their homes, children, friends, and wife, created by the Ātmā’s māyā [i.e., Bhagavān’s māyā, or, their own māyā], those averse to Vāsudeva [at death] enter darkness against their will.”
atha jīvaś ca tadīyo’pi taj-jñāna-saṁsargābhāva-yuktatvena tan-māyā-parābhūtaḥ sann ātma-svarūpa-jñāna-lopān māyā-kalpitopādhy-āveśāc cānādi-saṁsāra-duḥkhena sambadhyata iti paramātma-sandarbhādāv eva nirūpitam asti |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 1)
“Now, although the jīva is also his own (tadīya) [i.e., although the jīva belongs to Bhagavān], the jīva becomes overcome by his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] māyā because of being [beginninglessly] possessed of an absence of the existence of awareness of him and [thus is] bound within the beginningless suffering of saṁsāra because of a lack of awareness of the nature of its own self [i.e., because of being subjected by māyā to suppression of awareness of its own nature as an ātmā] and absorption in the adjuncts (upādhis) fabricated by māyā [i.e., because the jīva becomes consequently absorbed in identification with the material psyche, body, and so forth, as well as the subsequent attractions, aversions, desires, pursuits, deprivations, and so forth concomitant therewith]. This [i.e., the point made in the previous sentence] is ascertained in Paramātma Sandarbha and elsewhere.”
kāmaḥ bandhanam evaikan nānyad astīha bandhanam |
kāma-bandhana-mukto hi brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ||
(Mahābhārata: 12.243.7)
“Kāma (desire) is the one and only bondage [i.e., the one and only cause of all the jīva’s bondage in saṁsāra]. There is no other bondage here [i.e., in this world]. One who is free from the bondage of kāma is fit to realize Brahman.”
na karma-bandhanaṁ janma vaiṣṇavānāṁ ca vidyate |
viṣṇor anucaratvaṁ hi mokṣam āhur manīṣiṇaḥ ||
na dāsyam amareśasya bandhanaṁ parikīrtitam |
sarva-bandhana-nirmuktā hari-dāsā nirāmayāḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 6.229.58-59; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.169–170; Prīti Sandarbha: 16, 45; Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā and Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.9.29)
“The birth of Vaiṣṇavas is not [produced by] bondage in karma, since the wise call being an attendant of Viṣṇu mokṣa. Servitude to the immortal Lord is not described as bondage, since Hari’s servants are completely free from all bondage [i.e., that which causes entanglement in saṁsāra] and unmarred [i.e., faultless, alt., free from disease].”
viṣaya thākite kṛṣṇa-prema nāhi haya |
viṣayīra dūre kṛṣṇa jāniha niścaya ||
viṣaye āviṣṭa mana baḍai jañjāla |
strī-putra māyā-jāla, ei saba kāla ||
daive kona bhāgyavān sādhu-saṅga pāya |
viṣaye āveśa chāḍi kṛṣṇere bhajaya ||
sei saba aparādha habe punar-bāra |
viṣayera dharma ei śuna kathā-sāra ||
‘viṣaya pāsara ahar-niśa bala hari’ ||
(Caitanya-bhāgavata: 1.16.59–63)
“[Hari Dāsa Ṭhākura to inmates in jail:] “Kṛṣṇa-prema does not manifest in the presence of viṣaya [i.e., objects of the senses and mental inclinations for them]. Know for certain that Kṛṣṇa is far from viṣayīs. A mind absorbed in viṣaya is a great disturbance. Wife and sons are the net of māyā. They are all death [i.e., the bewilderment produced attachment related to them effectively terminates one’s endeavor to transcend the realm of saṁsāra and perpetuates only absorption in worldly ends]. If by destiny some fortunate person attains association with a sādhu, then one gives up absorption in viṣaya and serves Kṛṣṇa. All that offense [i.e., all the offenses in the form of violence towards, and disturbance of, other living beings that you have committed and thus wound up in jail] will happen again [if you do not follow my advice]. This is the nature of viṣaya [i.e., the nature of worldly objects and the mental inclinations they produce, that is, vāsanās, is that they cause one to perpetually engage in the same behaviors]. Listen to the essence of my message …: ‘Forget viṣaya and day and night chant, “Hari!”’”
tathāpi viṣayera svabhāva—kare mahā-andha |
sei karma karāya, yāte haya bhava-bandha ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.6.199)
”Still, the nature of viṣaya [i.e., objects of the senses and the inclinations for them impressed in the mind] makes one severely blind. It causes one to perform karma whereby worldly bondage accrues.”
jālena sarasi mīnā hiṁsrair eṇā vane ca vāgurayā |
saṁsāre bhūtasṛjā snehena narāś ca badhyante ||
(Kāvyālaṅkāra: 8.104)
“Fish are caught by cruel persons in a lake with a net as are deer in a forest with traps; men [are caught] by the emanator of living beings in saṁsāra with affection.”
satyaṁ śaucaṁ dayā maunaṁ buddhiḥ śrīr hrīr yaśaḥ kṣamā |
śamo damo bhagaś ceti yat-saṅgād yāti saṅkṣayam ||
teṣv aśānteṣu mūḍheṣu khaṇḍitātmasv asādhuṣu |
saṅgaṁ na kuryāc chocyeṣu yoṣit-krīḍā-mṛgeṣu ca ||
na tathāsya bhaven moho bandhaś cānya-prasaṅgataḥ |
yoṣit-saṅgād yathā puṁso yathā tat-saṅgi-saṅgataḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.31.33–35; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.88–90)
“One should never associate with those by whose association truthfulness, cleanliness, grace, quietude, the intellect, wealth, modesty, honor, forgiveness, mental control, sense control, and good fortune are destroyed, and who are restless, foolish, self-destructive, impious, deplorable, and the pet animals of women. A man’s infatuation and bondage do not occur as a result of any other association the way they do as a result of association with women and association with those who associate with them.”
atas tad-apavādārthaṁ bhaja sarvātmanā harim |
paśyaṁs tad-ātmakaṁ viśvaṁ sthity-utpatty-apyayā yataḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.29.79)
“Therefore, to counteract that [i.e., the jīva’s bondage in avidyā by means of karma perpetuated by the mind’s functioning on the basis of saṁskāras], worship Hari with your full being, seeing the universe to be constituted of him and [its] existence, emanation, and dissolution to occur because of him.”
sādhūnāṁ sama-cittānāṁ sutarāṁ mat-kṛtātmanām |
darśanān no bhaved bandhaḥ puṁso’kṣṇoḥ savitur yathā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.10.41; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 179)
“As there is no longer any bondage for the eyes upon seeing the sun, so there is no longer any bondage for a person upon seeing sādhus who are equanimous and thus of mind fixed upon me.”
