ayaṁ hi sarva-kalpānāṁ sadhrīcīno mato mama |
mad-bhāvaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu mano-vāk-kāya-vṛttibhiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.29.19; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 332)
“[Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] Indeed, this thought of me in all beings [performed] with the functions of the mind, speech, and body is considered by me to be the proper one among all processes.”
yāvat sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhāvo nopajāyate |
tāvad evam upāsīta vāṅ-manaḥ-kāya-vṛttibhiḥ ||
sarvaṁ brahmātmakaṁ tasya vidyayātma-manīṣayā |
paripaśyann uparamet sarvato mukta-saṁśayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.29.17–18; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 332)
“[Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] As long as thought of me in all beings does not arise [alt., flourish], one should perform such worship with the functions of one’s speech, mind, and body. Seeing all around everything to be Brahman in nature by virtue of this technique of conception of the Self [within everything], one free from doubt can withdraw from everything.”
gṛheṣv āviśatāṁ cāpi puṁsāṁ kuśala-karmaṇām ||
mad-vārtā-yāta-yāmānāṁ na bandhāya gṛhā matāḥ ||
navyavad dhṛd aye yaj jño brahmaitad brahma-vādibhiḥ |
na muhyanti na śocanti na hṛṣyanti yato gatāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.30.19–20; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 332)
[Translated according to the Bhāvārtha-dīpikā:] “[Śrī Bhagavān to the Pracetas:] The household lives of persons who are skillful in action and pass their time in discussion of me even though they have entered household lives is not considered to lead to bondage, since I the Knower—this Brahman those who have attained which neither become deluded, nor lament, and nor become excited—appear ever-anew in the heart by means of expounders of Brahman.”
duḥkham avyakta-vartmaiva tad-bahu-vighnam ato budhaḥ |
sukhaṁ kṛṣṇa-padāmbhojaṁ bhakti-sat-pathavān bhajet ||
(Subodhinī-ṭīkā of Śrī Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda on Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 12.20)
“The path of the Unmanifest [i.e., upāsana of undifferentiated (nirviśeṣa) Brahman] is troublesome and beset with many obstacles. Therefore, a wise person, adherent to the right path of bhakti, should worship the delightful lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.”
sa ya eṣo’ṇimaitadātmyam idaṁ sarvaṁ tat satyaṁ sa ātmā tat tvam asi śvetaketo … |
(Chāndogya Upaniṣad: 6.8.7)
“That which is this minuteness (aṇimā) [i.e., that which is the subtle basis of perceptible world]—this whole [perceptible world] is possessed of the nature of this [i.e., of this subtle-most existence]. That [i.e., that subtle-most existence which is the source of everything] is being (satya). That is the Self (Ātmā). You are that, O Śvetaketu.”
ekasyaiva viśeṣaṇa-bhedena tad-aviśiṣṭatvena ca pratipādanāt tathaiva tat-tad-upāsaka-puruṣānubhava-bhedāc cāvirbhāva-nāmnor bheda … |
(Bhagavat Sandarbha: 4)
“Because of defining of the One [i.e., the Absolute Reality, both] with the distinction of [possessing] qualifiers and as being unqualified by them [i.e., as being unpossessed of any qualifiers], and so also because of difference in the experiences of persons who are worshippers of those [i.e., of those different aspects of the One, namely, the qualified aspect and the unqualified aspect], there is a difference in the names of the manifestations [of the One, the Absolute Reality, i.e., its qualified aspect is known as Bhagavān and its unqualified aspect is known as Brahman].”
sarvato bṛhattamatvād brahmeti yad viduḥ, tat khalu paramasya puṁso bhagavataḥ padam eva, nirvikalpatayā sākṣātkṛteḥ prāthamikatvāt, brahmaṇaś ca bhagavata eva nirvikalpa-sattā-rūpatvāt, vicitra-rūpādi-vikalpa-viśeṣa-viśiṣṭasya bhagavatas tu sākṣātkṛtes tad-anantarajatvāt, tadīya-svarūpa-bhūtaṁ tad brahma tat-sākṣātkārāspadaṁ bhavatīty arthaḥ |
(Bhagavat Sandarbha: 7)
“That which is known as Brahman because of [its] being the greatest of all is an aspect of the Supreme Person, Bhagavān, (1) because of direct perception (sākṣātkṛti) [of it] being initially occurrent [i.e., occurrent before that of Bhagavān] on account of [that perception’s] being indeterminate (nirvikalpa), (2) because of Brahman’s also being Bhagavān’s form of indeterminate being, and (3) because of direct perception (sākṣātkṛti) of Bhagavān, who is qualified by determinate specifics such as a wonderful form, being occurrent after that [i.e., after indeterminate perception of Brahman]. Brahman, being constituted of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] nature, is thus the basis of direct perception (sākṣātkṛti) of him [i.e., Bhagavān, meaning, Brahman and Bhagavān are one and the same entity, the former being an indeterminate perception of that entity, and the latter being a determinate perception of that entity].”
atha kasmād ucyate brahma bṛṁhati bṛṁhayati ca |
(Atharva-śikhā Upaniṣad: 3.5; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 6)
“Now, wherefore is this called Brahman? [Because] It nourishes and causes nourishment [in others, alt., expands and causes expansion in others].”
tad ekaṁ tattvaṁ svarūpa-bhūtayaiva śaktyā kam api viśeṣaṁ dhartuṁ parāsām api śaktīnāṁ mūlāśraya-rūpaṁ, tad-anubhāvānanda-sandohāntarbhāvita-tādṛśa-brahmānandānāṁ bhāgavata-paramahaṁsānāṁ tathānubhavaika-sādhakatama-tadīya-svarūpānanda-śakti-viśeṣātmaka-bhakti-bhāviteṣv antar-bahir apīndriyeṣu parisphurad vā, tadvad vivikta-tādṛśa-śakti-śaktimattā-bhedena pratipādyamānaṁ vā bhagavān iti śabdyate | … evaṁ cānanda-mātraṁ viśeṣyaṁ, samastāḥ śaktayo viśeṣaṇāni, viśiṣṭo bhagavān ity āyātam | tathā caivaṁ vaiśiṣṭye prāpte pūrṇāvirbhāvatvenākhaṇḍa-tattva-rūpo’sau bhagavān | brahma tu sphuṭam aprakaṭita-vaiśiṣṭyākāratvena tasyaivāsamyag āvirbhāva ity āyātam |
(Bhagavat Sandarbha: 2–3)
“When the one [Absolute] Reality, which is by nature the fundamental shelter of [all] other śaktis, to manifest some type of [wonderful] specificity solely by means of its own inherent śakti, fully manifests to the internal and external senses of devoted transcendentalists (bhāgavata-paramahaṁsas), subsumed in whose [experience of an] abundance of bliss from experience thereof [i.e., of the Absolute Reality so manifest with specificity] is such [experience of the] bliss of Brahman, [and whose internal and external senses are] imbued with bhakti [which is] constituted of a specific inherent śakti of bliss thereof [i.e., of that Absolute Reality] that is singularly most effectual of such experience [of that Absolute Reality’s manifest specificity], or, when it as such is to be defined with discrimination between the distinction of [its] being [both] śakti and the possessor of śakti (śaktimat), it is known as Bhagavān. … In this way, furthermore, it is understood that bliss alone is the qualificand (viśeṣya), all śaktis are [its] qualifiers (viśeṣaṇas), and Bhagavān is the qualified entity (viśiṣṭa). Furthermore, when possessed of such specificity (vaiśiṣṭya), that undivided [Absolute] Reality is Bhagavān on account of being the complete manifestation [thereof], whereas Brahman, evidently, is an incomplete manifestation thereof on account of [its] being an appearance devoid of manifest specificity. This is understood.”
tad ekam evākhaṇḍānanda-svarūpaṁ tattvaṁ thūtkṛta-pārameṣṭhyādikānanda-samudayānāṁ paramahaṁsānāṁ sādhana-vaśāt tādātmyam āpanne, satyām api tadīya-svarūpa-śakti-vaicitryāṁ tad-grahaṇāsāmarthye cetasi yathā sāmānyato lakṣitaṁ, tathaiva sphurad vā, tadvad evāvivikta-śakti-śaktimattā-bhedatayā pratipādyamānaṁ vā brahmeti śabdyate |
(Bhagavat Sandarbha: 2)
“When transcendentalists (paramahaṁsas) who have spat on the bliss of supremacy and so forth [i.e., all varieties of so-called happiness that exist throughout saṁsāra, including even that of Lord Brahmā, who holds the supreme position within the fourteen worlds] attain as a result of sādhana a state of identity (tādātmya) [i.e., a qualified degree of oneness based on cognitive self-identification] with the one [Absolute] Reality which is undivided and of the nature of bliss, or, when it [i.e., that Absolute Reality] manifests exactly as it is generally regarded [by them] in their minds that are unable to perceive the variegation of its inherent (svarūpa) śakti [i.e., when it manifests without any sort of specificity as non-differentiated consciousness apparently equivalent in nature to the self (ātmā) in response to their being cognitively fixed in a state of self-identification with that Absolute Reality as non-differentiated consciousness], or when it as such is to be defined without discrimination between its possessing the division of being [both] śakti and the possessor of śakti (śaktimat), it is known as Brahman.”
