ajarāmaravat prājño vidyām arthaṁ ca sādhayet |
gṛhīta iva keśeṣu mṛtyunā dharmam ācaret ||
(Hitopadeśa: Prāstāvikā, 3)
“The wise should pursue knowledge and wealth as though they are unaging and immortal, but they adhere to dharma as if their hair has been grabbed by death.”
dharma eva hato hantī dharmo rakṣati rakṣitaḥ |
tasmad dharmo na hantavyo mā no dharmo hato’vadhīt ||
(Manu Smṛti: 8.15)
“Dharma is the destroyer of those who destroy it, and dharma protects those who protect it. Therefore, dharma should not be destroyed lest that destroyed dharma destroy us.”
duṣkaraṁ parama-jñānaṁ tarkeṇātra vyavasyati |
śrutir dharma iti hy eke vadanti bahavo janāḥ |
na tv etat pratisūyāmi na hi sarvaṁ vidhīyate ||
(Mahābhārata: 8.49.48–49)
[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa recounts to Arjuna a statement of Indra:] “Complete understanding [of dharma] is difficult to attain. In this regard [i.e., in regard to proper understanding of dharma] one ascertains it with reasoning. Many persons says, ‘Dharma is śruti.’ While I do not oppose this [i.e., this view], it is not applicable to everything.”
tarko’pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnā
nāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam |
dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ
mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ ||
(Mahābhārata: Vana-parva, 313.117; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.17.186, 2.25.57)
“Reasoning is inconclusive, the Śrutis are variegated, and one whose opinion is not distinctive is not a ṛṣi. The nature of dharma is [thus] hidden in secret. [Therefore,] That by which a mahājana has gone is the path.”
śruti-pramāṇo dharmo hi vṛddhānām iti bhāṣitam |
sūkṣmā gatir hi dharmasya bahu-śākhā hy anantikā ||
(Mahābhārata: 3.200.2)
“The means of knowing (pramāṇa [of]) dharma is hearing [i.e., learning from those who understand it], and [in regard to dharma] there is a saying of the wise: ‘The course of dharma is subtle, many-branched, and without end.’”
śruti-smṛti-sadācāraḥ svasya ca priyam ātmanaḥ |
samyak saṅkalpajaḥ kāmo dharma-mūlam idaṁ smṛtam ||
(Yājñavalkya-smṛti: 1.7; cited in the Bhāvārtha-dīpikā, Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā, and Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.11.7 and Bhakti Sandarbha: 58)
“The Śruti, the Smṛti, proper conduct (sadācāra), the satisfaction of one’s own mind, and desire arising from proper resolve—these are known as the basis [i.e., the pramāṇa, the means of knowing] of dharma.”
vedo’khilo dharma-mūlaṁ smṛti-śīle ca tad-vidām |
ācāraś caiva sādhūnām ātmanas tuṣtir eva ca ||
(Manu-smṛti: 2.6; cited in the Bhāvārtha-dīpikā, Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā, and Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.11.7 and Bhakti Sandarbha: 58)
“The basis of dharma is the entire Veda, the Smṛti [i.e., the Smṛti-śāstras] and the sensibility of those who known it [i.e., of those who know the Veda], the conduct of the sādhus [i.e., sadācāra], and satisfaction of [one’s own] mind.”
dharma-mūlaṁ hi bhagavān sarva-vedamayo hariḥ |
smṛtaṁ ca tad-vidāṁ rājan yena cātmā prasīdati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.11.7; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 58)
“O King, the basis of dharma [i.e., the pramāṇa, the means of knowing dharma], by which the ātmā [i.e., the mind] is satisfied, definitively is Bhagavān, Hari, the embodiment [i.e., the source] of all the Vedas, and that which is remembered by those who know him [i.e., the Smṛti-śāstras].”
yadi māṁ prāptum icchanti prāpnuvanty eva nānyathā |
kalau kaluṣa-cittānāṁ vṛthāyuḥ-prabhṛtīni ca |
bhavanti varṇāśramiṇāṁ na tu mac-charaṇārthinām ||
(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa: cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 99)
“If anyone desires to attain me, they certainly attain me. This cannot be otherwise. In [the Age of] Kali, the life and so forth [i.e., the present actions and future destiny] of those of polluted heart who adhere to varṇāśrama are fruitless, but such is not so for those who seek my shelter.”
svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ |
prahlādo janako bhīṣmo balir vaiyāsakir vayam ||
dvādaśaite vijānīmo dharmaṁ bhāgavataṁ bhaṭāḥ |
guhyaṁ viśuddhaṁ durbodhaṁ yaṁ jñātvāmṛtam aśnute ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.3.20–21; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 110)
[Yamarāja to his emissaries:] “O servants, Brahmā, Nārada, Śambhu [i.e., Śiva], [Sanat] Kumāra, Kapila, [Svāyambhuva] Manu, Prahlāda, Janaka, Bhīṣma, Bali, Vaiyāsaki [i.e., Śukadeva Gosvāmī], and we [i.e., I myself]—these twelve understand Bhāgavata-dharma, which is confidential, completely pure [i.e., beyond the guṇas], and difficult to comprehend, and which, by understanding, one relishes amṛta [i.e., one attains the nectar of immortality].”
