dhī-dhṛti-smṛti-vibhraṁśaḥ samprāptiḥ kāla-karmaṇām |
asātmyārthāgamaś ceti jñātavyā duḥkha-hetavaḥ ||
(Caraka-saṁhita: 4.1.98)
“Divergence of the intellect, will, or memory [i.e., prajñāparādhas], the onset of a time period [e.g., a season], karma [i.e., the results of one‘s past actions], and contact with unwholesome objects of the senses are to be known as causes of suffering.”
śrī-kṛṣṇātivaśīkāra-cuñcor jiṣṇu-śiromaṇeḥ |
premṇā hāsa ivāyaṁ śrī-rāsaḥ śrīr api nāpa yam ||
śāstra-buddhi-vivekādyair api durgamam īkṣyate |
gopīnāṁ rasa-vartmedaṁ tāsām anugatīr vinā ||
(Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.33.39)
“This Śrī Rāsa [i.e., this beautiful Rāsa-līlā], which even Śrī [i.e., Lakṣmī] did not attain, is like a smile with prema of the crest-jewel of conquerors renowned for greatly captivating Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This path of the gopīs’ rasa is seen to be difficult to comprehend even with [knowledge of] śāstra, intelligence, discernment, and so forth without anugati of [i.e., following] them [i.e., the gopīs].”
mama śāstra-pravaktāraṁ mama śāstrānucintakam |
cintayāmi na sandeho naraṁ taṁ cātmavat sadā ||
(Skanda Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.375)
“[Bhagavān:] No doubt I always think of that person who teaches śāstra related to me and who reflects on śāstra related to me as my own.”
bhagavān brahma kārtsnyena trir anvīkṣya manīṣayā |
tad adhyavasyat kūṭa-stho ratir ātman yato bhavet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.2.34; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.567; Bhakti Sandarbha: 7, 29, 94)
“After thrice one-pointedly deliberating over the entirety of the Veda (Brahma), Bhagavān [i.e., Brahmā] determined with his discernment that because of which rati for the Ātmā [i.e., Śrī Hari] can come about.”
śāstrādīnāṁ vicārottham artha-nirdhāraṇaṁ matiḥ ||
atra kartavya-karaṇaṁ saṁśaya-bhramayoś chidā |
upadeśaś ca śiṣyāṇām ūhāpohādayo’pi ca ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.4.140)
“Ascertainment of an object based on deliberation upon śāstra and so forth is [called] understanding (mati). Herewith, performance of what is to be done, cutting away doubts and misunderstandings, instructing students, positive and negative reasoning, and so on occur.”
nātha yoni-sahasreṣu yeṣu yeṣu vrajāmy aham |
teṣu teṣv acyutā bhaktir acyute’stu sadā tvayi ||
yā prītir avivekānāṁ viṣayeṣv anapāyinī |
tvām anusmarataḥ sā me hṛdayān nāpasarpatu ||
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa: 1.20.18–19; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 8.434–435; Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 142; Bhakti Sandarbha: 217; Prīti Sandarbha: 50, 61)
“O Nātha, wherever I go in the course of thousands of births, may I always have unwavering (acyutā) bhakti to you, the unwavering Lord (Acyuta)! As I continuously remember you, may that everlasting prīti which [is possessed of a characteristic like the prīti which] the undiscerning have for objects of the senses, never slip away from my heart.”
ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogā duḥkha-yonaya eva te |
ādy-anta-vantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 5.22)
“The enjoyments produced by contact [of the senses with their respective objects] are verily causes of suffering and possess a beginning and end. O Kaunteya, an intelligent person [i.e., one who properly exercises one’s discernment] does not enjoy them.”
ahaṁ mamābhimānotthaiḥ kāma-lobhādibhir malaiḥ |
vītaṁ yadā manaḥ śuddham aduḥkham asukhaṁ samam ||
tadā puruṣa ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ prakṛteḥ param |
nirantaraṁ svayaṁ-jyotir aṇimānam akhaṇḍitam ||
jñāna-vairāgya-yuktena bhakti-yuktena cātmanā |
paripaśyaty udāsīnaṁ prakṛtiṁ ca hataujasam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.25.16-18; cited in Paramātma Sandarbha 45)
“When the mind is freed from the contamination of lust, greed, and so forth produced by the conceits of ‘I’ and ‘mine,’ and [thus] pure, being without unhappiness, without happiness, and equanimous, then the puruṣa [i.e., the jīva], with a mind (ātmā) endowed with jñāna [i.e., discernment] and vairāgya [i.e., the absence of the conceits of ‘I’ and ‘mine’], and [necessarily also] endowed with bhakti, sees himself to be distinct from prakṛti [i.e., from the transformations of prakṛti and avidyā], eternal [alt., free from coverings of the gross and subtle body], self-luminous [i.e., luminous to his own self], minute [i.e., subtle], and undivided [i.e., indivisible], and [sees] prakṛti [i.e., avidyā] to be devoid of ability [to affect him].”
tīrthe tīrthe nirmalaṁ sādhu-vṛndaṁ
vṛnde vṛnde tattva-cintānuvāda |
vāde vāde jāyate tattva-bodhaḥ
bodhe bodhe bhāsate candra-cūḍaḥ ||
(Śuka-rambhā-samvāda: 3)
“In tīrtha after tīrtha, there are assemblies of faultless sādhus. In assembly after assembly, there is deliberation on and explanation of tattva. In vāda after vāda, there arises realization of tattva, and in realization after realization, the moon-crowned one [i.e., Śiva] shines.”
nāsti buddhir ayuktasya na cāyuktasya bhāvanā |
na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 2.66)
“One who is uncontrolled [i.e., of uncontrolled mind and senses] has no discernment, and one who is uncontrolled has no meditation. One who has no meditation further has no peace [i.e., relief from desire for, and engagement with, the sense objects (viṣaya)], and how can one who has no [such] peace have [any experience of] happiness [i.e., the bliss of the self]?”
