tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā |
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 4.34)
“Learn that [knowledge] through obeisance, inquiry, and service. The knowers and seers the truth will teach that knowledge [to you].”
dhana-śiṣyādibhir dvārair yā bhaktir upapādyate |
vidūratvād uttamatā-hānyā tasyāś ca nāṅgatā ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.259)
“Bhakti that is accomplished through wealth, disciples, and so forth is not a limb [of uttama-bhakti] because it loses the quality of being uttama since it is very far from it.”
bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād
īśād apetasya viparyayo’smṛtiḥ |
tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ
bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.37; cited in Tattva Sandarbha: 32; Paramātma Sandarbha: 47; Bhakti Sandarbha: 1, 59, 114; Prīti Sandarbha: 1; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.20.116)
“Non-awareness, misapprehension, and fear because of absorption in a second shall occur by means of Īśa’s māyā for one who is averse to him. Therefore, a wise person, being one for whom the guru is the Devatā and the self (ātmā), should fully worship him [viz., Īśa, Bhagavān] with one-pointed bhakti.”
