yo hy adharmeṇa vibrūyād gṛhṇīyād vāpy adharmataḥ |
hīyetāṁ tāv ubhau kṣipraṁ syātāṁ vā vairiṇāv ubhau ||
(Mahābhārata: 9.50.46)
“One who shall teach undharmicly [i.e., without accepting the student as a disciple] and one who shall acquire [knowledge] undharmicly [i.e., without acceptance of discipleship to the teacher]—both shall quickly abandon one another or become enemies of one another.”
yathāgnim edhasy amṛtaṁ ca goṣu
bhuvy annam ambūdyamane ca vṛttim |
yogair manuṣyā adhiyanti hi tvāṁ
guṇeṣu buddhyā kavayo vadanti ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.6.12; cited in Rāga-vartma-candrikā: 1.7)
“As human beings by [various] means attain fire from wood, milk from cows, food and water from the land, and a livelihood from exertion, so the wise [attain and] speak of you [even] amid the guṇas with the intellect.”
śuśrūṣoḥ śraddadhānasya vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ |
syān mahat-sevayā viprāḥ puṇya-tīrtha-niṣevaṇāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.2.16)
“O learned ones, taste for discussion of Vāsudeva shall come about for one possessed of śraddhā and desirous to hear [such discussion] as a result of service to a mahat as an outcome of pilgrimage to a holy place.”
martyo yadā tyakta-samasta-karmā
niveditātmā vicikīrṣito me |
tadāmṛtatvaṁ pratipadyamāno
mayātma-bhūyāya ca kalpate vai ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.29.34; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 8.421; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.194; Bhakti Sandarbha: 309; Prīti Sandarbha: 13; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.103; Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.12.11)
“When a mortal becomes one who has forsaken all karmas and offered the self to me, then he becomes distinctly desirous to act, attains immortality, and verily becomes fit for becoming of selfsame nature with me.”
śrī-guro paramānanda premānanda-phala-prada |
vrajānanda-pradānanda-sevāyāṁ māṁ niyojaya ||
(Sādhanāmṛta-candrikā: 1.51)
“O śrī guru!
O supreme bliss!
O bestower of the fruit of the bliss of prema!
O bestower of the bliss of Vraja!
Please engage me in the bliss of service.”
nirasya sarva-sandehān ekīkṛtya sudarśanam |
prakāśita-rahasyaṁ taṁ bhajāmi gurum īśvaram ||
(Bhāvārtha-dīpīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.22.61)
“I worship the guru, [who is] Īśvara, he by whom all doubts are dispelled, proper vision is consolidated, and secrets [i.e., esoteric teachings, or, subtle truths] are revealed.”
arcye viṣṇau śilā‑dhīr guruṣu nara‑matir vaiṣṇave jāti‑buddhir
viṣṇor vā vaiṣṇavānāṁ kali‑mala‑mathane pāda‑tīrthe’mbu‑buddhiḥ |
śrī-viṣṇor nāmni mantre sakala‑kaluṣa‑he śabda‑sāmānya‑buddhir
viṣṇau sarveśvareśe tad‑itara‑sama‑dhīr yasya vā nārakī saḥ ||
(Unknown source; attributed to a southerner in Padyāvalī: 114; cited in Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.26)
“One who has the notion of a stone in relation to a Deity of Viṣṇu [e.g., a Śālagrāma-śilā], the idea of a man in relation to gurus, the notion of a caste in relation to a Vaiṣṇava, the notion of water in relation to the sacred foot-wash of Viṣṇu or the Vaiṣṇavas, which is a destroyer of the contamination of Kali, the notion of an ordinary word in relation to the name of Śrī Viṣṇu, which is a vanquisher of all sin, or the notion of equality with those other than himself in relation to Viṣṇu, the Īśvara of all Īśvaras, is destined for Nāraka.”
śikṣā-guru īśvarera śikṣā ye nā māne |
nija-doṣe duḥkha pāya sei saba jane ||
(Caitanya-bhāgavata: 3.2.400)
“All those persons who do not follow the teachings of Īśvara, the śikṣā-guru, undergo suffering as a result of their own fault.”
cintāmaṇir loka-sukhaṁ surendraḥ svarga-saṁpadam |
prayacchati guruḥ prīto vaikuṇṭhaṁ yogi-durlabham ||
(Padma Purāṇa: Bhāgavata-māhātmya, 1.8)
“A thought-jewel [bestows] the pleasure of the world, the king of the suras [bestows] the wealth of Svarga, and the satisfied guru [by means of his teachings] bestows Vaikuṇṭha, which is difficult to attain [even] for yogīs.”
yo’ndhīkṛtya kutarka-ghūka-paṭalīm ajñāna-mohāndha-hṛt
saṁnudaṁś ca kukarma-jāḍyam abhito hṛt-padmam ullāsayan |
rādhā-mādhava-gūḍha-rūpa-saraṇīm udbhāṣayan bhāskaraḥ
sa tvaṁ śrī-gurudeva pāhi patitaṁ māṁ dīnam andhaṁ janam ||
(Sādhanāmṛta-candrikā: 1.48)
“He who blinds the owls of sophistry,
Removes the darkness of ignorance and delusion,
Dispels the dullness of misdeeds,
Causes the lotus of the heart to bloom completely,
And illuminates the path
To the confidential forms of Rādhā and Mādhava—
May you, that sun, O Śrī Gurudeva,
Please protect me,
A fallen, lowly, and blind person.”
