rajo’dhikāḥ karma-parā duḥkhe ca sukha-māninaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.10.26)
“[Maitreya describes the nature of human beings:] ‘Filled with abundance of rajas and given to action, they consider themselves to feel happiness [even] while suffering.”
pātraṁ tv atra niruktaṁ vai kavibhiḥ pātra-vittamaiḥ |
harir evaika urvīśa yan-mayaṁ vai carācaram ||
devarṣy-arhatsu vai satsu tatra brahmātmajādiṣu |
rājan yad agra-pūjāyāṁ mataḥ pātratayācyutaḥ ||
jīva-rāśibhir ākīrṇa aṇḍa-kośāṅghripo mahān |
tan-mūlatvād acyutejyā sarva-jīvātma-tarpaṇam ||
purāṇy anena sṛṣṭāni nṛ-tiryag-ṛṣi-devatāḥ |
śete jīvena rūpeṇa pureṣu puruṣo hy asau ||
teṣv eva bhagavān rājaṁs tāratamyena vartate |
tasmāt pātraṁ hi puruṣo yāvān ātmā yatheyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.14.34–38)
“[Śrī Nārada to Śrī Yudhiṣṭhira:] O Ruler of the earth! The one Hari alone, of whom the universe [lit., the moving and the unmoving] is constituted, has been declared the [most] fit recipient of honor (pātram) here [i.e., on the earth] by the learned most knowledgable in regard to fit recipients of honor since, O King, Acyuta [i.e., Hari] was accepted as being the fit recipient of the first worship there [i.e., at your Rājasūya sacrifice] even when the devas, ṛṣis, ascetics, sons of Brahmā [i.e., Sanat, Sanandana, and so on], and others were present. Worship of Acyuta is satisfying to all jīvas and oneself because of [his] being the root of the vast tree of the universe filled with the multitudes of jīvas. The abodes [i.e., bodies] of human beings, animals, sages, and devatās [i.e., all living beings] were emanated by him. He, the Puruṣa, [then] lies in those abodes in the form of life [i.e., in the form of he who is the cause of life in those abodes, i.e., the Inner Regulator (Antaryāmī)]. O King, Bhagavān is present in these [abodes, i.e., bodies] verily in a gradation. Therefore, a person [i.e., a human being] is a fit recipient of honor as and to the extent the Self [i.e., Bhagavān] is perceived.”
te vai vidanty atitaranti ca deva-māyāṁ
strī-śūdra-hūṇa-śabarā api pāpa-jīvāḥ |
yady adbhuta-krama-parāyaṇa-śīla-śikṣās
tiryag-janā api kim u śruta-dhāraṇā ye ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.7.46)
“Even women, śūdras, Hūṇas, and Śabaras, as well as sinful living beings and even slanting creatures [i.e., animals] certainly understand Deva’s [i.e., Bhagavān’s] māyā and cross beyond [it] if they have [received] instruction about the character of those devoted to he of astonishing stride [i.e., Bhagavān], and so all the more [do] those who sustain steadiness upon what they have heard.”
mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā
vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo ye |
ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā
janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu ||
gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu
na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.5.2–3; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.17, 69; Bhakti Sandarbha: 186; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.82)
“Service to the mahats is said to be the door to mukti of various types, and attachment to those who are attached to women [is said to be] the door to darkness. The mahāntas [lit., ‘the great’] are they who are of equal mind, tranquil, free from anger, friendly, and virtuous, and alternately, they who (1) have made affection [i.e., prema] for me, Īśa, their aim, (2) [they] who are unpossessed of affinity for homes, wives, children, friends, and persons fixed upon affairs related to bodily maintenance, and (3) [they] who are possessed of only so much wealth [as is necessary] in this world.”
durlabho mānuṣo deho dehināṁ kṣaṇa-bhaṅguraḥ |
tatrāpi durlabhaṁ manye vaikuṇṭha-priya-darśanam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.29; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.289)
“Precious is the human body, [although] perishable within a moment, for bearers of bodies [i.e., jīvas subject to saṁsāra], and I consider even more precious the darśana of those who are dear to Vaikuṇṭha [i.e., Bhagavān, alt., those to whom Vaikuṇṭha is dear].”
aho nṛ-janmākhila-janma-śobhanaṁ
kiṁ janmabhis tv aparair apy amuṣmin |
na yad dhṛṣīkeśa-yaśaḥ-kṛtātmanāṁ
mahātmanāṁ vaḥ pracuraḥ samāgamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.13.21)
“[Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa to Jaḍa Bharata:] Aho! Human birth is the best of all births. What is the use of other births even in the hereafter [i.e., in Svarga] where there is no abundant association with great souls who have dedicated themselves to the glory of Hṛṣīkeśa?”
yathā hi puruṣasyeha viṣṇoḥ pādopasarpaṇam |
yad eṣa sarva-bhūtānāṁ priya ātmeśvaraḥ suhṛt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.6.2)
“[Prahlāda Mahārāja:] Here [i.e., in human life], a person’s approaching the feet of Viṣṇu is certainly appropriate, since he is the beloved, the Self, the Lord, and the well-wisher of all beings.”
anityam asukhaṁ lokam imaṁ prāpya bhajasva mām ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 9.33)
“Having obtained this plane of impermanence and meager happiness, worship me.”
prāpyāpi durlabhataraṁ mānuṣyaṁ vibudhepsitam |
yair āśrito na govindas tair ātmā vañcitaś ciram ||
aśīti-caturaś caiva lakṣāṁs tān jīva-jātiṣu |
bhramadbhiḥ puruṣaiḥ prāpya mānuṣyaṁ janma-paryayāt ||
tad apy aphalatāṁ jātaṁ teṣām ātmābhimāninām |
varākānām anāśritya govinda-caraṇa-dvayam ||
(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa: cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.650–652; Bhakti Sandarbha: 108)
“The ātmā (self) is prolongedly cheated by those who do not take shelter in Govinda even after receiving a most rare to attain human life [which is] desired [even] by the devas. A human life is attainable by living beings wandering amid the eight million, four hundred thousand species of life on account of the revolution of births [i.e., it is finally attained as a result of gradually transmigrating through the vast myriad of life-forms found throughout the universe in accord with the unfolding of living beings’ individual and collective karma]. Even that [attainment of a human life, however, sadly,] becomes fruitless for those of self-conceit [i.e., those who identify with the body and lack awareness of their actual self], the wretched [i.e., the low-minded absorbed in the pursuit of external pleasures], by not taking shelter in the two feet of Govinda.”
ye’bhyarthitām api ca no nṛ-gatiṁ prapannā
jñānaṁ ca tattva-viṣayaṁ saha-dharma yatra |
nārādhanaṁ bhagavato vitaranty amuṣya
sammohitā vitatayā bata māyayā te ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.15.24; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 108)
[Brahmā to Maitreya:] “Bata! (Alas!) Even those who have attained a human state [i.e., life] wherein jñāna (awareness) relating to Tattva along with dharma are present, which is sought by us [i.e., by Brahmā and the other devas], but do not offer worship to Bhagavān [i.e., he who is source of all dharma and all jñāna] are thoroughly bewildered by his all-pervading māyā.”
