dve vidye veditavye tu śabda-brahma paraṁ ca yat |
śabda-brahmaṇi niṣṇātaḥ paraṁ brahmādhigacchati ||
(Amṛta-bindu Upaniṣad: 17; Brahma-bindu Upaniṣad: 17; Maitrāyaṇi Upaniṣad: 6.22)
“Two types of knowledge, however, are to be known: śabda-brahman and Parabrahman. One who is adept in śabda-brahman attains Parabrahman.”
bhāro’vivekinaḥ śāstraṁ bhāro jñānaṁ ca rāgiṇaḥ |
aśāntasya mano bhāraḥ bhāro’nātmavido vapuḥ ||
(Yoga Vāsiṣṭa: 1.14.13; Mahopaniṣad: 2.16)
“The śāstra is a burden for the indiscriminate. Knowledge is a burden for the passionate. The mind is a burden for the disquieted, and the body is a burden for one devoid of knowledge of the self.”
haṁsasya corddhva-gamane gatir bhavati niścalā |
tattvātattva-viveko’sti jala-dugdha-vibhāgavat |
ajñāna-jñānayos tattvaṁ vivecayati haṁsakaḥ ||
(Śiva Purāṇa: Rudra-saṁhitā, Sṛṣti-khaṇḍa, 15.10–11)
“A haṁsa’s [i.e., a swan-like sādhu’s] upward movement is unwavering [like a swan’s flight], and he has the ability to discriminate between the real and the unreal as though separating milk from water [like a swan]. A haṁsa ascertains the nature of ignorance and knowledge.”
karma, tapa, yoga, jñāna, vidhi-bhakti, japa, dhyāna,
ihā haite mādhurya durlabha |
kevala ye rāga-mārge, bhaje kṛṣṇe anurāge,
tāre kṛṣṇa-mādhurya sulabha ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.21.119)
“Karma [i.e., observing the duties of one’s varṇa and āśrama], tapa (austerity), yoga, jñāna [i.e., deliberation on the meaning of the Upaniṣads], vidhi-bhakti [i.e., devotion motivated by śāstric injunctions], japa (repetition of a mantra), dhyāna (meditation)—through these [Kṛṣṇa’s] mādhurya is difficult to attain. Only for one who worships Kṛṣṇa with anurāga (loving attachment) according to the path of rāga is Kṛṣṇa’s mādhurya easy to attain.”
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam |
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.11)
“Continuous action for [alt., related to] Kṛṣṇa possessed of favorability that is free from desirousness of anything else and unobstructed by jñāna, karma, and so forth, is uttamā (exalted) bhakti.”
yad ubhe citta-kāṭhinya-hetū prāyaḥ satāṁ mate |
sukumāra-svabhāveyaṁ bhaktis tad-dhetur īritā ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.249)
“Because in the view of sādhus both [i.e., jñāna and vairāgya] are generally causes of hardness of heart, this bhakti, which is of very tender nature, is said to be the cause of that [i.e., of entering into bhakti].”
jñāna-vairāgyayor bhakti-praveśāyopayogitā |
īṣat prathamam eveti nāṅgatvam ucitaṁ tayoḥ ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.248)
“Because jñāna and vairāgya are somewhat useful only at first for entrance into bhakti, their being limbs [of bhakti] is not acceptable.”
bhaktir hi svataḥ prabalatvād anya-nirapekṣā | na tu jñānādivat samyag vairāgyādi-sāpekṣā |
(Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.15)
“Bhakti, because of its own great power, is independent of others [i.e., is not dependent on the paths of jñāna or karma], and not, rather, dependent on complete vairāgya and so forth like jñāna and so forth [i.e., is not like jñāna and karma dependent, respectively, on vairāgya and eligibility for varṇāśrama-dharma].”
yasmai dattaṁ ca yaj-jñānaṁ jñāna-dātā hariḥ svayam |
jñānena tena sa stauti bhāva-grāhī janārdanaḥ ||
(Nārada Pañcarātra: 1.12.40)
“One offers praises [to Hari] with the knowledge which Hari himself, the bestower of knowledge, has bestowed upon one, but Janārdana [i.e., “the instigator of the people”] is a partaker of bhāva [i.e., Hari relishes primarily the bhāva of his bhaktas, and not their knowledge].”
