sandadhe’straṁ sva-dhanuṣi kāmaḥ pañca-mukhaṁ tadā |
madhur mano rajas-toka indra-bhṛtyā vyakampayan ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.8.25)
“Then, Kāma fixed a five-headed weapon [i.e., arrow] on his bow, and Spring, Greed [lit., ‘the son of Rajas’], and [other] servants of Indra tried to agitate the mind [of Mārkaṇḍeya].”
hantāsmin janmani bhavān mā māṁ draṣṭum ihārhati |
avipakva-kaṣāyāṇāṁ durdarśo’haṁ kuyoginām ||
sakṛd yad darśitaṁ rūpam etat kāmāya te’nagha |
mat-kāmaḥ śanakaiḥ sādhu sarvān muñcati hṛc-chayān ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.6.22–23)
“[Bhagavān as a disembodied voice to Śrī Nārada in his previous life after once giving him darśana:] Hanta! You will not be able to see me [again] in this life. I am imperceptible to immature yogīs, whose impurities are not burnt away. O sinless one! This form which was once shown [to you by me] was for the sake of your desire [i.e., to intensify your desire for me]. A sādhu with desire for me gradually gives up all that lie in the heart.”
udyamena hi sidhyanti kāryāṇi na manorathaiḥ |
na hi suptasya siṁhasya praviśanti mukhe mṛgāḥ ||
(Hitopadeśa: Maṅgalācaraṇa, 36; Pañcatantra: Mitra-samprāpti)
“Tasks are accomplished verily by industriousness, and not just by desires. Animals do not enter the mouth of a sleeping lion.”
yadā na kurute bhāvaṁ sarva-bhūteṣv amaṅgalam |
sama-dṛṣṭes tadā puṁsaḥ sarvāḥ sukhamayā diśaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.19.15)
“When a person does not foster an attitude of inauspiciousness towards all living beings, then, because of [one’s] equal vision, all directions are filled with happiness.”
pūrṇaṁ varṣa-sahasraṁ me viṣayān sevato’sakṛt |
tathāpi cānusavanaṁ tṛṣṇā teṣūpajāyate ||
tasmād etām ahaṁ tyaktvā brahmaṇy adhyāya mānasam |
nirdvandvo nirahaṅkāraś cariṣyāmi mṛgaiḥ saha ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.19.18–19)
“[Mahārāja Yayāti to his wife Devayānī:] I have spent a full one thousand years enjoying objects of the senses continuously, and still desire for them arises constantly [i.e., it has not been extinguished in the least]. Therefore, giving that up and fixing my mind on Brahman, I shall roam with the deer free from duality and free from self-conceit.”
yā dustyajā durmatibhir jīryato yā na jīryati |
tāṁ tṛṣṇāṁ duḥkha-nivahāṁ śarma-kāmo drutaṁ tyajet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.19.16)
“One who has an interest in well-being should swiftly shun that constant [alt., extreme, or, invariable] bearer of miseries—desire—which is difficult to shun for the ill-minded and which does not age as a result of aging.”
Bhārata Sāvitrī
Śrī Vedavyāsa’s final message to humanity in Mahābhārata.
Excerpted from the Svargārohana Parva, 5.47–51.
jñāna-pūrvā bhavel lipsā lipsā-pūrvābhisandhitā |
abhisandhi-pūrvakaṁ karma karma-mūlaṁ tataḥ phalam ||
(Mahābhārata: Śānti-parva, 206.6)
“Desire [for an object] shall be preceded by knowledge [of the object], aim [for an object] preceded by desire [for it], and action [to attain it] preceded by the aim [for it]. Then the result, the basis of which is the action, occurs.”
yathā śrutaṁ vedavidāṁ vara tvayā
jano’yam uccaiḥ pada-laṅghanotsukaḥ |
tapaḥ kiledaṁ tad-avāpti-sādhanaṁ
manorathānām agatir na vidyate ||
(Kumāra-sambhava: 5.64)
[Parvatī speaking to a sādhu:] “O knower of the Veda, what you have heard is correct. This person [i.e., I] is intent upon attaining a high position [i.e., that of the wife of Lord Śiva], and this austerity [I am performing] is indeed the means of attaining that. [Since it is such that] Desires have no unapproachable object.”
satyāśiṣo hi bhagavaṁs tava pāda-padmam
āśīs tathānubhajataḥ puruṣārtha-mūrteḥ |
apy evam arya bhagavān paripāti dīnān
vāśreva vatsakam anugraha-kātaro’smān ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.9.17; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 6)
“[Dhruva Mahārāja:] O Bhagavān! For those who in this [aforementioned] manner continuously worship [you], the lotus feet of you who are the embodiment of the ultimate goal (puruṣārtha-mūrti) are certainly the true blessing in comparison to [all other] blessings. Although this is so, O Master, O Bhagavān, you protect us, who are lowly, like a cow anxious to nurture a new-born calf.”
