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vitarka-bādhane pratipakṣa-bhāvanam

vitarka-bādhane pratipakṣa-bhāvanam ||33|| vitarkā hiṁsādayaḥ kṛta-kāritānumoditā lobha-krodha-moha-pūrvakā mṛdu-madhyādhimātrā, duḥkhājñānānanta-phalā iti pratipakṣa-bhāvanam ||34||
(Yoga-sūtras: 2.33–34)

“When obstruction from adverse inclinations occurs, contemplation of obstacles [is to be cultivated]. ||33||
“Adverse inclinations are harming (hiṁsā) and so forth [i.e., lying, stealing, fornicating, and accumulating in excess, that is, acts that contravene each of the five aforementioned yamas] which are [either] enacted, caused to be enacted, or assented to, and which are preceded either by greed, anger, or delusion, with each of these [preceding causes] being either mild, moderate, or intense. ‘These the unending results of which are hardship and ignorance’ is contemplation of obstacles [i.e., the obstacles created by acting upon the aforesaid adverse inclinations are to be contemplated to preclude one from acting upon them]. ||34||”

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indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ

indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ |
manasas tu parā buddhir yo buddheḥ paratas tu saḥ ||
evaṁ buddheḥ paraṁ buddhvā saṁstabhyātmānam ātmanā |
jahi śatruṁ mahābāho kāmarūpaṁ durāsadam ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 3.42–43)

“They say the senses are superior [to their objects],
The mind is superior to the senses,
The intellect is superior to the mind,
And that [viz., the self (ātmā)] is what is superior to the intellect.
Thus understanding that which is superior to the intellect,
And steadying the self with the self,
Kill, O you of mighty arms,
The difficult to approach enemy
The form of which is desire (kāma).”

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sā vāg yayā tasya guṇān gṛṇīte

sā vāg yayā tasya guṇān gṛṇīte
karau ca tat-karma-karau manaś ca |
smared vasantaṁ sthira-jaṅgameṣu
śṛṇoti tat-puṇya-kathāḥ sa karṇaḥ ||
śiras tu tasyobhaya-liṅgam ānamet
tad eva yat paśyati tad dhi cakṣuḥ |
aṅgāni viṣṇor atha taj-janānāṁ
pādodakaṁ yāni bhajanti nityam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.80.3–4)

“That by which his qualities are praised is speech. Further, those which perform actions for him are hands. Further, that which shall remember [his] dwelling in the stationary and the moving is a mind. That which listens to purifying narrations of him is an ear. Indeed that which shall bow to both images of him is a head. That which beholds specifically those [i.e., images of him] is certainly an eye. Likewise, those which regularly honor the foot-wash of Viṣṇu and his devotees are limbs.”

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taj janma tāni karmāṇi tad āyus tan mano vacaḥ

taj janma tāni karmāṇi tad āyus tan mano vacaḥ |
nṝṇāṁ yena hi viśvātmā sevyate harir īśvaraḥ ||
kiṁ janmabhis tribhir veha śaukra-sāvitra-yājñikaiḥ |
karmabhir vā trayī-proktaiḥ puṁso’pi vibudhāyuṣā ||
śrutena tapasā vā kiṁ vacobhiś citta-vṛttibhiḥ |
buddhyā vā kiṁ nipuṇayā balenendriya-rādhasā ||
kiṁ vā yogena sāṅkhyena nyāsa-svādhyāyayor api |
kiṁ vā śreyobhir anyaiś ca na yatrātma-prado hariḥ ||
śreyasām api sarveṣām ātmā hy avadhir arthataḥ |
sarveṣām api bhūtānāṁ harir ātmātmadaḥ priyaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.31.9–13; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 51, 101)

“That is a birth, those are actions, that is a life, that is mind and [that is] is speech on the part of human beings whereby Hari, Īśvara, the Self of the universe, is worshiped. Here [in this world], what [is the use] of the three births—the seminal (śaukra), the sāvitra [i.e., the second birth brought about by dīkṣā into the sāvitra-mantra and investiture with the sacred thread, viz., the upanayana-saṁskāra], and the sacrificial (yājñika) [i.e., the third birth brought about by dīkṣā into the performance of a particular Vedic sacrifice (yajña)], what [is the use] of the rites prescribed in the three [Vedas], what [is the use] of even the lifespan of a deva for a human being, what [is the use] of hearing, austerity, words, and states of mind, what [is the use] of sharp intellect, [physical] strength, and acuity of the senses, what [is the use] of yoga [i.e., aṣṭāṅga-yoga], sāṅkhya [i.e., discrimination between the body and self], sannyāsa, and even study, and what [is the use] of any other means of benefit (śreyas) [e.g., vows (vratas), non-attachment (vairāgya), etc.] whereby Hari does not become a bestower of the Self [alt., himself]? In reality, the Self specifically is the culmination even of all means of benefit, and Hari is the Self, the Bestower of the Self, and the Beloved even of all beings.”

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akiñcanasya dāntasya

akiñcanasya dāntasya śāntasya sama-cetasaḥ |
mayā santuṣṭa-manasaḥ sarvāḥ sukha-mayā diśaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.13)

[Kṛṣṇa:] “All directions are filled with happiness for one who is disinterested, controlled, peaceful, equanimous, and of mind fully satisfied by me.”

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nivṛttiḥ paramo dharmo nivṛttiḥ paramaṁ sukham

nivṛttiḥ paramo dharmo nivṛttiḥ paramaṁ sukham |
manasā vinivṛttānāṁ dharmasya nicayo mahān ||
manaḥ-pūrvāgamā dharmā adharmāś ca na saṁśayaḥ |
manasā badhyate cāpi mucyate cāpi mānavaḥ ||
nigṛhīte bhavet svargo visṛṣṭe narako dhruvaḥ |
(Mahābhārata: 13.213.41–43)

“Desistance (nivṛtti) is the ultimate dharma. Desistance is the ultimate happiness. Those have amply desisted by mind have a vast accumulation of dharma. Dharma and adharma are of prior appearance in the mind [i.e., dharma and adharma first arise in the mind and then manifest in the form of action]. There is no doubt [of this]. A human being is bound and also liberated by means of the mind. When [the mind is] controlled, Svarga shall manifest, and when released [i.e., left uncontrolled], Naraka is certain.”

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naitan manas tava kathāsu vikuṇṭhanātha

naitan manas tava kathāsu vikuṇṭhanātha
samprīyate durita-duṣṭam asādhu tīvram |
kāmāturaṁ harṣa-śoka-bhayaiṣaṇārtaṁ
tasmin kathaṁ tava gatiṁ vimṛśāmi dīnaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.9.39; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 1)

“O Lord of Vaikuṇṭha!
This mind—
Corrupted by sin,
Unholy,
Impetuous,
Afflicted by kāma,
And beset with elation, sorrow, fear, and desire—
Does not take great pleasure
In narrations about you.
Therewith,
How can this wretch
Contemplate your existence?”

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vastv ekam eva duḥkhāya sukhāyerṣyāgamāya ca

vastv ekam eva duḥkhāya sukhāyerṣyāgamāya ca |
kopāya ca yatas tasmād astu vastv-ātmakaṁ kutaḥ ||
tad eva prītaye bhūtvā punar duḥkhāya jāyate |
tad eva kopāya yataḥ prasādāya ca jāyate ||
tasmād duḥkhātmakaṁ nāsti na ca kiñcit sukhātmakam |
manasaḥ pariṇāmo’yaṁ sukha-duḥkhādi-lakṣaṇaḥ ||
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa: 2.6.47–49)

“Since one selfsame object leads to suffering and to happiness, to the appearance of malice and to anger [depending on the time, place, observer, and so forth of the object], how could it [i.e., any particular object, such as a garland] be constituted of an essential property [i.e., how could it be inherently possessed of a property that gives rise to suffering, or happiness, or anything else specifically otherwise]? Since that itself [i.e., any one particular selfsame object] leads to pleasure and then leads to suffering, and that itself [i.e., that particular object] leads to anger and then to tranquillity, it is not constituted of suffering, and it is not constituted of happiness at all. These characteristics of happiness, suffering, and so on are [only] transformations [i.e., various states] of the mind.”

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yathāgnim edhasy amṛtaṁ ca goṣu

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.”

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ādhyātmikādi maitreya jñātvā tāpa-trayaṁ budhaḥ

ādhyātmikādi maitreya jñātvā tāpa-trayaṁ budhaḥ |
utpanna-jñāna-vairāgyaḥ prāpnoty ātyantikaṁ layam |
ādhyātmiko’pi dvividhaḥ śārīro mānasas tathā |
śārīro bahubhir bhedair bhidyate śrūyatāṁ ca saḥ ||
śiro-roga-pratiśyāya-jvara-śūla-bhagandaraiḥ |
gulmārśaḥ-śvayathu-śvāsa-cchardyādibhir anekadhā ||
tathākṣi-rogātīsāra-kuṣṭhāṅgāmaya-saṁjñitaiḥ |
bhidyate dehajas tāpo mānasaṁ śrotum arhasi ||
kāma-krodha-bhaya-dveṣa-lobha-moha-viṣādajaḥ |
śokāsūyāvamānerṣyā-mātsaryādimayas tathā ||
mānaso’pi dvija-śreṣṭha tāpo bhavati naikadhā |
ity evam ādibhir bhedais tāpo hy ādhyātmikaḥ smṛtaḥ ||
mṛga-pakṣi-manuṣyādyaiḥ piśācoraga-rākṣasaiḥ |
sarīsṛpādyaiś ca nṛṇāṁ jāyate cādhibhautikaḥ ||
śīta-vātoṣṇa-varṣāmbu-vaidyutādi-samudbhavaḥ |
tāpo dvija-vara śreṣṭhaiḥ kathyate cādhidaivikaḥ ||
garbha-janma-jarājñāna-mṛtyu-nārakajaṁ tathā |
duḥkhaṁ sahasraśo bhedair bhidyate muni-sattama ||
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa: 6.5.1–9)

“O Maitreya, having understood the three miseries, [viz.,] ādhyātmikā and so forth, a wise person in whom knowledge (jñāna) and non-attachment (vairāgya) have arisen attains absolute dissolution [i.e., mokṣa]. Ādhyātmikā [misery], furthermore, is twofold: bodily and mental. The bodily [type] is divisible into many divisions. This too should be heared about. Misery produced by the body is divisible in various ways with names such as head diseases, colds, fevers, colic, fistula, splenomegaly, hemorrhoids, intumescence, asthma, vomiting, ophthalmia, dysentery, leprosy, rheumatism, and so forth. The mental [type of ādhyātmikā misery] is [also] befitting to hear of. O best of the twice-born, mental misery too occurs in various ways, such as that produced by lust, anger, fear, enmity, greed, delusion, and dejection, and that constituted of lamentation, detraction [i.e., attributing faults to others’ qualities], disrespect, hostility [i.e., non-forgiveness], envy [i.e., intolerance of another’s excellence], and so forth. In this way, ādhyātmika misery is known by many divisions. The ādhibhautika [misery] of human beings arises from animals, birds, [other] humans, piśācas, serpents, rākṣasas, reptiles, and so forth. Ādhidaivika misery is known by the exalted, O best of the twice born, as that produced by cold, wind, heat, rain, water, lightning, and so forth. O best of the sages, suffering produced by the womb, birth, aging, ignorance, death, and Naraka, is divisible in thousands of divisions.”

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