vraja-bhūmāv ayaṁ jātas tasyāṁ gopatvam ācarat |
gopālopāsanā-niṣṭho viśiṣṭo’sman mahāśayaḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.62)
“[Śrī Uddhava along with Śrī Nārada to Gopa Kumāra:] He was born in the land of Vraja, he has engaged in cowherding (gopatva) there, and he has fixity in worship (upāsanā) of Gopāla. This great soul is superior to us.”
uddhavāyam aho gopa-putro govardhanodbhavaḥ |
mādṛśāṁ tvādṛśānāṁ ca mṛgyan vastu sudurlabham ||
itas tato bhraman vyagraḥ kadācid api kutracit |
nātikramati cittāntarlagnaṁ taṁ śokam ārtidam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.58–59)
“[Śrī Nārada of Gopa Kumāra:] Aho! Uddhava! This son of a cowherd born in Govardhana, restless and wandering here and there searching for an object most difficult to attain [i.e., completely unattainable] for those like me [i.e., bhaktas of Śrī Bhagavān] and those like you [i.e., friends of Śrī Bhagavān], never anywhere overcomes that sorrow fixed in his heart that causes it to ache.”
na mayy ekānta-bhaktānāṁ guṇa-doṣodbhavā guṇāḥ |
sādhūnāṁ sama-cittānāṁ buddheḥ param upeyuṣām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.20.36; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.210; Bhakti Sandarbha: 177, 312, 321; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.293
“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] Bhaktas who are one-pointed upon me, are sādhu [i.e., free from attachment and aversion (rāga and dveṣa)], are equanimous, and have attained that which is beyond the intellect, have no qualities [i.e., merits, sins, or otherwise] produced by qualities and faults [i.e., produced by observance of injunctions and neglect of prohibitions].”
so’yam upadeśo buddhy-arthaḥ | sarvatra tadīyatva-jñānārthaḥ pādavat | pādo’sya viśvā bhūtāni ity atra yathā viśvasya bhagavat-pādatvopadeśas tadvat | evaṁ hi dveṣa-nihīnaṁ manas tat-pravaṇaṁ bhavati | na caivaṁ rāga-prāptir nihīnatva-buddher bādhakatvāt |
(Govinda-bhāṣya on Vedānta-sūtra: 3.2.34)
“This teaching [i.e., the teaching Chāndogya Upaniṣad 3.14.1, ‘All of this is verily Brahman’ (sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ Brahma)] is for the sake of understanding, that is, for the sake of awareness of belongingness to him (tadīyatva) in everything, like [his] foot, that is, as there is a teaching of the universe’s being the foot of Bhagavān here [in Ṛg-veda 10.90.3], ‘The existent universes are his foot.’ In this way completely free from enmity, the mind becomes intent upon him [i.e., on Bhagavān]. Also in this way [i.e., also by means of the aforementioned teaching that everything belongs to him] an occurrence of attachment (rāga) [to the universe in which one is situated, or anything within it] does not occur because of the annulling of that by understanding of the utter inferiority [of sāṁsārika existence and everything within it in comparison to Śrī Bhagavān himself].”
rajobhiḥ sama-saṅkhyātāḥ pārthivair iha jantavaḥ |
teṣāṁ ye kecanehante śreyo vai manujādayaḥ ||
prāyo mumukṣavas teṣāṁ kecanaiva dvijottama |
mumukṣūṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścin mucyeta sidhyati ||
muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ |
sudurlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahāmune ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.14.3–5; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.189; Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.186, 2.2.207, 2.5.178; Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 106; Bhakti Sandarbha: 134, 186, 273; Prīti Sandarbha: 35, 100; Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.151)
“Living beings here [i.e., in the material world] are similar in enumeration to the particles of dust on the earth [i.e., they are innumerable]. Among them, there are certainly some human beings and so forth who strive for virtue (śreyas) [i.e., who follow dharma and take up other means to attain otherworldly happiness]. O best of the twice born, among them, some very few are even seekers of mukti, and among thousands of seekers of mukti, someone may become liberated and [someone among thousands of such liberated persons may] succeed [i.e., attain siddhi]. O great sage, even among crores of even muktas and siddhas, someone of completely peaceful mind whose complete shelter is Nārāyaṇa is extremely rare to find.”
vihāya pitṛ-devādīn pariniṣṭhāṅ gato harau |
tad-gāḍha-premabhiḥ pūrṇa ekāntīti nigadyate ||
(Unknown source; cited in the Bṛhad Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī-ṭīkā, Laghu Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī-ṭīkā, and Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.46.2)
“One who forsakes the forefathers, devas, and so forth, is given to complete fixity upon Hari, and is fulfilled by virtue of an abundance of intense prema for him is called ‘one-pointed’ (ekānti).”
dṛṣṭaṁ śrutam asad buddhvā nānudhyāyen na saṁviśet |
saṁsṛtiṁ cātma-nāśaṁ ca tatra vidvān sa ātma-dṛk ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.19.20)
“Having understood the seen and the heard to be asat, one who shall not meditate repeatedly [on] and shall not enjoy [them], knowing that saṁsāra and loss of the self ensue from them, is a seer of the Ātmā.”
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.”
kuṭumbeṣu na sajjeta na pramādyet kuṭumby api |
vipaścin naśvaraṁ paśyed adṛṣṭam api dṛṣṭa-vat ||
putra-dārāpta-bandhūnāṁ saṅgamaḥ pāntha-saṅgamaḥ |
anu-dehaṁ viyanty ete svapno nidrānugo yathā ||
itthaṁ parimṛśan mukto gṛheṣv atithivad vasan |
na gṛhair anubadhyeta nirmamo nirahaṅkṛtaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.17.52–54)
“Even a householder should not be attached to the household and should not be negligent. A wise person should see even the unseen, like the seen, to be transitory. The meeting of sons, wife, relatives, and friends is [just like] a meeting of wayfarers. They [i.e., sons and so forth] vanish after the body [dies] just as a dream does following sleep. Deliberating in this way and dwelling in houses like a guest, a detached person free from possessiveness and egotism will not become bound by houses.”
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.”
