yadi dāsyasi me kāmān varāṁs tvaṁ varadarṣabha |
kāmānāṁ hṛdy asaṁrohaṁ bhavatas tu vṛṇe varam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.10.7)
[Prahlāda Mahārāja to Nṛsiṁhadeva:] “O best giver of boons! If you wish to bestow desired boons upon me, then I pray from you the boon of non-growth [i.e., non-existence] of desires within my heart.”
nānyathā te’khila-guro ghaṭeta karuṇātmanaḥ |
yas ta āśiṣa āśāste na sa bhṛtyaḥ sa vai vaṇik ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.10.4)
[Prahlāda Mahārāja to Nṛsiṁhadeva:] “Otherwise, this [i.e., your presently prompting me in this way] would not happen, since you are compassionate, O Guru of all! One who desires benedictions from you is not a servant. He is just a merchant!”
svasty astu viśvasya khalaḥ prasīdatāṁ
dhyāyantu bhūtāni śivaṁ mitho dhiyā |
manaś ca bhadraṁ bhajatād adhokṣaje
āveśyatāṁ no matir apy ahaitukī ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.18.9)
[Prahlāda Mahārāja prays to Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva:] “May there be auspiciousness throughout the universe! May the wicked be pacified! May all beings meditate with their intelligence upon the welfare of one another! May their minds cultivate well-being! And may our hearts be immersed unconditionally in the Transcendent [i.e., Bhagavān]!”
aprameyānubhāvo’yam akutaścid-bhayo’maraḥ |
nūnam etad-virodhena mṛtyur me bhavitā na vā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.5.47)
[Hiraṇyakaśipu of Prahlāda Mahārāja:] “He is of immeasurable might, completely fearless, and deathless. My death will certainly occur as a result of opposing him, or may not.”
kim ātmanānena jahāti yo’ntataḥ
kiṁ riktha-hāraiḥ svajanākhya-dasyubhiḥ |
kiṁ jāyayā saṁsṛti-hetu-bhūtayā
martyasya gehaiḥ kim ihāyuṣo vyayaḥ ||
itthaṁ sa niścitya pitāmaho mahān
agādha-bodho bhavataḥ pāda-padmam |
dhruvaṁ prapede hy akutobhayaṁ janād
bhītaḥ svapakṣa-kṣapaṇasya sattama ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.22.9–10)
[Bali Mahārāja explains to Vāmanadeva why Prahlāda Mahārāja took shelter in him:] “‘What good is this body, which leaves one in the end? What good are the bandits known as kinsmen, who steal away one’s wealth? What good is a wife, who is a cause of saṁsāra? And what good are houses, wherein there is [only] the loss of a mortal’s life?’ Thus resolved and wary of the world, that great grandfather [of mine], of unfathomable understanding, took shelter in your unwavering lotus feet, because of which there can be no fear whatsoever, even though you were the destroyer of his own dynasty, O Best of the virtuous!”
pitāmaho me bhavadīya-sammataḥ
prahrāda āviṣkṛta-sādhu-vādaḥ |
bhavad-vipakṣeṇa vicitra-vaiśasaṁ
samprāpitas tvaṁ paramaḥ sva-pitrā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.22.8)
[Bali Mahārāja to Vāmanadeva:] “Highly honored by those who are your own, and known to be of virtuous renown, my grandfather, Prahrāda [i.e., Prahlāda], underwent multifarious torture from his own father, who was inimical to you, and [still] held you to be his refuge.”
bhavanti puruṣā loke mad-bhaktās tvām anuvratāḥ |
bhavān me khalu bhaktānāṁ sarveṣāṁ pratirūpa-dhṛk ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.10.21)
[Nṛsiṁhadeva to Prahlāda Mahārāja:] “People in the world who follow you become my bhaktas, for you are indeed the paragon for all of my bhaktas.”
māyā manaḥ sṛjati karmamayaṁ balīyaḥ
kālena codita-guṇānumatena puṁsaḥ |
chandomayaṁ yad ajayārpita-ṣoḍaśāraṁ
saṁsāra-cakram aja ko’titaret tvad-anyaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.9.21)
“Māyā, with the permission of the Puruṣa, and with its guṇas impelled by time, emanates the mind (manas), which is constituted of karma, most powerful [i.e., very difficult to conquer], filled with fancy (chanda) [i.e., vāsanās], and infused with sixteen transformations by the unborn [i.e., by ignorance (avidyā)]. O Unborn One [i.e., O Bhagavān], who apart from you [i.e., who that has not received your grace and does not engage in your service] can surmount this wheel of saṁsāra [i.e., the mind]?”
atha sakhyam | tac ca hitāśaṁsana-mayaṁ bandhu-bhāva-lakṣaṇam | … asya cottaratra pāṭhaḥ prema-viśrambhavad-bhāvanā-mayatvena dāsyād apy uttamatvāpekṣayā | kiṁ ca, parameśvare’pi yat sakhyaṁ śāstre vidhīyate, tan nāścaryam, nādevo devam arcayet iti tad-bhāvasyāpi vidhāna-śravaṇāt | kintu tad-bhāvas tat-sevā-viruddha iti śuddha-bhaktair upekṣyate | sakhyaṁ tu parama-sevānukūlam ity upādīyata iti | tad etat sākṣād-bhajanātmakaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyaṁ ca … | atra ca tābhyāṁ karmārpaṇa-viśvāsau na vyākhyātau, sāksād-bhaktitvābhāvāt | karmārpaṇasya phalaṁ bhaktir viśvāsaś ca bhakty-abhiniveśa-hetur itīha pūrvam uktam | tac ca bhagavad-viṣaya-hitāśaṁsana-mayaṁ sakhyam, bhagavat-kṛta-hitāśaṁsanasya nityatvāt, tena saha tasya nitya-sahavāsāc ca | bhajana-viśeṣeṇāpi viśiṣṭaṁ sampādayituṁ nātiduṣkaraṁ syād ity āha—ko’ti-prayāso’sura-bālakā harer upāsane sve hṛdi chidravat sataḥ, svasyātmanaḥ sakhyur aśeṣa-dehināṁ sāmānyataḥ kiṁ viṣayopapādanaiḥ |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 306)
“Now, friendship (sakhyam) [will be discussed]. That, furthermore, is made up of well-wishing [for the object of friendship, Śrī Bhagavān,] and possessed of the characteristic of amity [i.e., the bhāva of being friends with Bhagavān]. … Its [i.e., sakhyam’s] reading [i.e., placement] later on [in the list of the nine primary limbs of bhakti in SB 7.5.23–24] is out of regard for its superiority even to servitude (dāsya) by virtue of [its] being filled with a spirit (bhāvanā) possessed of love (prema) and intimacy (viśrambha). Moreover, that [such] friendship (sakhyam) is enjoined in śāstra even by the Supreme Lord (Parameśvara) is not surprising on account of hearing [in certain places in śāstra] of the practice even of the bhāva [alluded to in the statement], ‘A non-deva should not worship Deva’ [i.e., the bhāva of considering oneself to be Deva, that is, Śrī Bhagavān himself, meaning, if Bhagavān himself has even enjoined the practice of considering oneself to be himself, then it is not surprising that he would enjoin the practice of considering oneself to be his friend]. That bhāva [i.e., the practice of ahaṁgrahopāsanā wherein one meditates one oneself as being Bhagavān himself], however, is disregarded by pure bhaktas because it is contrary to service to him [i.e., when one considers oneself to be Śrī Bhagavān, then one does not foster the attitude of service to Śrī Bhagavān himself and thus pure bhaktas disregard such a practice]. Friendship (sakhyam) [i.e., the bhāva of considering oneself a close companion of Śrī Bhagavān], however, is highly favorable for service [to Śrī Bhagavān], and thus is adopted [by pure bhaktas]. So, this servitude (dāsyam) and friendship (sākhyam) [mentioned in SB 7.5.23–24] are of the nature of direct service (bhajana) [to Śrī Bhagavān]. … Here [i.e., in the context of discussion of forms of direct bhakti to Śrī Bhagavān], furthermore, offering karma and faith (viśvāsa) are not alluded to by these two [i.e., by the forms of direct bhakti known as dāsyam and sakhya, and thus dāsyam here does not refer to offering karma to Bhagavān and sakhyam here does not refer to faith (viśvāsa) alone], because of the non-existence of [their, i.e., offering karma and faith (viśvāsa)] being direct [forms of] bhakti. In this regard, it was previously stated that [direct] bhakti is an outcome of offering karma and faith (viśvāsa) is a cause of absorption in [direct] bhakti. Because of the constancy [alt., eternality] of the well-wishing performed by Bhagavān [for his bhaktas], and because of one’s [i.e., a jīva’s] constant [alt., eternal] co-abidance with him [i.e., Bhagavān], sakhyam, constituted of well-wishing the object of which is Bhagavān, qualified even by a distinct [act of] bhajana [i.e., sakhyam in the form of an act performed for the pleasure of Bhagavān in the manner that a friend acts for the pleasure of another friend] shall not be very difficult to perform. Thus, he [i.e., Prahlāda Mahārāja] says [in SB 7.7.38], ‘O boys of the asuras, what great exertion [i.e., difficulty] is there in worship of Hari, he who is [ever] present like space in one’s heart and is the inherent Self and common Friend of all embodied beings [who fulfills all their desires, be they material or spiritual, when worshiped as a friend]? [Therefore,] What [is the use] of accumulating objects of the senses [instead of engaging in the worship of Hari]?’”
ko’ti-prayāso’sura-bālakā harer
upāsane sve hṛdi chidravat sataḥ |
svasyātmanaḥ sakhyur aśeṣa-dehināṁ
sāmānyataḥ kiṁ viṣayopapādanaiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.7.38)
[Translated according to Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī’s commentary:] “O boys of the asuras, what great exertion [i.e., difficulty] is there in worship of Hari, he who is present like space in one’s heart and is the inherent self and common friend of all embodied beings? [Therefore,] What [is the use] of accumulating objects of the senses?”
