Remembrance

kathañcana smāraṇam eva teṣām

kathañcana smāraṇam eva teṣām
avehi taj-jīvana-dānam eva |
teṣāṁ yato vismaraṇaṁ kadācit
prāṇādhikānāṁ maraṇāc ca nindyam ||
na sambhaved asmaraṇaṁ kadāpi
sva-jīvanānāṁ yad api priyāṇām |
tathāpi kenāpi viśeṣaṇena
smṛtiḥ praharṣāya yathā su-jīvitam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.129–130)

[Bhagavān to Nārada:] “Understand that somehow producing remembrance of them [i.e., those who are dear] is to give [those endowed with prema] life itself because any sort of forgetfulness of them who are more [dear] than one’s very life is more contemptible than dying [for those endowed with prema]. Although forgetting those who are as dear as one’s very life is never possible, still any sort of special remembrance [of them] is as great a joy as an abundant life.”

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icchet punas tādṛśam eva bhāvaṁ

icchet punas tādṛśam eva bhāvaṁ
kliṣṭaṁ kathañcit tad-abhāvataḥ syāt |
yeṣāṁ na bhātīti mate’pi teṣāṁ
gāḍhopakārī smṛti-daḥ priyāṇām ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.128)

“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Śrī Nārada:]
It shall wish for a bhāva of that very type again,
And because of the absence of that [bhāva] somehow,
It shall become afflicted.
Even in the view of those for whom this [aforesaid explanation] does not shine [i.e., to whom it does not appeal],
A giver of remembrance of dear ones is highly supportive.”

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viṣayābhiniveśena nātmānaṁ yat smaret punaḥ |

viṣayābhiniveśena nātmānaṁ yat smaret punaḥ |
jantor vai kasyacid dhetor mṛtyur atyanta-vismṛtiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.22.38)
“Complete non-remembrance as a consequence of some cause on account of which one shall not remember again the [previous] body [one had] as a result of absorption in objects of the senses [while in one’s new body] is [called] death.”

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kṛṣṇasyānugraho’py ebhyo nānumīyeta sattamaiḥ

kṛṣṇasyānugraho’py ebhyo nānumīyeta sattamaiḥ |
sa cāvirbhavati śrīmann adhikṛtyaiva sevakam ||
hanūmad-ādivat tasya kāpi sevā kṛtāsti na |
paraṁ vighnākule citte smaraṇaṁ kriyate mayā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.4.19–20)

“Even Kṛṣṇa’s favor shall not be inferred from these [i.e., from someone’s overcoming impediments, teaching children, acting like a sādhu, being compassionate to living beings in distress, not accepting mokṣa, pleasing people in general, and other characteristics spoken of in the previous verse] by the best of the sat. O blessed one, furthermore that [i.e., Kṛṣṇa’s favor] appears only towards a servant [i.e., it is not bestowed upon someone like me who does not engage in service to Bhagavān]. Not sort of service to him like Hanumān [performs] has been performed by me. Only remembrance [of him] with a mind beset with disturbances is performed by me.”

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tyaja durjana-saṁsargaṁ bhaja sādhu-samāgamam

tyaja durjana-saṁsargaṁ bhaja sādhu-samāgamam |
kuru puṇyam aho rātraṁ smara nityam anityatām ||
(Cāṇakhya-nīti-darpaṇam: 14.20)

“Abandon the association of wicked persons.
Honor the association of virtuous persons.
Perform meritorious action day and night.
And always remember the impermanence
[of everything of the world].”

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dhī-dhṛti-smṛti-vibhraṁśaḥ samprāptiḥ kāla-karmaṇām

dhī-dhṛti-smṛti-vibhraṁśaḥ samprāptiḥ kāla-karmaṇām |
asātmyārthāgamaś ceti jñātavyā duḥkha-hetavaḥ ||
(Caraka-saṁhita: 4.1.98)

“Divergence of the intellect, will, or memory [i.e., prajñāparādhas], the onset of a time period [e.g., a season], karma [i.e., the results of one‘s past actions], and contact with unwholesome objects of the senses are to be known as causes of suffering.”

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mānasādi-pūjāyāṁ bhūta-pūrva-tat-parikara-līlā-saṁvalitatvam api na kalpanā-mayaṁ

mānasādi-pūjāyāṁ bhūta-pūrva-tat-parikara-līlā-saṁvalitatvam api na kalpanā-mayaṁ, kintu yathārtham eva | yatas tasya prākaṭya-samaye līlās tat-parikarāś ca ye prādurbabhūvuḥ, te tādṛśāś cāprakaṭam api nityaṁ tadīye dhāmni saṅkhyātītā eva vartante |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 286)

“In worship [performed] in the mind and elsewhere, although the content of the meditation is possessed of līlās and associates of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] that were existent in the past, it is not [merely] imaginary but rather real since his associates and the līlās that appeared at the time of his manifestation (prākaṭya) [which one meditates upon] exist eternally beyond enumeration even unmanifestly as such [i.e., in an equally real form] in his abode [as well].”

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divi vā bhuvi vā mamāstu vāso

divi vā bhuvi vā mamāstu vāso
narake vā narakāntaka prakāmam |
avadhīrita-śāradāravindau
caraṇau te maraṇe’pi cintayāmi ||
(Mukunda-mālā-stotram: 8; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.29)

“O Destroyer of Naraka! Let my residence be in the sky [i.e., Svarga], or on earth, or in Naraka, as so willed. Even at death, I shall think of your feet, by which [even] autumnal lotuses are surpassed.”

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