kāka-tāIīyavat prāptaṁ dṛṣṭvāpi nidhim agrataḥ |
na svayaṁ daivam ādatte puruṣārtham apekṣate ||
(Hitopadeśa: Maṅgalācaraṇa, 35)
“Destiny itself does not grant [one possession of] a jewel even after it has been seen present in the fore like the palm and the crow [i.e., by chance]. A person’s effort is [also] required [for one to obtain it].”
harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam |
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā ||
(Bṛhan-Nāradīya-purāṇa; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 273; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.7.76, 1.17.21, 2.6.242)
“The name of Hari, the name of Hari—certainly the name of Hari alone—in the Age of Kali, there is certainly no, there is certainly no, there is certainly no way otherwise.”
ta eva niyamāḥ sākṣāt ta eva ca yamottamāḥ |
tapo dānaṁ vrataṁ yajño yena tuṣyaty adhokṣajaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.16.61)
“That by which Adhokṣaja [i.e., Bhagavān] is satisfied is indeed directly the regulation (niyama), and that is indeed the best rule (yama), austerity (tapas), charity (dāna), rite (vrata), and sacrifice (yajña).”
śrī-goloke nikhila-paramānanda-pūrāntya-sīma-
gambhīrābdhau janani gamanaṁ sādhaya sva-prayāsaiḥ |
yasmiṁs tās tā vividha-ratayas tena nāthena sākaṁ
yātrā-mātrān madhura-madhurāḥ santataṁ saṅghaṭante ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.75)
“[Mahārāja Parīkṣit:] O Mother, endeavor by your own efforts to go to Śrī Goloka, the deep ocean of the ultimate reaches of the outpouring of the totality of the highest bliss, just by journeying into which those [indescribable] variegated, sweet, sweet delights together with that Nātha [i.e., Śrīmad Madana Gopāladeva] take place constantly [i.e., endeavor to journey there because only there will all your desires be fulfilled to the greatest extent].”
sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje |
ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.2.6)
“That [dharma] because of which causeless and unobstructed bhakti to Adhokṣaja [i.e., Bhagavān, lit., ‘he who is transcendent’] can come to be, and by which the self [i.e., the mind] becomes fully satisfied, is alone the highest dharma for humanity.”
duḥkham avyakta-vartmaiva tad-bahu-vighnam ato budhaḥ |
sukhaṁ kṛṣṇa-padāmbhojaṁ bhakti-sat-pathavān bhajet ||
(Subodhinī-ṭīkā of Śrī Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda on Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 12.20)
“The path of the Unmanifest [i.e., upāsana of undifferentiated (nirviśeṣa) Brahman] is troublesome and beset with many obstacles. Therefore, a wise person, adherent to the right path of bhakti, should worship the delightful lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.”
saṁsāra-sindhum ati-dustaram uttitīrṣor
nānyaḥ plavo bhagavato puruṣottamasya |
līlā-kathā-rasa-niṣevanam antareṇa
puṁso bhaved vividha-duḥkha-davārditasya ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.4.40; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 86)
“For a person tormented by the forest fire of various miseries who is desirous of crossing over the exceedingly difficult to cross ocean of saṁsāra, there is no vessel other than honoring the rasa of the narrations of the līlā of Bhagavān Puruṣottama.”
prītir yato yasya sukhaṁ ca yena
samyag bhavet tad-rasikasya tasya |
tat sādhanaṁ śreṣṭhatamaṁ susevyaṁ
sadbhir mataṁ pratyuta sādhya-rūpam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.3.152)
“The sādhana related to him [i.e., Śrī Bhagavān] of a relisher of him for which one’s complete affinity (__prīti__), and by which [one’s complete] satisfaction, shall come about is the best of all, [is] to be excellently performed, and [is] considered, rather, the goal and a form [of that goal] by the sat.”
bhagavān brahma kārtsnyena trir anvīkṣya manīṣayā |
tad adhyavasyat kūṭa-stho ratir ātman yato bhavet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.2.34; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.567; Bhakti Sandarbha: 7, 29, 94)
“After thrice one-pointedly deliberating over the entirety of the Veda (Brahma), Bhagavān [i.e., Brahmā] determined with his discernment that because of which rati for the Ātmā [i.e., Śrī Hari] can come about.”
kṛṣṇa-bhaktyaiva sādhutvaṁ sādhanaṁ paramaṁ hi sā |
tayā sādhyaṁ tad-aṅghry-abja-yugalaṁ paramaṁ phalam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.2.202)
“Sādhutva [i.e., the state of being sādhu] comes about only by Kṛṣṇa-bhakti, since that [i.e., Kṛṣṇa-bhakti] is the supreme sādhana, and by that the supreme goal, his two lotus feet, is attainable.”
