bālas tāvat krīḍā-saktaḥ
taruṇas tāvat taruṇī-saktaḥ |
vṛddhas tāvac cintā-saktaḥ
pare brahmaṇi ko’pi na saktaḥ ||
(Moha-mudgara-stotram: 7)
“As a child, one is absorbed in play. As a youth, one is absorbed in young women. As an elder, one is absorbed in worry. No one is absorbed in Parabrahman.”
ādityasya gatāgatair ahar ahaḥ saṁkṣīyate jīvitaṁ
vyāpārair bahu-kārya-bhāra-gurubhiḥ kālo’pi na jñāyate |
dṛṣṭvā janma-jarā-vipatti-maraṇaṁ trāsaś ca notpadyate
pītvā mohamayīṁ pramāda-madirām unmatta-bhūtaṁ jagat ||
(Vairāgya-śatakam: 43)
“With the rising and setting of the sun day by day, life is passing away. With affairs heavy with the burden of numerous tasks, the time is also unrecognized [as it passes away]. And [even] after having observed birth, old age, misfortune, and death [occurring all around], [still] fear is not arising [in the people’s mind]. Having drunk the intoxicating wine of remiss, the world has become mad.”
yasyām eva kavaya ātmānam avirataṁ vividha-vṛjina-saṁsāra-paritāpopatapyamānam anusavanaṁ snāpayantas tayaiva parayā nirvṛtyā hy apavargam ātyantikaṁ parama-puruṣārtham api svayam āsāditaṁ no evādriyante bhagavadīyatvenaiva parisamāpta-sarvārthāḥ |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.6.17; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 19)
“Incessantly immersing the self—which is [otherwise] being continuously afflicted by the sufferings of saṁsāra beset with various types of sin—in which [i.e., in one-pointed bhakti to Vāsudeva as aforementioned], the wise, who have fully attained all [puruṣa-] arthas solely by virtue of [their] belongingness to Bhagavān, with the supreme satisfaction of that [one-pointed bhakti to Vāsudeva] do not show any regard even to [what is conventionally considered] the final, ultimate puruṣārtha, apavarga [i.e., mukti of any of the five types] [even] when obtained of its own accord [i.e., offered by Śrī Bhagavān himself even though it has not been desired].”
kṛṣṇa-caritaṁ kali-kalmaṣa-ghnaṁ … |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.1.14)
“The acts of Kṛṣṇa are dispellers of the defilement of [the Age of] Kali.”
śrī-vajra-praśnaḥ—
kalpānāṁ jīva-sāmye hi muktir naivopapadyate |
kadācid api dharmajña tatra pṛcchāmi kāraṇam ||
ekaikasmin nare muktiṁ kalpe kalpe gate dvija |
abhaviṣyaj jagac chūnyaṁ kālasyāder abhāvataḥ ||
atha śrī-mārkaṇḍeyasyottaram—
jīvasyānyasya sargeṇa nare muktim upāgate |
acintya-śaktir bhagavān jagat pūrayate sadā ||
brahmaṇā saha mucyante brahma-lokam upāgatāḥ |
sṛjyante ca mahā-kalpe tad-vidhāś cāpare janān ||
atra kvacid api kalpe keṣāṁcid api jīvānām anudbuddha-karmatvena suṣuptavat prakṛtāv api līnānām ananta-brahmāṇḍa-gatānām ivānantānām ekasyopādhi-sṛṣṭyā brahmāṇḍa-praveśanaṁ sarga iti jñeyam | apūrva-sṛṣṭau sāditve kṛta-hāny-akṛtābhyāgamaḥ syāt |
(Viṣṇu-dharmottara Purāṇa: 1.81.11–14; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 16)
“A question of Śrī Vajra: ‘Because of the kalpas’ even number of jīvas [i.e., because the number of jīvas in the universe remains the same in every kalpa], mukti can never be possible. O knower of dharma, I ask [you] the reason for this. O twice-born, if one human being attained mukti in kalpa after kalpa, the universe would have become empty [by now] because of the non-existence of time’s beginning.’ “Then, the answer of Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya: ‘Whenever a human being attains mukti, Bhagavān, who is possessed of inconceivable potency (śakti), always [re-] fills the universe with an emanation of another jīva. Those who have attain Brahmaloka [i.e., the plane of Brahmā] are liberated along with Brahmā [at the end of the kalpa when the universe is dissolved], and other persons of that type are emanated in the next great kalpa [i.e., at the beginning of the next emanation of the universe].’ “[Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī comments:] In this regard, ‘emanation’ (sarga) [of a jīva] is to be understood as the emanating of [appropriate] adjuncts (upādhis] [i.e., an antaḥkaraṇa, bahiḥkaraṇa, and gross body] and the entering a universe (brahmāṇḍa) of one of the innumerable [jīvas] who are like those situated in the innumerable universes but who are merged in prakṛti as if in deep sleep because of some such jīvas in some kalpa having unaroused karma [i.e., because some jīvas’ beginningless karma does not result in their being emanated into a manifest form of prakṛti, i.e., a universe, during that particular kalpa]. If it [i.e., the emanation of a jīva] had a beginning [i.e., was a creation of a new entity rather than just an emanation of a pre-existent entity] in the unprecedented emanation [i.e., in the beginningless cyclic existence of material universes], loss of what has been made (kṛta-hāni) and attainment of what has not been made would occur [i.e., the results of some actions performed in the past would not bear fruit, since the jīva in such a case would be a created entity who is subject to death, and thus would not have the ability to experience after death the results of the actions that it performed throughout its life; moreover, the jīva would have experiences that are not a result of its past actions since its birth and the circumstances of its life would not be outcomes of actions performed in past lives].”
śreyasām iha sarveṣāṁ jñānaṁ niḥśreyasaṁ param |
sukhaṁ tarati duṣpāraṁ jñāna-naur vyasanārṇavam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.24.75)
“Of all beneficial means in this world, knowledge [i.e., knowledge of Bhagavān] is the supreme, ultimately beneficial means. One who boards the boat of knowledge easily crosses the difficult to traverse ocean of distress [i.e., saṁsāra].”
saṁsāra-viṣa-vṛkṣasya dve phale hy amṛtopame |
kāvyāmṛta-rasāsvādaḥ saṅgamaḥ sajjanaiḥ saha ||
(Subhāṣita-ratna-bhāṇḍāgāra)
“On the poisonous tree of saṁsāra only two fruits are like nectar: tasting the rasa of the nectar of poetry (kāvya) and associating with sādhus.”
sudhānām cāndrīṇāṁ mādhurīmonmāda-damanī
dadhānā rādhādi-praṇaya-ghana-sāraiḥ surabhitām |
samantāt santāpodgama-viṣama-saṁsāra-saraṇī-
praṇītāṁ te tṛṣṇāṁ haratu hari-līlā-śikhariṇī ||
(Vidagdha-mādhava: 1.1)
“Bearing the fragrance of the camphor of Rādhā and others’ love, may the śikhariṇī of Hari’s līlā, the subduer of the pride of the sweetness of the moon’s nectars, completely remove your thirst arising from [travelling along] the rugged, distressing path of saṁsāra [just as śikhariṇī subdues the mania produced by an excess of vāta and aches produced by an excess of pitta].”
sukhāya karmāṇi karoti loko
na taiḥ sukhaṁ vānyad upāramaṁ vā |
vindeta bhūyas tata eva duḥkhaṁ
yad atra yuktaṁ bhagavān vaden naḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.5.2)
“People engage in karma in pursuit of happiness, but by that they attain neither happiness nor the cessation of its opposite [i.e., suffering]. Rather, they attain only more suffering. O illustrious sage, please explain what is befitting [for us to do] here [i.e., in this condition in saṁsāra].”
yadākṣaiś caritān dhyāyan karmāṇy ācinute’sakṛt |
sati karmaṇy avidyāyāṁ bandhaḥ karmaṇy anātmanaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.29.78)
“[How is the mind the cause of saṁsāra?] When one repeatedly performs karmas thinking of objects attained [previously] by the senses, then, since karma [i.e., a karmic reaction] is present and thus [also] avidyā [i.e., the underlying basis of karma is also present], bondage to the karma of the non-ātmā occurs.”
