yato niryāti viṣayo yasmiñ caiva pralīyate |
hṛdayaṁ tad vijānīyāt manasaḥ sthiti-kāraṇam ||
(Śabda-sāra)
“Know that from which a viṣaya (object) emerges [upon being identified and conveyed to the manas by the buddhi on the basis of one’s saṁskāras and vāsanās] and into which it disappears to be the hṛdaya (heart) [syn., citta], the cause of the manas’ (mind’s) condition.”
ātmānaṁ ced vijānīyāt paraṁ jñāna-dhutāśayaḥ |
kim icchan kasya vā hetor dehaṁ puṣṇāti lampaṭaḥ |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.15.40; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.6.314)
“If one whose inclinations [i.e., vāsanās] have been cast away by knowledge can understand the ātmā [i.e., self] to be distinct [from the body], then desiring what, or, for what reason, does one [then] covetously nourish the body? [i.e., the only reason could be that a person’s vāsanās have not actually be cast away, and under their influence the person hankers to satisfy the tongue, genitals, and so on.]”
aprāpye’pi yathā kāme dharme cintā na kiṁ tathā |
alābhe’pi dvayor ekā bhayadā śivadāparā ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha: 2184)
“Why does one not think of dharma as much as even an unattainable desire? Even if neither are attained, one [i.e., thought of unattainable desires] causes stress and the other [i.e., thought of dharma] causes auspiciousness.”
saṅkalpo viditaḥ sādhvyo bhavatināṁ mad-arcanam |
mayānumoditaḥ so’sau satyo bhavitum arhati ||
na mayy āveśita-dhiyāṁ kāmaḥ kāmāya kalpate |
bharjitāḥ kvathitā dhānā prāyo bījāya neśate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.22.25–26)
“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa to the gopīs who worshipped Kātyāyanī to attain him as their husband:] O honorable girls, your resolve (saṅkalpa) in worshipping me is understood. It is approved by me and fit to become true. The desire of those whose minds are absorbed in me does not lead to desire [i.e., desire for anything else]. Do fried and boiled roasted grains likely act as seed?”
hiṁsraḥ sva-pāpena vihiṁsitaḥ khalaḥ
sādhuḥ samatvena bhayād vimucyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.7.31)
“A hurtful, wicked person is hurt by his own sin. A sādhu is freed from danger by [his own] equability.”
cittaṁ cittād upāgamya munir āsīta saṁyataḥ |
yac cittas tanmayo’vaśyaṁ guhyam etat sanātanam ||
(Mahābhārata: 14.51.27)
“Returning from the mind (citta) to the mind [i.e., focusing one’s awareness], a sage should sit restrained. As is the mind, so one inevitably becomes. This is the eternal secret.”
cittam eva hi saṁsāras tat prayatnena śodhayet |
yac cittas tanmayo bhāti guhyam etat sanātanam ||
(Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad: 6.34.3; Śāṭyāyanīya Upaniṣad: 3)
“The citta (mind) itself is saṁsāra [i.e., the condition of one’s citta is the cause of the perpetuation of one’s bondage in saṁsāra]. Purify it with exertion. As is the citta, so one becomes [i.e., one becomes absorbed in, constituted of, and/or identical to the content in one’s citta]. This is the eternal secret.”
prāyeṇa manujā loke loka-tattva-vicakṣaṇāḥ |
samuddharanti hy ātmānam ātmanaivāśubhāśayāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.7.19)
“Generally, human beings in the world who are clear-sighted about the nature of the world [i.e., who are adept in discerning causes of benefit and harm in the visible world] deliver themselves from harmful predispositions [i.e., vāsanās related to sense objects] by their own selves [i.e., by exercising their own faculties of discernment].”
jāta-śraddho mat-kathāsu nirviṇṇaḥ sarva-karmasu |
veda duḥkhātmakān kāmān parityāge’py anīśvaraḥ ||
tato bhajeta māṁ prītaḥ śraddhālur dṛḍha-niścayaḥ |
juṣamāṇaś ca tān kāmān duḥkhodarkāṁś ca garhayan ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.20.27–28)
“One who has śraddhā in discussions of me, is disinterested in all karmas [i.e., in all activities that are unrelated to me], and knows that desires are full of suffering [i.e., are invariable causes of suffering] yet is still unable to relinquish them, should thereafter worship me, being affectionate, full of śraddhā, and of firm resolve while both acceding to and condemning those objects of desire, the consequences of which are [only ultimately] suffering.”
saubhares tu garuḍāya kupyato yasmin kṛpā ajaniṣṭha tasya mīnasyaiva saṅgād utthitā durvāsanaivāparādha-phalaṁ yataś ca vilupta-brahmānandaḥ sacira-sañcita-tapas-sṛṣṭa-svayauvanenaiva mūlyena kāminī-vṛndaṁ krītvā tatraiva naraka-tulye viṣayānande nimajjann aparādha-bhogānte śrī-vṛndāvana-yamunāśraya-māhātmyenaiva paścān nistatāreti navame kathā |
(Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.17.11)
“The ill-inclination (durvāsanā) which arose through the association of the very fish upon whom Saubhari, who was angry at Garuḍa, showed grace was a result of [his, i.e., Saubhari’s] aparādha [against Garuḍa], since he became disengaged from the bliss of Brahman [as a result of this aparādha], and he bought a group of desirable woman for the price of his personal youth produced with [the results of] his long accumulated austerities, became absorbed there itself [i.e., in the company of those women] in bliss related to viṣaya, which is comparable to Naraka, and [only] after enduring [the full result of his] aparādha was delivered thereafter only by the greatness of the shelter of Śrī Vṛndāvana and the Yamunā [where he had originally come to engage in sādhana]. This is narrated in the Ninth Canto.”
