mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā
vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo ye |
ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā
janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu ||
gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu
na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.5.2–3; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.17, 69; Bhakti Sandarbha: 186; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.82)
“Service to the mahats is said to be the door to mukti of various types, and attachment to those who are attached to women [is said to be] the door to darkness. The mahāntas [lit., ‘the great’] are they who are of equal mind, tranquil, free from anger, friendly, and virtuous, and alternately, they who (1) have made affection [i.e., prema] for me, Īśa, their aim, (2) [they] who are unpossessed of affinity for homes, wives, children, friends, and persons fixed upon affairs related to bodily maintenance, and (3) [they] who are possessed of only so much wealth [as is necessary] in this world.”
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