śatror api guṇā grāhyā doṣā vācyā guror api |
sarvathā sarva-yatnena putre śiṣye hitaṁ vadet ||
(Mahābhārata: 4.51.15)
“Qualities even of an enemy are to be accepted, and faults even of an elder (guru) are to be acknowledged. With all [due] care one should under all circumstances say that which is beneficial for a son and a disciple.”
yukti-yuktaṁ vaco grāhyaṁ bālād api śukād api |
ayuktam api na grāhyaṁ sākṣād api bṛhaspateḥ ||
(Unknown source)
“A statement endowed with reason, even from a boy, and even from a parrot, is to be accepted, while one devoid of reason is not to be accepted even from Bṛhaspati himself.
yukti-yuktam upādeyaṁ vacanaṁ bālakād api |
anyat tṛṇam iva tyājyam apy uktaṁ padma-janmanā ||
(Yoga Vaśiṣṭha: 2.18.3)
“A statement endowed with reason, even from a boy, is to be accepted. A statement otherwise [i.e., devoid of reason], even from he of lotus birth [viz., Brahmā], is to be rejected like straw.”
yukti-yuktaṁ vaco grāhyaṁ na grāhyaṁ guru-gauravāt |
sarva-śāstra-rahasyaṁ tad yājñavalkyena bhāṣitam ||
(Yājñavalkya-śikṣā: 232)
“A statement that is endowed with reason is to be accepted and not to be accepted [just] because of reverence for the guru [alt., just because of the venerability of the guru, who spoke it]. This secret of all the śāstras has been stated by Yājñavalkya.”
kiṁ durāpaṁ mayi prīte tathāpi vibudharṣabhāḥ |
mayy ekānta-matir nānyan matto vāñchati tattva-vit ||
na veda kṛpaṇaḥ śreya ātmano guṇa-vastu-dṛk |
tasya tān icchato yacched yadi so’pi tathā-vidhaḥ ||
svayaṁ niḥśreyasaṁ vidvān na vakty ajñāya karma hi |
na rāti rogiṇo’pathyaṁ vāñchato’pi bhiṣaktamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.9.47–49)
“[Bhagavān Viṣṇu:] O best of the devatās! What is difficult to attain when I am pleased? [Nothing]. Still, a knower of the essence—one whose mind is one-pointed upon me—does not desire anything other than me. A pitiable seer of substance in [worldly] objects does not understand his own good. If at will someone shall give those [i.e., essenceless worldly objects] to him, [then] he too is of such sort [i.e., then that giver of worldly objects is also ignorant just like the desirer of them is]. One who has knowledge of the highest good himself certainly does not speak of karma to one who is ignorant. An excellent doctor does not administer that which is unsalutary for a patient even if [the patient is] desirous [of that].”
śāstrera nā jāne marma adhyāpanā kare |
gardabhera prāya yena śāstra vahi mare ||
paḍhiyā śuniñā loka gela chārakhāre |
kṛṣṇa mahāmahotsave vañcila tāhāre ||
(Caitanya-bhāgavata: 2.1.158–159)
“One who does not know the purport of the śāstra yet teaches [śāstra to others only] bears the śāstra and languishes like a donkey [i.e., as a beast of burden suffers from bearing a load without ever experiencing the benefit the goods it carries can provide, such as the fragrance that can be released from a load of sandalwood it carries, so someone who teaches the śāstra but does not understand its purport only undergoes the trouble of studying and teaching without experiencing the benefit that the knowledge meant to be conveyed by the śāstra can produce, that is, the superlative joy of Kṛṣṇa-bhakti].[Even] After hearing and studying [the śāstra], the person [who teaches the śāstra without understanding its purport] is laid to waste. Kṛṣṇa deprives them of the ultimate grand festival [i.e., the superlative joy of discussion, realization, and so forth of himself].”
śrī-rūpeṇa prabala-karunā-śālinā darśitaṁ yan
mādṛṅ-mugdha-prakṛti-janatā-śreyase rāga-vartma |
tasmin yeṣāṁ ratir atitarāṁ vartate sāra-bhājāṁ
teṣāṁ pādāmbuja-natimatī koṭiśas syāj janir me ||
(Svātma-pramodinī-ṭīkā on Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 15.260)
“May I receive crores of births
Filled with obeisances unto the lotus feet
Of those graspers of essence
Who have profound loving attachment (rati)
To the path of rāga
Shown for the sake of the highest benefit
Of the populace of erring temperament like myself
By the profoundly compassionate Śrī Rūpa.”
aho kila tad evāhaṁ manye bhagavato hareḥ |
sugopya-bhagavattāyāḥ sarva-sāra-prakāśanam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.88)
“Aho! I certainly consider that [i.e., the figure, qualities, pastimes, and so forth of Śrī Hari in Goloka] alone the manifestation of the essence of the entirety of the most confidential Bhagavattā of Bhagavān Hari!”
asāre khalu saṁsāre sukha-bhrāntiḥ śarīriṇām |
lālāpānam ivāṅguṣṭhe bālānāṁ stanya-vibhramaḥ ||
(Samayocita-padya-mālikā; Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha: 3742)
“In verily essenceless saṁsāra, the embodied have a false impression of happiness (sukha), just as a child sucking its thumb has the misperception of a breast.”
dainyārṇave nimagno’smi mantu-grāva-bharārditaḥ |
duṣṭe kāruṇya-pārīṇa mayi kṛṣṇa kṛpāṁ kuru ||
ādhāro’py aparādhānām aviveka-hato’py aham |
tvat-kāruṇya-pratīkṣo’smi prasīda mayi mādhava ||
(Stava-mālā: Praṇāma-praṇaya-stava, 13–14)
“I am immersed in an ocean of distress and burdened by the weight of the stone of my offenses [which is shackled to me as I flounder]. O Adept in compassion! O Kṛṣṇa! Please bestow your grace upon my wicked self. Although I am a repository of aparādhas, and although I am blighted by indiscrimination, I wait [expectantly] for your compassion. Please bestow your grace upon me.”
