janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam |
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 13.9)
“Repeated [alt., recurrent] deliberation [alt., reflection] upon the predicament of suffering in the form of birth, death, infirmity, and disease [is an integral aspect of true knowledge].”
antar-dhvāntacayaṁ samasta-jagatām unmūlayantī haṭhāt
premānanda-rasāmbudhiṁ niravadhiṁ prodvelayantī balāt |
viśvaṁ śītalayanty atīva vikalaṁ tāpa-trayeṇāniśaṁ
yuṣmākaṁ hṛdaye cakāstu satataṁ caitanya-candra-cchaṭā ||
(Caitanya-candrāmṛta: 17)
“May Caitanyacandra’s radiance, which forcibly uproots all darkness from the heart of the entire world, powerfully swells the boundless ocean of the rasa of prema’s bliss, and greatly soothes the world constantly dismayed by the three miseries, shine within your heart forever.”
hā hanta citta-bhuvi me paramoṣarāyāṁ
sad-bhakti-kalpa-latikāṅkuritā kathaṁ syāt |
hṛdy ekam eva paramāśvasanīyam asti
caitanya-nāma kalayan na kadāpi śocyaḥ ||
(Caitanya-candrāmṛta: 53)
“Hā! Hanta! [lsy., Oh! Alas!] How will the wish-fulfilling creeper of pure bhakti sprout within the utterly barren land of my consciousness? There is only one source of great hope within my heart: by chanting the name of Caitanya no reason to lament can ever remain.”
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.”
yāvaj jano bhajati no bhuvi viṣṇu-bhakti-
vārttā-sudhā-rasa-viśeṣa-rasaika-sāram |
tāvaj jarā-maraṇa-janma-śatābhighāta-
duḥkhāni tāni labhate bahu-dehajāni ||
(Padma Purāṇa: Pātāla-khaṇḍa, 85.33; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.607; Bhakti Sandarbha: 115)
“As long as a human being on earth does not partake of [i.e., take shelter with bhakti in] the one essence—the rasa of the exceptional nectar of the tidings of Viṣṇu-bhakti—then one undergoes the sufferings of the lashings of hundreds of infirmities, deaths, and births begotten by numerous bodies [i.e., the severe suffering of saṁsāra is extinguished only when one attains Viṣṇu-bhakti, and thus attaining it is imperative].”
yadā carmavad ākāśaṁ veṣṭayiṣyanti mānavāḥ |
tadā devam avijñāya duḥkhasyānto bhaviṣyati ||
(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad: 6.20)
“When human beings are able to roll up the sky like leather, then [their] suffering will come to an end without understanding Deva.”
bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād
īśād apetasya viparyayo’smṛtiḥ |
tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ
bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.37; cited in Tattva Sandarbha: 32; Paramātma Sandarbha: 47; Bhakti Sandarbha: 1, 59, 114; Prīti Sandarbha: 1; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.20.116)
“Non-awareness, misapprehension, and fear because of absorption in a second shall occur by means of Īśa’s māyā for one who is averse to him. Therefore, a wise person, being one for whom the guru is the Devatā and the self (ātmā), should fully worship him [viz., Īśa, Bhagavān] with one-pointed bhakti.”
yoga ādhyātmikaḥ puṁsāṁ mato niḥśreyasāya me |
atyantoparatir yatra duḥkhasya ca sukhasya ca ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.25.13)
[Bhagavān Kapila to Devahūti:] “O Mother, I consider yoga related to the higher ātmā [i.e., Paramātmā, or the jīvātmā], wherein complete cessation of [sāṁsārika] suffering and happiness occur, to be [the means] for a living being’s ultimate well-being [i.e., mokṣa].”
doṣa-mūlaṁ hi jīvasya parama-tattva-jñānābhāva evety uktam—‘bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt’ ity ādau, ‘īśād apetasya’ ity-ādibhiḥ | atas taj-jñānam eva śuddhatvam … |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 1)
“The root of the jīva’s deficiency (doṣa) is only the absence of awareness of the Supreme Entity (Parama-tattva), as stated by [the phrase], ‘For one who is averse to the Lord’ (Īśād apetasya) in [the verse] bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād … [i.e., SB 11.2.37]. Therefore, only awareness of him [i.e., the Supreme Entity] is purity.”
anartham arthataḥ paśyann arthaṁ caivāpy anarthataḥ |
indriyaiḥ prasṛto bālaḥ suduḥkhaṁ manyate sukham ||
(Mahābhārata: 5.34.59; Vidura-nīti: 213; cited in Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“Seeing anartha within artha and artha within anartha [i.e., seeing nonsense within sense and even sense within nonsense, misfortune within fortune and even fortune within misfortune, evil within good and even good within evil, etc.], the fool, pulled by the senses, considers great suffering to be happiness.”
