bhāgyodayena bahu-janma-samarjitena sat-saṅgamaṁ ca labhate puruṣo yadā vai |
ajñāna-hetu-kṛta-moha-madāndhakāra-nāśanaṁ vidhāya hi tadodayate vivekaḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa: Bhāgavata-māhātmya: 2.76)
“When a person attains association with a sādhu as a result of good fortune acquired over the course of many lives, then discernment (viveka) arises and dispels the darkness of bewilderment and pride caused by ignorance.”
sadbhiḥ kṣiṇoti taṁ tarṣaṁ tata ārād viśuddhyati |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.10.17)
“Because of [association with] sādhus, that desire [i.e., desire for the mundane] wanes, and then one quickly becomes pure.”
gaṅgā pāpaṁ śaśī tāpaṁ dainyaṁ kalpa-tarur haret |
pāpaṁ tāpaṁ ca dainyaṁ sadyaḥ sādhu-samāgamaḥ ||
(Garga-saṁhitā: 10.62.9)
“The Gaṅgā removes sin, the moon suffering [alt., heat], and the desire-tree dejection [i.e., poverty]. Meeting with a sādhu [however] immediately removes sin, suffering, and dejection.”
na hy am-mayāni tīrthāni na devā mṛc-chilā-mayāḥ |
te punanty uru-kālena darśanād eva sādhavaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.84.11; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.204, Bhakti Sandarbha 184)
[Kṛṣṇa:] “Are places made of water not tīrthas? [They are.] Are figures made of earth and stone are not [deities of] devas? [They are.] They [certainly] purify [a living being] over the course of a long time. Sādhus [however] purify just by sight [i.e., immediately, and should thus be considered the greatest of tīrthas and the greatest of devas].”
hari-bhakti-parāṇāṁ tu saṅgināṁ saṅga-mātrataḥ |
mucyate sarva-pāpebhyo mahā-pātakavān api ||
(Bṛhan Nāradīya Purāṇa: 1.36.61; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.252 Bhakti Sandarbha: 148)
“Even a great sinner is liberated from all sins just by the association of those who associate with those who are engaged in Hari-bhakti.”
apākaroti duritaṁ śreyaḥ saṁyojayaty api |
yaśo vistārayaty āśu nṝṇāṁ vaiṣṇava-saṅgamaḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 5.98.57; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.255)
“The association of a Vaiṣṇava quickly removes sin [i.e., evil, danger, saṁsāra, etc.], leads to virtue [i.e., auspiciousness, good fortune, the puruṣārthas, etc.] and expands human beings’ glory [beyond that of even muktas].”
iti jāta-sunirvedaḥ kṣaṇa-saṅgena sādhuṣu |
gaṅgā-dvāram upeyāya mukta-sarvānubandhanaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.2.39)
“Thus possessed of complete disinterest [in saṁsāra] by [just] a moment of association with sādhus, he [i.e., Ajāmila] went to Gaṅgādvāra [i.e., Haridvāra], free from all connections [i.e., attachment to wife, sons, and so forth].”
śaile śaile na māṇikyaṁ mauktikaṁ na gaje gaje |
sādhavo na hi sarvatra candanaṁ na vane vane ||
(Cāṇakya-nīti-darśana: 2.9)
“A ruby is not on every mountain. A pearl is not on every elephant. Sādhus are not everywhere. Sandalwood is not in every forest.”
matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā
mitho’bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām |
adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ
punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām ||
na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ
durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ |
andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās
te’pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ ||
naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ
spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ |
mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ
niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.5.30–32)
“[Śrī Prahlāda to Hiraṇyakaśipu:] Inclination towards Kṛṣṇa cannot arise on account of another, on its own, or on account of both [i.e., on its own and on account of another] for those intent upon household life, who have entered darkness because of uncontrolled senses and whose chewing is [only] of the chewed [therein] again and again. They, of debased mind, who honor only those whose aim is in the external, certainly do not understand Viṣṇu, he who is the object to be reached [only] for those whose aim is related to the Self. They also become bound by the strong strands of Īśa’s cord like the blind being led by the blind. Their inclination, the need of which is the cessation of the insubstantial, does not touch the feet of he of great stride [i.e., Bhagavān] so long as one shall not accept a bath in the foot-dust of the divested—the great ones.”
mṛga-tṛṣṇā-samaṁ vīkṣya saṁsāraṁ kṣaṇa-bhaṅguram |
sajjanaiḥ saṅgataṁ kuryād dharmāya ca sukhāya ca ||
(Hitopadeśa: Sandhi, 138)
“Seeing the world of saṁsāra to be perishable in a moment like a mirage, associate with the sādhus for the sake of dharma and happiness.”
