divasenaiva tat kuryāt yena rātrau sukhaṁ vaset |
yāvaj jīvaṁ ca tat kuryāt yena pretya sukhaṁ vaset ||
(Vidura-nītī: 136, 137)
“Do that during the day whereby you can pass the night in happiness, and do that throughout life whereby you can live in happiness hereafter.”
prajñām evāgamayati yaḥ prājñebhyaḥ sa paṇḍitaḥ |
prājño hy avāpya dharmārthau śaknoti sukham edhitum ||
(Mahābhārata: 5.35.57)
“One who procures wisdom from the wise is a paṇḍita, and a wise person, by attaining dharma and artha, is able to increase his happiness.”
janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-vedanābhir upadrutam |
saṁsāram imam utpannam asāraṁ tyajataḥ sukham ||
(Hitopadeśa: Sandhi, 94)
“Happiness comes from giving up this insubstantial world of saṁsāra which is overrun by birth, death, old age, disease, and sorrow.”
katamo’pi na venaḥ syāt pañcānāṁ puruṣaṁ prati |
tasmāt kenāpy upāyena manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.1.31)
“[Nārada Ṛṣi to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja:] Veṇa did not have even one of these five [aforementioned bhāvas] for the Puruṣa. Therefore, one may absorb the mind in Kṛṣṇa by some particular means.”
gopyaḥ kāmād bhayāt kaṁso dveṣāc caidyādayo nṛpāḥ |
sambandhād vṛṣṇayaḥ snehād yūyaṁ bhaktyā vayaṁ vibho ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.1.30)
“[Nārada Ṛṣi to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja:] O King, the gopis through amorous desire, Kaṁsa through fear, kings such as Caidya [i.e., Śiśupāla] through hatred, the Vṛṣṇis and Paṇḍavas through affection based on relationship, and we through bhakti [attained a destination related to Īśvara, as described in the previous verse].”
kāmād dveṣād bhayāt snehād yathā bhaktyeśvare manaḥ |
āveśya tad-aghaṁ hitvā bahavas tad-gatiṁ gatāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.1.29)
“[Nārada Ṛṣi to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja:] Having absorbed the mind in Īśvara out of amorous desire (kāma), enmity, fear, or affection, and [thereby] given up their sin, many have attained a destination related to him [i.e., Īśvara] as [some do so] by means of bhakti.”
kīṭaḥ peśaskṛtā ruddhaḥ kuḍyāyāṁ tam anusmaran |
saṁrambha-bhaya-yogena vindate tat-svarūpatām ||
evaṁ kṛṣṇe bhagavati māyā-manuja īśvare |
vaireṇa pūta-pāpmānas tam āpur anucintayā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.1.27–28)
“[Nārada Ṛṣi to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja:] An insect captured by a potter wasp in its nest, constantly thinking of it by means of fury and fear, [eventually by virtue of being so absorbed in thought of it] attains an identity of form with it. Similarly, those who have been purified of sin by continuously thinking out of enmity of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, [he who is] Īśvara manifest by means of [his] māyā as a human, attain him.”
yathā vairānubandhena martyas tan-mayatām iyāt |
na tathā bhakti-yogena iti me niścitā matiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.1.26)
“[Nārada Ṛṣi to Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja:] As a mortal being can attain absorption in him [i.e., Bhagavān] through constant enmity, not so [can one] through bhakti-yoga. This is my certain opinion.”
śrī-kṛṣṇa-bhajanasyāntaryāmi-bhajanād apy ādhikyaṁ śrī-gītopasaṁhārānusāreṇa evoktam—īśvaraḥ … mā śucaḥ | atra ca guhyaṁ pūrvādhyāyoktaṁ jñānam | guhyataram antaryāmi-jñānam | sarva-guhyatamaṁ tan-manastvādi-lakṣaṇaṁ tad-eka-śaraṇatva-lakṣaṇaṁ ca tad-upāsanam … | tasmāt sarvāntaryāmi-bhajanād apy uttamatvena tad-anantaraṁ ca sarva-guhyatamam ity atra sarva-grahaṇāt sarvata uttamatvena śrī-kṛṣṇa-bhajane siddhe tad-avatāra-bhajanāt sutarām evottamatā sidhyati |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 332)
“The superiority of worship (bhajana) of Śrī Kṛṣṇa even to worship of the Inner Regulator (Antaryāmī) [i.e., Paramātmā] is stated [here in Bhakti Sandarbha] specifically in accord with the conclusion of Śrī Gītā, that is, BG 18.61–66. … Here [i.e., in these concluding verses], furthermore, the knowledge [of Brahman] stated in the earlier chapters [of Śrī Gītā] is confidential (guhya) [i.e., is the confidential knowledge spoken of in BG 18.63]. Knowledge of the Inner Regulator is more confidential (guhyatara) [i.e., is the more confidential knowledge spoken of in BG 18.63]. Worship of him [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] in the form of having one’s mind [fixed] upon him and so forth, and in the form of having him alone as one’s shelter, is the most confidential of all (sarva-guhyatama) [i.e., is the ‘most confidential of all’ knowledge spoken of in BG 18.64–66]. … Therefore, since worship (bhajana) of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is established [in Śrīmad Bhagavat-gītā] as being superior even to worship of the Inner Regulator of all and thereafter as being superior to everything by use of [the word] ‘all’ (sarva) here in [the compound] ‘the most confidential of all’ (sarva-guhyatamam), [its] superiority to worship of his avatāras is established verily all the more.”
jñāne karmaṇi yoge ca vārtāyāṁ daṇḍa-dhāraṇe |
yāvān artho nṛṇāṁ tāta tāvāṁs te’haṁ catur-vidhaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.29.33; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 334)
“My dear [i.e., O Uddhava], for you, I am the entirety of the fourfold object of human beings [achievable] by means of knowledge (jñāna), action (karma), yoga, business, and justice.”
