ye nāma kecid iha naḥ prathayanti avajñāṁ
jānanti te kim api tān prati naiṣa yatnaḥ |
utpatsyate tu mama ko’pi samāna-dharmā
kālo hy ayaṁ niravadhir vipulā ca pṛthvī ||
(Bhavabhūti’s Mālāti-mādhava: 1.8)
“Some may deride me. What do they know? This work [i.e., this book] is not for them. Someone of similar nature to me [i.e., an appreciator of my work], however, will come along [some day], since time is endless and this earth is vast.”
sahasā vidadhīta na kriyām
avivekaḥ param āpadāṁ padam |
vṛṇate hi vimṛśya-kāriṇaṁ
guṇa-lubdhāḥ svayam eva sampadaḥ ||
(Kirātārjunīyam: 2.30; cited in Sāhitya-darpaṇa: 643, Hitopadeśa: 4.104; the Vṛtti on Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa: 780; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-śeṣa: 90)
“One should not act rashly. Indiscrimination is a cause of severe misfortune. Desirous of [such] virtue, good fortune personally worships one who acts after having deliberated.”
nāpṛṣṭaḥ kasyacid brūyān na cānyāyena pṛcchataḥ |
jānann api hi medhāvī jaḍaval loka ācaret ||
(Manu Smṛti: 2.110)
“Unless asked, do not speak to anyone, and do not speak to someone who asks improperly. Even while knowing, an intelligent person should act like a dullard [when it is unbefitting to disclose one’s knowledge].”
dharmārtham api neheta yātrārthaṁ vādhano dhanam |
anīhānīhamānasya mahāher iva vṛttidā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.15.15)
“A person devoid of wealth should not desire [alt., endeavor for] wealth even for the sake of dharma or one’s sustenance. Desirelessness [alt., non-endeavoring] [itself] provides the livelihood of one who is desireless [alt., non-endeavoring], as it does for a large snake [i.e., python].”
ye sarva-nairapekṣyena rādhā-dāsyecchavaḥ param |
saṅkīrtayanti tan-nāma tādṛśa-priyatā-mayāḥ ||
anyeṣām iva teṣāṁ ca prāpyaṁ ced hṛn na tṛpyati |
aho nanda-yaśodāder na sahe tādṛśīṁ gatim ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.1.21–22)
“If the attainment of those who, without regard for all of this [i.e., all the aforementioned sādhyas and sādhanas of karmīs, jñānīs, and other bhaktas], desire only servitude to Rādhā and engage in saṅkīrtana of his name [i.e., the name of Kṛṣṇa, the relisher of the rāsa dance], filled with such fondness [i.e., the extraordinary prema of the gopīs, the recipients of the very essence of Bhagavān’s grace], is like that of others [i.e., is the same as that of the Yādavas, Pāṇḍavas, and so forth], then my heart is not satisfied. Aho! I cannot tolerate such a destination [being that meant] for Nanda, Yaśodā, and others [i.e., for the people of Vraja led by Nanda and Yaśodā, since an equal result for those who are great and those who are lesser is not befitting].”
śrīr guṇā nairapekṣyādyāḥ sukhaṁ duḥkha-sukhātyayaḥ |
duḥkhaṁ kāma-sukhāpekṣā paṇḍito bandha-mokṣa-vit ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.19.41)
“[Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] Embellishment is qualities beginning with indifference [i.e., and not crowns and so forth]. Happiness is overcoming [worldly] suffering and happiness [i.e., and not mere worldly enjoyment]. Suffering is regard for the pleasure of sense objects [i.e., and not being burned in a fire, etc.]. A paṇḍita is one knows bondage and liberation [i.e., and not simply one who is knowledgeable or explains śāstra].”
niṣkiñcanā mayy anurakta-cetasaḥ
śāntā mahānto’khila-jīva-vatsalāḥ |
kāmair anālabdha-dhiyo juṣanti te
yan nairapekṣyaṁ na viduḥ sukhaṁ mama ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.17)
“They who have nothing [i.e., no possessiveness towards anything mundane], who are of mind attached to me, who are peaceful, prideless, and affectionate to all jīvas, who are of mind untouched by desire, and who serve me, know the happiness of indifference [i.e., of having no concern for anything apart from Bhagavān], not others [i.e., no one else can experience such happiness].”
nirapekṣaṁ muniṁ śāntaṁ nirvairaṁ sama-darśanam |
anuvrajāmy ahaṁ nityaṁ pūyeyety aṅghri-reṇubhiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.16)
[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] “I always follow one who is indifferent, contemplative, peaceful, free from enmity, and of equal vision so that I may be purified by the dust of his feet.”
nirapekṣa na haile dharma nā yāya rakṣaṇe |
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.3.23)
“[Śrīman Mahāprabhu:] If one is not nirapekṣa [i.e., impartial, indifferent, independent], dharma cannot be upheld.”
ko’tibhāraḥ samarthānāṁ kiṁ dūraṁ vyavasāyinam |
ko videśaḥ savidyānāṁ kaḥ paraḥ priyavādinām ||
(Pañcatantra)
“What is too heavy for the capable? What is far for the assiduous? What is a foreign land for the learned? Who is a stranger for those who speak kindly?”
