jīvera svabhāva—kṛṣṇa-dāsa-abhimāna |
dehe ātma-jñāne ācchādita sei jñāna ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.24.201)
“The identity of being a servant of Kṛṣṇa is the nature of the jīva. Such awareness is covered by identification with the body.”
jīvera svarūpa haya—kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa— |
kṛṣṇera taṭasthā-śakti—bhedābheda-prakāśa ||
sūryāṁśa-kiraṇa yaiche agni-jvālā-caya |
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.20.108–109)
“The jīva’s nature is [that of being] an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s intermediary potency (taṭasthā-śakti), and a manifestation [both] different and non-different [from Kṛṣṇa] like a particle-ray of the sun or sparks from a fire.”
tvaṁ tu rājan mariṣyeti paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi |
na jātaḥ prāg abhūto’dya deha-vat tvaṁ na naṅkṣyasi ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.5.2)
[Śukadeva to Mahārāja Parīkṣit:] “O King, you should give up this animal mentality [of thinking], “I will die.” Like the body, you were not previously non-existent, are not [merely] presently manifest, and will not be destroyed [in the future].”
ātmā na devo na naro na tiryak sthāvaro na ca |
na deho nendriyaṁ naiva manaḥ prāṇo na nāpi dhīḥ ||
na jaḍo na vikārī ca jñāna-mātrātmako na ca |
svasmai svayaṁ-prakāśaḥ syād eka-rūpaḥ svarūpa-bhāk ||
cetano vyāpti-śīlaś ca cid-ānandātmakas tathā |
aham-arthaḥ prati-kṣetraṁ bhinno’ṇur nitya-nirmalaḥ ||
tathā jñātṛtva-kartṛtva-bhoktṛtva-nija-dharmakaḥ |
paramātmaika-śeṣatva-svabhāvaḥ sarvadā svataḥ ||
(Jāmātṛ Muni; cited in Paramātma Sandarbha: 19)
“The ātma is neither a deva, nor a human, nor an animal, nor a stationary being [i.e., plant, rock, etc.], nor the body, nor the senses, nor the mind, nor the prāṇa, nor the intellect, nor inert, nor transformable, nor of the nature of only awareness [i.e., nor lacking the capacity to know]. The ātma is self-luminous to its own self, of one form, situated in its own nature, conscious, pervasive [of the body], of the nature of consciousness (cit) and bliss (ānanda), the referent of ‘I’, distinct from every [other] field [i.e., entity], atomic, eternal, pure, endowed with its own knowership, doership, and perceivership, and always by its own nature a singular subsidiary of the Paramātmā.”
rātrir gamiṣyati bhaviṣyati suprabhātaṁ
bhāsvān udeṣyati hasiṣyati paṅkajaśrīḥ |
itthaṁ vicintayati koṣa-gate dvirephe
hā hanta hanta nalinīṁ gaja ujjahāra ||
(Unknown Source)
“The night shall pass, the fine dawn shall arrive, the bright sun shall rise, and the beautiful lotus shall bloom—as a bee remaining inside the whorl [of a lotus] is thinking thus, alas, alas, an elephant has uprooted the lotus.”
samāsaktaṁ yadā cittaṁ jantor viṣaya-gocare |
yady evaṁ brahmaṇi syāt tat ko na mucyeta bandhanāt ||
(Maitrāyaṇīya Upaniṣad: 6.34.5)
“When a living being’s citta is fully attached to the sphere of the sense objects, if it were to become such [i.e., if it were to become instead fully attached] to Brahman, then who would not become liberated from bondage?”
ayaṁ nijaḥ paro veti gaṇanā laghu-cetasām |
udāra-caritānāṁ tu vasudhaiva kuṭumbakam ||
(Hitopadeśa: Mitra-lābhaḥ, 71)
“‘This is mine,’ or ‘this is someone else’s,’ is the supposing of the small-minded, whereas for those of magnanimous character, the world itself is a family.”
aśanaṁ me vasanaṁ me jāyā me bandhu-vargo me |
iti me me kurvāṇaṁ hanti kāla-vṛko puruṣājam ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“‘My food, my cloth, my wife, my relations’—saying, ‘my,’ ‘my’ [continuously], this goat of a man is devoured by the wolf of time.”
yathaihikāmuṣmika-kāma-lampaṭaḥ
suteṣu dāreṣu dhaneṣu cintayan |
śaṅketa vidvān kukalevarātyayād
yas tasya yatnaḥ śrama eva kevalam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.19.14)
“The endeavor of a learned person [i.e., the study of śāstra and practice of yoga of one] who fears the passing of the repulsive body, just like someone covetous of objects of enjoyment in the present and the afterlife who worries about his sons, wives, and possessions, is just mere labor [i.e., one’s study of śāstra and practice of yoga are fruitless unless one successfully fixes the mind on Bhagavān and gives up sāṁsārka attachment and thereby fear of death].”
athātmano’rtha-bhūtasya yato’nartha-paramparā |
saṁsṛtis tad-vyavacchedo bhaktyā paramayā gurau ||
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ samāhitaḥ |
sadhrīcīnena vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca janayiṣyati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.29.36–37)
“Therefore, termination of [ignorance,] that because of which the succession of anarthas, saṁsāra, exists for the ātmā, the [truly] existent entity, occurs through pure bhakti to Guru [i.e., Bhagavān, or, the teacher of Bhagavad-bhakti], for fully performed bhakti-yoga to Vāsudeva, Bhagavān [i.e., bhakti performed entirely for Bhagavān’s satisfaction without any separate interest—prema-bhakti], will produce real non-attachment (vairāgya) and knowledge (jñāna).”
