saṅgaṁ na kuryāt pramadāsu jātu
yogasya pāraṁ param ārurukṣuḥ |
mat-sevayā pratilabdhātma-lābho
vadanti yā niraya-dvāram asya ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.31.39)
“Neither one desirous of ascending to the highest pinnacle of yoga nor one who has reached realization of the ātma through service to me should become attached to [atl., associate with] women, who the wise say are the door to hell for any man.”
bhagavad-bhakti-hīnā ye mukhyā’santas ta eva hi |
teṣāṁ niṣṭhā śubhā kvāpi na syāt sac-caritair api ||
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.301)
“Those who are devoid of bhakti to Bhagavān are certainly the foremost of the impious (asat). Their destiny will never be auspiciousness, even if they are of noble conduct.”
satyaṁ śaucaṁ dayā maunaṁ buddhiḥ śrīr hrīr yaśaḥ kṣamā |
śamo damo bhagaś ceti yat-saṅgād yāti saṅkṣayam ||
teṣv aśānteṣu mūḍheṣu khaṇḍitātmasv asādhuṣu |
saṅgaṁ na kuryāc chocyeṣu yoṣit-krīḍā-mṛgeṣu ca ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.31.33–4; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.88–89)
“One should never associate with those by whose association truthfulness, cleanliness, grace, quietude, the intellect, wealth, modesty, honor, forgiveness, mental control, sense control, and good fortune are destroyed, and who are restless, foolish, self-destructive, impious, deplorable, and the pet animals of women.”
nāmnāṁ tu saṅkīrtanam ārti-bhārān
meghaṁ vinā prāvṛṣi cātakānām |
rātrau viyogāt sva-pate rathāṅgi-
vargasya cākroṣaṇavat pratīhi ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.3.167)
“Know saṅkīrtana of the names [of Bhagavān] to arise from a profusion of heartache like the loud cries of cātakas during a monsoon devoid of clouds or [the loud cries] of cakravākīs at night separated from their husbands.”
vāg-arthāv iva sampṛktau vāg-artha-pratipattaye |
jagataḥ pitarau vande pārvatī-parameśvarau ||
(Raghu-vaṁśa)
“I offer obeisance to Pārvatī and Parameśvara [Śiva], the parents of the world, who are united like speech and [its] meaning, for [gaining] understanding of speech and [its] meaning [or, to understand the meaning of the Veda].”
sukhasya mūlaṁ dharmaḥ |
dharmasya mūlam arthaḥ |
arthasya mūlaṁ rājyam |
rājyasya mūlam indriya-jayaḥ |
indriya-jayasya mūlaṁ vinayaḥ |
vinayasya mūlaṁ vṛddhopasevaḥ |
vṛddhopasevayā vijñānam |
vijñānena ātmānaṁ saṁpādayet |
saṁpāditātmā jitātmā bhavati |
jitātmā sarvārthaiḥ saṁyujyeta |
(Cāṇakya-sūtras: 1–10)
“The basis of happiness is dharma [i.e., right conduct, ethics]. The basis of dharma is artha [i.e., resources, wealth, economy]. The basis of artha is kingship [i.e., state, government]. The basis of kingship is control over the senses. The basis of control over the senses is discipline. The basis of discipline is subservience to elders. Through subservience to elders comes proficiency [i.e., discernment]. Equip yourself with proficiency. Those who have equipped themselves become self-controlled. Those who are self-controlled will become endowed with all attainments.”
alaukika-padārthānām acintyā śaktir īdṛśī |
bhāvaṁ tad-viṣayaṁ cāpi yā sahaiva prakāśayet ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.244)
“Such is the inconceivable śakti of these [five] extraordinary things [i.e., limbs of bhakti], which manifest simultaneously bhāva and its object [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa].”
durūhādbhuta-vīrye’smin śraddhā dūre’stu pañcake |
yatra svalpo’pi sambandhaḥ sad-dhiyāṁ bhāva-janmane ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.238; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.133)
“Let alone having śraddhā in them [i.e., performing them with śraddhā], even slight connection with these five [limbs of bhakti of difficult to comprehend and wonderful power [i.e., even slight performance without śraddhā of sādhu-saṅga, nāma-kīrtana, Bhāgavata-śravaṇa, Mathurā-vāsa, or śrī-mūrti-sevā] gives rise to bhāva in those of pure mind [i.e., those whose minds are free from aparādha].”
ātmāparādha-vṛkṣāṇāṁ phalāny etāni dehinām |
roga-śoka-parītāpa-bandhana-vyasanāni ca ||
(Hitopadeśa: Mitra-lābha, 41)
“These are the fruits of the trees of an embodied being’s own offenses: disease, grief, suffering, bondage, and vices [alt., adversities].”
yataḥ kauṭilyam, aśraddhā bhagavan-niṣṭhā-cyāvaka-vastv-antarābhiniveśaḥ, bhakti-śaithilyaṁ, sva-bhakty-ādi-kṛta-mānitvam ity evam-ādīni mahat-saṅgādi-lakṣāṇa-bhaktyāpi nivartayituṁ duṣkarāṇi cet, tarhi tasyāparādhasyaiva kāryāṇi, tāny eva ca prācīnasya tasya liṅgāni | … śrī-bhagavati śrī-gurau tad-bhaktādiṣu cāntarānādarādāv api sati bahis tad-arcanādy-ārambhaḥ kauṭilyam | … athāśraddhā dṛṣṭe śrute’pi tan-mahimādau viparīta-bhāvanādinā viśvāsābhāvaḥ | … atha bhakti-śaithilyaṁ yenādhyātmikādi-sukha-duḥkha-niṣṭhaivollasati | … bhakty-ādi-kṛtābhimānatvaṁ cāparādha-kṛtam eva, vaiṣṇavāvamānādi-laksaṇāparādhāntara-janakatvāt |
(Bhakti-sandarbha: 153, 155, 159)
“If (1) crookedness, (2) aśraddhā, (3) absorption in other objects that erodes fixity upon Bhagavān, (4) slackening in bhakti, (5) pridefulness in one’s acts of bhakti and so forth, and other such [behaviors] are difficult to abstain from even by means of bhakti in the form of association with the great (mahat) and so forth, then they are effects of one’s aparādha [committed in this life] and indicators of that [i.e., aparādha committed] in the past [i.e., in previous lives]. … Externally performing worship and so forth of Śrī Bhagavān, śrī guru, his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] bhaktas, and others even while bearing disrespect and so forth towards them internally is [called] crookedness (kauṭilya). … The absence of conviction (viśvāsa) in his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] greatness and so forth, even when it is seen or heard of, as a result of contrary opinion and so forth [e.g., assumption of deception, assumption of impossibility, etc.] is [called] aśraddhā [“faithlessness”]. … Slackening in bhakti is that by which fixity upon pleasures and pains related to the self and so forth [i.e., (1) related to one’s own body and mind (ādhyātmika), (2) related to other living beings (ādhibhautika), and (3) related to natural phenomena (ādhidaivika)] increases. … Pridefulness in one’s acts of bhakti and so forth is created by aparādha because of [it, i.e., such pridefulness] being a cause of other aparādhas, such as disrespecting Vaiṣṇavas [i.e., because an act that is not an effect of aparādha will not give rise to a further effect that is an aparādha, pridefulness in one’s own acts of bhakti is inferred to be an effect of aparādha since it leads to aparādhas such as disrespecting Vaiṣṇavas].”
