na hy ato’nyaḥ śivaḥ panthā viśataḥ saṁsṛtāv iha |
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogo yato bhavet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.2.33; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.566; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 85; Bhakti Sandarbha 28, 86, 115)
“For someone immersed here in saṁsāra, there is certainly no other auspicious path than that by which bhakti-yoga to Bhagavān Vāsudeva can come into being.”
tad evam adhikāri-viśeṣaṁ prāpyaiva tat-tat-phalodayo dṛṣṭaḥ | … yathā ca jāta-ruciṁ prāpya—tava vikrīḍitaṁ kṛṣṇa nṛṇāṁ parama-maṅgalam | karṇa-pīyūṣam āsādya tyajanty anya-spṛhāṁ janāḥ || ata evoktam—na krodho na ca mātsaryaṁ na lobho nāśubhā matiḥ | bhavanti kṛta-puṇyānāṁ bhaktānāṁ puruṣottama || jāta-premāṇaṁ prāpya—naiṣātiduḥsahā kṣun māṁ tyaktodam api bādhate | pibantaṁ tvan-mukhāmbhoja-cyutaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam ||
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 163–164)
“Thus, in this way, the manifestation of various results [of engaging in acts of bhakti] only after attaining someone of specific eligibility [i.e., a person who is free from inoffensiveness] is seen [i.e., the results of bhakti manifest only in those who engage in bhakti free from aparādha]. So also [the various results of engaging in acts of bhakti manifesting] after attaining one in whom relish (ruci) has manifest [is described in SB 11.6.44]: ‘O Kṛṣṇa, having attained [i.e., heard about] your superb play, which is the highest auspiciousness for human beings and nectar for the ears, people relinquish [their] desire for all else.’ Therefore, it is said [in Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma-stotra (133)], ‘O Puruṣottama, bhaktas established in purity have neither anger, nor envy, nor greed, nor an inauspicious disposition.’ [So also the results of engaging in acts of bhakti manifesting] After attaining one in whom prema has manifest [is described by Mahārāja Parīkṣit to Śukadeva Gosvāmī in SB 10.1.13], ‘Even though I have given up [taking even] water, this extremely difficult to bear hunger does not trouble me as I drink the nectar of discussion of Hari flowing from your lotus mouth.‘”
tataḥ sat-saṅgasyaiva tatra nidānatvaṁ siddham | tac ca yuktam, anādi-siddha-tad-ajñānamaya-tad-vaimukhyavatām anyathā hi tad-asambhavaḥ |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 180)
“Thus, sat-saṅga’s alone being the fundamental cause in this regard [i.e., of intentness (sāmmukhyatā) upon Bhagavān in the form of bhakti coming into being] is established. That, furthermore, is befitting because of the impossibility of that otherwise [coming about] for those possessed of obliviousness (vaimukhyatā) of him based on beginninglessly existent non-awareness of him [i.e., of Bhagavān].”
aneka-janma-saṁsāra-racite pāpa-samuccaye |
nākṣīṇe jāyate puṁsāṁ govindābhimukhī matiḥ ||
(Viṣṇu-dharma Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 180)
“When the multitude of offenses [i.e., aparādhās, livings being have] committed over the course of many births has not dissipated [i.e., borne its results and passed away, or been nullified], admiration directed towards Govinda does not come about in living beings.”
tad evaṁ bhagavad-arpita-dharmādi-sādhyatvāt tāṁ vinānyeṣām akiñcitkaratvāt, tasyāḥ svata eva samarthatvāt, sva-leśena svābhāsādināpi paramārtha-paryanta-prāpakatvāt, sarveṣāṁ varṇānāṁ nityatvāc ca, sākṣād bhakti-rūpaṁ tat-sāmmukhyam evātrābhidheyaṁ vastv iti sthitam | iyam eva kevalatvād ananyatākhyā | … tasyāś ca mahādurbodhatvaṁ mahādurlabhatvaṁ coktam … | … tad evaṁ tasyāḥ śravaṇādi-rūpāyāḥ sākṣād-bhakteḥ sarva-vighna-nivāraṇa-pūrvaka-sākṣād-bhagavat-prema-phaladatve sthite parama-durlabhatve ca saty anya-kāmanayā ca nābhidheyatvam | … tan-mātra-kāmanāyāṁ ca bhakter evākiñcanatvam akāmatvaṁ ca saṁjñāpitam | … tatheyam evaikāntitety ucyate |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 165)
“Thus, in this way, here [i.e., in this book], intentness (sāmmukhya) upon him [i.e., Bhagavān] in the form of direct bhakti [to him] has been established as the subject, the abhidheya [i.e., the principal directive of the śāstra, the means to the highest attainment], because of (1) [its] being the goal of [performing] dharma and so forth offered to Bhagavān, (2) all else [i.e., all other processes] being useless [i.e., ineffective] without it, (3) [its] being capable [i.e., effective] of its own accord [i.e., independently of all other processes], (4) [its] being with just a trace of itself, a semblance of itself, and so forth a cause of attaining even the supreme object, and (5) [its] being compulsory for all varṇas. Because of [its] being exclusive [i.e., not involving worship of any other devatās], it is called ananyatā [i.e., unalloyedness, lit., ‘having no other’]. … Its being most difficult to understand and most difficult to attain are also stated [in SB 6.3.19, SB 3.15.24, and elsewhere]. … Thus, in this way, with this direct bhakti in the form of hearing and so forth being established as first the remover of all obstacles and [then] the bestower of the goal of prema for Bhagavān himself, and [its also being established as] extremely difficult to attain, [its] not being the abhidheya when [performed] with another desire [i.e., any desire other than desire for itself] is [established] as well. … When one has desire only for that [i.e., for bhakti itself], bhakti’s akiñcanatva [i.e., unconditionality, lit. ‘being without anything’] and akāmatva [i.e., being without desire for anything else, lit., ‘desirelessness’] is made known. … It is thus [also] called ekāntitā [lit., ‘one-pointedness’].”
rājā paśyati karṇābhyāṁ dhiyā paśyanti paṇḍitāḥ |
paśuḥ paśyati gandhena bhūte paśyanti barbarāḥ ||
(Unknown source)
“A king sees through his ears [by hearing from his ministers, spies, subjects, and so forth]. The wise see through their intellect. An animal sees through scent [i.e., their sense of smell]. Fools [however] see [only] the past [i.e., they have no foresight at all].”
tad evam anantā eva jīvākhyās taṭasthāḥ śaktayaḥ | tatra tāsāṁ varga-dvayam | eko vargo’nādita eva bhagavad-unmukhaḥ, anyas tv anādita eva bhagavat-parāṅmukhaḥ, svabhāvatas tadīya-jñāna-bhāvāt tadīya-jñānābhāvāc ca |
(Paramātma Sandarbha: 47)
“Thus, in this way, the taṭastha-śaktis [i.e., the entities constituted of the taṭastha-śakti] known as jīvas, are limitless [i.e., innumerable]. Therein, there are two classes of them. Naturally, one class is intent upon Bhagavān (Bhagavad-unmukha) beginninglessly, whereas the other is averse to Bhagavān (Bhagavat-parāṅmukha) beginninglessly, because of the presence of awareness of him and the absence of awareness of him [in these two classes respectively].”
atha jīvaś ca tadīyo’pi taj-jñāna-saṁsargābhāva-yuktatvena tan-māyā-parābhūtaḥ sann ātma-svarūpa-jñāna-lopān māyā-kalpitopādhy-āveśāc cānādi-saṁsāra-duḥkhena sambadhyata iti paramātma-sandarbhādāv eva nirūpitam asti |
(Prīti Sandarbha: 1)
“Now, although the jīva is also his own (tadīya) [i.e., although the jīva belongs to Bhagavān], the jīva becomes overcome by his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] māyā because of being [beginninglessly] possessed of an absence of the existence of awareness of him and [thus is] bound within the beginningless suffering of saṁsāra because of a lack of awareness of the nature of its own self [i.e., because of being subjected by māyā to suppression of awareness of its own nature as an ātmā] and absorption in the adjuncts (upādhis) fabricated by māyā [i.e., because the jīva becomes consequently absorbed in identification with the material psyche, body, and so forth, as well as the subsequent attractions, aversions, desires, pursuits, deprivations, and so forth concomitant therewith]. This [i.e., the point made in the previous sentence] is ascertained in Paramātma Sandarbha and elsewhere.”
yadyapy aparādha-sad-bhāvo vartate puruṣe, tadā tad-doṣeṇa satsu nirādarāṇāṁ sādhāraṇa-puṇyādi-dṛṣṭīnāṁ ca tad-doṣa-śānty-arthaṁ sat-saṅgasya bhagavat-sāmmukhya-kāraṇatve’pi tat-kṛpā-sāhāyyam apekṣyate | niraparādhatve sati sat-saṅgenaiva jāta-paramottama-dṛṣṭīnāṁ teṣu mano’vadhānābhāve’pi sat-saṅga-mātraṁ tat-kāraṇam iti |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 179)
“When the presence of aparādha exists in people, then for [them, that is,] those who are devoid of regard for the sat and those who see [only] ordinary piety and so forth [in them] because of that fault [i.e., past aparādha towards the sat], the assistance of the grace of the sat is required for the purpose of eliminating that fault [of aparādha] even though [general] association with the sat [wherein the sat do not necessarily bestow their grace upon someone with specific intentionality] is the [primary] cause of intentness upon Bhagavān. When there is inoffensiveness [i.e., the absence of aparādha is persons], then, for those in whom the mostly exalted vision [of the sat] has manifest just by association with the sat, simply association with the sat [wherein they do not bestow their grace upon someone with specific intentionality] is a cause of that [i.e., intentness upon Bhagavān] even when there is an absence of mental attentiveness upon them [i.e., even when those free from aparādha are not even fully attentive to the sat].”
tad-vaimukhya-karānādi-siddha-taj-jñāna-saṁsargābhāvānte tat-sāmmukhya-karaṁ taj-jñānaṁ jāyate … |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 179)
“Upon the cessation of the beginninglessly existent absence of the existence of awareness of him [i.e., Bhagavān], the cause of obliviousness (vaimukhya) of him, awareness of him, the cause of intentness upon him, manifests.”
