Bhagavat Sandarbha

tvaṁ bhakti-yoga-paribhāvita-hṛt-saroja

tvaṁ bhakti-yoga-paribhāvita-hṛt-saroja
āsse śrutekṣita-patho nanu nātha puṁsām |
yad yad dhiyā ta urugāya vibhāvayanti
tat tad vapuḥ praṇayase sad-anugrahāya ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.9.11; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 7.383; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 6, 40; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.3.111)

“[Brahmā to Śrī Bhagavān:] O Nātha! You, he the path to whom is seen by hearing, dwell in the lotus-hearts of living beings that have been purified by bhakti-yoga [alt., that have been made fit (for you) by virtue of prema]. O you of highest praise! [Alt., O you who are sung of in many ways!] Out of favor upon the sat, you bring forth that very form of yours which they distinctively meditate on [alt., visualize] with the mind.”

Read on →

dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ

dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam |
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahāmuni-kṛte kiṁ vāparair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.1.2; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.396; Tattva Sandarbha: 19, 26, 50; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 84; Paramātma Sandarbha: 106, Bhakti Sandarbha: 106, 115, 217; Prīti Sandarbha: 16, 18, 73; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā and Bhakti-sāra-pradarśinī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.244)

“Here [i.e., in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam], for the sādhus who are free from envy, is the highest dharma wherein deceit is utterly rejected. Here is the Reality, the real object to be be known, which bestows the highest good and uproots the three miseries. What need is there of any other [śāstra] than this Śrīmad Bhāgavatam compiled by the best of the sages [i.e., Vedavyāsa]? [There is no such need because] Here Īśvara is bound within the heart by the fortunate who desire to serve immediately, from that [very] moment [they begin to listen].”

Read on →

na vidyate yasya ca janma karma vā

na vidyate yasya ca janma karma vā
na nāma-rūpe guṇa-doṣa eva vā |
tathāpi lokāpyaya-sambhavāya yaḥ
sva-māyayā tāny anukālam ṛcchati ||
tasmai namaḥ pareśāya brahmaṇe’nanta-śaktaye |
arūpāyoru-rūpāya nama āścarya-karmaṇe ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.3.8–9)

“Obeisance unto the Supreme Īśa, unto Brahman, unto he possessed of unending potency, unto he who has no birth or action, no name or form, and no faults in the form of [material] qualities whatsoever, and who by means of his own māyā still accepts these [i.e., births, actions, names, forms, and qualities] perpetually for the sake of the dissolution and the attainment of the people. Obeisance unto he who has no [material] form, unto he who has an excellent [spiritual] form, unto he of astonishing action.”

Read on →

sṛṣṭy-ādikaṁ harir naiva prayojanam apekṣya tu

sṛṣṭy-ādikaṁ harir naiva prayojanam apekṣya tu |
kurute kevalānandād yathā martyasya nartanam ||
pūrṇānandasya tasyeha prayojana-matiḥ kutaḥ |
muktā apy āpta-kāmāḥ syuḥ kim u tasyākhilātmanaḥ ||
(Nārāyaṇa-saṁhitā; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 47; Paramātma Sandarbha: 93; Govinda-bhāṣya on Vedānta-sūtra: 2.1.32)

“Without reference to a motive whatsoever, Hari performs the emanation and so forth [of the universe] out of bliss alone like an inebriated person’s dancing [which occurs as a result of bliss and not for the sake of attaining bliss]. Where is the notion of a motive in this regard for he who is possessed of complete bliss? Even the liberated shall be possessed of fulfilled desires. So how much more so shall this be so for he who is the Self of all?”

Read on →

aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ

aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ |
jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva ṣaṇṇāṁ bhaga itīṅganā ||
(Viṣṇu Purāṇa: 6.5.74; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 3)

“[The word] Bhaga [i.e., ‘excellence’] is an indication of six [attributes]: complete mastery, potency, fame, wealth, knowledge, and non-attachment.”

Read on →

sa yad ajayā tv ajām anuśayīta guṇāṁś ca juṣan

sa yad ajayā tv ajām anuśayīta guṇāṁś ca juṣan
bhajati sarūpatāṁ tad anu mṛtyum apeta-bhagaḥ |
tvam uta jahāsi tām ahir iva tvacam ātta-bhago
mahasi mahīyase’ṣṭa-guṇite’parimeya-bhagaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.87.38; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 24; Paramātma Sandarbha: 39)

“Since he [i.e., the jīva], however, can lie down with the unborn [i.e., ignorance (avidyā) on account of the unborn (ajayā) [i.e., māyā], he partakes of the qualities [of the unborn] and thereafter of likeness [to those qualities of the unborn], becomes deprived of fortune (apeta-bhagaḥ), and undergoes death [i.e., saṁsāra]. You, on the contrary, shun her [i.e., the unborn, i.e., māyā], like a serpent [its] skin, and, being possessed of fortune, are exalted in [your own] eightfold greatness, being of immeasurable fortune.”

Read on →

śrutau ca jīvo nāmāto’nyaḥ svayaṁ siddho nāsti

śrutau ca jīvo nāmāto’nyaḥ svayaṁ siddho nāsti, parantu tad-ātmaka evety arthaḥ |
(Bhagavat Sandarbha: 19)

“In the Śruti also [i.e., in the statement in Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad: 3.7.23, ‘There is no seer other than him [i.e., than the Para-tattva]’ (nānyo’to’sti draṣṭā), it is shown that], the jīva definitively is not another [entity] self-existent (svayaṁ siddha) apart from him, and rather, is verily constituted of him. This is the meaning.”

Read on →

naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ

naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ
na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam |
kutaḥ punaḥ śaśvad abhadram īśvare
na cārpitaṁ karma yad apy akāraṇam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.5.12; cited in Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.554; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 70, Bhakti Sandarbha: 3, 5, 23, 115, 116, 217; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.19)

“[Śrī Nārada to Śrī Vyāsa:] Even untainting jñāna illuminative of Brahman (naiṣkarmya) [if it is] devoid of bhāva for Acyuta does not shine greatly [i.e., does not lead to direct experience of Brahman], so how much less so does ever-inauspicious karma not offered to Īśvara, even which [i.e., when it] is causeless?’”

Read on →

nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ

nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ |
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto’bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.503; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.233; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 47; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.17.133)

“[Translated according to the interpretation of Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmīpāda:] The name is a thought-jewel, Kṛṣṇa [himself], an embodiment of consciousness and rasa, complete, pure, and eternally liberated, because of the name and the bearer of the name being non-different.”

Read on →

kāmaṁ bhavaḥ sva-vṛjinair nirayeṣu naḥ stāc

kāmaṁ bhavaḥ sva-vṛjinair nirayeṣu naḥ stāc
ceto’livad yadi nu te padayo rameta |
vācaś ca nas tulasivad yadi te’ṅghri-śobhāḥ
pūryeta te guṇa-gaṇair yadi karṇa-randhraḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.15.49; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 68, Bhakti Sandarbha: 266, Prīti Sandarbha: 7, 16, 92)

“[The Kumāras to Śrī Bhagavān:] At will let our birth occur in hells as a result of our own wrongful actions if [there] our minds may enjoy in your feet like bees, if our speech may be endowed with the beauty of your feet like tulasī, and if the holes of our ears may be filled with [praise of] your qualities.”

Read on →

Type your query and press enter