bhagavān brahma kārtsnyena trir anvīkṣya manīṣayā |
tad adhyavasyat kūṭa-stho ratir ātman yato bhavet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.2.34; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.567; Bhakti Sandarbha: 7, 29, 94)
“After thrice one-pointedly deliberating over the entirety of the Veda (Brahma), Bhagavān [i.e., Brahmā] determined with his discernment that because of which rati for the Ātmā [i.e., Śrī Hari] can come about.”
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’].”
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.”
brāhmaṇānāṁ sahasrebhyaḥ satra-yājī viśiṣyate |
satra-yāji-sahasrebhyaḥ sarva-vedānta-pāragaḥ ||
sarva-vedānta-vit-koṭyāṁ viṣṇu-bhakto viśiṣyate |
vaiṣṇavānāṁ sahasrebhya ekānty eko viśiṣyate ||
ekāntinas tu puruṣā gacchanti paramaṁ padam |
(Garuḍa Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.175–176; Bhakti Sandarbha: 174)
“A performer of the satra-yāga [i.e., a difficult form of sacrifice only a highly trained brāhmaṇa can perform] is superior to thousands of brāhmaṇas. One adept in the entire Vedānta [i.e., who knows the conclusion of all the Vedas] is superior to thousands of performers of the satra-yāga. A bhakta of Viṣṇu is superior to crores of knowers of the entire Vedānta, and one who is one-pointed [in one’s bhakti to Viṣṇu] is superior to thousands of Vaiṣṇavas [who are not yet one-pointed]. One-pointed persons reach the supreme abode.”
sva-kṛta-pureṣv amīṣv abahir-antara-saṁvaraṇaṁ
tava puruṣaṁ vadanty akhila-śakti-dhṛto’ṁśa-kṛtam |
iti nṛ-gatiṁ vivicya kavayo nigamāvapanaṁ
bhavata upāsate’ṅghrim abhavam bhuvi viśvasitāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.87.20)
“They [i.e., other Śrutis] say that the puruṣa without external or internal coverings [i.e., the jīva whose nature is not covered by anything except adjuncts (upādhis) manifest by māyā] in these abodes [i.e., bodies] of your own making is an [eternally] established part of you who are the bearer of all potencies. Having in this way understood the state of a person [i.e., of the puruṣa—the jīva], the wise on the earth—the faithful—worship your feet, which are the field of the Nigamas [i.e., the source of all the śāstras, alt., the object described by all the śāstras] and the negation of material existence [i.e., the cause of the cessation of saṁsāra].”
