yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā guruḥ |
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ ||
(Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad: 6.23; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 4.346; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 98; Bhakti Sandarbha: 5, 21, 209; Govinda-bhāṣya: 3.3.44, 45, 3.4.50)
“These discussed subjects [i.e., the teachings a guru gives to a disciple regarding Brahma-vidyā] are revealed to the great soul who has pure bhakti to Deva, and as to Deva, so also to guru.”
vaktā sarāgo nīrāgo dvividhaḥ parikīrtitaḥ |
sarāgo lolupaḥ kāmī tad uktaṁ hṛn na saṁspṛśet ||
upadeśaṁ karoty eva na parīkṣāṁ karoti ca |
aparīkṣyopadiṣṭaṁ yal loka-nāśāya tad bhavet ||
(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 203)
“A teacher is said to be of two types: [one] with attachment (rāga) and [one] without attachment. One with attachment is greedy and covetous. His words cannot touch the heart. He only gives teachings and does not conduct any examination. That which is taught without conducting any examination certainly leads to ruination of society.”
yathā siddha-rasa-sparśāt tāmraṁ bhavati kāñcanam |
sannidhānād guror evaṁ śiṣyo viṣṇumayo bhavet ||
(Āgama-śāstra; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 237)
“As copper turns into gold at the touch of quicksilver, so a disciple becomes absorbed in [devotion to] Viṣṇu as a result of being in the company of guru.”
vaiṣṇavaṁ jñāna-vaktāraṁ yo vidyād viṣṇuvad gurum |
pūjayed vāṅ-manaḥ-kāyaiḥ sa śāstra-jñaḥ sa vaiṣṇavaḥ ||
śloka-pādasya vaktāpi yaḥ pūjyaḥ sa sadaiva hi |
kiṁ punar bhagavad-viṣṇoḥ svarūpaṁ vitanoti yaḥ ||
(Nārada Pañcarātra; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.411–412; Bhakti Sandarbha: 237)
“One who can recognize a Vaiṣṇava guru and teacher of knowledge to be like Viṣṇu and worship him with one’s speech, mind, and body is a knower of śāstra and a Vaiṣṇava. Even one who is a teacher of quarter of a verse is certainly always worshippable, so how much more so is one who reveals the nature of Bhagavān Viṣṇu!”
śuddha-bhaktās tv eke śrī-guroḥ śrī-śivasya ca śrī-bhagavatā sahābheda-dṛṣṭiṁ tat-priyatamatvenaiva manyante |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 213)
“Many pure bhaktas, however, foster a vision of śrī guru’s and Śrī Śiva’s non-difference from Śrī Bhagavān specifically because of their being most dear to him.”
tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.3.21; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.32; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.97; Bhakti Sandarbha: 202, 238)
“Therefore [i.e., because there is no lasting fulfillment in saṁsāra and bhakti is the only means of crossing over saṁsāra], one who wishes to know the highest good should take shelter in a guru who is adept in śabda-brahman and Parabrahman, and is an abode of tranquility.”
ko’ti-prayāso’sura-bālakā harer
upāsane sve hṛdi chidravat sataḥ |
svasyātmanaḥ sakhyur aśeṣa-dehināṁ
sāmānyataḥ kiṁ viṣayopapādanaiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.7.38)
[Translated according to Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī’s commentary:] “O boys of the asuras, what great exertion [i.e., difficulty] is there in worship of Hari, he who is present like space in one’s heart and is the inherent self and common friend of all embodied beings? [Therefore,] What [is the use] of accumulating objects of the senses?”
bādhyamāno’pi mad-bhakto viṣayair ajitendriyaḥ |
prāyaḥ pragalbhayā bhaktyā viṣayair nābhibhūyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.18; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.552; Bhakti Sandarbha: 115)
“Although obstructed [i.e., attracted] by objects of the senses (viṣayas), a bhakta of mine who has not [yet] conquered the senses is generally not overwhelmed by objects of the senses (viṣayas) by virtue of vigorous bhakti [i.e., by virtue of bhakti, which possesses the capability to overcome the influence of residual affinities (vāsanās) for varieties of sensory experience].”
sat-saṅga eva tat-sāmmukhye dvāram ity uktam | te ca santas tat-sammukhā evātra gṛhyante, na tu vaidikācāra-mātra-parā anupayogitvāt |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 186)
“It has been said that sat-saṅga is the only gateway to intentness upon Tat [i.e., the Supreme Entity (Para-tattva)]. And in this regard only those who are intent upon Tat are accepted as the sat, and not, rather, those who are merely adherent to Vedic conduct because of [those mere adherent to conduct’s] being unsuitable [i.e., intentness upon Tat is the primary characteristic of sādhutva (being a sādhu), and because those who lack this characteristic, regardless of whether they are formally adherent to Vedic conduct or not, are not sādhus in the true sense, their association is unsuitable for those seeking intentness upon Tat because it will not give rise to such intentness].”
manasaitāni bhūtāni praṇamed bahu-mānayan |
īśvaro jīva-kalayā praviṣṭo bhagavān iti ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.29.34; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 106)
“Within the mind one should offer obeisance to and greatly honor [all] these beings, [considering,] ‘Bhagavān, Īśvara, has entered [all these beings] by means of impelling the jīvas [i.e., by virtue of his being the Inner Regulator (Antaryāmī), meaning, the Īśvara, within them].”
