taṁ sukhārādhyam ṛjubhir ananya-śaraṇair nṛbhiḥ |
kṛtajñaḥ ko na seveta durārādhyam asādhubhiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.19.36′; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 153)
“What grateful person would not worship he who is easily propitiated by persons who are sincere and of undivided shelter yet difficult to propitiate for the unvirtuous [i.e., those who are the opposite]?”
visṛjati hṛdayaṁ na yasya sākṣād
dharir avaśābhihito’py aghaugha-nāśaḥ |
praṇaya-raśanayā dhṛtāṅghri-padmaḥ
sa bhavati bhāgavata-pradhāna uktaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.55; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.74, Bhakti Sandarbha: 198)
“One whose heart Hari himself, he who destroys multitudes of sins even when called unintentionally, does not leave because his lotus feet are bound [there] by a rope of love is said to be the foremost of Bhāgavatas.”
ahaṁ bhakta-parādhīno hy asvatantra iva dvija |
sādhubhir grasta-hṛdayo bhaktair bhakta-jana-priyaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 9.4.63; cited in Paramātma Sandarbha: 93, Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 177, Bhakti Sandarbha: 181, Prīti Sandarbha: 62, 122, 146)
[Viṣṇu to Durvāsā:] “O brāhmaṇa, I am completely controlled by my bhaktas. Indeed, it is as though I am not independent. My heart is captured by the sādhus, my bhaktas, as I hold my bhaktas dear [and so also those who belong to my bhaktas].”
mat-kathā-vācakaṁ nityaṁ mat-kathā-śravaṇe ratam |
mat-kathā-prīti-manasaṁ nāhaṁ tyakṣyāmi taṁ naram ||
(Viṣṇu-dharma; Skanda Purāṇa: 2.5.16.53; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 269)
“[Bhagavān:] I never abandon that person who always recounts discussion of me, who engages in hearing discussion of me, or whose mind fosters fondness (prīti) for discussion of me.”
yatra yatra mahīpāla vaiṣṇavī vartate kathā |
tatra tatra harir yāti gaur yathā suta-vatsalā ||
(Skanda Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha 269)
“O Protector of the earth, Hari goes wherever kathā of the Vaiṣṇavas [i.e., discussion of Viṣṇu or Vaiṣṇavas] is present like a cow full of affection for its calf.”
yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena
tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ |
prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇāṁ
tathaiva sarvārhaṇam acyutejyā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.31.14)
“As the trunks, branches, and sub-branches of a tree are all satiated by watering the root thereof, and as [satiation] of the sense organs comes about as a result of an offering [of food] to the vital air, so exactly honoring of all [beings] comes about by worship of Acyuta.”
evaṁ sva-citte svata eva siddha
ātmā priyo’rtho bhagavān anantaḥ |
taṁ nirvṛto niyatārtho bhajeta
saṁsāra-hetūparamaś ca yatra ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.2.6; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 2)
“As such [i.e., being detached from mundanity], resolute and fulfilled, one should engage in worship of him [Hari], [since he is] self-existent within one’s own consciousness, the Self, beloved, real, glorious, and without end, wherein [i.e., within such worship] there is cessation of the cause of saṁsāra and so forth [i.e., attainment of him.”
sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ paśyed bhagavad-bhāvam ātmanaḥ |
bhūtāni bhagavaty ātmany eṣa bhāgavatottamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.45)
“One who can see the presence of one’s own Bhagavān [i.e., one’s Iṣṭadevatā] within all entities and [all] entities within the Bhagavān within oneself [i.e., within one’s Iṣṭadevatā] is a topmost bhāgavata.”
bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād
īśād apetasya viparyayo’smṛtiḥ |
tan-māyayāto budha ābhajet taṁ
bhaktyaikayeśaṁ guru-devatātmā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.37; cited in Tattva Sandarbha: 32; Paramātma Sandarbha: 47; Bhakti Sandarbha: 1, 59, 114; Prīti Sandarbha: 1; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.20.116)
“Non-awareness, misapprehension, and fear because of absorption in a second shall occur by means of Īśa’s māyā for one who is averse to him. Therefore, a wise person, being one for whom the guru is the Devatā and the self (ātmā), should fully worship him, Īśa [i.e., Bhagavān] with one-pointed bhakti.”
ātmā vā are draṣṭavyaḥ śrotavyo mantavyo nididhyāsitavyo maitreyy ātmano vā are darśanena śravaṇena matyā vijñānenedaṁ sarvaṁ viditam |
(Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad: 2.4.5, 4.5.6; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 7)
“Truly, the Ātmā [alt., the ātmā] is to be seen, [that is,] to be heard about, to be contemplated, and to be deeply meditated upon. O Maitreyī, truly, by seeing, [that is,] by hearing, reflecting upon, and realizing the Ātmā, everything becomes known.”
