yad yad iṣṭatamaṁ loke yac cātipriyam ātmanaḥ |
tat tan nivedayen mahyaṁ tad ānantyāya kalpate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.11.41; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 8.119, 10.513, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.199, Bhakti Sandarbha: 295)
“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] Whatever is most desired in the world and whatever is most dear to oneself—offer that to me. This leads to the infinite.”
śrī-gautamīya-tantrādau tad-dhyānaṁ prathitaṁ param |
agrato’trāpi saṁlekhyaṁ yad iṣṭaṁ tatra tad bhajet ||
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 3.115)
“Meditation on him is also presented in Śrī Gautamīya Tantra and other works and compiled here [in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa] as well ahead [in 5.168–216]. One should perform that [meditation] which is cherished [by oneself] there [among those cited].”
ato niṣevyamāṇāṁ ca sarvathā bhagavat-kathām |
muhus tad-rasikān pṛcchen mitho moda-vivṛddhaye ||
tathā vaiṣṇava-dharmāṁś ca kriyamānām api svayam |
sampṛcchet tad-vidaḥ sādhūn anyonya-prīti-vṛddhaye ||
nanu bhagavad-dharmāḥ parama-gopyāḥ praśna-mātreṇa kathaṁ kathyāḥ tatra likhati—śraddhayeti |
śraddhayā bhagavad-dharmān vaiṣṇavāyānupṛcchate |
avaśyaṁ kathayed vidvān anyathā doṣa-bhāg bhavet ||
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.472, 475–476, with an excerpt from the Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“Therefore [i.e., because listening to other topics, as well as non-listening, aversion, and even satiation with Bhagavat-kathā, are to be given up], even though one is continuously engaged in honoring Bhagavat-kathā in all respects [by means of hearing it, praising it, remembering it, and so on] one should repeatedly inquire from rasikas thereof [about Bhagavān and topics related to him] for the sake of enhancing mutual delight [i.e., the delight of both the speaker and fellow listeners]. … Similarly, even though one is practicing the dharmas of a Vaiṣṇava oneself, one should inquire from sādhus knowledgeable about them for the sake of mutual delight. [A doubt is raised:] Bhagavat-dharmas [however] are highly confidential. How do they become fit to be explained just because of a question [about them being raised]? In regard to this [doubt], the author writes: When one repeatedly inquires from a Vaiṣṇava about Bhagavat-dharmas with śraddhā, then a knowledgeable person [i.e., a person conversant in the dharmas of a Vaiṣṇava] shall certainly speak [i.e., answer one’s questions], and otherwise shall be at fault [i.e., one who has true knowledge of Bhagavat-dharma based on śāstra yet withholds it from an inquirer possessed of the requisites to learn such knowledge, the foremost of which is śraddhā in bhakti-śāstra, commits a transgression against Bhagavat-dharma, as does someone who gives knowledge of Bhagavat-dharma to an unfit recipient and someone who gives answers about Bhagavad-dharma that contravene the śāstra’s siddhānta].”
mama śāstra-pravaktāraṁ mama śāstrānucintakam |
cintayāmi na sandeho naraṁ taṁ cātmavat sadā ||
(Skanda Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.375)
“[Bhagavān:] No doubt I always think of that person who teaches śāstra related to me and who reflects on śāstra related to me as my own.”
bhūtānāṁ deva-caritaṁ duḥkhāya ca sukhāya ca |
sukhāyaiva hi sādhūnāṁ tvādṛśām acyutātmanām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.5; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.208)
“[Vasudeva to Nārada Ṛṣi:] The actions of the devas lead to both suffering and happiness for living beings, while those of sādhus like you, whose hearts are fixed on Acyuta, lead only to happiness.”
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.”
durlabho mānuṣo deho dehināṁ kṣaṇa-bhaṅguraḥ |
tatrāpi durlabhaṁ manye vaikuṇṭha-priya-darśanam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.29; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.289)
“Precious is the human body, [although] perishable within a moment, for bearers of bodies [i.e., jīvas subject to saṁsāra], and I consider even more precious the darśana of those who are dear to Vaikuṇṭha [i.e., Bhagavān, alt., those to whom Vaikuṇṭha is dear].”
na kāma-karma-bījānāṁ yasya cetasi sambhavaḥ |
vāsudevaika-nilayaḥ sa vai bhāgavatottamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.50; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.61; Bhakti Sandarbha: 193)
“One whose sole shelter is Vāsudeva—in whose mind there is no appearance of kāmas, karmas, or [their] causes—is verily the best of Bhāgavatas.”
ananya-mamatā viṣṇau mamatā prema-saṅgatā |
bhaktir ity ucyate bhīṣma-prahlādoddhava-nāradaiḥ ||
(Nārada Pañcarātra; cited Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.382; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.4.2; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.23.8)
“Bhakti dedicated to Viṣṇu that is filled with mamatā [for him] and free from any other mamatā [i.e., loving attachment, lit., ‘my-ness,’ for anyone or anything else] is called prema by Bhīṣma, Prahlāda, Uddhava, and Nārada.”
