bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta-saṅgena parijāyate |
sat-saṅgaḥ prāpyate puṁbhiḥ sukṛtaiḥ pūrva-sañcitaiḥ ||
(Bṛhan Nāradīya Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.279)
“Bhakti, however, manifests from association with bhaktas of Bhagavān, and [such] association with sādhus is attained by human beings by previously accumulated sukṛti.”
nālaṁ dvijatvaṁ devatvam ṛṣitvaṁ vāsurātmajāḥ |
prīṇanāya mukundasya na vṛttaṁ na bahu-jñatā ||
na dānaṁ na tapo nejyā na śaucaṁ na vratāni ca |
prīyate’malayā bhaktyā harir anyad viḍambanam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.7.51–52; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.590–591, Bhakti Sandarbha: 168)
[Prahlāda:] “O sons of the asuras, neither being a twice-born, being a deva, or being a ṛṣi, nor conduct [i.e., sadācāra], nor being greatly knowledgeable, nor charity, nor austerity, nor worship, nor cleanliness, nor rites are able to please Mukunda. Hari is pleased [only] by taintless bhakti. All else is a sham.”
bhaktir asya bhajanam | tad ihāmutropādhi-nairāsyenāmuṣmin manaḥ-kalpanam | etad eva ca naiṣkarmyam ||
(Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad: Pūrva, 14; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.166; Bhakti Sandarbha 169, 234)
“Bhakti is worship (bhajana) of him [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa]. It is engaging the mind in him free from upādhis (adjuncts) [i.e., desires] related to this world and the next [i.e., engaging in hearing, praising, remembering, and so forth related to him without any motivation of attaining anything related to this world or the next but rather with the motivation solely of attaining him such that one can serve and satisfy him]. And this is indeed [secondarily] naiṣkarmya [i.e., mukti, syn., jñāna; lit., exoneration from and transcendence of karma].”
yadā yam anugṛhṇāti bhagavān ātma-bhāvitaḥ |
sa jahāti matiṁ loke vede ca pariniṣṭhitām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.29.46; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.64; Bhakti Sandarbha: 284; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 11.115)
“[Nārada to Prācīnabarhi:] When Bhagavān, being meditated upon within the heart, favors one, then one abandons resolute regard for the world [i.e., social conventions] and the Veda [i.e., injunctions given in the Vedas].”
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.”
na me‘bhaktaś catur-vedī mad-bhaktaḥ śva-pacaḥ priyaḥ |
tasmai deyaṁ tato grāhyaṁ sa ca pūjyo yathā hy aham ||
(Itihāsa-samuccaya; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.127 and Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.50, 2.20.58)
“One who knows the four Vedas but is not my bhakta is not dear to me, whereas my bhakta, even if he is a dog-cooker [i.e., an outcaste], is [dear to me]. To him, things are fit to be given, and from him, things are fit to be accepted. He is indeed as worshippable as I am.”
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.”
man-nimittaṁ kṛtaṁ pāpam api dharmāya kalpate |
mām anādṛtya dharmo’pi pāpaṁ syān mat-prabhāvataḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa; Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.110, 10.263)
[Bhagavān:] “By my power, even sin that is committed for me is considered dharma, and even dharma that disregards me can become sin.”
arir mitraṁ viṣaṁ pathyam adharmo dharmatāṁ vrajet |
suprasanne hṛṣīkeśe viparīte viparyayaḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa; Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.109, 10.262)
“When Hṛṣīkeśa is highly pleased, then enemies become friends, poison becomes salutary, and adharma becomes dharma. When the opposite occurs [i.e., when Hṛṣīkeśa is displeased], the opposite ensues [i.e., friends become enemies, nutriments becomes poison, and dharma becomes adharma].”
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.”
