apāre kāvya-saṁsāre kavir ekaḥ prajāpatiḥ |
yathāsmai rocate viśvaṁ tathā vai parivartate ||
(Agni Purāṇa: 339.10; cited in Dhvany-āloka 3.42 Vṛtti)
“In the boundless world of kāvya, the kavi is the only creator. As is pleasing to him, so indeed this world [of his creation] turns.”
dvy-arthaiḥ padaiḥ piśunayec ca rahasya-vastu |
(Unknown source; cited from a kāma-śāstra in Kāvya-prakāśa, Sāhitya-darpaṇa, and the Vaiṣṇavānandinī-ṭīkā to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.33.26)
“One should indicate a confidential matter with words that have a double meaning.”
api kriyārthaṁ sulabhaṁ samit-kuśaṁ
jalāny api snāna-vidhi kṣamāṇi te |
api sva-śaktyā tapasi vartase
śarīram ādyaṁ khalu dharma-sādhanam ||
(Kumāra-sambhavam: 5.33; cited in Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha: 2016)
[Śiva in the form of a young boy asks Pārvatī the following questions as she is performing ongoing penance to attain Śiva as her husband:] “Are samit and kuśa for your rites easy for you to obtain? Do you have suitable water for your regular baths? Are you engaging in austerities according to your ability? The body, indeed, is the primary means of [following] dharma.”
sa śuśruvān mātari bhārgaveṇa
pitur niyogāt prahṛtaṁ dviṣadvat |
pratyagṛhīd agraja-śāsanaṁ tat
ājñā gurūṇāṁ hy avicāraṇīyā |
(Raghu-vaṁśa: 14.46; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.10.145)
“Hearing that at his father’s direction Paraśurāma struck his mother like an enemy, he [i.e., Lakṣmaṇa] accepted the command of his elder brother [i.e., Rāma], since the order of elders is not to be deliberated upon.”
sahasā vidadhīta na kriyām
avivekaḥ param āpadāṁ padam |
vṛṇate hi vimṛśya-kāriṇaṁ
guṇa-lubdhāḥ svayam eva sampadaḥ ||
(Kirātārjunīyam: 2.30; cited in Sāhitya-darpaṇa: 643, Hitopadeśa: 4.104; the Vṛtti on Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa: 780; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-śeṣa: 90)
“One should not act rashly. Indiscrimination is a cause of severe misfortune. Desirous of [such] virtue, good fortune personally worships one who acts after having deliberated.”
haraty aghaṁ samprati hetur eṣyataḥ
śubhasya pūrvācaritaiḥ kṛtaṁ śubhaiḥ |
śarīra-bhājāṁ bhavadīya-darśanaṁ
vyanakti kāla-tritaye’pi yogyatām ||
(Śiśupāla-vadha: 1.26)
[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa addresses Nārada Muni upon his arrival in Dvārakā:] “Sight of you demonstrates indeed the virtue of embodied beings in the three phases of time: it removes impurity in the present, it is the cause of good fortune in the future, and it is attained by good works performed in the past.”
naratvaṁ durlabhaṁ loke vidyā tatra sudurlabhā |
kavitvaṁ durlabhaṁ tatra śaktis tatra sudurlabhā||
(Agni Purāṇa; cited in Sāhitya-darpaṇa: 1.2)
“In this world, human life is rare, and therein [i.e., among human beings] education is very rare. Therein [i.e., among the educated], being poetic is rare, and therein [i.e., among the poetic], prowess [in poetics] is very rare.”
na kaṭhoraṁ na vā tīkṣṇam āyudhaṁ puṣpadhanvanaḥ |
tathāpi jitam evāsīd amunā bhuvanatrayam ||
(Kāvyādarśa: 2.324)
“The weapon of he of flower bow [i.e., Kāmadeva] is neither hard nor sharp, yet the three worlds have indeed been conquered with it.”
aloka-sāmānyam acintya-hetukaṁ
dviṣanti mandāś caritaṁ mahātmanām ||
(Kumāra-sambhava: 5.75)
“Fools deride the character of great souls because it is extraordinary and its cause is incomprehensible [to them].”
adhīti-bodhācaraṇa-pracāraṇair daśāś catasraḥ … |
(Naiṣadha-carita: 1.4)
“The four stages [of learning śāstra are those] of study, understanding, practice, and teaching ….”
