anubandhaṁ ca saṁprekṣya vipākāṁś caiva karmaṇām |
utthānam ātmanaś caiva dhīraḥ kurvīta vā na vā ||
(Mahābhārata: 5.34.9; Vidura-nīti; Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“A wise person should act, or not [act], only after carefully considering the cause and effects [i.e., benefits and harm] of actions, as well as one’s own capacity [i.e., to perform the action].”
anubandhān avekṣeta sānubandheṣu karmasu |
sampradhārya ca kurvīta na vegena samācaret ||
(Mahābhārata: 5.34.8; Vidura-nīti)
“One should act [only] after examining and deliberating upon the causes and effects of actions. One should not act out of impulse.”
cittaṁ cittād upāgamya munir āsīta saṁyataḥ |
yac cittas tanmayo’vaśyaṁ guhyam etat sanātanam ||
(Mahābhārata: 14.51.27)
“Returning from the mind (citta) to the mind [i.e., focusing one’s awareness], a sage should sit restrained. As is the mind, so one inevitably becomes. This is the eternal secret.”
ūrdhva-bāhur viraumy eṣa na ca kaścic chṛṇoti me |
dharmād arthaś ca kāmaś ca sa kim arthaṁ na sevyate ||
(Mahābhārata: Svargārohana Parva, 5.49)
“With arms upraised, I shout this, but no one listens to me. From dharma come artha and kāma. [So,] Why is it [i.e., dharma] not followed?”
dve vidye veditavye tu śabda-brahma paraṁ ca yat |
śabda-brahmaṇi niṣṇātaḥ paraṁ brahmādhigacchati ||
(Amṛta-bindu Upaniṣad: 17; Brahma-bindu Upaniṣad: 17; Maitrāyaṇi Upaniṣad: 6.22)
“Two types of knowledge, however, are to be known: śabda-brahman and Parabrahman. One who is adept in śabda-brahman attains Parabrahman.”
īdṛśān aśivān ghorān ācārān iha jājale |
kevalācaritatvāt tu nipuṇo nāvabudhyase ||
kāraṇād dharmam anvicchen na loka-caritaṁ caret |
(Mahābhārata: 12.262.51–2)
[Tulādhāra:] “O Jājali, such inauspicious and dreadful activities exist here [i.e., in this world] only because of their being customary, and not because you consider them proper. One should follow dharma because of reason. One should not [simply] do what is done by people in general.”
na śakyaḥ sa tvayā draṣṭum asmābhir vā bṛhaspate |
yasya prasādaṁ kurute sa vai taṁ draṣṭum arhati ||
(Mahābhārata: 12.323.18; cited in Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.419, Bhagavat Sandarbha: 34)
“O Bṛhaspati, he [i.e., Bhagavān] cannot be seen by you or by us. Only someone whom he has graced is able to see him.”
anartham arthataḥ paśyann arthaṁ caivāpy anarthataḥ |
indriyaiḥ prasṛto bālaḥ suduḥkhaṁ manyate sukham ||
(Mahābhārata: 5.34.59; Vidura-nīti: 213; cited in Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“Seeing anartha within artha and artha within anartha [i.e., seeing nonsense within sense and even sense within nonsense, misfortune within fortune and even fortune within misfortune, evil within good and even good within evil, etc.], the fool, pulled by the senses, considers great suffering to be happiness.”
acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet |
prakṛtibhyaḥ paraṁ yac ca tad acintyasya lakṣaṇam ||
(Mahābhārata: 6.5.12, 12.5.22; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.5.93; Laghu Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.5.111; Tattva Sandarbha: 11, and Caitanya-caritāmṛta 1.17.308)
“Do not assess inconceivable states of being (bhāvas) with argumentation; that which is beyond the [material] elements is the characteristic of the inconceivable.”
