yādṛśaiḥ sevyate bhṛtyair yādṛśāṁś copasevate |
kadācin nātra sandehas tādṛg bhavati pūruṣaḥ ||
(Pañcatantra: 1.272)
“A person becomes like whom he serves and like servants by whom he is served. There is never any doubt in this regard.”
sevanaṁ cittānuvṛttiḥ |
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.16.17, cited in the Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā and Sārātha-darśinī-ṭīkā and Prīti Sandarbha: 129)
“Service (sevanam) means acting in accord with the mind [of the person to be served].”
naikatra priya-saṁvāsaḥ suhṛdāṁ citra-karmaṇām |
oghena vyūhyamānānāṁ plavānāṁ srotaso yathā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.5.25)
“Living together with dear companions of variegated karma is not [always] possible, just as floating objects are [inevitably] separated by the current of a river.”
na vinā vipralambhena sambhogaḥ puṣṭim aśnute |
(Bhojadeva’s Sarasvatī-kaṇṭhābharaṇa: 5.52; cited in Ujjvala-nīlāmaṇi: 15.3)
“Without separation, union does not attain richness.”
saṅgama-viraha-vikalpe
varam iha viraho na saṅgamas tasya |
ekaḥ sa eva saṅge
tribhuvanam api tanmayaṁ virahe ||
(Unknown source; cited in Padyāvalī: 239; Ānanda-candrikā-ṭīkā on Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 15.3)
“In the instance of [a lover having] an option between union and separation, separation is preferable in this case, and not union with him [i.e., the beloved]. In union, he alone is there, while in separation, indeed the three worlds are filled with him.”
kathañcana smāraṇam eva teṣām
avehi taj-jīvana-dānam eva |
teṣāṁ yato vismaraṇaṁ kadācit
prāṇādhikānāṁ maraṇāc ca nindyam ||
na sambhaved asmaraṇaṁ kadāpi
sva-jīvanānāṁ yad api priyāṇām |
tathāpi kenāpi viśeṣaṇena
smṛtiḥ praharṣāya yathā su-jīvitam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.129–130)
[Bhagavān to Nārada:] “Understand that somehow producing remembrance of them [i.e., those who are dear] is to give [those endowed with prema] life itself because any sort of forgetfulness of them who are more [dear] than one’s very life is more contemptible than dying [for those endowed with prema]. Although forgetting those who are as dear as one’s very life is never possible, still any sort of special remembrance [of them] is as great a joy as an abundant life.”
icchet punas tādṛśam eva bhāvaṁ
kliṣṭaṁ kathañcit tad-abhāvataḥ syāt |
yeṣāṁ na bhātīti mate’pi teṣāṁ
gāḍhopakārī smṛti-daḥ priyāṇām ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.128)
[Bhagavān to Nārada:] “The heart will want such bhāva [i.e., such apparent sorrow] again, and will become distressed by any sort of absence of it. This bhāva, even in the view of those in whom it does not arise, is the greatest benefactor, since it is a producer of remembrance of those who are dear.”
tac-choka-duḥkhoparamasya paścāc
cittaṁ yataḥ pūrṇatayā prasannam |
samprāpta-sambhoga-mahā-sukhena
sampanna-vat tiṣṭhati sarvadaiva ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.7.127)
[Bhagavān to Nārada:] “This is so because after the cessation of the sorrow of such grief [i.e., that produced by separation], the heart remains completely satisfied as though it is endowed constantly with the great joy of attained union.”
mayy āveśya manaḥ kṛtsnaṁ vimuktāśeṣa-vṛtti yat |
anusmarantyo māṁ nityam acirān mām upaiṣyatha ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.47.36; cited in Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 163)
“By absorbing your minds free from all [other] operations in me, and [thus] remembering me continuously, you will soon reach me.”
yathā dūracare preṣṭhe mana āviśya vartate |
strīṇāṁ ca na tathā cetaḥ sannikṛṣṭe’kṣi-gocare ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.47.35; cited in Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 162)
“The minds of women do not remain as absorbed in their beloved when he is nearby in the range of the eyes as they do when he is far away.”
