ato vai kavayo nityaṁ bhaktiṁ paramayā mudā |
vāsudeve bhagavati kurvanty ātma-prasādanīm ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.2.22)
“Therefore, indeed with paramount delight, the wise always perform bhakti to Bhagavān, Vāsudeva, which is purifying of the self.”
jayati jayati nāmānanda-rūpaṁ murārer
viramita-nija-dharma-dhyāna-pūjādi-yatnam |
katham api sakṛd āttaṁ muktidaṁ prāṇināṁ yat
paramam amṛtam ekaṁ jīvanaṁ bhūṣaṇaṁ me ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 1.1.9)
“The name of Murāri—
A form of bliss—
That by which the difficulty
Of one’s duties, meditation, ritual worship, and so forth
Is terminated,
That which is a bestower of mukti for living beings
Upon being uttered [even] once by any means,
And which for me is alone
The supreme nectar,
[Supreme] enlivenment,
And [supreme] ornament—
Triumphs!
Triumphs!”
jīvan-mukto nāma sva-svarūpākhaṇḍa-brahma-jñānena tad-ajñāna-bādhana-dvārā sva-svarūpākhaṇḍa-brahmaṇi sākṣātkṛte’jñāna-tat-kārya-sañcita-karma-saṁśaya-viparyayādīnām api bādhitatvād akhila-bandha-rahito brahma-niṣṭhaḥ |
(Vedānta-sāra: 213)
“A jīvan-mukta [i.e., ‘one who is liberated while living’] is known as one who is fixed in Brahman and free from all bondage on account of ignorance and its effects in the form of accumulated karma, doubt, misapprehension, and so on being negated as a result of direct perception of one’s own essential nature, that is, undivided Brahman, by means of the negation of ignorance of that [i.e., of Brahman] through knowledge of one’s own essential nature, that is, undivided Brahman.”
īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā |
nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate ||
(Nāradīya Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.187)
“One who has the desire for servitude to Hari in deed, mind, and speech even in all circumstances is called a jīvan-mukta [i.e., one who is liberated while living].”
jīvan-muktiḥ śarīra-dvayānāveśena sthitiḥ |
(Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 3.1.25)
“Jīvan-mukti [i.e., ‘liberation while living’] is existence without absorption in the two bodies [i.e., the gross and subtle bodies in which a jīvātma in saṁsāra is situated].”
dhyāyato viṣayān puṁsaḥ saṅgas teṣūpajāyate |
saṅgāt saṁjāyate kāmaḥ kāmāt krodho’bhijāyate ||
krodhād bhavati saṁmohaḥ saṁmohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ |
smṛti-bhraṁśād buddhi-nāśo buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 2.62–63)
“For a person dwelling upon objects of the senses, attachment to them is engendered. Because of attachment, desire (kāma) is generated, and because of desire, anger is produced. Because of anger, delusion occurs, and because of delusion, failure of memory occurs. Because of failure of memory, loss of the intellect occurs, and because of loss of the intellect, one becomes ruined.”
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ |
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 18.55)
“By bhakti, one knows me truly, as far as, and as to who, I am. Then, having known me truly, thereafter one enters [me].”
brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati |
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 18.54; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 7; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.8.65)
“Situated in Brahman and being of clear mind, one neither laments nor hankers. Equal to all beings, one attains supreme bhakti to me.”
śrīmad-yaśodā-suta-keli-sindhuṁ
vigāhamānasya mamālpa-śakteḥ |
sanātana-śrīdhara-viśvanātha-
dayā-lavaḥ samprati śakti-rāśiḥ ||
(Vaiṣṇavānandinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.1.1)
“For I of meager strength who am bathing in the ocean of the play of the blessed Son of Yaśodā, [even] a particle of the grace of Sanātana, Śrīdhara, and Viśvanātha is rightly a great amount of strength.”
chalaṁ ca na labhe kiñcid yenādyaṁ paripālayan |
nibandhaṁ sva-kṛtaṁ bhrātar ānayāmy ātmanaḥ padam ||
tat te mayy akṛpāṁ vīkṣya vyagro’nugraha-kātaraḥ |
anādiṁ setum ullaṅghya tvaj-janmedam akārayam ||
śrīmad-govardhane tasmin nija-priyatamāspade |
svayam evābhavaṁ tāta jayantākhyaḥ sa te guruḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.4.84–86)
“[Śrī Vaikuṇṭhanātha Bhagavān to Gopa Kumāra:] Following in full the primordial rule established by myself, I did not find any pretext on which I could bring you to my own abode. Thus, seeing your ungraciousness towards me, feeling anxious, and being overcome with compassion, I transgressed my beginningless law and caused this birth of yours there in that dearmost abode of my own, blessed Govardhana. My dear boy, I myself specifically became your guru, he whose name is Jayanta.”
