brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham amṛtasyāvyayasya ca |
śāśvatasya ca dharmasya sukhasyaikāntikasya ca ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 14.27)
“Since I am the basis of Brahman, of the imperishable nectar, of the eternal dharma, and of the bliss of the one-pointed.”
kathayasva mahābhāga yathāham akhilātmani |
kṛṣṇe niveśya niḥsaṅgaṁ manas tyakṣye kalevaram ||
śṛṇvataḥ śraddhayā nityaṁ gṛṇataś ca svaceṣṭitam |
kālena nātidīrgheṇa bhagavān viśate hṛdi ||
praviṣṭaḥ karṇa-randhreṇa svānāṁ bhāva-saroruham |
dhunoti śamalaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ salilasya yathā śarat ||
dhautātmā puruṣaḥ kṛṣṇa-pāda-mūlaṁ na muñcati |
mukta-sarva-parikleśaḥ pānthaḥ sva-śaraṇaṁ yathā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.8.3–6; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 268; Durgama-saṅgamanī-ṭīkā on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.1.36)
“[Parīkṣit Mahārāja to Śukadeva Gosvāmī:] O you of great fortune, please speak so that I shall give up the body absorbing the mind free from attachment in Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Self of all. Within not a very long time, Bhagavān enters the heart of one who hears and speaks about his own activities continuously with śraddhā. Having entered through the holes of the ears into the lotus of the bhāva of those who are his own, Kṛṣṇa cleanses away contamination [of the heart] just as the autumn [cleans away contamination] of water. A person of cleansed heart does not leave the base of Kṛṣṇa’s feet just as a traveller by whom all hardship has been given up does not leave his own home [after having returned there].”
ayaṁ svasty-ayanaḥ panthā dvijāter gṛha-medhinaḥ |
yac chraddhayāpta-vittena śuklenejyeta pūruṣaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.84.37)
“This path whereby the Puruṣa [i.e., Śrī Bhagavān] shall be worshiped with śraddhā by means of purely obtained wealth is auspicious for a twice-born householder.”
nṛṣu tava māyayā bhramam amīṣv avagatya bhṛśaṁ
tvayi sudhiyo’bhave dadhati bhāvam anuprabhavam |
katham anuvartatāṁ bhava-bhayaṁ tava yad bhrū-kuṭiḥ
sṛjati muhus trinemir abhavac-charaṇeṣu bhayam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.87.32)
[Translated according to Śrī Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda’s commentary:] “Understanding the ignorance as a consequence of your māyā among these human beings wherefrom repeated birth ensues, the wise foster bhāva [i.e., render service] profusely for you, Non-existence [i.e., you who are the cause of liberation from material existence]. How could your followers have any distress on account of [material] existence, since the furrowing of your brows—time (trinemi)—creates distress perpetually for those who are not in your shelter?”
saty api bhedāpagame nātha tavāhaṁ na māmakīnas tvam |
sāmudro hi taraṅgaḥ kvacana samudro na tāraṅgaḥ ||
(Śrī Śaṅkarācārya’s Viṣṇu-ṣaṭpadī-stotram: 3; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 8.419; Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmārta: 2.2.196)
“Even once the cessation of distinction (bheda) [between you and I] occurs, O Nātha, I am yours, [but] you are not mine. A wave certainly belongs to the ocean, [but] nowhere does the ocean belong to a wave.”
tad-aṁśatvāt tad-abhinnatvena tadīyatvena vā svātmānaṁ vijānīyād ity arthaḥ | evaṁ ca sati so’ham iti—saḥ śrī-bhagavad-aṁśaḥ śuddha-buddha-mukta-svabhāvo’ham; yad vā, tad-aṁśatvena tad-adhīno nitya-sevako’smīty arthaḥ |
(Excerpt from the Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 5.65)
“One should understand one’s self (ātmā) as being non-different from him [i.e., Paramātmā] or as being his own, on account of [the ātmā’s] being a part (aṁśa) of him. This is the meaning [of the aforementioned bhūta-śuddhi meditation]. Since this is such, ‘I am he’ (so’ham) means, ‘I, who am of pure, conscious, and liberated nature, am he, meaning, [I am] a part (aṁśa) of Śrī Bhagavān,’ or alternately, ‘because of [my] being a part of him, I am dependent on him and an eternal servant [of him].’”
atha svārpaṇa-vidhiḥ—
ahaṁ bhagavato’ṁśo’smi sadā dāso’smi sarvathā |
tat-kṛpāpekṣako nityam ity ātmānaṁ samarpayet ||
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 8.418)
“Now, the method of offering the self [is explained; one should meditate]: ‘I am a part of Bhagavān. I am forever a servant [of him] in all respects. I am always a seeker of his grace.’ In this way, one should fully offer oneself.”
arcāyām eva haraye pūjāṁ yaḥ śraddhayehate |
na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.47; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.26, 10.76; Bhakti Sandarbha: 190; Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.74)
“One who with śraddhā performs worship of Hari only in a deity and not in his bhaktas or in others is considered a beginning bhakta.”
īśvare tad-adhīneṣu bāliśeṣu dviṣatsu ca |
prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā yaḥ karoti sa madhyamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.46; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.25, 10.75; Bhakti Sandarbha: 189; Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.73)
“One who fosters prema, friendship, grace, and disregard [respectively] in relation to Īśvara, his dependents, the unwise, and the inimical is an intermediate [bhāgavata].”
arcye viṣṇau śilā‑dhīr guruṣu nara‑matir vaiṣṇave jāti‑buddhir
viṣṇor vā vaiṣṇavānāṁ kali‑mala‑mathane pāda‑tīrthe’mbu‑buddhiḥ |
śrī-viṣṇor nāmni mantre sakala‑kaluṣa‑he śabda‑sāmānya‑buddhir
viṣṇau sarveśvareśe tad‑itara‑sama‑dhīr yasya vā nārakī saḥ ||
(Unknown source; attributed to a southerner in Padyāvalī: 114; cited in Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.26)
“One who has the notion of a stone in relation to a Deity of Viṣṇu [e.g., a Śālagrāma-śilā], the idea of a man in relation to gurus, the notion of a caste in relation to a Vaiṣṇava, the notion of water in relation to the sacred foot-wash of Viṣṇu or the Vaiṣṇavas, which is a destroyer of the contamination of Kali, the notion of an ordinary word in relation to the name of Śrī Viṣṇu, which is a vanquisher of all sin, or the notion of equality with those other than himself in relation to Viṣṇu, the Īśvara of all Īśvaras, is destined for Nāraka.”
