pūjayā hasate bhaktir japatas trasyati sphuṭam |
samādhi-yogāc ca bahiḥ sā bhaktiḥ kena gṛhyate? ||
(Padma Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.544)
“Bhakti laughs at pūjā, fears japa, and is beyond samādhi-yoga. [So,] This bhakti is attainable by whom?”
asāre khalu saṁsāre sāram etan nirūpitam |
samasta-loka-nāthasya śraddhayārādhanaṁ hareḥ ||
(Skanda Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.209)
“In verily essenceless saṁsāra, this has been ascertained to be the essence: worship with śraddhā of Hari, the Lord of all the worlds.”
mama śāstra-pravaktāraṁ mama śāstrānucintakam |
cintayāmi na sandeho naraṁ taṁ cātmavat sadā ||
(Skanda Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.375)
“[Bhagavān:] No doubt I always think of that person who teaches śāstra related to me and who reflects on śāstra related to me as my own.”
sarvasvenāpi viprendra kartavyaḥ śāstra-saṅgrahaḥ |
vaiṣṇavais tu mahā-bhaktyā tuṣṭy-arthaṁ cakra-pāṇinaḥ ||
(Skanda Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.370)
“O best of brāhmaṇas, for the satisfaction of Bhagavān, collecting śāstras, even with the whole of one’s wealth, is to be done by Vaiṣṇavas with great bhakti.”
uddiśya devatā eva juhoti ca dadāti ca |
sa pāṣaṇḍīti vijñeyaḥ svatantro vāpi karmasu ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 6.235.8; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 222)
“One who performs sacrifices or gives in charity only for the sake of the devatās [i.e., without due regard for or the intent to please Bhagavān] or who is independent in action [i.e., performs action considering oneself independently capable of doing so and entitled to the fruit thereof independent of Bhagavān] is to be known as a heretic (pāṣaṇḍi) [i.e., one who is fallen from the Vaiṣṇava path].”
abhisandhāya yo hiṁsāṁ dambhaṁ mātsaryam eva vā |
saṁrambhī bhinna-dṛg bhāvaṁ mayi kuryāt sa tāmasaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.29.8; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 234)
“One possessed of anger and separated vision who shall express bhāva [i.e., bhakti] for me with the aim of violence, deceit, or spite is tāmasa [i.e., of the nature of tamo-guṇa].”
viṣṇu-bhaktiṁ pravakṣyāmi yayā sarvam avāpyate |
yathā bhaktyā haris tuṣyet tathā nānyena kenacit ||
bhaja ity eṣa vai dhātuḥ sevāyāṁ parikīrtitaḥ |
tasmāt sevā budhaiḥ proktā bhaktiḥ sādhana-bhūyasī ||
(Garuḍa Purāṇa: 1.227.1, 3; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 216)
“I shall now describe Viṣṇu-bhakti, by which everything is attained. Hari is not as satisfied by anything else as he can be by bhakti. The dhātu √bhaj [i.e., the verbal root from which the word bhakti is derived] is widely said to mean service (sevā). Therefore, the great sādhana [known as] bhakti is said to be service (sevā) by the wise.”
brāhmaṇānāṁ sahasrebhyaḥ satra-yājī viśiṣyate |
satra-yāji-sahasrebhyaḥ sarva-vedānta-pāragaḥ ||
sarva-vedānta-vit-koṭyāṁ viṣṇu-bhakto viśiṣyate |
vaiṣṇavānāṁ sahasrebhya ekānty eko viśiṣyate ||
ekāntinas tu puruṣā gacchanti paramaṁ padam |
(Garuḍa Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.175–176; Bhakti Sandarbha: 174)
“A performer of the satra-yāga [i.e., a difficult form of sacrifice only a highly trained brāhmaṇa can perform] is superior to thousands of brāhmaṇas. One adept in the entire Vedānta [i.e., who knows the conclusion of all the Vedas] is superior to thousands of performers of the satra-yāga. A bhakta of Viṣṇu is superior to crores of knowers of the entire Vedānta, and one who is one-pointed [in one’s bhakti to Viṣṇu] is superior to thousands of Vaiṣṇavas [who are not yet one-pointed]. One-pointed persons reach the supreme abode.”
yuktāsya sphūrti-mātreṇa nirviśeṣeṇa kenacit |
hṛn-mīlanāt puro’vasthā nidrā bhakteṣu kathyate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.4.176)
“The state, prior to the shutting [down] of the mind (hṛt) [i.e., the state prior to the state of an absence of external functions (bahir-vṛtty-abhāva) in the citta], endowed only with some unspecific manifestation (sphūrti) of him [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] is called nidrā (sleep) in the case of bhaktas.”
ete hi yādavāḥ sarve mad-gaṇā eva bhāmini |
sarvadā mat-priyā devi mat-tulya-guṇa-śālinaḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.292)
“All these Yādavas, O Bhāminī [i.e., Satyabhāmā, lit., ‘O beautiful young woman’], are certainly my associates. O Devī, they hold me dear, and they possess qualities like my own.”
