svabhāvo dustyajo nātha lokānāṁ yad asad-grahaḥ
svabhāvo dustyajo nātha lokānāṁ yad asad-grahaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.16.56)
“O Lord, people’s svabhāva (nature), which is that of clinging to the unreal [alt., to evil], is difficult to give up.”
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam
tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarva-bhāvena bhārata
tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha sarva-bhāvena bhārata |
tat-prasādāt parāṁ śāntiṁ sthānaṁ prāpsyasi śāśvatam ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 18.62)
“Take shelter in him alone with the entirety of your being, O Bhārata. By his grace, you shall attain the supreme peace and the eternal abode.”
kṣaṇārdhenāpi tulaye na svargaṁ nāpunar-bhavam
kṣaṇārdhenāpi tulaye na svargaṁ nāpunar-bhavam |
bhagavat-saṅgi-saṅgasya martyānāṁ kim utāśiṣaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.24.57; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.285; Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.14; Bhakti Sandarbha: 189, 247; Prīti Sandarbha: 30)
“[Bhagavān Śiva to the Pracetas:] I equate neither Svarga nor non-repetition of birth, much less the benedictions had by human beings, with even half a moment of association with those who are attached to Bhagavān.”
proktena bhakti-yogena bhajato māsakṛn muneḥ
proktena bhakti-yogena bhajato māsakṛn muneḥ |
kāmā hṛdayyā naśyanti sarve mayi hṛdi sthite ||
bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ |
kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi mayi dṛṣṭe’khilātmani ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.20.29–30)
“All desires situated in the heart are destroyed when the heart of a devotee worshiping me continuously by means of the [afore-] stated practice of bhakti becomes fixed upon me. The knot of the heart is rent, all doubts are cut away, and one’s karmas are eliminated when I, the Self of all, am seen.”
yadṛcchayā mat-kathādau jāta-śraddhas tu yaḥ pumān
yadṛcchayā mat-kathādau jāta-śraddhas tu yaḥ pumān |
na nirviṇṇo nātisakto bhakti-yogo’sya siddhidaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.20.8)
“The practice of bhakti of a person who independently becomes possessed of śraddhā in discussion and so forth of me yet is neither disinterested nor excessively attached is a granter of success.”
rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti
rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti
na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā |
na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair
vinā mahat-pāda-rajo’bhiṣekam ||
yatrottamaḥśloka-guṇānuvādaḥ
prastūyate grāmya-kathā-vighātaḥ |
niṣevyamāṇo’nudinaṁ mumukṣor
matiṁ satīṁ yacchati vāsudeve ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.12.12–13)
“[Jaḍa Bhārata:] O Rahūgaṇa, neither by austerity, nor by sacrifice, nor by giving, nor by household life, nor by the Vedas, nor by [worship of] water, fire, and the sun does one attain this without bathing in the foot-dust of the mahats, amongst whom is sung recounting of the qualities of he of highest praise [i.e., Śrī Bhagavān], on account of which termination of village talk occurs, and which upon being honored daily produces a seeker of mokṣa’s genuine inclination towards Vāsudeva.”
so’haṁ tavāṅghry-upagato’smy asatāṁ durāpaṁ
so’haṁ tavāṅghry-upagato’smy asatāṁ durāpaṁ
tac cāpy ahaṁ bhavad-anugraha īśa manye |
puṁso bhaved yarhi saṁsaraṇāpavargas
tvayy abja-nābha sad-upāsanayā matiḥ syāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.40.28)
“Being such [i.e., although I am unable to restrict my mind from the pull of the senses upon it towards their various objects], I have approached your feet, which are difficult to attain for the asat. That too, furthermore, I consider your favor, O Īśa! When the cessation of saṁsāra shall come about for a person, O you of lotus navel, inclination towards you shall come about as a result of worship of the sat.”
yā nirvṛtis tanu-bhṛtāṁ tava pāda-padma
yā nirvṛtis tanu-bhṛtāṁ tava pāda-padma-
dhyānād bhavaj-jana-kathā-śravaṇena vā syāt |
sā brahmaṇi sva-mahimany api nātha mā bhūt
kiṁ tv antakāsi-lulitāt patatāṁ vimānāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.9.10; cited in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.29)
“O Lord, that bliss which can arise for embodied beings from meditation upon your lotus feet or through hearing narratives of persons who are your own does not occur even in [realization of] Brahman, your own [all-pervading] greatness. How then could it occur for [the devas of Svarga,] those who [all eventually] fall from airplanes slashed by the sword of death [i.e., time]?”
tad bhūri-bhāgyam iha janma kim apy aṭavyāṁ
tad bhūri-bhāgyam iha janma kim apy aṭavyāṁ
yad gokule’pi katamāṅghri-rajo-’bhiṣekam |
yaj-jīvitaṁ tu nikhilaṁ bhagavān mukundas
tv adyāpi yat-pada-rajaḥ śruti-mṛgyam eva ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.14.34)
[A translation based on the commentary of Śrī Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda:] “May I have that great fortune in which a birth of any sort here in the forest in Gokula shall occur wherein I may also receive an ablution in the dust of the feet of anyone [there] whose entire life is Bhagavān, Mukunda, [he] whose footdust is verily an object to be sought by the Śrutis even to this very day.”
[A translation based on the commentary of Śrī Viśvanātha Carkavartīpāda:] “May I have that great fortune in which a birth of any sort here in the forest or even in Gokula shall occur wherein I may receive an ablution in the dust of the feet of anyone [there] whose entire life is Bhagavān, Mukunda, and whose footdust is verily an object to be sought by the Śrutis even to this very day.”
kathā imās te kathitā mahīyasāṁ
kathā imās te kathitā mahīyasāṁ
vitāya lokeṣu yaśaḥ pareyuṣām |
vijñāna-vairāgya-vivakṣayā vibho
vaco-vibhūtīr na tu pāramārthyam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.3.14)
[Translation based on the ṭīkās of Śrīdhara Svāmī and Jīva Gosvāmī:] “[Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Parīkṣit Mahārāja:] O King, these narrations narrated [by me] for the purpose of [teaching] knowledge [i.e., knowledge of the insubstantiality of sense objects (viṣayāsāra-jñānam)] and [subsequent] non-attachment (vairāgyam), which extend the fame of departed great personages [i.e., prominent kings and so forth other than avatāras of Bhagavān] throughout the worlds, are splendors of speech and not, rather, ultimate truth.”
[Translation based on the ṭīkā of Viśvanātha Cakravartī:] “[Śukadeva Gosvāmī to Parīkṣit Mahārāja:] O King, these narrations narrated [by me] for the purpose of [teaching] knowledge [i.e., experience of Bhagavān] and [subsequent] non-attachment, which extend the fame of great personages who attained the Supreme throughout the worlds, are not splendors of speech, but rather, ultimate truth.”