puruṣasya ca saṁsthānaṁ svarūpaṁ vā parasya ca |
jñānaṁ ca naigamaṁ yat tad guru-śiṣya-prayojanam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.7.38)
“[Please explain] The full existence of the puruṣa, the essential nature of the Supreme, and that knowledge related to the Nigamas which is the aim of the guru and disciple.”
purāṇa-saṁhitām etām ṛṣir nārāyaṇo’vyayaḥ |
nāradāya purā prāha kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyanāya saḥ ||
sa vai mahyaṁ mahārāja bhagavān bādarāyaṇaḥ |
imāṁ bhāgavatīṁ prītaḥ saṁhitāṁ veda-sammitām ||
imāṁ vakṣyaty asau sūta ṛṣibhyo naimiṣālaye |
dīrgha-satre kuru-śreṣṭha sampṛṣṭaḥ śaunakādibhiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.4.41–43)
“[Śrī Śukadeva to Mahārāja Parīkṣit:] In the past, the Seer, Nārāyaṇa, spoke this compendium of the Purāṇas [viz., Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, to Brahmā], the unhindered one [viz., Brahmā, spoke it] to Nārada, and he [viz., Nārada, spoke it] to Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana [viz., Vyāsa]. O Great King, he, Bhagavān Bādarāyaṇa [viz., Vyāsa], being pleased, [spoke] this compendium related to Bhagavān [viz., Śrīmad Bhāgavatam], like the Veda, to me. He, Suta, spoke this to the seers at Naimiṣāraṇya during a long sacrifice, O best of the Kurus, upon being questioned by those led by Śaunaka.”
rāmeṇa sārdhaṁ mathurāṁ praṇīte
śvāphalkinā mayy anurakta-cittāḥ |
vigāḍha-bhāvena na me viyoga-
tīvrādhayo’nyaṁ dadṛśuḥ sukhāya ||
tās tāḥ kṣapāḥ preṣṭha-tamena nītā
mayaiva vṛndāvana-gocareṇa |
kṣaṇārdha-vat tāḥ punar aṅga tāsāṁ
hīnā mayā kalpa-samā babhūvuḥ ||
tā nāvidan mayy anuṣaṅga-baddha-
dhiyaḥ svam ātmānam adas tathedam |
yathā samādhau munayo’bdhi-toye
nadyaḥ praviṣṭā iva nāma-rūpe ||
mat-kāmā ramaṇaṁ jāram asvarūpa-vido’balāḥ |
brahma māṁ paramaṁ prāpuḥ saṅgāc chata-sahasraśaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.12.10–13; cited in Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.143–46, Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 175–179; Bhakti Sandarbha: 242; Prīti Sandarbha: 92, 99, 423)
“When I was brought to Mathurā along with Rāma by Śvāphalki [i.e., Akrūra], they [viz., the gopīs] whose minds were deeply attached to me, and who were in anguish because of separation [from me] by virtue of their profound bhāva, did not look towards anyone other than me for the sake of pleasure [because looking at anyone other than me led them to feel sorrow rather than pleasure; alt., they did not look to anyone other than me as a cause of pleasure because everyone other than me was only a cause of sorrow for them in separation from me]. Those special nights spent with me specifically, [their] Dearmost, dwelling in Vṛndāvana, passed like half a moment [for them], yet those [nights], O dear one [i.e., O Uddhava], without me became like epochs for them. Their minds bound by deep attachment to me, they did not know own, self, that, or this [i.e., they had no awareness of objects of the sense of ‘mine,’ objects of the sense of ‘I,’ the next world, or this world] just as sages who have entered samādhi and rivers [that have entered] the water of the ocean [do not know] names and forms. [The bhāva of these gopīs is so deep that just] By association [with these gopīs], [even] hundreds and thousands of they devoid of strength [viz., Pulindīs (local girls from rural tribes) that had no caste, conduct, knowledge, bhakti, and so on] who were devoid of awareness of my true nature [i.e., who had not even seen my beauty and so on] became filled with desire for me and attained me, the Supreme Brahman, as a paramour lover.”
na hy ekasmād guror jñānaṁ susthiraṁ syāt supuṣkalam |
brahmaitad advitīyaṁ vai gīyate bahudha rṣibhiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.9.31)
“Indeed knowledge [received] from one guru shall not become sufficiently steady and sufficiently extensive. This nondual Brahman is sung of by seers in numerous ways.”
ye vai bhagavatā proktā upāyā hy ātma-labdhaye |
añjaḥ puṁsām aviduṣāṁ viddhi bhāgavatān hi tān ||
yān āsthāya naro rājan na pramādyeta karhicit |
dhāvan nimīlya vā netre na skhalen na pated iha ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.34–35; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.497, 524; Bhakti Sandarbha: 125, 216, 218; Mādhurya-kādambinī: 3.3)
“Know to be Bhāgavatas [i.e., Bhāgavata-dharmas—limbs of bhakti to Bhagavān] those well known means of realization (1) which are stated by Bhagavān for unlearned persons for the sake of [their] easy attainment of the Self (Ātmā) and (2) by taking shelter in which a human being, O King, shall never be hindered. [Even by] Running or keeping the eyes closed, one shall not stumble and shall not fall here.”
kālena naṣṭā pralaye vāṇīyaṁ veda-saṁjñitā |
mayādau brahmaṇe proktā dharmo yasyāṁ mad-ātmakaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.3; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 76)
“[Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] This speech known as the Veda [which is] lost because of time [and] in the dissolution [of the universe] in which dharma based of me is present was dictated to Brahmā by me at the beginning [of the universe’s emanation following its prior dissolution].”
bhakti-yogaḥ puraivoktaḥ prīyamāṇāya te’nagha |
punaś ca kathayiṣyāmi mad-bhakteḥ kāraṇaṁ param ||
śraddhāmṛta-kathāyāṁ me śaśvan mad-anukīrtanam |
pariniṣṭhā ca pūjāyāṁ stutibhiḥ stavanaṁ mama ||
ādaraḥ paricaryāyāṁ sarvāṅgair abhivandanam |
mad-bhakta-pūjābhyadhikā sarva-bhūteṣu man-matiḥ ||
mad-artheṣv aṅga-ceṣṭā ca vacasā mad-guṇeraṇam |
mayy arpaṇaṁ ca manasaḥ sarva-kāma-vivarjanam ||
mad-arthe’rtha-parityāgo bhogasya ca sukhasya ca |
iṣṭaṁ dattaṁ hutaṁ japtaṁ mad-arthaṁ yad vrataṁ tapaḥ ||
evaṁ dharmair manuṣyāṇām uddhavātma-nivedinām |
mayi sañjāyate bhaktiḥ ko’nyo’rtho’syāvaśiṣyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.19.19–24; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.514-517, 526; Bhakti Sandarbha: 228)
“The practice (yoga) of bhakti was indeed explained previously [to you by me]. O sinless one, for you who are finding pleasure [in that], I will describe again the best means of bhakti to me. Continuous śraddhā in the nectar of narration of me, recapitulating related to me, full fixity in ritual worship of me, praising [me] with hymns, attentive regard for adoring service [to me], offering respectful obeisance [to me] with all the limbs, exceeding worship of my bhakta, awareness of me in all entities, body-activity for purposes related to me, speaking of my qualities with the [faculty] of speech, offering of the mind to me, letting go of all desires, relinquishment of wealth, as well as of enjoyment and of pleasure, for my sake, and sacrifice, charity, oblations, utterance (japa), rites, and austerity which are for my sake—by means of such dharmas, O Uddhava, bhakti to me is manifested in full for human beings who are offerers of themselves [to me]. What other object remains for one [i.e., for such a bhakta]?”
apīpalad dharma-rājaḥ pitṛvad rañjayan prajāḥ |
niḥspṛhaḥ sarva-kāmebhyaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādānusevayā ||
sampadaḥ kratavo lokā mahiṣī bhrātaro mahī |
jambūdvīpādhipatyaṁ ca yaśaś ca tridivaṁ gatam ||
kiṁ te kāmāḥ sura-spārhā mukunda-manaso dvijāḥ |
adhijahrur mudaṁ rājñaḥ kṣudhitasya yathetare ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.12.4–6)
“Free from covetousness for all objects of desire by way of continuous service to the feet of Kṛṣṇa, Dharmarāja [viz., Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja], like his father, pleased and protected the citizens [of his kingdom]. Riches, sacrifices, planes [attained by the performance of sacrifices], queens, brothers, the earth, rulership over Jambūdvīpa, and fame situated in Svarga—O twice-born ones, like other objects [i.e., things other than food, like garlands and sandalwood paste] for one who is hungry, could these objects of desire, coveted by the devas, cause delight for the king, whose mind was given over to Mukunda? [Certainly not].”
atraiva narakaḥ svarga iti mātaḥ pracakṣyate |
yā yātanā vai nārakyas tā ihāpy upalakṣitāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.30.29)
“O mother, they say Naraka and Svarga exist [i.e., are experienced] here [i.e., in this plane] itself. Sufferings which are hellish are perceived here too.”
rājovāca
maharṣa etad vaicitryaṁ lokasya katham iti |
ṛṣir uvāca
tri-guṇatvāt kartuḥ śraddhayā karma-gatayaḥ pṛthag-vidhāḥ sarvā eva sarvasya tāratamyena bhavanti |
athedānīṁ pratiṣiddha-lakṣaṇasyādharmasya tathaiva kartuḥ śraddhāyā vaisādṛśyāt karma-phalaṁ visadṛśaṁ bhavati, yā hy anādy-avidyayā kṛta-kāmānāṁ tat-pariṇāma-lakṣaṇāḥ sṛtayaḥ sahasraśaḥ pravṛttāḥ, tāsāṁ prācuryeṇānuvarṇayiṣyāmaḥ |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.26.1–3)
“The king said: ‘O great seer, why does the world have this variegatedness?’
“The seer said, ‘The destinations [reached by way] of actions are of different types in accord with the conviction (śraddhā) of the agent [of the actions] on account of [agents and their conviction’s] being constituted of the three guṇas. Indeed they all [i.e., the various destinations reached by way of actions] occur for all [agents] in a gradation. Thus, in this case in exactly the way [as a dissimilar result occurs for agents of dharma on account of a dissimilarity in their convictions (śraddhās)], a dissimilar result of an action occurs on account of the dissimilarity in the conviction (śraddhā) of an agent of adharma, the nature of which is a prohibition [in the śāstra]. I will describe extensively the thousands of determined destinations, the natures of which are transformations of [worldly] desires, for those who have acted upon those [worldly desires] as a result of beginningless (anādi) ignorance (avidyā).”
