evaṁ manaḥ karma-vaśaṁ prayuṅkte
avidyayātmany upadhīyamāne |
prītir na yāvan mayi vāsudeve
na mucyate deha-yogena tāvat ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.5.6)
“Thus, karma subjugates the mind when the ātmā is covered by avidyā. Until one has prīti for me, Vāsudeva, one is not freed from entanglement with the body.”
ātatatvāc ca mātṛtvād ātmā hi paramo hariḥ |
(Cited in Krama Sandarbha in relation to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.2.34 and Caitanya-caritāmṛta 2.24.78)
“Because of being [all-] pervasive and being the mother [i.e., the source of everything in the universe], the Ātmā is indeed the Supreme, Hari.”
na hy asyāsti priyaḥ kaścin nāpriyaḥ svaḥ paro’pi vā |
ātmatvāt sarva-bhūtānāṁ sarva-bhūta-priyo hariḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.17.33)
“No one is dear to him, and no one is undear; no one is his own or estranged from him either. Because he is the ātmā of all living beings, Hari is dear to all living beings [alt., he is the object of their unconditional prīti].”
yathā nabhasi meghaugho reṇur vā pārthivo’nile |
evaṁ draṣṭari dṛśyatvam āropitam abuddhibhiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.3.31)
“Like a mass of clouds to the sky or a particle of earth to the air, so the visible [i.e., the body] is attributed [i.e., taken to be] to the seer [i.e., the ātmā] by the unintelligent.”
tvaṁ tu rājan mariṣyeti paśu-buddhim imāṁ jahi |
na jātaḥ prāg abhūto’dya deha-vat tvaṁ na naṅkṣyasi ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.5.2)
[Śukadeva to Mahārāja Parīkṣit:] “O King, you should give up this animal mentality [of thinking], “I will die.” Like the body, you were not previously non-existent, are not [merely] presently manifest, and will not be destroyed [in the future].”
ātmā nityo’vyayaḥ śuddha ekaḥ kṣetra-jña āśrayaḥ |
avikriyaḥ sva-dṛg hetur vyāpako’saṅgy anāvṛtaḥ ||
etair dvādaśabhir vidvān ātmano lakṣaṇaiḥ paraiḥ |
ahaṁ mamety asad-bhāvaṁ dehādau mohajaṁ tyajet ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.7.19–20; cited in Paramātma Sandarbha: 46)
“The ātmā is eternal [i.e. indestructible], undiminishing, pure, one [i.e., singular, not an aggregate like the body], the knower of the field [i.e., endowed with capacity for awareness], the shelter [i.e., the shelter of the senses and other faculties, such as the manas and buddhi], immutable, self-witnessing [i.e., self-luminous to its own self], the cause [i.e., the cause of the universe’s emanation], pervasive [i.e., pervasive of the body], unattached, and without any covering. By means of these twelve distinguishing characteristics of the ātmā, a learned person should give up the false notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ related to the body and so forth [i.e., the body’s paraphernalia], which are products of delusion.”
yathaihikāmuṣmika-kāma-lampaṭaḥ
suteṣu dāreṣu dhaneṣu cintayan |
śaṅketa vidvān kukalevarātyayād
yas tasya yatnaḥ śrama eva kevalam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.19.14)
“The endeavor of a learned person [i.e., the study of śāstra and practice of yoga of one] who fears the passing of the repulsive body, just like someone covetous of objects of enjoyment in the present and the afterlife who worries about his sons, wives, and possessions, is just mere labor [i.e., one’s study of śāstra and practice of yoga are fruitless unless one successfully fixes the mind on Bhagavān and gives up sāṁsārka attachment and thereby fear of death].”
athātmano’rtha-bhūtasya yato’nartha-paramparā |
saṁsṛtis tad-vyavacchedo bhaktyā paramayā gurau ||
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ samāhitaḥ |
sadhrīcīnena vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca janayiṣyati ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.29.36–37)
“Therefore, termination of [ignorance,] that because of which the succession of anarthas, saṁsāra, exists for the ātmā, the [truly] existent entity, occurs through pure bhakti to Guru [i.e., Bhagavān, or, the teacher of Bhagavad-bhakti], for fully performed bhakti-yoga to Vāsudeva, Bhagavān [i.e., bhakti performed entirely for Bhagavān’s satisfaction without any separate interest—prema-bhakti], will produce real non-attachment (vairāgya) and knowledge (jñāna).”
kalpayitvātmanā yāvad ābhāsam idam īśvaraḥ |
dvaitaṁ tāvan na viramet tato hy asya viparyayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.12.10)
[Translation based on Bhāvārtha-dīpikā:] “As long as the jīva is not capable by means of the ātmā [i.e., by virtue of self-realization, ātma-sākṣātkāra] of determining this [i.e., the body, senses, and so forth] to be a guise [i.e., a mere false appearance], then duality [i.e., perception of distinctions such as, “He is a man; she is a woman,”] does not cease, and certainly thereby one’s misapprehension [i.e., one’s mentality of enjoyment] remains.”
anādy-avidyopahatātma-saṁvidas
tan-mūla-saṁsāra-pariśramāturāḥ |
yadṛcchayopasṛtā yam āpnuyur
vimuktido naḥ paramo gurur bhavān ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.24.46)
[Satyavrata Rāja to Matsya Avatāra:] “He whom those here whose awareness of the self has been covered by beginningless ignorance (anādi-avidyā) and who are [thus] suffering from the toil of saṁsāra, the root of which is this [viz., beginningless ignorance], can independently [i.e., only by his favor, or, by the independent grace of his bhakta] become sheltered in and attain—he who is the Bestower of ultimate liberation and our Supreme Guru—you—he who by means of whose service [i.e., by means of bestowing service to himself] dispels the unrighteous mentality of these unknowing persons [like ourselves] bound by their own karma who perform karma which is [ultimately] dissatisfying out of desire for [the attainment of] satisfaction—are [thus] our Guru [by so dispelling our unrighteous mentality] and able to sever the knot in our hearts [i.e., the ignorance situated therein].
