saṅgo yaḥ saṁsṛter hetur asatsu vihito’dhiyā |
sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto niḥsaṅgatvāya kalpate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.23.55)
“Association done out of ignorance with non-sādhus is the cause of transmigration [i.e., bondage in saṁsāra], yet with sādhus, it leads to detachment [i.e., liberation from saṁsāra].”
na tathāsya bhaven moho bandhaś cānya-prasaṅgataḥ |
yoṣit-saṅgād yathā puṁso yathā tat-saṅgi-saṅgataḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.31.35; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.90)
“A man’s infatuation and bondage do not occur as a result of any other association the way they do as a result of association with women and association with those who associate with them.”
saṅgaṁ na kuryāt pramadāsu jātu
yogasya pāraṁ param ārurukṣuḥ |
mat-sevayā pratilabdhātma-lābho
vadanti yā niraya-dvāram asya ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.31.39)
“Neither one desirous of ascending to the highest pinnacle of yoga nor one who has reached realization of the ātma through service to me should become attached to [atl., associate with] women, who the wise say are the door to hell for any man.”
satyaṁ śaucaṁ dayā maunaṁ buddhiḥ śrīr hrīr yaśaḥ kṣamā |
śamo damo bhagaś ceti yat-saṅgād yāti saṅkṣayam ||
teṣv aśānteṣu mūḍheṣu khaṇḍitātmasv asādhuṣu |
saṅgaṁ na kuryāc chocyeṣu yoṣit-krīḍā-mṛgeṣu ca ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.31.33–4; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.88–89)
“One should never associate with those by whose association truthfulness, cleanliness, grace, quietude, the intellect, wealth, modesty, honor, forgiveness, mental control, sense control, and good fortune are destroyed, and who are restless, foolish, self-destructive, impious, deplorable, and the pet animals of women.”
saubhares tu garuḍāya kupyato yasmin kṛpā ajaniṣṭha tasya mīnasyaiva saṅgād utthitā durvāsanaivāparādha-phalaṁ yataś ca vilupta-brahmānandaḥ sacira-sañcita-tapas-sṛṣṭa-svayauvanenaiva mūlyena kāminī-vṛndaṁ krītvā tatraiva naraka-tulye viṣayānande nimajjann aparādha-bhogānte śrī-vṛndāvana-yamunāśraya-māhātmyenaiva paścān nistatāreti navame kathā |
(Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.17.11)
“The ill-inclination (durvāsanā) which arose through the association of the very fish upon whom Saubhari, who was angry at Garuḍa, showed grace was a result of [his, i.e., Saubhari’s] aparādha [against Garuḍa], since he became disengaged from the bliss of Brahman [as a result of this aparādha], and he bought a group of desirable woman for the price of his personal youth produced with [the results of] his long accumulated austerities, became absorbed there itself [i.e., in the company of those women] in bliss related to viṣaya, which is comparable to Naraka, and [only] after enduring [the full result of his] aparādha was delivered thereafter only by the greatness of the shelter of Śrī Vṛndāvana and the Yamunā [where he had originally come to engage in sādhana]. This is narrated in the Ninth Canto.”
nindāṁ bhagavataḥ śṛṇvaṁs tat-parasya janasya vā |
tato nāpaiti yaḥ so’pi yāty adhaḥ sukṛtāc cyutaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.74.40; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.316; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.121; Bhakti Sandarbha: 265)
“Upon hearing defamation of Bhagavān or persons devoted to him, even one who does not move away from there looses one’s sukṛti and falls down.”
tatratyānāṁ jīva-mātrāṇām eva kṣemaṁ kartum iti tataś ca kāliyāgamanena teṣāṁ sarveṣām akṣemam evābhūd iti mahad-aparādhinaḥ kṛpāpi viparīta-phalava bhaved iti dyotitam |
(Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.17.10)
“Regarding [Saubhari’s speaking] ‘to [try to] benefit all the jīvas situated there,” thereafter, with Kāliya’s arrival, all of them were only harmed [rather than benefitted], and thus even the grace of one who is an aparādhī against great persons may produce opposite results. This is illustrated [by Saubhari’s aparādha to Gaurḍa].”
āyuḥ śriyaṁ yaśo dharmaṁ lokān āśiṣa eva ca |
hanti śreyāṁsi sarvāṇi puṁso mahad-atikramaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.4.46; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.15.270 and 2.25.84)
“Disrespecting the great [i.e., great persons] destroys a person’s lifespan, wealth, fame, virtue, destinations [in this life and the next], and desired ends, as well as all one’s auspicious endeavors.”
aparādhaḥ sakṛd bhartrā soḍhavyaḥ sva-prajā-kṛtaḥ |
kṣantum arhasi śāntātman mūḍhasya tvām ajānataḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.16.51)
“An aparādha committed by one’s own dependent is to be excused once by a maintainer. O you of peaceful nature, you are right to forgive the aparādha of this fool who is ignorant about you.”
yac chraddhayā śrutavatyā ca bhaktyā
sammṛjyamāne hṛdaye’vadhāya |
jñānena vairāgya-balena dhīrā
vrajema tat te’ṅghri-saroja-pīṭham ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.5.42)
“Meditating upon the seat of your lotus feet in our hearts fully purified by bhakti cultivated through hearing with śraddhā, and having become sagacious by virtue of knowledge and the strength of vairāgya, let us approach that [i.e., let us take shelter at that seat of your lotus feet].”
