arcayanti sadā viṣṇuṁ mano-vāk-kāya-karmabhiḥ |
teṣāṁ hi vacanaṁ kāryaṁ te hi viṣṇu-samā matāḥ ||
(Viṣṇu Rahasya; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 12.414)
“The directives of those who constantly worship Viṣṇu with their minds, words, bodies, and actions should be followed, since they are indeed considered equal to Viṣṇu.”
itthaṁ guror labdha-mantro guru-bhakti-parāyaṇaḥ |
sevamāno guruṁ nityaṁ tat-kṛpāṁ bhāvayet sudhīḥ ||
satāṁ dharmāṁs tataḥ śikṣet prapannānāṁ viśeṣataḥ |
sveṣṭa-deva-dhiyā nityaṁ vaiṣṇavān paritoṣayet ||
(Sanat-kumāra-saṁhitā: 110–111)
“A wise person who has thus received a mantra from a guru, is engaged in bhakti to the guru, and is regularly serving the guru should meditate on his grace. He should learn the dharmas of the sādhus, in particular, those of the surrendered, and with awareness of his own Iṣṭa-deva [i.e., with awareness of the presence of, and with the intent to please, his Iṣṭa-devata], he should always satisfy the Vaiṣṇavas.”
vande gurūn īśa-bhaktān īśam īśāvatārakān |
tat-prakāśāṁś ca tac-chaktīḥ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-saṁjñakam ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.1.1)
“I offer obeisance unto my gurus, the Lord’s bhaktas, the Lord’s avatāras, the Lord’s manifestations, the Lord’s śaktis, and the Lord [himself], known as Kṛṣṇa Caitanya.”
bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta-saṅgena parijāyate |
sat-saṅgaḥ prāpyate puṁbhiḥ sukṛtaiḥ pūrva-sañcitaiḥ ||
(Bṛhan Nāradīya Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.279)
“Bhakti, however, manifests from association with bhaktas of Bhagavān, and [such] association with sādhus is attained by human beings by previously accumulated sukṛti.”
daivādhīnaṁ jagat sarvaṁ janma-karma-śubhāśubham |
saṁyogaś ca viyogaś ca na ca daivāt paraṁ balam ||
kṛṣṇāyattaṁ ca tad daivaṁ sa daivāt paratas tataḥ |
bhajanti satataṁ santaḥ paramātmānam īśvaram ||
daivaṁ vardhayituṁ śaktaḥ kṣayaṁ kartuṁ svalīlayā |
na daiva-baddhas tad bhaktaś cāvināśī ca nirguṇaḥ ||
(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa)
“The entire world, along with birth, karma, auspiciousness, inauspiciousness, meeting and separation, is under the control of destiny (daiva). There is no power greater than destiny, yet that destiny is dependent on Kṛṣṇa. He is thus greater than destiny. Sādhus [thus] always worship the Paramātmā, Īśvara [i.e., Kṛṣṇa]. He can expand and diminish destiny by means of his līlā. Bhaktas [of Kṛṣṇa] are thus unbound by destiny, imperishable, and beyond the guṇas.”
na vā etad viṣṇudatta mahad-adbhutaṁ yad asambhramaḥ sva-śiraś-chedana āpatite’pi vimukta-dehādy-ātma-bhāva-sudṛḍha-hṛdaya-granthīnāṁ sarva-sattva-suhṛd-ātmanāṁ nirvairāṇāṁ sākṣād bhagavatānimiṣāri-varāyudhenāpramattena tais tair bhāvair abhirakṣyamāṇānāṁ tat-pāda-mūlam akutaścid-bhayam upasṛtānāṁ bhāgavata-paramahaṁsānām |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.9.20)
[Śukadeva to Parīkṣit Mahārāja:] “O Viṣṇudatta, it is not greatly astonishing that the topmost ascetic devotees of Bhagavān (Bhāgavata-paramahaṁsas) are undisturbed even in the event of their own head being cut off, as they are completely free from the extremely tight knot in the heart of identification with the body and so forth [i.e., the mind, etc.], are by nature well-wishers of all beings, are free from enmity, are completely protected by ever-vigilant Bhagavān himself armed with the most excellent disc of time in various states of being [i.e., in various forms, such as Bhadrakālī (in this particular case in the life of Jaḍa Bharata), or, on account of his (i.e., Bhagavān’s) various qualities], and have approached the soles of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] feet, wherein there is no fear [whatsoever].”
paraṁ padaṁ vaiṣṇavam āmananti tad
yan neti netīty atad-utsisṛkṣavaḥ |
visṛjya daurātmyam ananya-sauhṛdā
hṛdopaguhyāvasitaṁ samāhitaiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.6.32)
“‘Not this,’ ‘not this, …’ those who are in this way desirous of giving up the unreal [i.e., the non-self] and [so also] of undivided affinity [i.e., of one-pointed affinity for Viṣṇu], having given up ill-naturedness [i.e., the notions of ‘I’ and ‘mine’], speak of the supreme nature of Viṣṇu, which is embraced with the heart and understood by the resolute [i.e., those absorbed in samādhi].”
oṁ namaḥ paramahaṁsāsvādita-caraṇa-kamala-cin-makarandāya bhakta-jana-mānasa-nivāsāya śrī-rāmacandrāya |
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.1.1)
“Om. Obeisance unto Śrī Rāmacandra, whose dwelling place is the bhaktas’ minds and the spiritual nectar of whose lotus feet is tasted by the paramahaṁsas.”
bhakta-citte bhakta-gṛhe sadā avasthāna |
kabhu gupta, kabhu vyakta, svatantra bhagavān ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.6.124)
“Independent Bhagavān is always situated in the hearts of his devotees and the homes of his devotees, sometimes hiddenly and sometime openly.”
īśvara-svarūpa bhakta tā̐ra adhiṣṭhāna |
bhaktera hṛdaye kṛṣṇera satata viśrāma ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 1.1.61)
“A bhakta is a form of Īśvara, as a bhakta is his dwelling-place. Kṛṣṇa always resides in his bhakta’s heart.”
