apākaroti duritaṁ śreyaḥ saṁyojayaty api |
yaśo vistārayaty āśu nṝṇāṁ vaiṣṇava-saṅgamaḥ ||
(Padma Purāṇa: 5.98.57; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.255)
“The association of a Vaiṣṇava quickly removes sin [i.e., evil, danger, saṁsāra, etc.], leads to virtue [i.e., auspiciousness, good fortune, the puruṣārthas, etc.] and expands human beings’ glory [beyond that of even muktas].”
matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā
mitho’bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām |
adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ
punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām ||
na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ
durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ |
andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās
te’pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ ||
naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ
spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ |
mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ
niṣkiñcanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.5.30–32)
“[Śrī Prahlāda to Hiraṇyakaśipu:] Inclination towards Kṛṣṇa cannot arise on account of another, on its own, or on account of both [i.e., on its own and on account of another] for those intent upon household life, who have entered darkness because of uncontrolled senses and whose chewing is [only] of the chewed [therein] again and again. They, of debased mind, who honor only those whose aim is in the external, certainly do not understand Viṣṇu, he who is the object to be reached [only] for those whose aim is related to the Self. They also become bound by the strong strands of Īśa’s cord like the blind being led by the blind. Their inclination, the need of which is the cessation of the insubstantial, does not touch the feet of he of great stride [i.e., Bhagavān] so long as one shall not accept a bath in the foot-dust of the divested—the great ones.”
kalpāgā amṛtāmbudher jhaṣa-varāḥ premāmbudheś cātakā
meghasyāmṛta-pāyino vara-vidhoḥ padmāni caṇḍa-tviṣaḥ |
bhṛṅgāḥ padma-vanasya nāka-sadanā viṣṇor mahānto hi te
bhaktā gaurahareḥ paraṁ mayi kṛpāṁ kurvantv ananya-gatau ||
(Sādhanāmṛta-candrikā: 2.16)
“O desire-trees along the ocean of nectar! O topmost fish in the ocean of prema! O cātakās of the cloud [of mādhurya]! O drinkers of nectar from the best of moons [of prema]! O lotuses under the hot sun [of saṅkīrtana]! O bees in the lotus cluster [of bhāva]! O [you who resemble] sky-abodes of Viṣṇu! O great ones! O bhaktas of Gaurahari! Please bestow your abundant grace upon me. I have no other shelter.”
mahāprasāde govinde nāma-brahmaṇi vaiṣṇave |
svalpa-puṇya-vatāṁ rājan viśvāso naiva jāyate ||
(Attributed to Mahābhārata)
“O King, faith in mahāprasāda, Govinda, the name [i.e., Bhagavān‘s name], the Veda, and the Vaiṣṇava certainly does not arise in those possessed of little piety.”
bhavanti puruṣā loke mad-bhaktās tvām anuvratāḥ |
bhavān me khalu bhaktānāṁ sarveṣāṁ pratirūpa-dhṛk ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.10.21)
[Nṛsiṁhadeva to Prahlāda Mahārāja:] “People in the world who follow you become my bhaktas, for you are indeed the paragon for all of my bhaktas.”
tad evaṁ śaraṇāpattir vivṛtā |
asyāś cāpūrvatvaṁ tāṁ vinā tadīyatvāsiddheḥ |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 237)
“Thus, in this way, śaraṇāpatti [i.e., śaraṇāgati] has been described. And its incomparability [lit., “unprecedentedness”] is because of the non-establishment of being his own without it [i.e., one does not attain the actual feeling of belonging to Bhagavān, and Bhagavān does not actually consider one his own, that is, as one of his bhaktas, without śaraṇāgati].”
nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati |
svargāpavarga-narakeṣv api tulyārtha-darśinaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.17.28; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.190; Bhakti-rasāmṛa-sindhu: 1.2.33; Prīti Sandarbha: 21, 47)
[Śiva to Pārvatī:] “All who are devoted to Nārāyaṇa do not become afraid under any circumstances. They are seers of the same object amid Svarga, liberation, and even Naraka.”
he śrīvāsādaya iha kṛpā-mūrtayo gauracandra-
premāmbudheḥ sura-viṭapinaḥ śānta-saumya-svabhāvāḥ |
dīnoddhāre prabala-niyamāḥ premadā yūyam eva
tasmād ajñaṁ prapada-rajasā pāpinaṁ māṁ punīta ||
(Sādhanāmṛta-candrikā: 1.12)
“O Śrīvāsa and so forth! O Embodiments of grace! You are all desire-trees [manifest] from the ocean of prema for Gauracandra, of peaceful and tranquil nature, and givers of prema who are most firm in your vows to deliver the poor. Therefore, please purify me, an ignorant sinner, with the dust from the tips of our feet.”
yeṣāṁ viśveśvare viṣṇau śive bhaktir na vidyate |
na teṣāṁ vacanaṁ grāhyaṁ dharma-nirṇaya-siddhaye ||
(Skanda Purāṇa; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 12.419)
“The statements of those who do not have bhakti to auspicious Viṣṇu, the Lord of Universe, [alt., to the Lord of the Universe, Viṣṇu, and Śiva] are not acceptable for the purpose of ascertaining dharma.”
