na kāma-karma-bījānāṁ yasya cetasi sambhavaḥ |
vāsudevaika-nilayaḥ sa vai bhāgavatottamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.50; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.61; Bhakti Sandarbha: 193)
“One whose sole shelter is Vāsudeva—in whose mind there is no appearance of kāmas, karmas, or [their] causes—is verily the best of Bhāgavatas.”
kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ |
mahāśano mahāpāpmā viddhy enam iha vairiṇam ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 3.37)
“[In response to the question, ‘What causes a person to commit sin even against one’s will?’ Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa says:] It is kāma, of raja-guṇa in origin, voracious, and greatly harmful, and it is [kāma’s transformation upon obstruction] anger. Know this [i.e., kāma] to be the enemy here [i.e., on the path to mokṣa].”
saṁsāra-duḥkha-jaladhau patitasya kāma-
krodhādi-nakra-makaraiḥ kavalīkṛtasya |
durvāsanā-nigaḍitasya nirāśrayasya
caitanyacandra mama dehi padāvalambam ||
(Caitanya-candrāmṛta: 54; cited in Sādhanāmṛta-candrikā: 1.8)
“O Caitanyacandra, please extend the support of your feet to I, shelterless and fettered by harmful vāsanās, who have fallen into the ocean of the suffering of saṁsāra and been seized by the crocodiles and makaras of kāma, anger, and so forth.”
duṣkarma-koṭi-niratasya duranta-ghora-
durvāsanā-nigaḍa-śṛṅkhalitasya gāḍham |
kliśyan mateḥ kumati-koṭi-kadarthitasya
gauraṁ vinādya mama ko bhaviteha bandhuḥ ||
(Caitanya-candrāmṛta: 51)
“Engaged in crores of misdeeds,
Firmly chained by the shackles
Of awful, difficult to subdue, wicked proclivities (durvāsanās),
Of anguishing mind,
And tormented by crores of vile sentiments—
Apart from Gaura,
Who today shall be my friend here [in this world]?”
viṣaya thākite kṛṣṇa-prema nāhi haya |
viṣayīra dūre kṛṣṇa jāniha niścaya ||
viṣaye āviṣṭa mana baḍai jañjāla |
strī-putra māyā-jāla, ei saba kāla ||
daive kona bhāgyavān sādhu-saṅga pāya |
viṣaye āveśa chāḍi kṛṣṇere bhajaya ||
sei saba aparādha habe punar-bāra |
viṣayera dharma ei śuna kathā-sāra ||
‘viṣaya pāsara ahar-niśa bala hari’ ||
(Caitanya-bhāgavata: 1.16.59–63)
“[Hari Dāsa Ṭhākura to inmates in jail:] “Kṛṣṇa-prema does not manifest in the presence of viṣaya [i.e., objects of the senses and mental inclinations for them]. Know for certain that Kṛṣṇa is far from viṣayīs. A mind absorbed in viṣaya is a great disturbance. Wife and sons are the net of māyā. They are all death [i.e., the bewilderment produced attachment related to them effectively terminates one’s endeavor to transcend the realm of saṁsāra and perpetuates only absorption in worldly ends]. If by destiny some fortunate person attains association with a sādhu, then one gives up absorption in viṣaya and serves Kṛṣṇa. All that offense [i.e., all the offenses in the form of violence towards, and disturbance of, other living beings that you have committed and thus wound up in jail] will happen again [if you do not follow my advice]. This is the nature of viṣaya [i.e., the nature of worldly objects and the mental inclinations they produce, that is, vāsanās, is that they cause one to perpetually engage in the same behaviors]. Listen to the essence of my message …: ‘Forget viṣaya and day and night chant, “Hari!”’”
tathāpi viṣayera svabhāva—kare mahā-andha |
sei karma karāya, yāte haya bhava-bandha ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 3.6.199)
”Still, the nature of viṣaya [i.e., objects of the senses and the inclinations for them impressed in the mind] makes one severely blind. It causes one to perform karma whereby worldly bondage accrues.”
mano yadi na nirjitaṁ kim amunā tapasyādinā
kathaṁ sa manaso jayo yadi na cintyate mādhavaḥ |
kim asya ca vicintanaṁ yadi na hanta ceto-dravaḥ
sa vā katham aho bhaved yadi na vāsanā-kṣālanam ||
(Caitanyacandrodaya-nāṭaka: 7.7)
“If the mind is not conquered, then what will come of all these austerities and so forth? How is the mind conquered if Mādhava is not thought of? Oh, and what is contemplation of him if the heart does not melt? But alas, how will that happen if the vāsanās [i.e., the vāsanās unrelated to him remaining in the heart] are not washed away?”
pūrvānubhūta-smṛty-upasthāpita-viṣaya-spṛhā vāsanā … |
(Pujārī Gosvāmī’s ṭīkā on Gīta Govinda: 3.1)
“A vāsanā is a desire for a previously experienced object brought to mind by memory.”
dṛḍha-bhāvanayā tyakta-pūrvāpara-vicāraṇam |
yad ādānaṁ padārthasya vāsanā sā prakīrtitā ||
(Muktikā Upaniṣad: 2.56)
“[Mental] Clinging to an object out of strong fancy without prior or subsequent deliberation is said to be a vāsanā.”
bhakti-nirdhūta-doṣāṇāṁ prasannojjvala-cetasām |
śrī-bhāgavata-raktānāṁ rasikāsaṅga-raṅgiṇām ||
jīvanī-bhūta-govinda-pāda-bhakti-sukha-śriyām |
premāntaraṅga-bhūtāni kṛtyāny evānutiṣṭhatām ||
bhaktānāṁ hṛdi rājantī saṁskāra-yugalojjvalā |
ratir ānanda-rūpaiva nīyamānā tu rasyatām ||
kṛṣṇādibhir vibhāvādyair gatair anubhavādhvani |
prauḍhānanda-camatkāra-kāṣṭhām āpadyate parām ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.1.7–10)
“In the hearts of bhaktas who have been purified by bhakti of all faults [e.g., attachment, aversion, delusion, etc.], whose hearts are clear [i.e., fit for the manifestation of higher pure existence (śuddha-sattva-viśeṣa)] and bright [i.e., all knowing by virtue of this manifestation], who cherish [tasting] Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, who rejoice in the company relishers of rasa, whose life is the wealth of the bliss of bhakti to the feet of Govinda, and who engage in all of prema’s natural activities—rati, which is bliss itself, appears bright as a result of the two types of saṁskāras [i.e., impressions in the citta made by pure bhakti in one’s previous births and one’s present birth], reaches the state of being relishable [i.e., of being rasa] on the pathway of perception on account of present vibhāvas and so forth [i.e., anubhāvas, sāttvika-bhāvas, vyabhichārī-bhāvas], beginning with Kṛṣṇa, and reaches the highest pinnacle of intense bliss and wonder [i.e., transforms into sneha, māna, praṇaya, anurāga, bhāva, and mahābhāva].”
