Viṣaya

viṣaya thākite kṛṣṇa-prema nāhi haya

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!”’”

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tathāpi viṣayera svabhāva—kare mahā-andha

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.”

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manur api pareṇaivaṁ pratisandhita-manorathaḥ surarṣi

manur api pareṇaivaṁ pratisandhita-manorathaḥ surarṣi-varānumatenātmajam akhila-dharā-maṇḍala-sthiti-guptaya āsthāpya svayam ati-viṣama-viṣaya-viṣa-jalāśayāśāyā upararāma |
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.1.22)

“His desire thus accomplished by Brahmā, Manu too, with the permission of Surarṣi [i.e., Nārada], designated his son to maintain law across the entire earth and [then] personally withdrew from [all] inclination towards the poisonous ocean of extremely arduous viṣaya.”

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asāre saṁsāre viṣaya-viṣa-saṅgākula-dhiyaḥ

asāre saṁsāre viṣaya-viṣa-saṅgākula-dhiyaḥ
kṣaṇārdhaṁ kṣemārthaṁ pibata śuka-gāthātula-sudhām |
kim arthaṁ vyarthaṁ bho vrajata kupathe kutsita-kathe
parīkṣit-sākṣī yac-chravaṇa-gata-mukty-ukti-kathane ||
(Padma Purāṇa: Bhāgavata-māhātmya, 6.100)

“O all of you whose minds are bewildered by attachment to the poison of sensory experience in the insubstantial world of saṁsāra! For your own good, drink [even] for half a moment the incomparable nectar of Śuka’s narration. Bho! Why walk down the rough [alt., misdirected] road of odious blather in vain? Parīkṣit is the witness that hearing narration of this speech [i.e., of Śuka’s message] results in mukti.”

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tri-bhuvana-vibhava-hetave’py akuṇṭha

tri-bhuvana-vibhava-hetave’py akuṇṭha-
smṛtir ajitātma-surādibhir vimṛgyāt |
na calati bhagavat-padāravindāl
lava-nimiṣārdham api yaḥ sa vaiṣṇavāgryaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.53; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.53; Bhakti Sandarbha: 14, 196, 198, 278)

“One of unchecked remembrance who does not even for the sake of dominion over the three worlds diverge for even half a blink of an eye or half of a sixth of that from Bhagavān’s lotus feet, which are to be sought after [even] by the suras and others whose self is Ajita [i.e., the Unconquerable One, viz., Bhagavān], is the foremost Vaiṣṇava.”

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rucim udvahatas tatra janasya bhajane hareḥ

rucim udvahatas tatra janasya bhajane hareḥ |
viṣayeṣu gariṣṭho’pi rāgaḥ prāyo vilīyate ||
(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.254)

“For a person endowed with ruci there in bhajana of Hari, even the heaviest attachment to the sense objects largely dissolves.”

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api sphārāmode pratipada-sudhā-koṭi-madhure

api sphārāmode pratipada-sudhā-koṭi-madhure
purāṇa-grāmāntar-vahati tava līlā-rasa-jhare |
mano-vatsaḥ pātuṁ viṣaya-viṣa-garte viśati me
kṛpā-yaṣṭyā tūrṇaṁ damaya tam amuṁ tarṇaka-pate ||
(Stava-mālā: Nandotsavādi-carita, 11)

“Although the stream of your līlā-rasa, abundantly fragrant [i.e., imbued with the fine fragrance of your qualities and renown] and sweet at every step with the highest grade of nectar, flows through the old village [i.e., the Purāṇas led by Śrīmad Bhāgavatam], the calf of my mind enters a ditch to drink the poison of viṣaya. O calf-keeper [i.e., O Kṛṣṇa], please quickly restrain it with the stick of your grace [so that it drinks only your līlā-rasa and no more the poison of viṣaya].”

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ye māṁ bhajanti dāmpatye tapasā vrata-caryayā

ye māṁ bhajanti dāmpatye tapasā vrata-caryayā |
kāmātmāno’pavargeśaṁ mohitā mama māyayā ||
māṁ prāpya māniny apavarga-sampadaṁ
vāñchanti ye sampada eva tat-patim |
te manda-bhāgā niraye’pi ye nṛṇāṁ
mātrātmakatvān nirayaḥ susaṅgamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatan: 10.60.52–53; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 16)

“[Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Rukmiṇī Devī:] The desirous who by means of austerity and performance of rites worship me, the master of apavarga [i.e., mokṣa, or, the bestower of prema-bhakti, the ultimate puruṣārtha beyond even mokṣa], for the sake of matrimony [i.e., to enjoy the pleasures of being married] are deluded by my māyā. O Mānini! Those who desire [material] wealth [even] after attaining [alt., propitiating] me, who am the master of that [i.e., of wealth] and the wealth of apavarga, are unfortunate, since that [i.e., wealth] is present even in hell [alt., in births in lower, hellish species and conditions], and hell is a good condition for [such] persons on account of [their] being fixated upon the elements [i.e., on enjoying pleasures of sense objects].”

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viṣayiṇaḥ svābhāviko viṣaya-saṁsargecchātiśaya-mayaḥ premā rāgaḥ

viṣayiṇaḥ svābhāviko viṣaya-saṁsargecchātiśaya-mayaḥ premā rāgaḥ, yathā cakṣur-ādīnāṁ saundaryādau | tādṛśa evātra bhaktasya śrī-bhagavaty api rāga ity ucyate |
(Excerpt from Bhakti Sandarbha: 310)

“A sensuous person’s natural affinity (svābhāvika-prema) constituted of intense desire for contact with sense objects is [called] rāga [i.e., “attachment”], as in the case of [the natural affinity of] the eye and so forth for beauty and so forth [i.e., of each of the senses for ideal forms of their respective objects]. Something indeed similar [i.e., a similar sort of natural affinity constituted of intense desire] of a bhakta also for Śrī Bhagavān is here [i.e., in the context of rāgātmikā-bhakti] called rāga.”

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ko’ti-prayāso’sura-bālakā harer

ko’ti-prayāso’sura-bālakā harer
upāsane sve hṛdi chidravat sataḥ |
svasyātmanaḥ sakhyur aśeṣa-dehināṁ
sāmānyataḥ kiṁ viṣayopapādanaiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.7.38)

[Translated according to Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī’s commentary:] “O boys of the asuras, what great exertion [i.e., difficulty] is there in worship of Hari, he who is present like space in one’s heart and is the inherent self and common friend of all embodied beings? [Therefore,] What [is the use] of accumulating objects of the senses?”

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