āvṛtaṁ jñānam etena jñānino nitya-vairiṇā |
kāma-rūpeṇa kaunteya duṣpūreṇānalena ca ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 3.39)
“The knowledge [i.e., discernment] of the knower is covered by this perpetual enemy in the form of kāma, which is like an insatiable fire.”
kiṁ durāpaṁ mayi prīte tathāpi vibudharṣabhāḥ |
mayy ekānta-matir nānyan matto vāñchati tattva-vit ||
na veda kṛpaṇaḥ śreya ātmano guṇa-vastu-dṛk |
tasya tān icchato yacched yadi so’pi tathā-vidhaḥ ||
svayaṁ niḥśreyasaṁ vidvān na vakty ajñāya karma hi |
na rāti rogiṇo’pathyaṁ vāñchato’pi bhiṣaktamaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.9.47–49)
“[Bhagavān Viṣṇu:] O best of the devatās! What is difficult to attain when I am pleased? [Nothing]. Still, a knower of the essence—one whose mind is one-pointed upon me—does not desire anything other than me. A pitiable seer of substance in [worldly] objects does not understand his own good. If at will someone shall give those [i.e., essenceless worldly objects] to him, [then] he too is of such sort [i.e., then that giver of worldly objects is also ignorant just like the desirer of them is]. One who has knowledge of the highest good himself certainly does not speak of karma to one who is ignorant. An excellent doctor does not administer that which is unsalutary for a patient even if [the patient is] desirous [of that].”
jahyād yad-arthe svān prāṇān hanyād vā pitaraṁ gurum |
tasyāṁ svatvaṁ striyāṁ jahyād yas tena hy ajito jitaḥ ||
kṛmi-viḍ-bhasma-niṣṭhāntaṁ kvedaṁ tucchaṁ kalevaram |
kva tadīya-ratir bhāryā kvāyam ātmā nabhaś-chadiḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.14.12–13)
“The Unconquerable One [i.e., Śrī Bhagavān] becomes conquered by one who can relinquish possessiveness of one’s wife, for the sake of whom one [who is attached to one‘s wife] may relinquish [even] one’s vital airs [i.e., give up one’s life] or may kill [even] one’s father or guru [if a circumstance arises in which one’s wife’s life is in danger]. Where is this insignificant body, the end-state of which is in insects, excrement, or ashes? Where is a wife, whose attachment is to that [i.e., to that insignificant body]? And where is this Self, he who eclipses [even] the sky?”
śāstreṣv iyān eva suniścito nṛṇāṁ
kṣemasya sadhryag-vimṛśeṣu hetuḥ |
asaṅga ātma-vyatirikta ātmani
dṛḍhā ratir brahmaṇi nirguṇe ca yā ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 4.22.21)
“In the śāstras of united deliberation the means to well-being for human beings has been fully determined exactly to this extent: non-attachment to all that is not the Ātmā which is also [of the nature of] firm attachment to the unqualified, absolute Ātmā.”
yasmin yasmiṁs tu viṣaye yo yo yāti viniścayam |
sa tam evābhijānāti nānyaṁ bharata-sattama ||
yathā yathā ca paryeti loka-tantram asāravat |
tathā tathā virāgo’tra jāyate nātra saṁśayaḥ ||
evaṁ vyavasite loke bahu-doṣe yudhiṣṭhira |
ātma-mokṣa-nimittaṁ vai yateta matimān naraḥ ||
(Mahābhārata: 12.175.3–5)
“Whatever firm resolve one acquires in regard to whatever object—that alone one understands [to be truly beneficial], and not anything else, O best of the Bharatas. As far as one maturely recognizes [i.e., deliberates upon and thereby understands] the intrinsic nature of the world to be essenceless, so far detachment towards it arises. Of this there is no doubt. When the world is thus determined to be possessed of numerous defects, O Yudhiṣṭhra, an intelligent person shall certainly endeavor for the sake of liberation of the self.”
iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā |
vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa yathecchasi tathā kuru ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 18.63)
“Thus [alt., such] knowledge more confidential than the confidential has been spoken by me to you. Reflect on this in full and do as you so wish.”
dhyāyato viṣayān puṁsaḥ saṅgas teṣūpajāyate |
saṅgāt saṁjāyate kāmaḥ kāmāt krodho’bhijāyate ||
krodhād bhavati saṁmohaḥ saṁmohāt smṛti-vibhramaḥ |
smṛti-bhraṁśād buddhi-nāśo buddhi-nāśāt praṇaśyati ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 2.62–63)
“For a person dwelling upon objects of the senses, attachment to them is engendered. Because of attachment, desire (kāma) is generated, and because of desire, anger is produced. Because of anger, delusion occurs, and because of delusion, failure of memory occurs. Because of failure of memory, loss of the intellect occurs, and because of loss of the intellect, one becomes ruined.”
pariṇāma-tāpa-saṁskāra-duḥkhair guṇa-vṛtti-virodhāc ca duḥkham eva sarvam vivekinaḥ |
(Yoga-sūtra: 2.15)
“For one possessed of discernment, everything [i.e., all worldly experience] is verily suffering because of the sufferings of [i.e., caused by] transformation [i.e., karmic reactions, alt., invariable impermanence], [the] sorrow [ensuing from such transformation], and [the] saṁskāras [created thereby], and on account of the opposition in the functioning of the guṇas.”
yaś ca mūḍhatamo loke yaś ca buddheḥ paraṁ gataḥ |
tāv ubhau sukham edhete kliśyaty antarito janaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.7.17)
“One who is most foolish in this world, and one who has attained that which is beyond the intellect—these two both live happily. A person in between suffers.”
yasya svarūpaṁ kavayo vipaścito
guṇeṣu dāruṣv iva jāta-vedasam |
mathnanti mathnā manasā didṛkṣavo
gūḍhaṁ kriyārthair nama īritātmane ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.18.36)
“Obeisance unto he of manifested self whose true nature, hidden by activities and objects, the wise and learned, desirous of seeing, kindle amid the guṇas with the kindling rod of the mind like fire amid pieces of wood.”
