prāyeṇa manujā loke loka-tattva-vicakṣaṇāḥ |
samuddharanti hy ātmānam ātmanaivāśubhāśayāt ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.7.19)
“Generally, human beings in the world who are clear-sighted about the nature of the world [i.e., who are adept in discerning causes of benefit and harm in the visible world] deliver themselves from harmful predispositions [i.e., vāsanās related to sense objects] by their own selves [i.e., by exercising their own faculties of discernment].”
analaḥ śīta-nāśāya viṣa-nāśāya gāruḍam |
viveko duḥkha-nāśāya sarva-nāśāya durmatiḥ ||
(Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“Fire destroys cold, gāruḍa [i.e., a charm applied in the case of snake bites] destroys poison, discrimination destroys sorrow, and foolishness [alt., ignorance, delusion, misunderstanding, conceit, depression, enmity, etc.] destroy everything.”
purāṇam ity eva na sādhu sarvaṁ
na cāpi kāvyaṁ navam ity avadyam |
santaḥ parīkṣyānyatarad bhajante
mūḍhaḥ para-pratyaya-neya-buddhiḥ ||
(Mālavikāgnimitra: 1.2)
“Not all [poems] are good because they are ancient. And a poem is not contemptible because it is modern. The wise examine and favor either of the two [according to their respective merit]. The fool is he whose intellect has to be led by the convictions of others.”
yasya nāsti svayaṁ prajñā śāstraṁ tasya karoti kim |
locanābhyāṁ vihīnasya darpaṇaḥ kiṁ kariṣyati ||
(Cāṇakya-nīti-darpaṇa: 10.9)
“What does the śāstra do for he who himself has no discernment [alt., intelligence]? What can a mirror do for he who has no eyes?”
bhāro’vivekinaḥ śāstraṁ bhāro jñānaṁ ca rāgiṇaḥ |
aśāntasya mano bhāraḥ bhāro’nātmavido vapuḥ ||
(Yoga Vāsiṣṭa: 1.14.13; Mahopaniṣad: 2.16)
“The śāstra is a burden for the indiscriminate. Knowledge is a burden for the passionate. The mind is a burden for the disquieted, and the body is a burden for one devoid of knowledge of the self.”
bhogāya pāmarāṇāṁ yogāya vivekināṁ śarīram idam |
bhogāya ca yogāya ca na kalpate durvidgdhānām ||
(Appayya Dīkṣita’s Vairāgya-śataka)
“This body is considered to be for enjoyment by the base, for yoga by the wise, and neither for enjoyment nor yoga by the deranged.”
īdṛśān aśivān ghorān ācārān iha jājale |
kevalācaritatvāt tu nipuṇo nāvabudhyase ||
kāraṇād dharmam anvicchen na loka-caritaṁ caret |
(Mahābhārata: 12.262.51–2)
[Tulādhāra:] “O Jājali, such inauspicious and dreadful activities exist here [i.e., in this world] only because of their being customary, and not because you consider them proper. One should follow dharma because of reason. One should not [simply] do what is done by people in general.”
tabe tāre kahena prabhu cāpaḍa māriyā |
mūrkhera vākye mūrkha hailā paṇḍita ha-iyā ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.18.100)
“Prabhu then slapped him [i.e., Balabhadra Bhaṭṭācārya, and said], ‘Because of the words of fools, you [too] have become a fool [even] while being a paṇḍita [i.e., although you are learned, you have failed to deliberate on what you have heard and thus acted like a fool].”
haṁsaḥ śveto bakaḥ śvetaḥ ko bhedo baka-haṁsayoḥ |
nīra-kṣīra-viveke tu haṁso haṁso bako bakaḥ ||
(Unknown source)
“A swan is white; a stork is white.
What is the difference between a swan and a stork?
In discriminating between water and milk,
A swan is a swan, and a stork is a stork
[i.e., one can do so and the other cannot].”
haṁsasya corddhva-gamane gatir bhavati niścalā |
tattvātattva-viveko’sti jala-dugdha-vibhāgavat |
ajñāna-jñānayos tattvaṁ vivecayati haṁsakaḥ ||
(Śiva Purāṇa: Rudra-saṁhitā, Sṛṣti-khaṇḍa, 15.10–11)
“A haṁsa’s [i.e., a swan-like sādhu’s] upward movement is unwavering [like a swan’s flight], and he has the ability to discriminate between the real and the unreal as though separating milk from water [like a swan]. A haṁsa ascertains the nature of ignorance and knowledge.”
