jñātiṁ vidyāṁ mahattvaṁ ca rūpaṁ yauvanam eva ca |
yatnena parivarjeta pañcaite bhakti-kaṇṭakaḥ ||
(Garga-saṁhitā: 10.62.7)
“Kinsmen, learning, greatness, beauty, and youth—carefully elude these five impediments [lit., “thorns”] to bhakti.”
anartham arthataḥ paśyann arthaṁ caivāpy anarthataḥ |
indriyaiḥ prasṛto bālaḥ suduḥkhaṁ manyate sukham ||
(Mahābhārata: 5.34.59; Vidura-nīti: 213; cited in Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“Seeing anartha within artha and artha within anartha [i.e., seeing nonsense within sense and even sense within nonsense, misfortune within fortune and even fortune within misfortune, evil within good and even good within evil, etc.], the fool, pulled by the senses, considers great suffering to be happiness.”
anartha-makarāgārād asmāt saṁsāra-sāgarāt ।
uḍḍīyate nirudvegaṁ sarva-tyāgena putraka ॥
(Yoga Vāsiṣṭha: 6.111.9; cited in Mahāsubhāṣita-saṅgraha)
“O son, through complete renunciation [i.e., by giving up all worldly interests, attachments, and engagements], one serenely flies up and away from this ocean of saṁsāra, the dwelling place of the sea monsters of anarthas [i.e., evils, vices, misfortunes, diversions, etc.].”
ūrjitaṁ sarvato balavat paramānanda-rūpatvāt—ko hy evānyāt kaḥ prāṇyāt yad eṣa ākāśa ānando na syāt iti śruteḥ |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavata: 1.3.3; Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 3)
“‘Potent’ [alt., ‘powerful’, or, ‘excellent’] (ūrjita) means the most powerful of all, because of [Bhagavān’s form] being the embodiment of the supreme bliss, as it is stated in the Śruti [i.e., Taitirīya Upaniṣad: 2.7.1]: ‘If he, Bliss, were not present in the sky [of the heart], who indeed would breathe? Who would live?’”
sā hovāca maitreyī—yan nu ma iyaṁ bhagoḥ sarvā pṛthivī vittena pūrṇā syāt kathaṁ tenāmṛtā syām? iti | neti hovāca yājñavalkyo—yathaivopakaraṇavatāṁ jīvitaṁ, tathaiva te jīvita syāt | amṛtatvasya tu nāśāsti vitteneti | sā hovāca maitreyī—yenāhaṁ nāmṛtā syāṁ, kim ahaṁ tena kuryāṁ ? yad eva bhagavān veda tad eva me brūhīti |
(Bṛhadāranyaka Upaniṣad: 2.4.2–3; cited in Prīti Sandarbha: 1)
“Maitreyī said, ‘O fortunate one, if indeed this entire earth, full of wealth, were to belong to me, would I become immortal by that?’
“‘No,’ replied Yājñavalkya, ‘Your life would become just like the life of those who possess [all] means of subsistence. There is no hope, however, of immortality through wealth.‘
“Maitreyī said, ‘What shall I do with that by which I cannot become immortal? O fortunate one, please tell me that alone which you know [to me the means to become immortal].’”
guru-bhaktyā sa milati smaraṇāt sevyate budhaiḥ |
milito’pi na labhyeta jīvair ahamikā-paraiḥ ||
(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 209)
“One meets [i.e., attains] he who is served by the wise [i.e., Bhagavān] through remembrance (smaraṇa) as a result of bhakti to [one’s] guru [i.e., remembrance of Bhagavān whereby he is served and satisfied develops as a result of bhakti to one’s guru], but even if he [i.e., Bhagavān] is met, he cannot be attained [i.e., he is not truly attained or appreciated] by jīvas who are engrossed in egotism.”
ahaṅkāra-nivṛttānāṁ keśavo nahi dūragaḥ |
ahaṅkāra-yutānāṁ hi madhye parvata-rāśayaḥ ||
(Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 236)
“Keśava is not far from those who are free from egotism, but there are mountain ranges between [him and] those who are possessed of egotism.”
bahu-rūpa ivābhāti māyayā bahu-rūpayā |
ramamāṇo guṇeṣv asyā mamāham iti manyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.9.2)
“The ātmā [i.e., “self”] appears as if to be of many [different] forms [i.e., those of a child, an elder, etc., and those of a human, a deva, an animal, etc.] through māyā, which is of many [different] forms, and, enjoying amid its [i.e., māyā’s] guṇas [i.e., within various bodies, etc.], thinks of ‘my’ and ‘I’ [i.e., identifies with these forms fabricated by māyā].”
yadaivam etena viveka-hetinā
māyāmayāhaṅkaraṇātma-bandhanam |
chittvācyutātmānubhavo’vatiṣṭhate
tam āhur ātyantikam aṅga samplavam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.4.34; cited in Paramātma Sandarbha: 84)
“O King! When in this way the ātma’s [i.e., the self’s] bondage—the notion of ‘I’ constituted of māyā—is cut away with the sword of discernment and one is situated in unwavering experience of the Ātmā, then that is called absolute dissolution [i.e., mukti].”
vyarthayārthehayā vittaṁ pramattasya vayo balam |
kuśalā yena sidhyanti jaraṭhaḥ kiṁ nu sādhaye ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.23.25)
“Wealth, youth, and strength, by which the wise attain perfection—my bewildered self has lost these because of meaningless endeavors for wealth. Now, in old age, what can I attain?”
