Playing Fast And Loose With The No Hard And Fast

“After hearing all the explanations of all the different meanings of the atmarama verse, Sanatana Gosvami was struck with wonder. He fell down at the lotus feet of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and began to offer prayers.” (Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya, 24.314)

“My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have many names, such as Krishna and Govinda, by which You expand Yourself. You have invested all Your potencies in those names, and there are no hard and fast rules for remembering them. My dear Lord, although You bestow such mercy upon the fallen, conditioned souls by liberally teaching Your holy names, I am so unfortunate that I commit offenses while chanting the holy name, and therefore I do not achieve attachment for chanting.” (Lord Chaitanya, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Antya 20.16)

“After downing her [Simhika] by using his vision, determination and dexterity, that brave monkey quickly again grew in size.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 1.195)

“It is not proper to remain in this place. Let us go to another great forest, as here we have seen numerous calamities which are causes of ruin. The destruction of Putana and the reversal of the cart, and similarly the falling of the trees without the intervention of the wind. Therefore, let us without delay depart from Gokula to Vrindavana, where the earthly calamities will not overpower us.” (Vishnu Purana, 5.6.22-24)

“Of what use are wealth, comforts and pleasures, home, wives, and sons if one is not able to see Shri Rama?” (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand, 48.7)

“Of what use are wealth, comforts and pleasures, home, wives, and sons if one is not able to see Shri Rama?” (Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand, 48.7)

“Everyone comes to this material world attracted to sense gratification, and the hard knot of sense gratification is the attraction between male and female. By this attraction, one becomes overly attached to the material world in terms of griha-kshetra-suta-apta-vitta—that is, home, land, children, friends, money and so forth. Thus one becomes entangled in the bodily conception of ‘I’ and ‘mine.’” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 4.29.85 Purport)

“After downing her [Simhika] by using his vision, determination and dexterity, that brave monkey quickly again grew in size.” (Valmiki Ramayana, Sundara Kand, 1.195)

“Even a guru becomes worthy of punishment if he becomes arrogant, cannot discern between what is to be done and what is not to be done, and goes astray from the path of righteousness.” (Lakshmana speaking to Lord Rama, Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kand, 21.13)

“In conditioned life, all work is contaminated by the material modes of nature. Even if one is a brahmana, he has to perform sacrifices in which animal killing is necessary. Similarly, a kshatriya, however pious he may be, has to fight enemies. He cannot avoid it. Similarly, a merchant, however pious he may be, must sometimes hide his profit to stay in business, or he may sometimes have to do business on the black market. These things are necessary; one cannot avoid them.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 18.48 Purport)