The Latest
- Read on →: eṣaivāvihiteti keṣāñcit saṁjñā, ruci-mātra-pravṛttyā vidhi-prayuktatvenāpravṛttatvāt
eṣaivāvihiteti keṣāñcit saṁjñā, ruci-mātra-pravṛttyā vidhi-prayuktatvenāpravṛttatvāt | na ca vaktavyaṁ vidhy-anadhīnasya na sambhavati bhaktir iti—prāyeṇa munayo rājan nivṛttā vidhi-ṣedhataḥ | nairguṇya-sthā ramante sma guṇānukathane hareḥ || ity atra śrūyate | tato vidhi-mārga-bhaktir vidhi-sāpekṣeti sā durbalā, iyaṁ tu svatantraiva pravartate iti prabalā ca jñeyā | … vidhi-nirapekṣatvād eva pūrvābhyāṁ dāsya-sakhyābhyām etadīyayos tayor bhedaś ca jñeyaḥ | … ata eva vidhy-ukta-kramo’pi nāsyām atyādṛtaḥ | kintu rāgātmikā-śruta-krama eva |
(Excerpted from Bhakti Sandarbha: 310)“This itself [i.e., rāgānugā-bhakti as thus defined] is known by some as ‘non-enjoined [bhakti]’ because of [its] not being engaged in because of being motivated by injunction since it is engaged in only because of taste. It is also not to be said that bhakti is not possible for someone who is not subservient to injunctions [i.e., the injunctions of śāstra], since in this regard it is heard [in SB 2.1.7], ‘O King, for the most part, sages withdrawn from injunctions and prohibitions and situated in transcendence of the guṇas delight in recounting the qualities of Hari.’ Thus, it is to be understood that bhakti following the path of injunction [i.e., vaidhī-bhakti] is weak because it is dependent on injunctions, whereas this [i.e., rāgānugā-bhakti] proceeds entirely independently [of injunctions, that is, not requiring them] and thus is strong. … A distinction between the aforementioned servitude (dāsya) and friendship (sakhya) [i.e., the forms of sādhana-bhakti known as servitude (dāsya) and friendship (sakhya) of vaidhī-bhakti] and these [i.e., the servitude (dāsya) and friendship (sakhya) of rāgānugā-bhakti] is to be understood because of their [i.e., that latter’s] being independent of injunctions. … Thus, here [i.e., in rāgānugā-bhakti], the approach stated by injunctions [i.e., vaidhī-bhakti] too is not highly regarded, and rather, only the approach heard of in rāgātmikā [bhakti] is [i.e., a rāgānugā-sādhaka engages in sādhana in accord with the manners of expression (paripāṭis) of those rāgātmikā-bhaktas who foster the particular rāga one has taste for, and doesn’t engage in sādhana motivated by the injunctions of śāstra].”
- Read on →: yasya pūrvokte rāga-viśeṣe rucir eva jātāsti
yasya pūrvokte rāga-viśeṣe rucir eva jātāsti, na tu rāga-viśeṣa eva svayaṁ, tasya tādṛśa-rāga-sudhākara-karābhāsa-samullasita-hṛdaya-sphaṭika-maṇeḥ śāstrādi-śrutāsu tādṛśyā rāgātmikāyā bhakteḥ paripāṭīṣv api rucir jāyate | tatas tadīyaṁ rāgaṁ rucyānugacchantī sā rāgānugā tasyaiva pravartate |
(Excerpted from Bhakti Sandarbha: 310)“One in whom only taste [alt., liking] (ruci) for a specific rāga among the aforementioned [rāgas for Bhagavān, viz., that of a servant, friend, elder, or beloved] has appeared, and not rather a specific rāga itself [i.e., in regard to someone in whom a specific rāga for Bhagavān has not appeared but taste for a specific rāga has]—in that one [i.e., in that type of person], the crystalline jewel of whose heart is brightly shining with the reflection of the rays from the moon of that particular rāga [for which the person has taste], taste appears also for the manners (paripāṭis) of such rāgātmikā-bhakti [i.e., the mental, verbal, and bodily expressions of such rāga] that have been heard about in the śāstra and elsewhere [i.e., from one’s guru or other sādhus]. Then, that rāgānugā [-bhakti] of that one in particular [i.e., of that person in whose heart taste for a specific rāga and its manners of expression (paripāṭis) has appeared], proceeds following a rāga related to him [i.e., Bhagavān, meaning, a specific rāga for Bhagavān of a particular rāgātmikā-bhakta] by means of taste [i.e., by means of the aforementioned taste for a specific rāga and its manners of expression (paripāṭis) that has appeared in this person].”
- Read on →: tat-tad-abhimāna-lakṣaṇa-bhāva-viśeṣaṇena svābhāvika-rāgasya vaiśiṣṭye
tat-tad-abhimāna-lakṣaṇa-bhāva-viśeṣaṇena svābhāvika-rāgasya vaiśiṣṭye sati tat-tad-rāga-prayuktā śravaṇa-kīrtana-smaraṇa-pāda-sevana-vandanātma-nivedana-prāyā bhaktis teṣāṁ rāgātmikā bhaktir ity ucyate | tasyāś ca sādhyāyāṁ rāga-lakṣaṇāyāṁ bhakti-gaṅgāyāṁ taraṅga-rūpatvāt sādhyatvam eveti, na tu sādhana-prakaraṇe’smin praveśaḥ | ato rāgānugā kathyate |
(Excerpted from Bhakti Sandarbha: 310)“Since [this] natural (svābhāvika) rāga has distinctiveness [i.e., is of various types] on account of [each of its manifestations having] a distinctive bhāva the characteristic of which is a particular sense of identity (abhimāna) [in relation to Bhagavān, viz., that of being a servant, friend, elder, or beloved of Bhagavān], the bhakti on their part [i.e., on the part of Bhagavān’s personal associates who have one of these senses of identity] beget by a particular rāga [i.e., by a rāga characterized by one of the aforementioned specific senses of identity in relation to Bhagavān] and largely [consisting of] hearing, praising, remembering, serving the feet, and offering obeisances [to Bhagavān] is known as rāgātmikā-bhakti [i.e., bhakti constituted of rāga]. On account of its [i.e., rāgātmikā-bhakti’s] being, in form, [like] waves in the Gaṅgā of bhakti that is possessed of the characteristic of rāga, the goal (sādhya) [i.e., since rāgātmikā-bhakti is constituted of rāga for Bhagavān and expressions of rāga for him, just as waves of the Gaṅgā are made of the Gaṅgā’s water and are expressions of the Gaṅgā, and since rāga for Bhagavān is itself the goal (sādhya), that is, the object to be attained by engaging in sādhana-bhakti], it is itself the goal (sādhya) [i.e., rāgātmikā-bhakti is itself the goal (sādhya), that is, sādhya-bhakti], and thus [it] has no entry into this section on sādhana [i.e., since rāgātmikā-bhakti is itself the goal (sādhya), it will not be discussed further here in Bhakti Sandarbha, where only the abhidheya, that is, the means to attain, viz., the process of sādhana-bhakti, is discussed; rāgātmikā-bhakti will instead be discussed further ahead in Prīti Sandarbha, where sādhya-bhakti is explained in detail]. Therefore, rāgānugā [-bhakti] is [now] discussed.”
- Read on →: 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.”
- Read on →: kāmaḥ krodhas tathā lobho harṣo māno madas tathā
kāmaḥ krodhas tathā lobho harṣo māno madas tathā |
ṣaḍ-vargam utsṛjed enaṁ tasmiṁs tyakte sukhī nṛpaḥ ||
(Hitopadeśa: Sandhi, 102)“Give up the six enemies: lust, anger, greed, pleasure, egotism, and pride. O King, one who rejects them is happy in this world.”
- Read on →: nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām
eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān |
taṁ pīṭhagaṁ ye’nubhajanti dhīrās
teṣāṁ sukhaṁ śāśvataṁ netareṣām ||
(Gopāla Tāpanī Upaniṣad: 1.20; cited in Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha 106)“The Eternal among eternals, the Conscious Being among conscious beings, although one, fulfills the desires of the multitudes. The joy [i.e., siddhi, attainment] of the resolute who worship him situated at the [yoga-] pītha is ever-lasting; that of others is not.”