अभिसन्धाय यो हिंसां दम्भं मात्सर्यमेव वा ।
संरम्भी भिन्नदृग्भावं मयि कुर्यात्स तामस: ॥
abhisandhāya yo hiṁsāṁ dambhaṁ mātsaryam eva vā |
saṁrambhī bhinna-dṛg bhāvaṁ mayi kuryāt sa tāmasaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.29.8; cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 234)
“One possessed of anger and separated vision who shall express bhāva [i.e., bhakti] for me with the aim of violence, deceit, or spite is tāmasa [i.e., of the nature of tamo-guṇa].”
Commentary
atha kevala-svarūpa-siddhā udāhriyate | tatra sakāmā kaivalya-kāmā ca upāsaka-saṅkalpa-guṇais tat-tad-guṇatvenopacaryate | tatra sakamā dvividhāḥ—tāmasī rājasī ca | … bhinna-dṛk svasminn iva sarvatra yat sukha-duḥkhaṁ tad-avettā niranukampa ity arthāh | atra saṁrambhīti lobhādīnām upalakṣaṇaṁ jñeyam |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā; Bhakti Sandarbha: 231)
“Now, exclusive svarūpa-siddhā-bhakti [i.e., svarūpa-siddhā-bhakti devoid of āropa-siddhā- and saṅga-siddhā-bhakti] is described. The particular quality of being possessed of desire (kāma) [for worldly ends] (sakāmā) and being possessed of desire for mokṣa (kaivalya-kāmā) is figurative attributed to this [i.e., to exclusive svarūpa-siddhā-bhakti] because of the qualities of the resolve (saṅkalpa) of a worshipper (upāsaka) [i.e., when a performer of svarūpa-siddhā-bhakti has such intentions]. Therein, one possessed of desire (kāma) [for worldly ends] (sakāmā) is of two types: tāmasī and rājasī [i.e., colored by tamo-guṇa and colored by raja-guṇa]. … ‘Possessed of separated vision’ (bhinna-dṛk) refers to one who is unaware that happiness and suffering like one’s own are everywhere [i.e., are experienced by everyone else too], that is, one who is devoid of compassion. Here ‘possessed of anger’ (saṁrambhī) is to be understood as an indicator (upalakṣaṇa) of greed and so forth [i.e., various other vices].”
tatra prathamaṁ tāmasīṁ bhaktiṁ lakṣayan bhaktis tāmasī syād iti vaktum anaucityaṁ parāmṛśan tadvān puruṣa eva tāmasādi-śabdair ucyate | … asyās tāmasyā bhaktes traividhyaṁ spaṣṭam uktam | bṛhan-nāradīye, yathā—
yaś cānyasya vināśārthaṁ bhajate śraddhayā harim |
phalavat pṛthivī-pāla sā bhaktis tāmasādhamā ||
yo’rcayet kaitava-dhiyā svairiṇī sva-patiṁ yathā |
nārāyaṇaṁ jagannāthaṁ sā tu tāmasī madhyamā ||
deva-pūjā-parān dṛṣṭvā spardhayā yo’rcayed dharim |
śṛṇuṣva pṛthivī-pāla sā bhaktis tāmasottamā ||
evaṁ rājasyā sāttvikyāś ca bhaktes traividhyam uktaṁ draṣṭavyam |
(Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“Therein [i.e., in regard to the various types of bhakti-yoga], first defining tāmasī-bhakti [i.e., bhakti colored by tamo-guṇa], and considering it inappropriate to say, ‘Bhakti can be tāmasī,’ only a person possessed of that [i.e., the quality of tamas] is described by the words tāmasa and so forth [by Śrī Kapiladeva]. … This tāmasī bhakti is clearly said to be of three types as follows in the Bṛhan Nāradīya Purāṇa as follows: ‘O maintainer of the earth [i.e., O king], the fruitful bhakti of one who worships Hari with śraddhā for the sake of destroying another [person] is of the lowest tamas. That [bhakti] of one who shall worship Nārāyaṇa, the Lord of the universe, with a crooked mind like a wayward woman [worshipping] her husband is of moderate tamas. O maintainer of the earth [i.e., O king], please listen, the bhakti of one who shall worship Hari out of emulation after having seen others’ worship of the devas is of the highest [i.e., least degraded] tamas.’ Similar statements of rājasī bhakti and sāttvika bhakti’s being of three types are to be observed [as well in Bṛhan Nāradīya Purāṇa].”