भक्तिसिद्धास्त्रिविधाः—प्राप्तभगवत्पार्षददेहाः, निर्धूतकषायाः, मूर्च्छितकषायाश्च । यथा श्रीनारदादयः, श्रीशुकदेवादयः, प्राग्जन्मगतनारदादयश्च … । … तदेवं समानप्रेम्णि त्रिविधे पूर्वपूर्वाधिक्यं ज्ञेयम् । क्वचित्स्थितेऽपि प्राकृतदेहादित्वे यदि प्रेम्णः परिमाणतः स्वरूपतो वाधिक्यं दृश्यते, तदा प्रेमाधिक्येनैवाधिक्यं ज्ञेयम् । तच्च भजनीयस्य भगवतोऽंशांशित्वभेदेन भजतश्च दास्यसख्यादिभेदेन स्वरूपाधिक्यं, प्रेमाङ्कुरप्रेमादिभेदेन परिमाणाधिक्यं च प्रीतिसन्दर्भे विवृत्य दर्शयिष्यामः ।

bhakti-siddhās trividhāḥ—prāpta-bhagavat-pārṣada-dehāḥ, nirdhūta-kaṣāyāḥ, mūrcchita-kaṣāyāś ca | yathā śrī-nāradādayaḥ, śrī-śukadevādayaḥ, prāg-janma-gata-nāradādayaś ca … | … tad evaṁ samāna-premṇi trividhe pūrva-pūrvādhikyaṁ jñeyam | kvacit sthite’pi prākṛta-dehāditve yadi premṇaḥ parimāṇataḥ svarūpato vādhikyaṁ dṛśyate, tadā premādhikyenaivādhikyaṁ jñeyam | tac ca bhajanīyasya bhagavato’ṁśāṁśitva-bhedena bhajataś ca dāsya-sakhyādi-bhedena svarūpādhikyaṁ, premāṅkura-premādi-bhedena parimāṇādhikyaṁ ca prīti-sandarbhe vivṛtya darśayiṣyāmaḥ | 
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.2.44; Bhakti Sandarbha: 187)

“Siddhas in bhakti [i.e., those who have achieved success on the path of bhakti] are of three types: (1) those who have attained the forms of associates of Bhagavān, (2) those who have been completely purged of impurities, and (3) those whose impurities are ineffective [lit., ‘fainted’], as in the case of (1) Śrī Nārada and others, (2) Śrī Śukadeva and others, and (3) Nārada in his previous life and others. … Thus, in this way, the superiority of the former and the former [thereof] is to be understood in regard to these three types [of siddha-bhaktas] similar with respect to their possessing prema [i.e., the three types of siddha-bhaktas, all endowed with prema for Bhagavān, have been listed in order from greater to lesser]. If sometimes, even while the material body and so forth remain, a superiority in the measure or nature of [a bhakta’s] prema is seen, then superiority [of that bhakta in whom it is seen] based solely on [that] superiority in prema is to be understood. Furthermore, this superiority in nature [i.e., in the nature of prema], based on a distinction in regard to Bhagavān, the object of worship, being [manifest in reciprocation with the prema of a particular bhakta in either] a partial manifestation (aṁśa) or [his] complete manifestation (aṁśī), and based on a distinction in regard to the worshipper’s [particular type of rati, namely,] dāsya, sakhya, and so forth, and [the] superiority in measure [of a bhakta’s prema] based on a distinction between a sprout of prema [i.e., rati], prema, and so forth [i.e., on which stage of prema is manifest in the bhakta, that is, the initial stage of rati, the general stage of prema, or any of the further advanced stages of prema beginning with sneha], will be shown and described in detail in Prīti Sandarbha [Anucchedas 98–104].”

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