Bhakti Sandarbha

bhaktis trividhā—āropa-siddhā, saṅga-siddhā, svarūpa-siddhā ca | tatrāropa-siddhā svato bhaktitvābhāve’pi bhagavad-arpaṇādinā bhaktitvaṁ prāptā karmādi-rūpā | saṅga-siddhā svato bhaktitvābhāve’pi tat-parikaratayā saṁsthāpanena … labdha-tad-antaḥpātā jñāna-karma-tad-aṅga-rūpā | svarūpa-siddhā cājñānādināpi tat-prādurbhāve bhaktitvāvyabhicāriṇī sākṣāt-tad-anugaty-ātmā tadīya-śravaṇa-kīrtanādi-rūpā | ‘śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ’ ity-ādau viṣṇoḥ śravaṇaṁ viṣṇoḥ kīrtanam iti viśiṣṭasyaiva vivakṣitatvāt teṣām api nāropa-siddhatvaṁ, pratyuta mūḍha-pronmattādiṣu tad-anukartṛṣv api kathañcit sambandhena phala-prāpakatvāt svarūpa-siddhatvaṁ |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 217)

“Bhakti is of three types: (1) āropa-siddhā [i.e., that accomplished (siddhā) by means of attribution (āropa)], (2) saṅga-siddhā [i.e., that accomplished (siddhā) by means of association (saṅga)], and (3) svarūpa-siddhā [i.e., that accomplished (siddhā) by means of its own essential nature (svarūpa)]. Therein, āropa-siddhā [-bhakti] is that the form of which is karma or otherwise [e.g., jñāna] which, even in the absence of the quality of being bhakti (bhaktitva) within itself, has attained the quality of being bhakti (bhaktitva) by means of an offering [of itself] to Bhagavān and so on [i.e., or an offering of its result to Bhagavān]. Saṅga-siddhā [-bhakti] is that the form of which is jñāna, karma, or a limb thereof which, even in the absence of the quality of being bhakti (bhaktitva) within itself, has attained inclusion in [being] that [i.e., bhakti] by means of establishment [of it] as being an assistant to that [i.e., bhakti, e.g., as the non-attachment of the mind to worldly objects described in SB 11.3.23 is not bhakti in and of itself but becomes a form of bhakti, i.e., saṅga-siddhā-bhakti, because of its functioning as an assistant to forms of svarūpa-siddhā-bhakti]. Svarūpa-siddhā [-bhakti] is that the form of which is hearing, praising, and so forth of him [i.e., Bhagavān] the nature of which is direct attendant service (anugati) to him [i.e., Bhagavān] and which is unwavering in the quality of being bhakti when its manifestation occurs even unknowingly or otherwise [i.e., even without one intentionally performing the action as an act of bhakti to Bhagavān]. On account of specified hearing of Viṣṇu, [specified] praising of Viṣṇu, and so on being intended in [the statement of Prahlāda Mahārāja in SB 7.5.23 listing the nine principal forms of bhakti], ‘Hearing of Viṣṇu, praising [of him] …’ (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ Viṣṇoḥ …), their also not being āropa-siddha, and rather, [their being] svarūpa-siddha on account of being causes of attainment of the result [i.e., causes of the result of performing an act of bhakti to Bhagavān] by contact of any sort [i.e., their being performed in any manner at all] even in the case of the ignorant, the completely intoxicated, and so on [who happen to engage in such acts for any reason whatsoever], and [even] in the case of imitators of them [i.e., those who engage in these acts only with the aim of imitating others they have seen performing them], as in the case of Śrī Prahlāda’s fasting on Śrī Nṛsiṁha Caturdaśī in his previous birth, and as in the case of the circumambulation of a temple of Bhagavān by a raptor caught in the mouth of a dog, is to be understood, as also similarly is an obeisance performed by an ignorant person on account of a different vision or otherwise [e.g., as is a person’s lying down in a temple in front of Bhagavān for the purpose of taking rest or cooling off in the shade rather than for the purpose of bowing down before Bhagavān as an offering of honor to him].”

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