When the root of our intention is to benefit ourselves, we are capable of action in the mode of goodness, but such action is still contaminated with the conception of selfishness. Pure goodness, on the other hand, is bereft of all sense of self-benefit, and seeks only to benefit the beloved or object of service. Verse reveal nine symptoms which can be seen in the character of one who has achieved the stage of bhava.
Bhakti is a path based purely on the faith. It assumes that what the knowledge traditions assert as the one ultimate reality, is right (logic) that you don’t need to delve into the abstract details of the knowledge or philosophy underlying the faith. All that is needed is a few simple ritual practices of spiritual development in order to progress towards moksha. What practices you adopt is a matter of choice. Mostly these are classified into four - kriya, jnana, yoga, and carya.
Kriya is any form of regular worship, jnana is just the basics of the knowledge traditions, such as the basic perspective on the principles of universalism, the nature of the human body-mind-intellect, the nature of the truth and the nature of mukti, yoga is practices for control of the senses and carya is in essence what you do for a living.
The Bhagavad Gita that outlines all three paths - jnana, karma and bhakti, asserts that bhakti is the simplest of the three and you don’t have to be an intellectual (jnana marg) or public service oriented (karma marg) in order to adopt bhaktimarg. The fruit of all knowledge is Bhakti. Ultimately, true knowledge is something that makes you humble and carefree. Bhakti or devotion is indispensable for attaining jnana. Jnana is the condition necessary for bhakti to reach its fullest development in love.
These symptoms are seen as an excellent criterion for determining advancement in bhakti, as opposed to other types of displays which may be easily imitated. Hence there are 9 types of devotion that have been mentioned in ancient scriptures, which are called Navadha Bhakti.
Shravan: To listen to God's pastimes, stories, importance, power, sources etc. with unsatisfied mind continuously with utmost devotion.
Kirtan: To chant with joy and enthusiasm the qualities, character, name, might, etc. of God.
Remembrance: To remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead, remembering His greatness and power and being fascinated by Him.
Pad Sevan: To take shelter of the feet of God and consider Him to be our whole
Archana: Worshiping the feet of God with holy material by mind, word and deed
Dasya: To serve God with utmost reverence by considering oneself as the master and oneself as a slave
Vandana: Saluting or serving with the utmost respect to the idol of God or to the devotees, teachers, Brahmins, teachers, parents etc.
Sakhya: Considering God as your best friend, surrender your everything to Him and request your sins and virtues with a sincere feeling.
Self Request: Surrender yourself to the feet of God forever and do not keep anything as your independent existence. This is considered to be the best state of devotion.
There are 9 symptoms of Bhava Bhakti
Bhakti is the Nitya-Siddha-bhava of the jiva. क्षान्ति अव्यर्थ-कालत्वं विरार मन-सुन्या: आस-बंधः समतुकांत नाम-गने सदा रुचि: शक्तिस तद-गुणख्यान प्रीतिस तद-वसति-स्थले इति-अद्यो 'नुभावः स्यूर जटा-भवनकुरे जाने' Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu (1.3.1)
Kshanti: perseverance. Remaining tolerant and patient, even amid disturbance.
Avyartha-kalatvam: utilization of time. Refers to constant engagement in devotional seva (service).
Virakti: detachment. Completely indifferent to the objects of sense gratification.
Mana-shunyata: absence of false prestige or pridelessness. To feel humble, free from the longing for being shown respect.
Asha-bandha: hope. To be always certain that Krishna will bestow His mercy on oneself.
Samutkanta: An intense eagerness to achieve or ardent desire for attaining one’s desired supreme object (prema).
Nama-gane sada ruci: Thirst arising out of affection for constantly chanting the Lord’s holy names.
Asaktis tad-gunakhyane: A natural attachment to describe the Lord’s most sweet qualities, pastimes, and so on.
Pritis tad-vasati-sthale: The desire to reside in the places of the Lord’s pastimes such as Vrindavana.
The different levels manifests itself as devotion for God (ईश्वरभक्ति), father (पितृभक्तिः), mother (मातृभक्तिः), ruler (राजभक्तिः), provider (प्रभुभक्तिः), Nation (देशभक्तिः), etc., but never for self (आत्मभक्तिः). Of these the first one is said to be Supreme (परानुरक्ति ईश्वरे). Since it is a mental faculty, it is necessary to understand the science of attachment, before discussing the science of devotion.
Nectar of Devotion, gives the definition of uttama-bhakti: pure devotional service, which is the subject of the work, there are three categories of pure devotional service:
Sadhana-bhakti: devotional service in practice
Bhava-bhakti: devotional service in ecstasy
Prema-bhakti: devotional service in pure love of Godhead; It is also described that pure devotional service displays six transcendental qualities:
Klesaghni: pure devotional service brings immediate relief from all kinds of material distress.
Subhada: pure devotional service is the beginning of all auspiciousness.
Sudurlabha: pure devotional service is rarely achieved.
Moksa-laghutakrta: Those in pure devotional service deride even the conception of liberation.
Sandrananda-visesatma: pure devotional service automatically puts one in transcendental pleasure.
Sri krishnakarsini: pure devotional service is the only means to attract Krishna.
Each category of devotional service displays two of these transcendental qualities. Sadhana-bhakti displays the qualities of klesaghni and subhada. Bhava-bhakti displays the same qualities as sadhana-bhakti, plus sudurlabha and moksa-laghutakṛta. Prema-bhakti displays all the previous qualities, with the addition of sandrananda-visesatma and Sri krishnakarsini.
Svarupa-laksana; There are three primary characteristics of pure devotional service; (a) Pure devotional service is for Krishna (b) Pure devotional service is an active engagement and (c) Pure devotional service is executed with positive intent.
Tatastha-laksana; There are two secondary characteristics of pure devotional service; (a) Pure devotional service is free from ulterior motive. (b) Pure devotional service is not covered by Jnana or yoga.
Devotion is due to attachment to another. By execution of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master, one becomes free from all material attachment, attains steadiness in self-realization, and acquires a taste for hearing about the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna.
This taste leads one further forward to attachment for Krishna consciousness, which is matured in bhava, or the preliminary stage of transcendental love of God. Real love for God is called prema, the highest perfectional stage of life. People get attached due to four reasons:
(a) By virtue of habit (अभ्यासात्). If we regularly come in contact with or do something, we fall in love with it. Food cooked by mother is the best.
(b) By virtue of affinity (अभिमानात्). When we consider someone as “our own”, we love such a person.
(c) By virtue of recollection (प्रत्यभिज्ञात्). When we find some long lost person suddenly, we develop a tendency of attraction towards such person.
(d) By virtue of harmonious interaction (आत्मेन्द्रियार्थ सन्निकर्षात्). When we see, hear, taste, smell or touch something that appeals to our memory and senses, we are attracted towards it.
When we perceive something which harmonizes favorably with our memory, it generates an inertia (संस्कार) drawing from related experiences, which continues thereafter till it is destroyed by pain (कष्ट), getting the object of desire (प्राप्ति) or knowing everything about the object of desire (ज्ञानम्).
Continued attachment for something is called affection (अनुराग, अनुरक्ति or प्रेम). When the attachment is for someone held in high esteem, it is called devotion (भक्ति). If the attachment is for someone held lower in order, it is called fondness (वात्सल्य). If the attachment is for someone considered equal, it is called friendship (मैत्री).
All these are the attachment of one conscious being towards another conscious being. If such attachment is for some inert object including male/female body or gold, money, wine, etc., it is called lust (काम). If all these four types of continued attachments are concentrated in one place, it is called love (रति). Love (रति) is possible only in two cases: with God or with own spouse.
For this reason, Naarada describes love as immutable (अमृतरूपा च). He goes on to declare that those who are in love do not have any desire for anything else: they are free from grief or hatred; they do not rejoice over or do they exert themselves for anything. (यत्प्राप्य न किञ्चिद्वाञ्छति, न शोचति, न द्वेष्टि, न रमते, नोत्साही भवति). Anything that has a physical form is mutable. Love being a mental construct, is unphysical – hence not mutable.
Relation with other male/female does not fulfill the above criteria as neither all four conditions for love are satisfied nor the symptoms described by Naarada are seen in them - hence it is lust for the inert body only (जाराणामिव - according to Naarada – सूत्र 23).
Further, Naarada adds; the primary devotee follows only one (भक्ता एकान्तिनो मुख्याः - 67 ibid). Hence Bhartrhhari (भर्तृहरि) says: choose any one God and between having one wife or no wife (एको देवो केशवो वा शिवो वा. एका नारी सुन्दरी वा दरी वा). Amaruka (अमरुक) also says the same thing (कोऽयं काहमिति प्रवृतसूरता जानाति या नान्तरम् । रन्तु सा रमणी स एव रमणः शेषौ तु जाया पति).
Jayadeva and Ramakrishna exemplified this when they saw God in their respective wives. Since love - being creative and anti-destructive - encompasses synchronization with natural principles to harmonize with Natural principles (धर्म) and leads to liberation from worldly bondage (मोक्ष) through taking mind away from other subjects, it combines two essential goals of all living beings (पुरुषार्थ) described in scriptures.
All interactions involve two components. The interaction could by initiated from both sides (कर्म-कर्म सम्बन्ध) or by one side, where the other is passive (ब्रह्म-कर्म सम्बन्ध). The former can be of five types:
i) Exclusion principle (स्थानावरोध). Here, two interacting partners occupy their own space and do not allow the other to invade its space. One example of this is the modern tendency of feminism with the emphasis on bodily sovereignty of each – specially the female.
ii) Coexistence like the bosonic interaction (सामञ्जस्य). Here both coexist in the same place while maintain their individuality. The live-in relationship fall in this category.
iii) Self-destructive interaction (एकभाव्य). Here the two interact in such a way that both their characteristics are destroyed and a new characteristic comes up, like hydrogen and oxygen joining to form water. These can be separated through chemical processes. Homosexuality falls in this category where gender identity is neutralized.
iv) Total Unification (एकात्म्य). A permanent union, which is not separable except natural processes. The confinement of up quarks and down quarks are examples of this. Hindu and Christian marriages that terminate with death is one example.
v) Unilateral unification (भक्ति). When we hold an object and move, the force acts in downward direction whereas displacement acts in the forward direction. It is because the motion of our body is transferred to the object, which is separate from us and we transfer our motion to it.
As per Bhagavad-Gita (5.29); The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries. Pure devotional service is possible only by the mercy of Krishna and His pure devotees; thus in the sloka under discussion, the prefix anu (by following) links silanam (activities) to Krishna.
Anusilanam; Pure devotional service is an active engagement, means ‘cultivation by following the previous teachers.’ There are two aspects to this following: pravrtti, or activities favorable to Krishna consciousness, and nivrtti, avoidance of activities unfavorable to Krishna consciousness.
Thus initiation by a bona fide spiritual master is an indispensable feature of the spiritual path. All the activities in Krishna’s service are directly under the control of His internal pleasure potency. Therefore the spiritual masters of the lineage descending from Krishna are all servants of Srimati Radharani.
To reach success in attaining pure devotional service, we must connect ourselves with Her by accepting initiation into the guru-parampara. In this way all our life energy can become spiritualized by connection with the original source.
Anukulyena; pure devotional service is executed with positive intent. Sometimes Krishna derives pleasure from fighting with demons, but the activities of the demons is not considered devotional service because of their inimical intent. It indicates that a favorable attitude toward Krishna is an essential attribute of pure devotional service.
Whereas the demons’ activities sometimes please Krishna, they are not accepted as devotional service because of lack of positive intent; yet sometimes Krishna’s devotees perform activities that apparently displease Him, yet are accepted as devotional service because they are performed with love.
Anyabhilasita-saunyam; pure devotional service is free from ulterior motive, means ‘devoid of any other desire.’ Any desire except for the devotional service of the Lord is material desire, even if it is apparently spiritual, such as the desire for liberation, because the motive of such desire is selfish benefit and not devotional love.
Ordinary desires such as the instinct for self-preservation, to eat or take reasonable care of the body are not out of the range of devotional service, as long as they do not become the main motivational focus of our life. The body must be kept fit to engage in meaningful service to Krishna. The point here is that the objective even of ordinary desires must ultimately be the pleasure of the Lord.
Jnana-karmady-anavṛtam devotional service is not covered by jnana or yoga; It is not that we must completely abstain from all philosophical speculation or rational thought, as long as the aim of such reasoning is to confirm the conclusions of the sastra and the instructions of the spiritual master and other great souls. Philosophical defeat of opposing systems of thought is also valuable in preaching, although not necessary for pleasing Krishna Himself.
Similarly we can engage in ordinary social and religious activities (karma), as long as these engagements do not become more prominent than our direct engagements in bhakti. One should not be a full-time fruitive worker, philosopher or speculator and a part-time devotee, but a devotee who occasionally engages in karmic activity to maintain himself and his family responsibilities.
The attraction of negative charge to come up to positive charge is one example. Positive charge radiates out in all directions. Negative charge gravitates towards it and tries to confine it and merge with it (electron capture is one example). This property, aided by the neutrinos leads to formation of neutrons, which is virtually an electron confined by a proton. Similarly, the devotees are attracted by their God and try to be like Him or merge with Him.
This last interaction, where one tries to unite with the other by imitating its traits, is called devotion (Bhakti - भज्यते इति। भजँ वि॒श्राण॑ने + क्तिन्।, वि॒श्राण॑नम् = वि + श्रणँ (म्) गतौ॑ दा॒ने च॑+ णिच् + bल्युट्। दानम्। विभागः। गौणवृत्ति।).
God or the Country etc., are non-interacting at least, belief apart, no one has seen such interaction. How can devotion to God or the Country be initiated from both sides (कर्म-कर्म सम्बन्ध)? The answer is, through superposition (अध्यास).
If we put a red flower near a crystal, the crystal appears to acquire the color and look red, though physically there is no change in it. Similarly, when one believes in the Almighty Creator, His attributes charm us. We are dragged by that Charm
अनुमोदनमीशस्य पूजायां भक्तिरूच्यते।
पूजोपकरणश्रद्धा चापि भक्तिरुदीयते।l
This leads to the characteristics of mutual interaction. We have seen such effect in mirror neurons that fires both when one acts and when the same person observes the same action performed by others.
It mirrors the behavior of the other, as though the observer were itself acting. God is the analog totality. Individuals are the digitized version of that totality
समष्टिरीशः सर्वेषां स्वात्मतादात्म्यवेदनात्।
तदभावात्ततोऽन्ये तु कथ्यन्ते व्यष्टिसंज्ञया।l
Since devotion is unilateral attempt for unification, we will discuss the interaction initiated by one, where the other is passive (ब्रह्म-कर्म सम्बन्ध). A person identified with the material body, life energy or mind is in material consciousness, under the three modes of nature: ignorance, passion or goodness respectively.
Once one enters the path of devotional service, he is in spiritual consciousness and on the transcendental platform. Then he becomes authorized (adhikara) to cultivate progressively higher stages of devotional service. In the beginning one must have a preliminary desire for self- realization.
This will bring one to the stage of trying to associate with persons who are spiritually elevated. In the next stage one becomes initiated by an elevated spiritual master, and under his instruction the neophyte devotee begins the process of devotional service.
Authored by Anadi Sahoo
