sā bhaktiḥ sādhana-bhaktir bhāva-bhaktiḥ
premā-bhaktir iti trividhā
sādhana-bhaktiḥ punar vaidhī-
rāgānugā-bhedena dvividhā
“Uttama-bhakti is of three types: sādhana-bhakti, bhāva-bhakti and prema-bhakti. Sādhana-bhakti is further divided into two – namely, vaidhī and rāgānugā.”
Śrī Bindu-vikāśinī-vṛtti
Types of Uttama-bhakti
If someone were to assert here that uttama-bhakti should be classified into two types – sādhana-bhakti as the means and prema-bhakti as sādhya, the objective – then bhāva-bhakti would be included within the category of sādhya-bhakti or prema-bhakti. Then what would be the necessity of accepting three divisions? No! This contention is completely unfounded. Uttama-bhakti should be accepted to be of three types. There are solid grounds to support this.
In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (2.1.276) the characteristics of a sādhaka of bhakti are described as follows:
utpanna-ratayaḥ samyaṅ
nairvighnyam anupāgatāḥ
kṛṣṇa-sākṣāt-kṛtau yogyāḥ
sādhakāḥ parikīrttitāḥ
One in whose heart rati (bhāva) towards Śrī Kṛṣṇa has already manifested, who has become qualified to perceive the direct manifestation of the Lord, but who has not yet obtained complete freedom from all obstacles, is called a sādhaka-bhakta.
By this description of a sādhaka-bhakta it is clear that, in spite of the appearance of bhāva-bhakti or rati in the heart of the sādhaka, he has not obtained complete freedom from all impediments. At that time there remains in the sādhaka some trace of a great offence committed against a devotee. As long as a trace of such an offence remains in the heart of the sādhaka-bhakta, there is a possibility that kleśa, distress, and vighna, impediments, may still arise. As such, the manifestation of sādhya-bhakti or prema-bhakti is not possible in the above-mentioned sādhaka. In contrast Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (2.1.280) describes the characteristics of a siddha-bhakta (one who has attained to the stage of sādhya-bhakti) as follows:
avijñātākhila-kleśāḥ
sadā kṛṣṇāśrita-kriyāḥ
siddhāḥ syuḥ santata-prema-
saukhyāsvāda-parāyaṇāḥ
One who is always fully immersed in activities related to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is completely unacquainted with impediments (vighna) or material distress (kleśa)[1], and who incessantly tastes the bliss of prema is called a siddha-bhakta.
In the sādhaka of bhāva-bhakti, kleśa is still present. He also experiences these types of distress and various kinds of impediments, but in the siddha-bhakta there is no presence or experience of any kind of kleśa. Therefore bhāva-bhakti can never be included within sādhya- or prema-bhakti.
It could be argued, alternatively, that bhāva-bhakti may be included within sādhana-bhakti. In response to this it is said that bhāva-bhakti can never be accepted to fall within sādhana-bhakti. In this connection the characteristics of sādhana-bhakti have been described in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.2):
kṛti-sādhyā bhavet sādhya-
bhāvā sā sādhanābhidhā
nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya
prākaṭyaṁ hṛdi sādhyatā
In this verse sādhana-bhakti is referred to as sādhya-bhāva. In other words the sādhana or practice of bhakti by which bhāva-bhakti is attained is called sādhya-bhāva. Since bhāva-bhakti is the fruit of sādhana-bhakti, how can it be included within sādhana-bhakti? The sādhana or means of attainment of bhāva-bhakti can never be called bhāva-bhakti. Therefore the previously mentioned three divisions of uttama-bhakti – namely, sādhana-bhakti, bhāva-bhakti and prema-bhakti – are thoroughly appropriate and pleasing in every respect.
Sādhana-bhakti
After having defined uttama-bhakti to be of three types, sādhana-bhakti is now being described. Sādhana-bhakti is of two kinds: vaidhī and rāgānugā. The characteristics of uttama-bhakti have been described in a general way in the verse anyābhilāṣitā-śunyam. When uttama-bhakti is accomplished through the medium of the senses of the baddha-jīva, it is called sādhana-bhakti. This is stated in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.2):
kṛti-sādhyā bhavet sādhya-
bhāvā sā sādhanābhidhā
nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya
prākaṭyaṁ hṛdi sādhyatā
That bhakti which is accomplished through the function of the senses and by which bhāva-bhakti is obtained is called sādhana-bhakti. The manifesting of the nitya-siddha-bhāva within the heart of the purified jīva is called sādhyatā.
Bhakti is the nitya-siddha-bhāva of the jīva. To bring about its manifestation within the purified heart is called sādhyatā, the attainment of the desired pursuit. The purport of this statement is that in the jīva, who is an infinitesimal particle of spirit (cit-kaṇa), there exists inherently a particle of bliss (ānanda-kaṇa) of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is compared to the unlimited spiritual sun. When the jīva is bound by māyā this ānanda-kaṇa remains practically lost. To cause this eternal nature to manifest within the heart is the one and only duty of the jīvas. Only in this condition is the state of attainment of the eternally accomplished reality (nitya-siddha-vastu) effected. As long as bhakti that brings about the manifestation of bhāva is effected through the sense organs of the baddha-jīva, it is called sādhana-bhakti.
Only by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa or His devotees does bhakti, in the form of śravaṇa, kīrtana and so on, manifest itself upon the purified senses of the jīva. Prior to this, when the faithful jīva, through his own effort, performs bhagavan-nāma-kīrtana with the tongue or hears bhagavat-kathā with the ears, such an endeavour is called indriya-vyāpāra (engagement of the senses) or indriya-preraṇā (that which is induced by the senses). But this is also accepted as sādhana-bhakti.
As an example, for the performance of a yajña it is necessary to first collect ghee, firewood, kuśa grass, flowers, a sitting place and other paraphernalia. The gathering of these items and other preliminary activities are understood to be included within the yajña. Similarly, for the performance of sādhana-bhakti consisting of śravaṇa, kīrtana and so on, the preliminary activities of forcibly engaging the senses (indriya-vyāpāra) are also accepted as part of bhakti. Karma, jñāna, yoga, tapasya, vows or any other means separate from bhakti cannot bring about its manifestation. Bhakti is the only cause of the appearance of bhakti. This conclusion is thoroughly appropriate.
Comment
In reality śravaṇa, kīrtana and the other limbs of bhakti are not functions of the material senses. They cannot be undertaken by the material senses. Because bhakti is a specialised function of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, it is an eternal spiritual phenomenon (nitya-cinmaya-padārtha). By the mercy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa or His devotees, bhakti, manifesting itself upon the senses of the sādhaka, spiritualises them and causes them to attain oneness (tādātmyā) with its nature. The various sādhana-aṅgas of uttama-bhakti may then be undertaken through the medium of the purified senses. But it should be remembered that the various types of sādhanas directed towards the attainment of dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa are not counted as sādhana-bhakti. Only those limbs of bhakti that give rise to bhāva-bhakti are accepted as sādhana-bhakti.
Bhāva-bhakti as nitya-siddha
The limbs of bhakti such as śravaṇa, kīrtana and so on that are performed in the stage of bhāva-bhakti, or in other words that are undertaken as by-products or anubhāvas of bhāva-bhakti, are also known as bhāva-bhakti. To refer to them as sādhana-bhakti would be a mistake. Therefore, in order to prevent this, the qualifying term sādhya-bhāva has been used in the verse under discussion (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.2)). That by which bhāva is to be accomplished (sādhya) is called sādhya-bhāva. Sādhana-bhakti brings about the manifestation of bhāva-bhakti. Therefore the practices of bhakti by which dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa and other puruṣārthas or human goals are accomplished are quite apart from sādhana-bhakti that gives rise to bhāva-bhakti. They cannot be classified as sādhana-bhakti. The reason for this is that sādhana-bhakti is carried out only in connection with that uttama-bhakti in which there is no trace of desire other than that for bhakti.
A doubt may be raised here that if bhāva-bhakti is brought about by sādhana-bhakti, then bhāva-bhakti must not have existed previously; it arose by the performance of sādhana-bhakti. In that case bhāva-bhakti would be anitya (non-eternal) or kṛtrim (that which is not natural or spontaneously manifest). Therefore how could this anitya-bhāva-bhakti be accepted as nitya-siddha (eternally accomplished) or in other words as the supreme object of attainment, parama-puruṣārtha-vastu?
The word nitya-siddha has been used in this verse in order to dispel this doubt. Bhāva is an eternally accomplished phenomenon (nitya-siddha). It always exists in the eternal associates (nitya-parikaras) of Bhagavān. This nitya-siddha-bhāva manifests itself from the Lord’s eternal associates into the heart of the purified jīva. This is verified in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya-līlā 22.107):
nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema sādhya kabhu naya
śravaṇādi śuddha-citte karaye udaya
Kṛṣṇa-prema is an eternally established reality; it is not brought about by sādhana. It automatically manifests itself in the heart purified by the performance of the various limbs of bhakti such as śravaṇa, kīrtana and so on.
Bhāva is the indistinct, beginning stage of prema, which is also known as premāṅkura, the sprout of prema. The mature or highly intensified condition of bhāva is called prema. Therefore the bhāva being referred to is also an eternally established reality (nitya-siddha-vṛtti).
The word bhāva has been used in the sense of upalakṣaṇa. Upalakṣaṇa means the act of implying something that has not been directly expressed. Upa is a prefix that literally means towards, near to, by the side of, together with and so on. When in describing some particular characteristic (lakṣaṇa) a second characteristic is simultaneously and indirectly implied, it is called upalakṣaṇa. Therefore the word bhāva also implies the limbs of bhakti, such as śravaṇa and kīrtana, undertaken as anubhāvas or resultant actions of bhāva-bhakti.
Although Śrī Kṛṣṇa “appeared” in the home of Vasudeva, one should not think that He took birth there. Similarly one should not think that sādhana gives birth to bhāva. Rather bhāva automatically manifests itself upon the ears, tongue and other senses that have been purified by sādhana. At such a time the performances of sādhana such as śravaṇa and kīrtana, being fully constituted of bhāva, become one with its nature. They are then nitya-siddha, being anubhāvas of nitya-siddha-bhāva-bhakti. Therefore the limbs of śravaṇa, kīrtana and so on manifest themselves automatically on the tongue, ears and other senses of persons engaged in the nitya-siddha-aṅgas of bhakti. This is due to the fact that bhakti is a specialised function of the svarūpa-śakti of Bhagavān. This will be described further ahead in connection with bhāva-bhakti.
[1] The kleśa referred to here is of five types: avidyā (ignorance), asmitā (false ego), rāga (attachment), dveṣa (hatred) and abhiniveśa (perseverance in bodily enjoyment).
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