In the Bhakti Sandarbha, Śrī Jīva Goswami describes a large number of different types of bhakti. He begins by first defining bhakti. Definitions are all-important, as stated in the principle: lakṣaṇa-pramāṇābhyāṁ vastu-siddhiḥ , na tu kevala-pratijñā-mātreṇa – An object is determined by its defining characteristics ( lakṣaṇa ) […]
From Babaji’s commentary on Anuccheda 202.4 from the Bhakti Sandarbha: The śikṣā-guru and dīkṣā-guru are one and the same person Śrī Jīva makes a distinction between the śravaṇa-guru (the inceptive instructor) and the śikṣā-guru (the formal preceptor). Usually they are the same person. First, an aspirant begins to […]
A reader recently suggested that the definition of uttamā bhakti I have written about is incorrect, and that Śrī Jīva is actually teaching something different. I will examine the argument below. Claim: The svarūpa-lakṣaṇa and taṭastha-lakṣaṇa (that I discussed here as the lakṣaṇas of uttamā bhakti) are actually […]
In previous articles, I discussed the characteristics of the uttama and madhyama bhāgavatas as explained in the Bhakti Sandarbha. Here, I examine Śrī Jīva’s explanation of the characteristics of the kaniṣṭha bhāgavata presented in the Bhakti Sandarbha Anuccheda 190. He writes: atha bhagavad-dharmācaraṇa-rūpeṇa kāyikena kiñcin mānasena ca liṅgena […]
In a previous article, I discussed the characteristics of the uttama bhāgavata. Here, I will examine Śrī Jīva’s explanation of the characteristics of the madhyama bhāgavata presented in the Bhakti Sandarbha Anuccheda 189. There Śrī Jīva cites a verse from the Bhāgavata purāṇa, which has become quite popular […]
Ever since I started refuting the inherent bhaktivādīs, there have been a number of abusive comments from clowns who support inherent bhaktivāda, particularly critizing Babaji, Maharajji, and our paramparā. I delete them of course. These people have mental illness which needs medical attention, and I feel sorry for […]
Śrī Jīva wrote the Bhakti Sandarbha, an unparalleled work, to teach the practice of bhakti. His essential message is that bhakti comes exclusively from sat-saṅga – the association of the sat, or devotees. This raises the question of how to recognize devotees. To answer this question, Śrī Jīva […]
This is my final article on the series of refutations of the newest theory of inherent bhakti-vāda- the idea that bhakti is inherent in the jīva. As I have discussed in this article, the new theory has gone far beyond inherent bhakti-vāda, to include all kinds of novel […]
Claim [from the inherent bhakti-vādis]- Although the literal translation of eka-rūpa is “one form,” some devotees opine that eka-rūpa [in the term “eka-rūpa-svarūpa-bhāktvam”, which is an inherent quality of the ātmā] refers to “uniform,” which they then take to mean that there isn’t any difference among jīvas, because […]
The inherent bhakti-vādis claim that the guṇāṣṭaka or group of eight qualities cannot exist in the ātmā without a form, and given that these qualities are in the ātmā’s svarūpa, the form or siddha-deha is proven to be inherent in the ātmā. The mistaken idea of the siddha […]
At the request of reader Ananta Krsna dasa, I have decided to post 15 min Gītā videos on youtube. The plan is to take the reader word-by-word through Cakravartīpāda’s commentary. The first video is here – -Tkd
The inherent bhakti-vādis claim that Vedānta-sūtra 4.4.1 shows the inherence of the siddha deha inside the ātmā. Śrī Babaji has refuted this incorrect idea in his book, Jīva tattva. I reproduce his refutation below.
The Krishna Bhakti site 