Some argue that quitting one’s profession, and “depending fully” on Bhagavān for one’s maintenance is necessary for one’s bhakti to qualify as uttamā bhakti. In their view, any other lifestyle indicates a lack of faith in Bhagavān. These proponents quote the yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham verse from the Bhagavad […]
I continue translating Śrī Jīva Goswami’s commentary on the definition of uttamā bhakti given in the Bhakti rasāmṛta sindhu by Śrī Rūpa Goswami. He concludes the previous topic by pointing out that all that discussion was about the inherent characteristics of bhakti: tad etat svarūpa-lakṣaṇam – this was […]
I continue translating Śrī Jīva Goswami’s commentary on the definition of uttamā bhakti given in the Bhakti rasāmṛta sindhu by Śrī Rūpa Goswami. In the first article, I examined the meaning of kṛṣṇānuśīlanam. Śrī Jīva writes: kṛṣṇa-śabdaś cātra svayaṁbhagavataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇasya tad-rūpāṇāṁ cānyeṣām api grāhakaḥ | tāratamyaṁ cāgre vivecanīyam […]
I finally decided to sit down and translate Śrī Jīva Goswami’s commentary on the definition of uttamā bhakti given in the Bhakti rasāmṛta sindhu by Śrī Rūpa Goswami. I also consulted the commentary by Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravarti where needed. This is a very deep and difficult topic discussed […]
I received more challenges from a reader. One of the comments is worth addressing. To my suggestion that one should learn from a teacher, and not by self-study, the reader writes: “There is no authorised proof till date that there is unbroken chain of learning sat sandarbas stemming […]
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