Śraddhā is the sole criterion for eligiblity for bhakti

Reader Madhusudan ji wanted me to reply to questions regarding the role of karma as an upakāraka, or facilitator, of the adhikāra or eligibility for bhakti. I have examined this topic in some detail over the last few weeks, including in this one where I cited the following verse from the Bhāgavata:

nirviṇṇānāṁ jñāna-yogo nyāsinām iha karmasu teṣv anirviṇṇa-cittānāṁ karma-yogas tu kāminām
yadṛcchayā mat-kathādau jāta-śraddhas tu yaḥ pumān na nirviṇṇo nātisakto bhakti-yogo’sya siddhi-daḥ

Out of these three methods, jñāna-yoga grants success to those who are disinterested in fruitive actions and who have thus abandoned them, whereas karma-yoga grants success to those who are not disinterested in fruitive actions and who still desire the fruits of such actions. However, for a person who, by great fortune, has acquired faith in hearing My narrations and other similar devotional acts, and who is neither completely indifferent to sense objects nor overly attached to them, bhakti-yoga grants success. (SB 11.20.7–8)1 (SB 11.20.7–8)

In this verse, there are three criteria mentioned that must be present for eligibility for bhakti —

1. Śraddhā, or implicit faith in bhakti as the preeminent path.
2. Nāti-nirviṇṇa, or not being excessively indifferent to sense objects.
3. Nāti-sakta, or not being overly attached to sense objects.

Madhusudan ji wrote:

“In defining adhikar for bhakti , न निर्विण्णो नातिसक्तो – such a state of not being overly attached raises only through karma. a upakaraka. Some with[out] such adhikar may still take up bhakti out of influence/association but soon cannot hold on since they lack this adhikar.”

There are two sub-claims here:

a) the two qualifiers of nāti-nirviṇṇa and nāti-sakta arise in a person upon their steady performance of karma – i.e. the nitya and naimittika karmas.

b) without these two qualifiers acquired through the practice of karma, the person will fall away from the bhakti path.

However, these ideas go against the concept that bhakti is given to a recipient disregarding the presence or absence of specific qualifications (such as a pure heart or birth or any other qualification). Bhakti comes yadrchhayā, or “by some great fortune”. Therefore, the above claims cannot be correct.

Nevertheless, I decided to check whether Śrī Jīva Goswami mentions anything explicitly about the above two qualifiers. Sure enough he does so, and I present the details below. For those not wanting to read all of the text below, the basic idea is that the qualifiers nāti-nirviṇṇa and nāti-sakta are simply a consequence of śraddhā, or implicit faith in bhakti as the preeminent path. Thus, there is factually only one criterion for eligibility of bhakti: śraddhā in bhakti. As such, the claim above is refuted.

After presenting the above verse SB 11.20.7–8 spoken by Śrī Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava, in Anuchheda 172.1, Śrī Jīva further examines the meaning of the above two qualifiers. He quotes a verse from the same chapter of the Bhāgavata —

jāta-śraddho mat-kathāsu nirviṇṇaḥ sarva-karmasu | veda duḥkhātmakān kāmān parityāge’py anīśvaraḥ ||
tato bhajeta māṁ prītaḥ śraddhālur dṛḍha-niścayaḥ | juṣamāṇaś ca tān kāmān duḥkhodarkāṁś ca garhayan ||
A person who has developed faith in the narrations of My divine acts and who has become disinterested in all worldly actions may still be unable to give up material enjoyment, although knowing it to be the source of misery. From this point forward (tataḥ), being established in faith and hence firmly resolved, he should worship Me with love. While still partaking in those pleasures, he should condemn them, knowing that they will end in misery. (sb 11.20.27–28)

In his commentary, Śrī Jīva first explains the term jāta-śraddha:

etad eva kevalaṁ paramaṁ śreya iti jāta-viśvāsaḥ | ata evānyeṣu karmasu udvignaḥ, kintu vartamāneṣu prācīna-puṇya-karma-phala-bhāgeṣu evaṁ-bhūta

The person in whom such faith is born ( jāta-śraddha) refers to one in whom the conviction has dawned ( jāta-viśvāsa) that this alone [i.e., bhakti] is the supreme good. Consequently, such a person is apprehensive in regard to all other actions [which are fruitive in nature]. But in spite of knowing that sense pleasures are full of sorrow, he is unable to give up the enjoyment that is presently available as the fruit of his past pious deeds. This is stated in the second line of sb 11.20.27.

He then astutely notes that there is a mapping between 11.20.27 and 11.20.8. He writes:

The description given here of one who knows (veda) that suffering is inherent within sense pleasure yet is unable to give it up, corresponds to the characterization given in sb 11.20.8 of a person who is neither completely indifferent to sense objects nor overly attached to them.

That is, the term nirviṇṇaḥ = nāti-sakta, and parityāge’py anīśvaraḥ = nāti-nirviṇṇa.

Such a person could conceivably think that he or she should turn to the karma-marga to purify themselves of material desires. But the verse does not recommend this. Instead, from this stage even, the person is instructed to worship Bhagavān. The implication is that one is eligible to perform bhakti even when one has material desires:

na nirviṇṇo nātisaktaḥ[bhā.pu. 11.20.8] ity evaṁ-lakṣaṇām avasthāṁ ārabhyaivety arthaḥ | māṁ bhajeta madīyānanyatākhya-bhaktāv adhikārī syāt, na tu jñānavaj jāte samyag-vairāgya eva | tasyāḥ svataḥ śaktimattvenānya-nirapekṣatvād ity arthaḥ

So, beginning from this very stage, such a person should worship Bhagavān. This means that even in this condition, the practitioner [who is endowed with faith] is eligible to perform ananyā-bhakti to Bhagavān, unlike the practitioner on the jñāna-mārga, who must be fully renounced before adopting the path. This signifies that because bhakti is intrinsically self-endowed with all potencies, it is not dependent on anything else.

Bhakti is Bhagavān’s svarupa śakti, and therefore supremely powerful and independent. Indeed, the performance of bhakti brings the results of karma and jnana margas if so desired. Śrī Jīva cites two verses from the same chapter to explain this:

anantaraṁ ca vakṣyate—

tasmān mad-bhakti-yuktasya yogino vai mad-ātmanaḥ | na jñānaṁ na ca vairāgyaṁ prāyaḥ śreyo bhaved iha ||

Later on, in the same chapter of Śrīmad Bhāgavata, Bhagavān states the fact that bhakti is not dependent on knowledge and renunciation and that it bestows the results of all other paths.
The first point is made in this verse:
Therefore, for the yogī who is endowed with bhakti for Me and whose mind is fixed on Me, knowledge and renunciation are not generally conducive to the ultimate good here in this world. (sb 11.20.31)

and

yat karmabhir yat tapasā jñāna-vairāgyataś ca yat | [bhā.pu. 11.20.31-32] ity-ādi |

The second point is made in these two verses:
Whatever may be attained by execution of prescribed duties (karma), penances, the cultivation of jñāna, renunciation, the practice of yoga, offering of charity in accordance with the principles of dharma, or even by any other means to the ultimate good, is easily attained by My devotee simply through engagement in bhakti-yoga unto Me. If My devotee should somehow aspire for heaven, liberation, or My own abode, he can also attain these. (sb 11.20.32–33)

Given this, the claim that one must engage in karma first to get the eligibility for bhakti is refuted. Instead, śraddhā by itself can create the other qualifiers. For example, the quality of nirviṇṇaḥ = nāti-sakta develops as a result of getting śraddhā:

na ca karma-nirveda sāpekṣatvam āpatitam | sa tu bhakteḥ sarvottamatva-viśvāsena svata eva pravartate | ato nirviṇṇa ity anuvāda-mātram

Additionally, bhakti is not dependent upon having first developed a disinterest in karma, because this naturally ensues from the conviction that bhakti is the preeminent process. Therefore, in sb 11.20.27, the mention of a devotee’s disinterest in karma is merely a restatement of the fact [that such an outcome is the inevitable result of faith in bhakti].

Thus, śraddhā is the sole criterion for eligibility:

ata eva yadyapi jñāna-karmaṇor api śraddhāpekṣāsty eva, tāṁ vinā bahir antaḥ samyak pravṛtty-anupapatteḥ, tathāpy atra śraddhā-mātrasya kāraṇatvena viśeṣatas tad-aṅgīkāraḥ

Thus, although śraddhā is undoubtedly required on the paths of jñāna and karma, because without śraddhā one will not fully apply oneself to the process internally or externally, yet because in bhakti, śraddhā is the sole cause of taking to the path, it has been specifically designated as the criterion of eligibility.

Can bhakti be lost? Yes, if one does not have śraddhā. This refutes claim number 2 that without prior engagement in karma, that brings with it the qualities of nāti-sakta and nāti-nirviṇṇa, one will fall away from the path. Śrī Jīva Goswami writes:

atrāpi ca tad-apekṣā pūrvavat samyak-pravṛtty-arthaiva, tāṁ vinā ananyatākhya-bhaktis tathā na pravartate | kadācit kiñcit pravṛttā ca naśyatīti

In bhakti also, as in the case of karma and jñāna, śraddhā is necessary in order to apply oneself fully. Without it, ananyā-bhakti cannot commence, and even if undertaken at all for some period of time, it will be lost.

Another argument implied although not explicitly made by Madhusudan ji was that because uttara-mimamsa follows purva-mimamsa, karma is a pre-requisite for bhakti. The word ‘atha’ in ‘athāto brahma-jijñāsa’, the first Vedānta-sūtra, indicates prior performance of karma and the resulting eligibility makes one ready for inquiry into Brahman. This interpretation, however, is not consistent with the Gaudiya understanding. I will take that up in another article.