Understanding āropa-siddhā-bhakti

I continue my series of articles on the distinction between karma and bhakti. As far as the Caitanya Vaiṣṇava tradition is concerned, these are two separate paths with distinct goals. Bhakti is synonymous with sevā or service to Bhagavān, which is any activity that is done exclusively for His pleasure. Karma involves performing one’s duties as prescribed in the Vedas. If karma is offered to Bhagavān, bhakti can become superimposed on karma, resulting in the appellation of āropa-siddhā-bhakti.

Śrī Jīva Goswami defines āropa-siddhā-bhakti in Anuchheda 217 of the Bhakti Sandarbha as follows:

āropa-siddhā svato bhaktitvābhāve’pi bhagavad-arpaṇādinā bhaktitvaṁ prāptā karmādi-rūpā |

āropa-siddhā-bhakti consists of the execution of prescribed action (karma) and similar undertakings, which although devoid of bhakti by themselves, become of the nature of bhakti by being offered to Bhagavān.

The additional step of offering of karma to Bhagavān involves awareness of or reflection on Bhagavān with a favorable attitude which is a limb of bhakti; this essentially superimposes bhakti onto the karma.

karmārpaṇaṁ is of two types: offering of Vedic karma and laukika karma

Śrī Jīva Goswami examines āropa-siddhā-bhakti in detail in Anucchedas 218-224. In Anuccheda 224, Śrī Jīva Goswami notes that karmārpaṇaṁ or the offering of karma can be broadly divided into two sub-types —

tad etat karmārpaṇaṁ dvividham—bhagavat-prīṇana-rūpaṁ, tasmiṁs tat-tyāga-rūpaṁ ceti |

The offering of karma can be undertaken in two ways— by performing one’s actions for the pleasure of Bhagavān or by renouncing the results and offering them to Bhagavān.

The main difference between these two types of offering of karma, is that in the first one, the actions are undertaken with the intention of pleasing Bhagavān and offered to him, while in the second one, Bhagavān comes into the picture only after the action is completed. This is why Śrī Jīva Goswami writes that the second type involves tasmiṁs tat-tyāga-rūpaṁ — renouncing the results by offering them to Bhagavān.

Babaji explains that these two types of offering actually refer to the offering of Vedic karma and laukika karma respectively. The first type of offering involves undertaking the karma in order to obey Bhagavān’s order in the form of the Vedic injunctions. This approach pleases Bhagavān as it involves following His order. As such, bhakti, whose essence is serving Bhagavān, becomes superimposed on the Vedic karma. This is āropa-siddhā-bhakti.

Laukika karma or worldly actions, on the other hand, do not involve following Bhagavān’s order. Instead, the results of the karma are offered to Bhagavān. The act of offering of the result to Bhagavān, which brings about awareness of Him, superimposes bhakti on the laukika karma. This is also āropa-siddhā-bhakti.

Śrī Jīva notes the evidence for the two types of two approaches by citing a verse from the Kūrma Purāṇa:

prīṇātu bhagavānīśaḥ karmaṇānena śāśvataḥ
karoti satataṁ buddhyā brahmārpaṇam idaṁ param
yad vā phalānāṁ sannyāsaṁ prakuryāt parameśvare
karmaṇām etad apy āhur brahmārpaṇam uttamam

“May Bhagavān, who is the eternal Supreme Regulator (Īśa), be pleased by this act.” When a person consistently carries out his actions with such consciousness, this is known as the best method of offering karma to the Supreme Absolute (brahmārpaṇam). Alternatively, one may relinquish the results of his actions by offering them to Parameśvara. This too is known as the unexcelled method of offering karma to the Supreme Absolute (brahmārpaṇam). (Kūrma Purāṇa, Pūrva-khaṇḍa 3.17–18)

Three motives underlying āropa-siddhā-bhakti

In addition to the two divisions of āropa-siddhā-bhakti above, namely Vedic karma versus laukika karma which are offered to Bhagavān, there are further three divisions of each type (resulting in six total types) depending on the motive of the person who performs this type of bhakti. Śrī Jīva writes —

atra nimittāni ca trīṇi—kāmanā, naiṣkarmyaṁ, bhakti-mātraṁ ceti |

There are three motives behind the offering of karma— to fulfill a material desire (kāmanā), to become free from bondage to conditional action (naiṣkarmya), and to attain pure devotion (bhakti-mātra).

Of these three motives, only the third one is motivated by the desire to please Bhagavān, and is therefore able to bring bhakti to the practitioner. The first two are self-serving, rather than oriented toward service to Bhagavān. He explains —

atra kāmanā-naiṣkarmyayoḥ prāyaḥ karma-tyāgaḥ | prīṇanaṁ tu tad-ābhāsa eva, svārtha-paratvāt | bhaktau punaḥ prīṇanam eva, bhaktes tu tad-eka-jīvanatvāt |

So, both the offering of karma with desire and the offering with the motivation to become free from karma generally amount to giving up the fruits of karma. In these two cases, there is a mere pretense (ābhāsa) of acting for the pleasure of Bhagavān, because both actions are self-serving (svārtha). In the offering of karma with a desire for bhakti, however, the action is exclusively for the pleasure of Bhagavān, because this is the very life breath of devotion.

Śrī Jīva Goswami follows this classification with supporting evidence —

kāmanā-prāptir yathā—kleśa-bhūry-alpa-sārāṇi[bhā.pu. 8.5.47] ity-ādi | yathā cāṅgasya rājñaḥ puruṣārthake yajñe |

Action performed for the fulfillment of desire is as described in this verse:
The actions of those who are identified with their bodies and who are thus tormented by desire for sense objects, yield little or no result, in spite of tremendous exertion. But such is certainly not the case with karma offered to You. (sb 8.5.47)
This statement proved to be true in the case of King Aṅga, who, in spite of performing a sacrifice to obtain a good son, wound up with a godless, tyrannical one instead.

naiṣkarmya-prāptiś ca—

vedoktam eva kurvāṇo niḥsaṅgo’rpitam īśvare | naiṣkarmyāṁ labhate siddhiṁ [bhā.pu. 11.3.47] ity atra |

Action offered to become free from karma is described in this verse:
A person who is free from all attachment (niḥsaṅgaḥ) and who executes only those actions that are prescribed by the Vedas and offered to Īśvara, attains the perfected state of freedom from bondage to karma. Promises of material fruits are only for enticement [to impel the undiscerning to perform prescribed actions]. (sb 11.3.46)

atha bhakti-prāptiś ca— Action offered to attain bhakti —

yan naḥ svadhītaṁ guravaḥ prasāditā viprāś ca vṛddhāś ca sadānuvṛttyā |
āryā natāḥ suhṛdo bhrātaraś ca sarvāṇi bhūtāny anasūyayaiva || [bhā.pu. 4.30.39]
yan naḥ sutaptaṁ tapa etad īśa nirandhasāṁ kālam adabhram apsu |
sarvaṁ tad etat puruṣasya bhūmno vṛṇīmahe te paritoṣaṇāya || [bhā.pu. 4.30.40]
adabhraṁ bahu-kālaṁ te tava paritoṣaṇāyabhavatv iti vṛṇīmahe ||
|| 4.30 || pracetasaḥ śrīmad-aṣṭabhujaṁ puruṣam || 224 ||

O Supreme Ruler (Īśa), whatever Vedic subjects we have attentively studied, whatever pleasure we have brought to our teachers, the brāhmaṇas, and elders through persistent virtuous conduct, whatever reverence we have displayed toward those of noble upbringing as well as toward friends and brothers, whatever regard we have extended toward all other living beings by giving up envy, and the prolonged penance we conscientiously undertook by standing in water without any food, O Omnipresent Lord, let all of this be for Your satisfaction. This is the only boon we desire. (sb 4.30.39–40)
The words adabhraṁ kālam, describing the penance of the Pracetas, means “for a prolonged period” (bahu-kālam). The Pracetas requested the boon that all their actions would be a source of pleasure for Bhagavān.

Summary

I present the classification provided by Babaji in his commentary to Anuchheda 234 below which summarizes the above discussion. Babaji provides additional appellations like akaitavā (without ulterior motive) and saikatavā (with ulterior motive) to help us understand the sub-types.