Does self-realization have a role in bhakti?

Q: In my previous sanga, there was a lot of emphasis on self-realization. What are your thoughts on the role of self-realization in bhakti?
A: Before I answer that, what does ‘self-realization’ mean to you?

Q: I think it means the realization of ātmā.
A: And what does ‘realization’ mean?

Q: It means to understand that we are the ātmā not the body.
A: Do you understand that?

Q: Theoretically.
A:Theoretical understanding is available to anyone who cares to read even a few lines of the Bhagavad-Gītā’s second chapter. How many are actually self-realized? So here, ‘realization’ here must be taken to mean ‘direct experience’.

Q: Is experience of the ātmā necessary for progress in bhakti?
A: No.

Q: Is it the goal?
A: No.

Q: Does it have any role in bhakti?
A: Not really.

Q: But the Upaniśads say, ṛte jñānāt na muktiḥ — without knowledge, there is no liberation.
A: At first glance, this statement seems to suggest that self-realization must precede liberation. But what does jñāna mean here? To clarify this, Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī addresses a similar objection in his commentary to Bhagavad-Gītā 7.1. First he states that bhakti alone grants mukti. Then he anticipates the objection:

nanu tam eva viditvā atimṛtyum eti [śve.u. 6.15] iti śruteḥ | jñānaṁ vinā kevalayā bhaktyaiva kathaṁ mokṣaḥ brūṣe ?

Objection: The śruti states, “Knowing him alone, he goes to deathlessness”. Why do you say that mukti is possible by pure bhakti alone, without [requiring] jñāna?

Śrī Viśvanātha explains —

maivaṁ, tam eva tat padārthaṁ paramātmānam eva viditvā sākṣād anubhūya, na tu tvaṁ-padārthaṁ ātmānaṁ nāpi prakṛtiṁ nāpi vastu-mātraṁ viditvā mṛtyum atyeti ity asyāḥ śruter arthaḥ |

It is not so. The meaning of the śruti (tam eva viditvā atimṛtyum eti) is as follows: directly experiencing (viditvā) the tat-padārtha, paramātmā (tam), alone (eva), and not the tvaṁ-padārtha, ātmā, nor prakṛti, nor any objects, does he go beyond death”.

Here the words tat-padārtha and tvaṁ-padārtha are the referents of the words in the famous statement, tat tvam asi. Here, Śrī Viśvanātha categorically states that the direct experience of Paramātmā alone is the means to transcend death. Directly experiencing the ātmā, he states, will not bring deathlessness. Thus, we can conclude that in the statement ṛte jñānāt na muktiḥ, the word jñāna does not mean ‘self-realization’.

He proffers an example so we can understand this better–

tatra sita-śarkarā-rasa-grahaṇe yathā rasanaiva kāraṇaṁ na tu cakṣuḥ-śrotrādikaṁ tathaiva guṇātītasya brahmaṇe grahaṇaṁ sambhavet, na tu dehādy-atiriktātma-jñānena sāttvikena |

As the tongue is the cause for tasting white sugar, and not the eyes or ears, similarly the experience of Brahman is possible only for [that process] which is beyond the guṇas [i.e. bhakti], and not by the sāttvika experience of the ātmā’s being different from the body.

Above, he provides the reason why ‘self-realization’ is insufficient in bringing the experience of Brahman. This experience is a product of sattva guṇa as evinced in the Bhagavad-Gītā — sattvāt sanjāyate jñanam – from sattva arises jñāna.

What gives mukti then? He replies with Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s famous statement from the Bhāgavata:

bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ [bhā.pu. 11.14.11] iti bhagavad-ukter iti |

[this follows from] Bhagavān’s statement, “I am attained by bhakti alone”

Now he makes this point even stronger, by pointing out that sometimes, even without experience of Paramātmā, one can get mukti by the power of bhakti alone. But does this not contradict the statement tam eva viditvā atimṛtyum eti? He responds that the word ‘eva’ is used for Paramātmā, and not for the word ‘viditvā’. Thus, without experiencing Paramātmā (which is also possible only by bhakti), it is possible to get mukti purely by bhakti. This is similar to how, a person with jaundice can become cured by sugar candy, even though the patient cannot taste the candy.

Summary

Self-realization (in the sense of directly experiencing the ātmā) has:

• no necessary role,
• no causal role,
• and is not the goal

in the path of bhakti.

According to Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī:

• ātmā-experience is inadequate for mukti,
• Paramātmā-experience is attained only by bhakti,
• and mukti can occur even without that anubhava, by the sheer power of bhakti.