In a previous article, I listed the five effects of aparādha. Here I examine the fourth in the list: slackness in devotion (bhakti-śaithilya). Śrī Jīva Goswami discusses this effect in Bhakti Sandarbha Anuccheda 159.1. He writes:
atha bhakti-śaithilyaṁ yenādhyātmikādi-sukha-duḥkha-niṣṭhaivollasati | bhakti-tat-parāṇāṁ tu tatrānādaro bhavati |
Now we will discuss the fourth primary effect of aparādha, the slackening of bhakti (bhakti-śaithilyam). Because of this slackening of bhakti, one becomes increasingly fixated with the happiness and distress related to one’s own body and mind (ādhyātmika), to other living beings (ādhibhautika), and to natural phenomena (ādhidaivika). Those who are exclusively intent on bhakti, however, are disinterested in such types of material happiness and distress.
Thus we see that slackness refers to a change – an increase – in one’s absorption in worldly happiness and distress. One’s initial enthusiasm for bhakti is lost (this is the common experience of many bhaktas), and one finds little time for bhakti. If such slackness becomes evident, one can infer the presence of an aparādha. As a counterpoint, Śrī Jīva points out that bhaktas are not worried about material happiness or distress —
yathā sahasra-nāma-stotre—
This is expressed in the Sahasra-nāma-stotra:
na vāsudeva-bhaktānām aśubhaṁ vidyate kvacit | janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-bhayaṁ cāpy upajāyate || iti |
For the devotees of Bhagavān Vāsudeva, there is nothing inauspicious. Even the fear of birth, death, old age, and disease does not arise in them. (Sahasra-nāma-stotra 131)
Now, one might that think that there has to be room in bhakti for self-preservation; for supporting oneself and one’s dependents. If one is not stably situated, sevā is difficult to perform. As if anticipating this question, Śrī Jīva writes:
yā tu sat-sādhakasya manuṣya-deha-rirakṣiṣā jāyate, sāpy upāsanā-vṛddhi-lobhena, na tu deha-mātra-rirakṣiṣayeti | na tayā ca bhakti-tātparya-hāniḥ |
When an authentic practitioner of bhakti expresses a desire to preserve his physical body, it is out of an eagerness to increase his worship of Bhagavān, and not merely to protect the body. So, this type of desire is not detrimental to the essential purpose of bhakti.
An uttama sādhaka is, by definition, someone whose primary life-goal or life-purpose is bhakti. As such, all their activities are in support of bhakti, including preservation of the body. Babaji notes in his commentary on this point, that there is a fine line between supporting one’s existence in order to perform bhakti, and losing interest in bhakti and independently focusing on material pursuits. One of the characteristics of śaithilya is that one can rationalize one’s growing attachments to material pursuits as necessary for one’s bhakti. So ultimately, the symptom of śaithilya is that one has no time for one’s daily sādhanā, and one rationalizes one’s attachments. And the cause of it is some aparādha. This aparādha prevents the intermittent bhakti that one does from dispelling the slackness. Śrī Jīva Goswami writes:
tad evaṁ viveka-sāmarthya-yuktasyāpi bhakti-tātparya-vyatireka-gamyaṁ tac-chaithilyaṁ madhye madhye rucyamāṇayā bhaktyā yan na dūrīkriyate tadaparādhālambanam eveti gamyate | ata evāparādhānumānā-pravṛtter mūḍhe cāsamarthe cālpena siddhiḥ samarthaiva | tatra dīna-dayāloḥ śrī-bhagavataḥ kṛpā cādhikā pravartate |kiṁ tu, viveka-sāmarthya-yukte sampraty api yo’parādhāpāto bhavati, so’tyanta-daurātmyād eva
In this manner, if a practitioner, in spite of possessing the capacity for discrimination, is unable to dispel this slackness — which is understood as being opposed to the essential purpose of bhakti — by periodically engaging in acts of devotion according to his liking, then this slackness should be understood to have its basis in some offense. Consequently, if a person is bereft of discrimination and thus unable to infer the existence of such an offense, his slackness will be removed even by a little practice of bhakti, and he is able to attain perfection. In this regard, Śrī Bhagavān, who is merciful toward the fallen, bestows greater favor upon such a person. But if one has sufficient intelligence to discriminate and is still implicated in offenses even at present, this is due to excessive ill-heartedness (daurātmya).
Here, we see that Bhagavān is sympathetic to those who do not understand that offenses underlie slackness, and that one must avoid offenses. He does not bestow His grace on those who understand this principle, but do not stop committing offense.
Offenses are of various types but the one that is most prominent these days is śāstra-aparādha. People misinterpret śāstra and spread misinterpretations to others; this leads to a vicious cycle where initially enthusiastic devotees gradually fall away from the path, and become mired in materialistic activities. The results of bhakti remain a distant goal.
Summary
Bhakti-śaithilya is the slackening of devotion marked by increased absorption in material happiness and distress.
Such slackness indicates the presence of aparādha, especially when enthusiasm for sādhana diminishes but is rationalized.
Bodily maintenance is not opposed to bhakti when it is subordinate to bhakti rather than an independent pursuit.
Bhagavān bestows grace on the undiscerning, but withholds grace from those who knowingly persist in offense
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