The grace of bhakti is not invoked by suffering

Suffering in the world ultimately arises from beginningless ignorance and the karma that proceeds from it. Removal of suffering is a concomitant effect of bhakti, which involves sāmmukhyatā or turning toward Bhagavān. This sāmmukhyatā can arise as a result of grace of a devotee of Bhagavān. Because the devotee’s grace ultimately originates in Bhagavān, a natural question arises: if Bhagavān is compassionate, why does He permit suffering to exist at all? The presence of suffering in the world goes against the presence of compassion and/or omnipotence in Bhagavān.

Śrī Jīva Goswami answers this question in an original way in Anuccheda 93 of the Paramātmā Sandarbha, and in Anuccheda 180 of the Bhakti Sandarbha. I have discussed his approach in the Paramātmā Sandarbha here. I will examine his treatment of the subject in the Bhakti Sandarbha in this article.

Suffering invokes ordinary grace by modifying the citta

Śrī Jīva Goswami first explains that grace is a modification of the citta or mind. Indeed, when one feels compassion for someone, one feels it in the mind; grace is a state of the mind. This modification of the mind occurs under special circumstances. Śrī Jīva writes:

kṛpā-rūpaś ceto-vikāro hi para-duḥkhasya sva-cetasi sparśe saty eva jāyate

Grace (kṛpā) is a transformation of the heart (ceto-vikāra) that occurs only when another person’s suffering touches one’s own heart.

Babaji explains in his commentary that one who has affective empathy, i.e. the ability to feel the suffering of others, will be moved to compassion. This is what Śrī Jīva is explaining in his statement above.

Śrī Jīva distinguishes between ordinary grace, which can be elicited by the sight of suffering, and the special grace that bestows bhakti. Both ordinary grace and the grace of bhakti involve a kind of softening or melting of the heart. However, ordinary compassion is evoked by the perception of suffering, whereas the grace that bestows bhakti is not. Moreover, in Bhagavān and His devotees, the grace that bestows bhakti is not a modification of a material mind at all, but a transcendental function of Bhagavān’s svarūpa-śakti.

Bhagavān lacks affective empathy for suffering

However, the above type of modification of the mind is impossible in Bhagavān because suffering is born from ignorance (avidyā) which is a product of māyā, and Bhagavān’s mind is beyond māyā. Śrī Jīva writes:

tejo-mālinas timirāyogavat tac-cetasy api tamo-maya-duḥkha-sparśanāsambhavena tatra tasyā janmāsambhavaḥ

Therefore, because it is impossible for the jīva’s suffering, arising out of ignorance, to touch Bhagavān’s heart, any more than darkness can obscure light, there is no possibility of grace being aroused in His heart.

The point is that Bhagavān is paramānandaika-rasa : He is composed of transcendental bliss, and therefore suffering or any other material impurity is impossible in Him. As a result, ordinary grace, meaning grace that is caused by the suffering of others is impossible in Him.

Does the fact that Bhagavān cannot empathize with the suffering of others violate His omniscience? Babaji writes in His commentary that Bhagavān has cognitive empathy – He is aware that people suffer. He Himself teaches how the material world is a world of sufering in the Bhagavad-Gītā and in the Bhāgavatam. But He cannot feel the suffering of others, and this is critical for being moved to help others.

Devotees’ grace is also not invoked by suffering

Now, the devotees of Bhagavān live in the world, and have experienced worldly miseries. Will their grace arise in response to the suffering of others? Śrī Jīva Goswami explains:

santo’pi tadānīṁ yadyapi sāṁsārika-duḥkhair na spṛśyanta eva, tathāpi labdha-jāgarāḥ svapna-duḥkhavattve kadācit smareyur apīty atas teṣāṁ saṁsārike’pi kṛpā bhavati, yathā śrī-nāradasya nalakūvara-maṇigrīvayoḥ | tasmāt prastute’pi saṁsārika-duḥkhasya tad-dhetutvābhāvāt |

Although devotees, while residing in this world, are untouched by temporal miseries, they may sometimes recall their own previous suffering in the same way as a person recalls a nightmare upon waking. Devotees are thus able to bestow their grace on worldly people, just as Śrī Nārada blessed Nalakūvara and Maṇigrīva. Therefore, in this scenario as well, material misery itself is not the cause of obtaining Bhagavān’s grace.

Although devotees may remember their former suffering, like a bad dream, and thus empathize with conditioned souls, their grace is not invoked by that suffering. If it were, then material suffering itself would become a cause of obtaining bhakti, contrary to the principle that bhakti arises only from bhakti.

Bhagavān’s direct grace is invoked by bhakti

What about situations, then, where Bhagavān is seen to give His grace directly to individuals? Śrī Jīva replies:

parameśvara-kṛpā tu sa evātra mama śaraṇam ity-ādi-dainyātmikā-bhakti-sambandhenaiva jāyate, yathā gajendrādau, vyatireke nārakyādau |

Rather, the grace of Parameśvara manifests only in relation to bhakti characterized by humility, such as when a person declares, “Bhagavān is my only shelter.” An example of this is seen in the case of Gajendra [who expressed such a sentiment in the midst of material calamity and received Bhagavān’s mercy]. The counterexample is the denizens of hell [who neither pray for Bhagavān’s mercy nor receive it].

Here, we see the principle that bhakti alone invokes bhakti. Śrī Jīva Goswami explains the process by which Bhagavān’s grace is invoked:

bhaktir hi bhakta-koṭi-praviṣṭa-tad-ārdrībhāvayitṛ-tac-chakti-viśeṣa iti vivṛtaṁ vivariṣyate ca | dainya-sambandhena ca sādhikam ucchalitā bhavatīti tatra tad-ādhikyam | tasmād yā kṛpā tasya satsu vartate sā sat-saṅga-vāhanaiva vā sat-kṛpā-vāhanaiva vā satī jīvāntare saṅkramate, na svatantreti sthitam |

Bhakti is a special potency (śakti-viśeṣa) of Bhagavān, which upon entering the hearts of His devotees acquires the condition of being able to melt Bhagavān’s heart. This has been explained earlier and will be explained in detail later on [in Prīti Sandarbha]. By coming in contact with the [supplicant’s] attitude of humility, this special potency of bhakti surges all the more and becomes greatly enhanced in the devotee. Thus, it is established that Bhagavān’s grace, which is present in His devotees, is transmitted to another living being either through the medium of sat-saṅga or by the blessings of an authentic devotee (sat-kṛpā), but not independently.

It is bhakti alone that can melt Bhagavān’s heart. When bhakti is present in someone in the form of humility – whether accompanied by their suffering or not – Bhagavān’s heart melts and His grace is invoked.

Summary

• Ordinary grace arises when another’s suffering touches the heart and melts it.
• Bhagavān’s heart cannot be touched by material suffering because He is beyond māyā.
• Therefore suffering cannot invoke Bhagavān’s grace.
• Devotees may remember and empathize with suffering, but suffering still does not invoke their grace.
• Otherwise suffering itself would become a cause of bhakti.
• Bhakti alone invokes bhakti because bhakti alone melts Bhagavān’s heart and invokes His grace.
• Therefore the grace of bhakti is not invoked by suffering, but by bhakti itself.