From Śrī Babaji’s commentary on Anuchheda 153 of the Bhakti Sandarbha — In Anuccheda 121, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī concluded the investigation into the means of ultimate attainment, establishing bhakti as the abhidheya for all human beings. He then began to specify the primary characteristics of bhakti , which […]
I continue translating Śrī Jīva Goswami’s commentary on the definition of uttamā bhakti given in the Bhakti rasāmṛta sindhu by Śrī Rūpa Goswami. He concludes the previous topic by pointing out that all that discussion was about the inherent characteristics of bhakti: tad etat svarūpa-lakṣaṇam – this was […]
I finally decided to sit down and translate Śrī Jīva Goswami’s commentary on the definition of uttamā bhakti given in the Bhakti rasāmṛta sindhu by Śrī Rūpa Goswami. I also consulted the commentary by Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravarti where needed. This is a very deep and difficult topic discussed […]
A reader recently argued that if one works to earn a livelihood, then their bhakti is a type of mixed bhakti which cannot be classified as uttamā bhakti. The argument is two fold: 1) harboring ‘faith’ independently in one’s livelihood means bhakti becomes covered, 2) one is not […]
In the Bhakti Sandarbha, Śrī Jīva Goswami describes a large number of different types of bhakti. He begins by first defining bhakti. Definitions are all-important, as stated in the principle: lakṣaṇa-pramāṇābhyāṁ vastu-siddhiḥ , na tu kevala-pratijñā-mātreṇa – An object is determined by its defining characteristics ( lakṣaṇa ) […]
A reader recently suggested that the definition of uttamā bhakti I have written about is incorrect, and that Śrī Jīva is actually teaching something different. I will examine the argument below. Claim: The svarūpa-lakṣaṇa and taṭastha-lakṣaṇa (that I discussed here as the lakṣaṇas of uttamā bhakti) are actually […]
In a previous article, I discussed the characteristics of the uttama bhāgavata. Here, I will examine Śrī Jīva’s explanation of the characteristics of the madhyama bhāgavata presented in the Bhakti Sandarbha Anuccheda 189. There Śrī Jīva cites a verse from the Bhāgavata purāṇa, which has become quite popular […]
Śrī Jīva wrote the Bhakti Sandarbha, an unparalleled work, to teach the practice of bhakti. His essential message is that bhakti comes exclusively from sat-saṅga – the association of the sat, or devotees. This raises the question of how to recognize devotees. To answer this question, Śrī Jīva […]
This is my final article on the series of refutations of the newest theory of inherent bhakti-vāda- the idea that bhakti is inherent in the jīva. As I have discussed in this article, the new theory has gone far beyond inherent bhakti-vāda, to include all kinds of novel […]
The inherent bhakti-vādis claim that Vedānta-sūtra 4.4.1 shows the inherence of the siddha deha inside the ātmā. Śrī Babaji has refuted this incorrect idea in his book, Jīva tattva. I reproduce his refutation below.
I am now getting to the end of my refutations of inherent bhakti-vāda. I have probably written around 30 articles on the topic so far. My understanding of the position of the inherent bhakti-vādis has evolved with each new article. Initially, I thought that I was only refuting […]
The inherent bhakti-vādis claim that the primary meaning of the word ‘tādātmya’ is ‘relationship of something with itself’. They then proceed to argue that the ātmā’s relation with the siddha deha is one of ‘tādātmya’ where tādātmya is defined in the previous sentence. That is, the ātmā is […]