20211208 Sādhana-Bhakti – 2. Rāgānugā-Bhakti, Sādhya-bhakti, Bhāva-bhakti and Phalaśruti– The Result of Hearing about Abhidheya Sādhana-bhakti Part 2

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 8th December 2021 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, India

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Reading from Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book compilation, the chapter titled:
Sādhana-Bhakti – 2. Rāgānugā-Bhakti, Sādhya-bhakti, Bhāva-bhakti compilation of Caitanya līlā book, The Result of Hearing about Abhidheya Sādhana-bhakti, Part 2
Under the section: The Process of Devotional Service

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.158

sevā sādhaka-rūpeṇa siddha-rūpeṇa cātra hi
tad-bhāva-lipsunā kāryā vraja-lokānusārataḥ

Translation: The advanced devotee who is inclined to spontaneous loving service should follow the activities of a particular associate of Kṛṣṇa’s in Vṛndāvana. He should execute service externally as a regulative devotee as well as internally from his self-realized position. Thus, he should perform devotional service both externally and internally.

Purport: This verse is also found in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.295).

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this gives the authorized process by Lord Caitanya of how one can practice spontaneous devotional service.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.159

rāgānuga-bhaktera sarvakṣaṇa gurvānugatye svīya abhīṣṭa siddhasevā:—

nijābhīṣṭa kṛṣṇa-preṣṭha pācheta’ lāgiyā
nirantara sevā kare antarmanā hañā

Translation: Actually the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana are very dear to Kṛṣṇa. If one wants to engage in spontaneous loving service, he must follow the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana and constantly engage in devotional service within his mind.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is the advanced process of spontaneous loving service and according to your attraction you follow either the animals or the servants or the parents or the friends or the lovers of Kṛṣṇa.

And according to your attraction you follow either the animals or the servants or the parents or the friends or the lovers of Kṛṣṇa.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.160

nivṛttānartha rāgānuga-bhaktera nirjjane abhīṣṭa-smaraṇādi:—

Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.293)—

kṛṣṇaṁ smaran janaṁ cāsya preṣṭhaṁ nija-samīhitam
tat-tat-kathā-rataś cāsau kuryād vāsaṁ vraje sadā

Translation: The devotee should always think of Kṛṣṇa within himself and should choose a very dear devotee who is a servitor of Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana. One should constantly engage in topics about that servitor and his loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa, and one should live in Vṛndāvana. If one is physically unable to go to Vṛndāvana, he should mentally live there.

Purport: This verse is also found in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.294).

Jayapatākā Swami: So, from this we can see that His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda he could have stayed in Vṛndāvana and thus he would have achieved all perfection. But he wanted to carry out the orders of his spiritual master and see that the people in the rest of the world are delivered to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So he took great austerity of crossing the ocean by a cargo ship and he was suffering heart-attacks and various infirmities while crossing, but he completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa protected him, and as a result he brought the whole world to Māyāpur and Vṛndāvana and that at the end of his life he also spent his time in Vṛndāvana-dhāma, while he brought Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world and established 108 temples.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.161

rāgānugera cārirase kṛṣṇa-sevā, śāntarasera avasthāna —

dāsa-sakhā-pitrādi-preyasīra gaṇa
rāga-mārge nija-nija-bhāvera gaṇana

Translation: Kṛṣṇa has many types of devotees — some are servants, some are friends, some are parents, and some are conjugal lovers. Devotees who are situated in one of these attitudes of spontaneous love according to their choice are considered to be on the path of spontaneous loving service.

Jayapatākā Swami: These rasas of different types may be an attraction for some devotees and if they practice devotional service following a particular rasa as expressed by some confidential devotee of the Lord, they will definitely get all perfection.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.162

rāgānuga-bhakta kṛṣṇasaha cārirase sambandha-yukta o ananyabhāk evaṁ kāla o prakṛtira atīta — Śrīmad-Bhāgavate (3.25.38)—

na karhicin mat-parāḥ śānta-rūpe naṅkṣyanti no me ’nimiṣo leḍhi hetiḥ
yeṣām ahaṁ priya ātmā sutaś ca sakhā guruḥ suhṛdo daivam iṣṭam

Translation: My dear mother, Devahūti! O emblem of peace! My weapon, the disc of time, never vanquishes those for whom I am very dear — for whom I am the Supersoul, son, friend, spiritual master, well-wisher, worshipable Deity and desired goal. Since the devotees are always attached to Me, they are never vanquished by the agents of time.

Purport: This was spoken by Kapiladeva to His mother Devahūti and is recorded in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.25.38). Kapiladeva instructed His mother in sāṅkhya-yoga, but the importance of bhakti-yoga is mentioned here. Later sāṅhkya-yoga was imitated by atheists, whose system was founded by a different kapiladeva, Ṛṣi Kapiladeva.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Devahūtī devī although was a woman because she took complete shelter of Kapila muni, she at the end of life went to the kingdom of God, the spiritual sky, the planet of Lord Kapiladeva.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.163

rāgānuga bhaktagaṇake praṇāma — Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.307)—

pati-putra-suhṛd-bhrātṛ-pitṛvan mitravad dharim
ye dhyāyanti sadodyuktās tebhyo ’pīha namo namaḥ

Translation: Let me offer my respectful obeisances again and again to those who always eagerly meditate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a husband, son, friend, brother, father or intimate friend.

Purport: This verse appears in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.308).

Jayapatākā Swami: So, those devotees who meditate on the Lord in this way are very special and they are worthy of offering all respects to.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.164

anukṣaṇa gurvānugatye nirdiṣṭa abhīṣṭa-sevātei rāgānuga sādhakera siddhi vā bhāva-bhakti-lābha —

ei mata kare yebā rāgānugā-bhakti
kṛṣṇera caraṇe tāṅra upajaya ‘prīti’

Translation: If one engages in spontaneous loving service to the Lord, his affection for the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa gradually increases.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this rāgānugā-bhakti or spontaneous devotional service increases one’s attraction and attachment for the Lord till one reaches the perfection of krsna-prema.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.165

(2) ‘sādhya’ bhāva-bhakti vā rati-varṇana —

kṛṣṇa-premera asphuṭāvasthāi kṛṣṇākarṣiṇī ‘bhāva-bhakti’ vā ‘rati’:—

prīty-aṅkure ‘rati’, ‘bhāva’—haya dui nāma/ yāhā haite vaśa hana śrī-bhagavān

Translation: In the seed of affection, there is attachment which goes by two names, rati and bhāva. The Supreme Personality of Godhead comes under the control of such attachment.

Purport: Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura comments on this verse. Externally a devotee performs all the items of devotional service in nine different ways, beginning with śravaṇa and kīrtana, and within his mind he always thinks of his eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa and follows in the footsteps of the devotees of Vṛndāvana. If one engages himself in the service of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in this way, he can transcend the regulative principles enjoined in the śāstras and, through his spiritual master, fully engage in rendering spontaneous love to Kṛṣṇa. In this way, he attains affection at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa actually comes under the control of such spontaneous feelings, and ultimately one can attain association with the Lord.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this process of devotional service is a science, how one should achieve spontaneous devotional service how we can have ratī or bhāva which is ecstatic loving spontaneous loving service for the Lord. people are very attracted by the external material energy. Some people want to merge into the impersonal brahma-jyoti, while other want through mystic yoga to attain the mystic powers but the pure devotee desires to have this pure relationship with Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa He reciprocates the loving devotion of that devotee. and He is not controlled by the fruitive workers, the jñanīs, the impersonalist and the mystic yogis. But someone who serves Kṛṣṇa in ratī or bhāva serves in a loving spontaneous devotional service, then Kṛṣṇa reciprocate with that devotee’s with loving devotions and that’s saying that He becomes under the control of that devotee.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.166

bhāva vā ratira udaya paryyantai ‘sādhana’rūpa ‘abhidheya’; tāhā haite ‘prayojana’-lābha —

yāhā haite pāi kṛṣṇera prema-sevana
eita’ kahiluṅ ‘abhidheya’-vivaraṇa

Translation: That by which one can attain loving service to the Lord I have described in detail as the execution of devotional service, called abhidheya.

Jayapatākā Swami: By executing devotional service as described by Lord Caitanya one is able to achieve the level of prayojana or the level of pure devotion to Kṛṣṇa which is also known as prema or pure love.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.167

abhidheya sādhana-bhakti saṁkṣepe varṇita:—

abhidheya, sādhana-bhakti ebe kahiluṅ sanātana
saṅkṣepe kahiluṅ, vistāra nā yāya varṇana

Translation: My dear Sanātana, I have briefly described the process of devotional service in practice, which is the means for obtaining love of Kṛṣṇa. It cannot be described broadly.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Kṛṣṇa as Caitanya Mahāprabhu is expressing how pure devotional service is so great that it is impossible to explain all the possibilities, but the basic principles have been expressed here and thus one could follow these achieve the perfection of life.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 22.168

sādhana-bhakti-śravaṇe kṛṣṇa-premodaya —

abhidheya sādhana-bhakti śune yei jana
acirāt pāya sei kṛṣṇa-prema-dhana

Translation: Whoever hears this description of the process of practical devotional service very soon attains shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa in love and affection.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, we see, the fruit or the result of hearing these instructions of Lord Caitanya to Sanātana Gosvāmī, and one by hearing this they will get very easily pure devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa and thus they will increase in their love and perfection for the Supreme Lord.

Thus ends the chapter entitled,

Sādhana-Bhakti – 2. Rāgānugā-Bhakti, Sādhya-bhakti, Bhāva-bhakti and Phalaśruti – The Result of Hearing About Abhidheya Sādhana-bhakti, Part 1

Under the section: The Process of Devotional Service