philosophy

Published on May 19th, 2025 | by Harmonist staff

2

Bhakti Is Enough – Part 4

A series by Kishore Krishna das: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Relative Vs. Absolute

In the examples cited previously of bhakti covered by jnana or karma, it is not the action or even the desire but rather the misunderstanding of either in relation to bhakti that causes the practitioner to stray from the path of uttama-bhakti. A sadhaka in anartha-nivrtti will naturally have desires for the fruits of jnana or karma, such as freedom from suffering or receiving recognition, and need not feel like they are doing something wrong if those are present despite engagement in sadhana. If that sadhaka has a proper conception of the path and goal, then they are truly treading the marga of uttama-bhakti, which will gradually free them from those unwanted desires. But if that sadhaka engages in bhakti for the fruits of either jnana or karma, or believes that bhakti is dependent on the practices of jnana or karma, then their bhakti is covered. This is a subtle yet very important distinction, which I have tried to emphasize throughout the four parts of this article.

Actually, many of the practices cited previously can be conducive to bhakti, especially if a practitioner is finding that something is getting in the way of their sadhana, such as a physical or mental health imbalance. A practitioner will naturally accept things that are favorable to bhakti, as necessary, such as maintaining a healthy mind and body through relationships, work, astanga-yoga, pranayama, or other emotional- and mental-support modalities.1 Sattva brings lightness to the body and peace to the mind, similar to the underlying principle of varnashrama, where individuals engage according to their nature to find balance and stability. By creating a sattvic lifestyle, a sadhaka can encounter less internal resistance—tama-guna—during bhakti-yoga practices, such as hearing and chanting.

However, because these practices are bhakti only in an indirect sense, their main purpose is to enable more sustainable and steadfast sadhana. Peace and balance are good qualities to cultivate, but one should be willing to surrender every drop at the lotus feet of Sri Krsna—this is love. As much as one is capable of absorbing oneself in svarupa-siddha-bhakti—activities that are intrinsically bhakti—one should do so, arranging all other life activities around this center.2 This does not mean that one is extremely busy or constantly over-endeavoring; rather, as one gives more time and attention to svarupa-siddha-bhakti, one naturally decreases responsibilities in other aspects of life. And in such instances of absorption, the sadhaka will find that bhakti maintains the body and mind sufficiently, as stated by Sri Rupa: “Basic rules of conduct (yamah), rules of cleanliness and other actions appear automatically in those who are extremely dedicated to Krsna.”3 Bhakti is the most efficacious method for transcending maya—as other paths require some bhakti to even be successful—and is the only method for developing prema. Other practices may allow us to find some material balance on the journey, but they are unable to grant us entrance into transcendence: only bhakti brings bhakti.

So, although such practices can be conducive for bhakti, they must be adopted in a subservient manner. In his first personal instruction to me, my Guru Maharaja, Swami B.V. Tripurari, shared that the relative and absolute often run in parallel lines. In this way, they can coexist harmoniously in the life of a sadhaka. But if these two lines should ever diverge and run perpendicular to each other, one must forgo the relative and accept the absolute. Despite failing repeatedly in following this instruction, it is still my ideal, and thus I feel blessed. One example of this could be with a therapist’s advice. A therapist may help one recover from past traumas and thereby gain more stability in bhakti. But if that therapist ever advises actions or mentalities opposed to bhakti—such as decreasing chanting or trusting oneself over one’s Guru—one should reject that advice and take shelter of bhakti-siddhanta.

There are many examples where the relative and absolute may diverge in life. These are the moments where our faith is tested. We must not relativize the absolute, thinking bhakti is dependent or on the same platform as sattvic or rajasic activities. These practices may give us some material stability, but that stability is useless if it weakens our faith and dependence on bhakti. When we choose the absolute over the relative in instances of divergence, Bhakti-devi sends extra mercy to overcome any shortcomings we may face.

Accepting the Spirit of the Absolute

That said, one should be cautious to avoid burnout in bhakti. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura has said, “True beauty is to understand one’s adhikara and act accordingly.”4 By surrendering beyond one’s adhikara, one’s material ego may become overwhelmed, potentially leading to loss of inspiration, broken faith, or even vaisnava-aparadha. But in instances where accepting the absolute is beyond one’s adhikara, one can still accept the principle in spirit: This service or anga of bhakti is certainly the higher engagement and more aligned with my deepest self; however, due to my present condition, I need to give more attention now to a relative aspect of my life, so that I can remain balanced and steady in my sadhana. Thus, one maintains stability while humbly keeping the ideal of uttama-bhakti in the center.

Unfortunately, there is considerable push-back in some Gaudiya circles against this type of thinking, claiming that seeing one’s personal activities as something lesser or different than svarupa-siddha-bhakti creates psychological imbalance or low self-esteem. But this is an overcorrection of the previous generation of Western devotees, who sometimes disregarded relative aspects to the point of repression and dysfunction—bhakti covered by jnana. We should be careful not to let the pendulum swing too far in the other direction—bhakti covered by karma—such that we put the relative on the absolute platform. When one’s anarthas are excessively validated, the impetus for growth and progress slackens. So, avoiding both extremes, let us take shelter of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who embraces the spirit of lamentation in his second verse of Siksastakam:

etadrsi tava krpa Bhagavan mamapi
durdaivam idrsam ihajani nanuraga

O Bhagavan, your mercy is so great!
But just see my fate, my misfortune:
For your name, I have no attraction.5

Uttering this verse at the outset of his Siksastakam, just after his introductory verse glorifying Krsna-nama, Mahaprabhu wants to clearly establish the proper orientation for a sadhaka. Exemplifying the stage of anartha-nivrtti, he expresses a healthy—and holy—lamentation and humility for his lack of attraction to Krsna-nama, which stems from anarthas—false values for unworthy goals, primarily the fruits of jnana or karma. Mahaprabhu neither validates nor dismisses his anarthas but presents an honest and humble assessment of his predicament. Devotees are known as satam, truthful, and so the Lord wants to stress here the importance of sincere honesty in the stage of anartha-nivrtti. One is willing to acknowledge that their desires for jnana or karma, such as vairagya or psychological balance, are not on the same level as the nirguna desire to chant and worship Krsna-nama; thus, one humbly laments. And as one does, Krsna das Kaviraja embraces that sadhaka and lifts them up with his explanation: “Lamentation and humility awoke within Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu” when uttering the second verse of Siksastakam, but “by hearing the meaning of that verse, one can forget all unhappiness and lamentation.”6 The meaning is that genuine honesty about one’s desires and activities in relation to bhakti will bring forth a tidal wave of mercy from Sri Krsna and his dear devotees, who melt with compassion upon seeing the humility of such a sincere sadhaka.

With this proper orientation, placing sraddha and bhakti-sadhana on one’s head and above all other activities, one can truly connect relative engagements to their practice of bhakti. As mentioned in Part 2, activities like working a job or raising a family can be connected to bhakti through attribution (aropa-siddha-bhakti), and activities like astanga-yoga or pranayama can be connected to bhakti through association (sangha-siddha-bhakti). These practices are certainly better than engaging in karma or yoga independently, in that one’s activities remain within the fold of bhakti and are thus conducive for sadhana. So, in answer to one of our original questions—yes, every activity in the life of a sincere sadhaka can be an expression of bhakti, either directly or indirectly. But all of these activities have their proper place and alignment in relation to the sprouting seed of sraddha in one’s heart.

This is similar to Srila Sridhar Maharaja’s explanation of the famous Upanisadic sloka, “sarvaṃ khalvidaṃ brahma—Everything is Brahman,”7 in the sense that there are many things—all with different statuses and relationships—that are all part of Brahman. To indiscriminately place all of one’s activities on the same level in bhakti is akin to understanding this sloka in a way that blindly erases all varieties of sakti, merging everything with Brahman. Therefore, although indirect expressions of bhakti can be very beautiful and conducive for sadhana, they are not on the same level and thus should never be prioritized or considered essential to svarupa-siddha-bhakti, activities that are intrinsically bhakti. Continuing our previous analogy of climbing the mountain to the peak of nistha, one could compare aropa- and sangha-siddha-bhakti to resting and stretching, which, although important at times, should never be equated with the actual ascension of the mountain (svarupa-siddha-bhakti).8

Dedicated Sadhana

As devotees, the seed of bhakti-sraddha has sprouted within our hearts, and that glorious faith is our most precious and valuable possession—we should protect and nurture it more dearly than our own life. Siddhanta may not increase sraddha in and of itself, and may sometimes even be hard to digest in earlier stages, but with careful attention and application, it will properly position our sraddha below the merciful shower of uttama-bhakti. The basic formula is this: as much as possible, engage all one’s time, attention, and heart in svarupa-siddha-bhakti—arranging all life activities around this center—and employ any leftover time in aropa- and sanga-siddha-bhakti, in a way that honors these practices’ relationship to bhakti but never considers svarupa-siddha-bhakti dependent on them. My greatest fear is that devotees decrease their time and dedication in angas like hearing, chanting, and Guru-seva—even though they have adhikara to maintain or even increase their engagement—in order to prioritize relative practices or commitments, all in the name of being “balanced” and not “spiritual-bypassing.” Bhakti-sadhana is not linear, and one should never underestimate bhakti’s ability to clear impediments and engage one in seva that one never thought they would be qualified for. Such faith brings forth inconceivable mercy.

The five principal angas of svarupa-siddha-bhakti are hearing Srimad Bhagavatam, sadhu-sangha, nama-kirtan, Mathura-vasa, and deity seva—about which Sri Rupa exclaims, “These five items have inconceivable and astonishing power. What to speak of having faith in these items, if there is just a little relationship with these items, persons who are devoid of offenses can attain the level of bhava.”9 No such statement has been made about aropa-siddha-bhakti or sangha-siddha-bhakti. Although one may not be able to constantly absorb oneself in svarupa-siddha-bhakti at present, these practices must be idealized in the same way bhava is idealized over the four purusarthas. Don’t expect to attain bhava any other way.10 All glories to svarupa-siddha-bhakti, the purest and most concentrated expression of Bhakti-devi’s mercy in this world!

Let us conclude this article with Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura’s reflection on Rupa Goswami’s definition of uttama-bhakti. Falling at the feet of the Thakura, I pray to follow in his footsteps as a rupanuga.

Svarūpa-siddha-bhakti is kaitava–śūnya, free from any deceit and full of unalloyed bliss by nature, meaning that it is devoid of any desire for heavenly enjoyment or the attainment of liberation. . . . O my dear intimate Vaiṣṇavas, by your constitutional nature you are attracted to svarūpa–siddha–bhakti and have no taste for āropa-siddha-bhakti or saṅga–siddha–bhakti. . . . Therefore, in all the scriptures the instruction is to follow svarupa-siddha-bhakti.11

1. Though, before adopting time-consuming practices to counteract imbalances, one may do well to first make simple lifestyle adjustments that do not require extra time, such as eating healthy, working less and living more simply, decreasing time on social media, and spending more time in nature—a lifestyle that would have been the norm in Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s time. [↩]
2. “Absorption” here means to be absorbed both in a quantitative and qualitative sense. [↩]
3. Rupa Goswami, Bhakti-Rasamrita-Sindhu, trans. Bhanu Swami (BBT, 2020), verse 1.2.261. [↩]
4. I was not able to find where Bhaktivinode writes this, but it seems to be based off of SB 11.21.2. [↩]
5. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Siksastakam, trans. Swami Tripurari (Mandala, 2005), verse 2. [↩]
6. Krsna das Kaviraja, Sri Caitanya-Caritamrita, 3.20.15. [↩]
7. Chandogya Upanisad 3.14 [↩]
8. The need for such rest diminishes as one gets closer to the peak of nistha, and especially as one starts descending down the other side of the mountain into the stages of ruci, asakti, and bhava—eventually disappearing completely as one enters into the valley of prema. And in contrast to resting and stretching (aropa- or sanga-siddha-bhakti), independent activities of jnana, yoga, or karma are akin to walking sideways off the trail. [↩]
9. Rupa Goswami, Bhakti-Rasamrita-Sindhu, trans. Bhanu Swami (BBT, 2020), verse 1.2.238. [↩]
10. Jiva Goswami’s commentary to BRS 1.1.36 about sudurlabha—bhava being rarely attained: “It should be understood that bhava cannot be attained without attachment, and also without skillful execution. If one takes shelter of many processes, not just bhakti, one cannot achieve bhava. . . . Therefore, this bhakti should not even be mixed with other sadhanas. [↩]
11. Bhaktivinode Thakura, Bhakti-Tattva-Viveka, trans. Narayana Maharaja (Gaudiya Vedanta Publications, 2012), 25. [↩]

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