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XXXI] Concept of bhakti
349 He who thinks of God as all and of himself as emanating from Him, and who serves Him with love, is a devotee. In the absence of either knowledge or love we have only a lower kind of devotee; but in the absence of both one cannot be a devotee, though by listening to the scriptures one may remove one's sins. The highest devotee leaves everything; his mind is filled with Krsna alone; for him there is no wife, no home, no sons, no friends, no riches, but he is wholly absorbed in the love of God. No one, however, can take the path of bhakti except through the grace of God. Karma itself, being of the nature of God's will, manifests itself as His mercy or anger to the devotee; He approaches with His mercy and relieves him even if he be in a low state, and those who do not obey His commands or proceed in the wrong path He approaches with anger and causes to suffer. It is said that the law of karma is mysterious; the reason is that we do not know the manner in which God's will manifests itself; sometimes by His grace He may even save a sinner, who may not have to take the punishment due to him.
In the Sandilya-sūtra bhakti is defined as the highest attachment (parānurakti) to God. Anurakti is the same as rāga; so the sūtra “parānuraktir īśvare" means highest attachment to the object of worship (ärādhya-visayaka-rāgatvam)'. This attachment is associated with pleasure (sukha-niyato rāga). We remember that in the Vişnu-purāna Prahlada expresses the wish that he may have that attachment to God that is experienced with regard to senseobjects. One must find supreme pleasure in God; it is this natural and spontaneous attachment to God that is called bhakti?. Even if there is no notion of worship, but merely love, there also we can apply the term bhakti, as in the case of gopis towards Krsna. But ordinarily it arises from the notion of the greatness of God. This devotion, being of the nature of attachment, is associated with will and not with action; just as in the case of knowledge no action is necessary, but the only result is enlightenment, so the will that tends
1 Sändilya-sūtra, 1. 2. (commentary by Svapneśvara).
yā pritir a-vivekānām visayeşv anapāyini, tăm anusmaratah sẽ me hydayặn măpasarpatu.
Vişnu-purāņa, I. 20. 19. 3 Compare Gită, x. 9:
mac-città mad-gata-prāņā bodhayantah paras-param kathayantaś ca mām nityam tusyantica ramanti ca....
