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XXX11] Gleanings from the Caitanya-Caritāmrta 391 phenomenal qualities. It is from this point of view that the Upanişads have described Brahman as nirguna (devoid of qualities) and also as devoid of all powers (niḥsaktika). The individual souls are within the control of māyā-sakti; but God is the controller of the māyā-sakti and through it of the individual souls. God creates the world by His unthinkable powers and yet remains unchanged within Himself. The world thus is not false; but, being a creation, it is destructible. The Sankarite interpretation of the Brahma-sūtra is wrong and is not in consonance with the purport of the Upanişads.
In chapter vill of the Madhya-līlā of the Caitanya-caritāmsta we have the famous dialogue between Caitanya and Rāmānanda regarding the gradual superiority of the ideal of love. Rāmānanda says that devotion to God comes as the result of the performance of caste-duties. We may note here that according to the Bhaktirasām;ta-sindhu bhakti consists in attaching oneself to Krşņa for His satisfaction alone, without being in any way influenced by the desire for philosophic knowledge, karma or disincl worldly things (vairāgya), and without being associated with any desire for one's own interests 1.
The Vişnu-purāņa, as quoted in the Caitanya-caritāmȚta, holds the view that it is by the performance of caste-duties and āśramaduties that God can be worshipped. But the point is whether such performance of caste-duties and āśrama-duties can lead one to the attainment of bhakti or not. If bhakti means the service of God for His sake alone (ānukūlyena Krsnānusevanam), then the performance of caste-duties cannot be regarded as a necessary step towards its attainment; the only contribution that it may make can be the purification of mind, whereby the mind may be made fit to receive the grace of God. Caitanya, not satisfied with the reply of Rāmānanda, urges him to give a better account of bhakti. Rāmānanda in reply says that a still better state is that in which the devotee renounces all his interests in favour of God in all his performance of duties; but there is a still higher state in which one renounces all his duties through love of God. Unless one can renounce all thoughts about one's own advantage, one cannot proceed in the path of love. The next higher stage is that in which devotion is
1 anyābhilāşitāšūnyam jñāna-karmādy-anāvytam. ānukūlyena Kysnānusevanam bhaktiruttamā.
Bhaktirasāmrta-sindhu, I. I. 9.
