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XXXIII] Nature of bhakti
415 Brahman from other objects. If self-luminosity is a distinguishing quality, and if Brahman is supposed to possess it, He cannot be regarded as qualityless
Nature of bhakti. The author of the Șat-sandarbha discusses in the Kysnasandarbha the then favourite theme of the Vaisnavas that Lord Krsna is the manifestation of the entire Godhood. The details of such a discussion cannot pertinently be described in a work like the present one, and must therefore be omitted.
In the Bhakti-sandarbha the author of the Sat-sandarbha deals with the nature of bhakti. He says that, though the jīvas are parts of God's power, yet through beginningless absence of true knowledge of the ultimate reality their mind is turned away from it, and through this weakness their self-knowledge is obscured by māyā; they are habituated to looking upon the pradhāna (the product of sattva, rajas and tamas) as being identical with themselves, and thereby suffer the sorrows associated with the cycles of birth and re-birth. Those jīvas, however, who by their religious practices have inherited from their last birth an inclination towards Go those who through a special mercy of God have their spiritual eyes
pened, naturally feel inclined towards God and have a realization of His nature whenever they listen to religious instruction. It is through the worship of God that there arise the knowledge of God and the realization of God, by which all sorrows are destroyed. In the Upanişads it is said that one should listen to the Upanişadic texts propounding the unity of Brahma and meditate upon them. Such a course brings one nearer God, because through it the realization of Brahma is said to be possible. The processes of astānga-yoga may also be regarded as leading one near to God's realization. Even the performance of karma helps one to attain the proximity of God; by performing one's duties one obeys the commands of God, and in the case of obligatory duties the performer derives no benefit, as the fruits of those actions are naturally dedicated to God. Knowledge associated with bhakti is also
jagaj-janmādi-bhramo yatas tad brahmeti svotprekṣā-pakşe ca na nirvišeşa-tastu-siddhiḥ bhrama-mulam ajñānam ajñāna-sāksi brahmeti upagamāt. sākṣitvam hi prakāśaikarasatayā ucy'ate. prakāśatvam tu jadad vyāvartakam svasya parasya ca vyavahāra-yogyatāpadana-svabhāvena bhavati. tathā sati savisesatuam tad-abhāve prakāśataiva na syāt tucchataiva syāt. Ibid. p. 291.
