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432 Jiva Gosvāmi and Baladeva Vidyābhūșaņa (CH. completely and feel himself as one with God; this is technically called mahābhāva!. In a general sense bhakti may be said to produce a sense of unique possession (mamatā), and consequently great attachment of heart; this emotion may express itself in various forms. But there is also the other quieter form (śānta) of devotion, in which the devotee feels himself to be of God, but not that God is his, like Sanaka and other devotees of his type. Here also there is a remote sense of God's possession, i.e., as master-as looking forward for His grace as a master (bhrtyatva), protector (pālyatva), or as a fond parent (lālyatva). One may also enjoy God in himself, assuming the rôle of a parent and looking upon God as a dear child; this kind of emotion is called vätsalya. But, as has been said above, the most intense joy in God takes the conjugal form; the difference between eroticism (kāma) and this type of love (rati) is that the former seeks self-satisfaction, while the latter seeks the satisfaction of the beloved God; yearning is the common element in both. These devotees, through their dominant emotion of love, restrict their relation to God solely to His aspect of sweetness (mādhurya), as a great lover. The affection of Rādhā for Ksrna is said to illustrate the highest and intensest form of this love. The Vaisnava writers frequently explain this love in accordance with the analysis of ordinary mundane love current in books of rhetoric (alamkāra-śāstra).
In treating of the subject of bhakti it is impossible not to make a short reference to the well known work of Rūpa Gosvāmī, Bhakti-rasāmrta-sindhu. This work is divided into four books, pūrva, dakșina, paścima, and uttara, and each of these is divided into chapters called laharīs. In writing out the chapters of the Bhaktisandarbha and the Prīti-sandarbha Jiva Gosvāmi, the nephew of Rūpa, was much indebted to the above work of the latter, on which he had also written a commentary, Durgama-sangamana, after the
Șat-sandarbha, p. 732. There occurs here a quotation from Ujjrala-nilamani to illustrate the situation:
rūdhāyā bhavatasca citta-jatuni svedair vilāpya kramad yunjann adri-nikunja-kunjara-pater nirdhūta-bheda-bhramam citrūya stayam antaranjayad iha brahmānda-harmyodare
bhūyobhir nat'a-rāga-hingula-phalaih srngāra-cāruh kytih. 2 saty api bhedūpagame nātha tatāham na māmakinas tram samudro hi tarargah kracana samudro na tarangah. Ibid. p. 735. harer guņa dviridhāh bhakta-citta-samskära-hetavas tadabhimūna-visesya-hetavas'cânye... (p. 733). jñāna-bhaktir bhaktir vatsalyam maitri kanta-bhātasca (p. 738). Though all these different varieties of bhakti are mentioned, it is admitted that various other forms may arise from these simply by their mutual mixture in various degrees.
