Jignasa Journal Of History Of Ideas And Culture Part 01

Author(s): Vibha Upadhyaya and Others
Publisher: University of Rajasthan

Page 87

An Appraisal of Bhakti in Philosophical Perspective" / 49
as the essence or the core of the ultimate reality. For this one can focus on Rasoh vai sah (Taittiriya2/ 7/1), Anand ātma[Taittirīya 2/5/1), Anando Brahmeti vyajānāta[Taittiiya 3/6/1).and Sah aish Rasänāma Rastama paramam (Chhāndogya 1/1/3).
The following quotation from Mehta in this context also need reinterpretation. He says: "The ample reflection on bhakti, what it meant and on the spiritual change implied by the emergence of Chaitanya..., shows again the inseparability of creative philosophical reflection and radical changes in our experience and in our encounter with life as personally lived." Does Mehta's call for a need for a fresh outlook on bhakti, if defined as relationship of man to God is really affected by the changes made at the empirical level i.e. at the level of science and technological advancement? If Mehta believes that all possible patterns of bhakti can be broadly understood in the light of the paradigmatic exemplars of Prahalada, Arjuna, Gopies or if all possible future examplers of bhakti, will be understood as foreshadows of these exemplars, his call about the need of a fresh effort at philosophical reflection or reinterpretation of bhakti in modern times does not make much sense.
Mehta in his dscussion of bhakti has nowhere discussed the concept of grace, śarnāgati, prapatti or even the distinction of bhakti as a sādhan rūpa and sādhya rūpa which are considered as the core of bhakti in theory and in practice. Moreover, again, Mehta has nowhere mentioned any sutra or primary text of bhakti such as the Sandilya bhakti sūtra, the Nārad bhakti sūtra or the Panchrātra samhitās in his discussion, though he felt the need of a new commentary on the Vedānta sūtra in the light of bhakti. He merely says that Vishnupurāna, Bhagavad Gitā and Bhāgavata which respectively in his views are mythological, philosophical and theological texts on Bhakti provide context and commentary on it. With respect to Bhakti sūtra it is to be noticed that while in the major philosophical systems of Indian philosophy we find only one beginning sütra text in each system, in bhakti we find two sūtra texts. In the former case we have the tradition of commentary and sub-commentary texts. while no such tradition is available in respect of the later. Does it mean that in bhakti one cannot systematically talk about commentary and sub-commentary as we do in the other sütra texts? However, there is a need of systemetic theorization on the experience and expression of bhakti in the light of the vedic literature and in the works of Narada, Sandilya, Madhusudansaraswati.Bhakti-acharyya,saints, and goswamies, etc. It seems that in addition to Professor J.L.Mehta [1934-1988), the Bhaktidarsan Vimarsah of Professor G.C.Pandey[1923-2011), and Bhakti: A Contcmprory Discussion, a book edited by Professor Daya Krishna[1924-2007), in association with F.E.Krishna and M.lath, may certainly provide a guideline for the systematic conceptualexploration of bhakti and bhakti-marga in vaisanava Indian tradition.
Mehta's analysis of bhakti, for him, is a phenomenology of bhakti which consists in reflecting on experience or more precisely it is an account of capturing pure essence of bhakti underlying various forms, expressions and experiences of it. Mehta gives a vision of human attitude towards living or being in the world. One of the central questions in Mehta's views consists in theorizing about the nature and significance of bhakti in the life of homo religious"." and also in Vehta's view the key issue in all investigation into religious life consists in the question: "How does bhakti manifest itse! in the midst of this turbulence that is life, how does it express itself in the day-to-day, week-to-week, life of an ordinary mortal, in what he thinks, how he acts, how he relates himself to others and to himself, in big things and small ?." In Mehta's view the vedic-upanisadic and the post-upanisadic narrative writings of the bhakti tradition offer a variety of answers to that question and may be looked into from this perspective.