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The Method and the Means.
In regard to the method and the means of Bhakti-Yoga we read in the commentary of Bhagavân Râmânuja on the Vedanta Sutras :—"The attainment of That (Brahman) comes through discrimination, controlling the passions, practice, sacrificial work, purity, strength, and suppression of excessive joy." Viveka or discrimination is, according to Râmânuja, discriminating, among other things, the pure food from the impure. According to him, food becomes impure from three causes : namely, (1) from the nature of the food itself, as in the case of garlic, etc. ; (2) owing to its coming from wicked and accursed persons ; and (3) from physical impurities, such as dirt, or hair, etc. The Srutis say, "by pure food, the Sattva element gets purified and by that the
