Ajata-Ruci-Raganuga-Bhakti

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Ajata-Ruci-Raganuga-Bhakti

 

"Those who are grounded in ritualistic bhakti with their ideal being

raganuga-bhakti can cross over ritualistic bhakti and tread the path of

sacred passionate love in due course."

 

Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari

 

Q. You wrote that devotees in the line of Bhaktivinoda Thakura teach

that our svarupa, or spiritual identity, is already within us but lies

dormant. (Sanga Volume VI number 23:

http://www.swami.org/sanga/archives/pages/volume_six/m257.html)

 

In his book Sri Guru and His Grace, Srila Sridhara Maharaja said, "We

may have an attraction for Vrndavana and an inner awakening for service

to Krsna in Goloka, but if we associate with so many Vaikuntha sadhus,

then we will be hurled down to Vaikuntha." Does this mean that one can

have an inner awakening of desire for service to Krsna in Vrndavana

when one's svarupa is that of a Vaikuntha bhakta? I would also like to

ask what Bhaktivinoda Thakura meant when he said one should practice

vaidhi-bhakti to become eligible for raganuga-bhakti.

 

A. In Sri Guru and His Grace "hurled down" is being used as a figure of

speech and should not be taken literally. Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja

is saying that although one may be destined for Vrndavana, if one

associates with Vaikuntha bhaktas one may be detoured to Vaikuntha, as

was Gopa Kumara in Brhad-Bhagavatamrta. Whatever one's spiritual

destiny is, it will not awaken without the right kind of association.

Association does not produce our svarupa, but it is the catalyst needed

for it to manifest, thus we should be careful as to the association we

keep. Along with association comes our sadhana, or spiritual practice.

Practice makes perfect. The spiritual goal that one idealizes and

aspires for will manifest only if one engages in sadhana that

corresponds with one's ideal.

 

Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati were among the first

to use the term vaidhi-bhakti in place of the term

ajata-ruci-raganuga-bhakti. However, when Bhaktivinoda Thakura used the

term vaidhi-bhakti in place of ajata-ruci-raganuga-bhakti, he was

speaking of vaidhi in a general sense.

 

He did not mean to advocate that one should engage in vaidhi-bhakti and

thereby attain Vaikuntha, and then from there gain eligibility for the

raganuga sadhana that begets Vraja bhakti. He meant that one should

engage in the limbs of vaidhi-bhakti such as hearing and chanting to

give support to one's immature, budding eagerness for raganuga-bhakti,

which in the beginning is often more intellectually based than

heartfelt. Mature raganuga-bhakti is an affair of the heart, not the

head, whereas vaidhi-bhakti has much to do with one's head and the

sense that bhakti to Bhagavan should be done because it is the right

thing to do. Its motivation is duty, and its expression of love is

appropriately reverential. Raga-bhakti, on the other hand, is motivated

by love, and its expression of love is inappropriate in appearance,

being comparatively irreverent. The Vraja gopis are, of course, the

prime example.

 

Note that Srila Rupa Goswami has also written that the limbs of

vaidhi-bhakti such as hearing and chanting should not be neglected by

raganuga sadhakas in Brs. 1.2.296.

 

Q. In discussing the svarupa aren't we talking more of a mood of

service than a particular place like Vaikuntha or Goloka?

 

A. The mood has a corresponding place. Indeed, the place is the mood

and the mood is the place. To love God as an equal, as in the case of

devotees who are in sakhya rasa in Vraja, would be out of place in

Vaikuntha where Visnu is worshiped in awe and reverence. Indeed, the

idea of loving Visnu in equality would be intolerable there.

 

Q. What exactly does "ajata" and "jata" mean when one speaks of

ajata-ruci and jata-ruci bhakti?

 

A. Jata means "born." Jata-ruci is the condition in which ruci

(spiritual taste) is born or has appeared within the devotee.

Ajata-ruci is the condition in which ruci has not yet fully appeared

within the devotee. Thus the ajata-ruci devotee is one who practices

the principles of bhakti with a desire to attain spiritual taste. In

some places you will also find the terms ajata-rati and jata-rati used.

Rati means love or bhava. In either case ajata refers to the condition

where deep spontaneous feelings for Krsna have not yet manifested in

the heart of the devotee. To attain these feelings, a devotee must

first purify his or her heart under the guidance of an elevated devotee

of Krsna.

 

Jiva Goswami calls this stage ajata-ruci-raganuga. It is a mixed form

of raganuga and vaidhi-bhakti, in which one's motivation to engage in

raganuga-bhakti is somewhat dependent on the logic and scriptural

references in support of its value. In this regard, Krsnadasa Kaviraja

Goswami says, satra-yukti nahi mane--raganugara prakrti: "The nature of

raganuga sadhakas is that they do not care for sastra-yukti, or

introspection on the nature of the scriptural conclusions." (Cc

2.22.153) Sriman Mahaprabhu also told Sanatana Goswami, sastra-yukti

nahi ihan siddhanta-vicara ei svabhava-gune: "One whose attraction for

Krsna is spontaneous has no use for sastra-yukti." (Cc 2.24.40) Of

course, a raganuga sadhaka is dependent on the scripture for

instructions as to how to execute his or her sadhana.

 

Q. I read in your booklet Sri Guru Paramapara that a siddha pranali

should consist of siddhas. Actually the term siddha pranali refers to

the siddha-dehas of the preceptors in one's guru parampara. We receive

this esoteric information when we get initiated in one of the

traditional Gaudiya Vaisnava parivaras. It is not that every guru in

the line must be a siddha. Some of them may be ajata ruci or ajata rati

raganugiyas.

 

A. I agree that every guru in one's parampara does not necessarily have

to be a siddha. Something is often better than nothing. However, in the

type of Gaudiya lineages you are referring to the guru is said to give

the disciple information about the disciple's siddha-deha as well as

that of all of the previous gurus in the line. The way in which he

determines who the previous gurus are in Krsna lila is by hearing from

his own guru, who received this information from his guru, who received

from his guru, and so on. The way in which he determines the

siddha-deha of the disciple is said to be through meditation, in which

Sri Krsna gives him the information. This is the theory.

 

However, I object to the idea that one who is not a siddha can

determine the details of one's siddha-deha in meditation. I have spoken

with gurus in such parivaras who admitted to me that the so-called

siddha-deha they give out is less than something they received in

mediation from Krsna himself. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta also took exception

to what he considered the passing out of imaginary siddha-dehas. If

anyone wants to call these lines traditional and a siddha pranali, they

are free to do so, but in my opinion it has little to do with actual

spiritual life. Better to take shelter of Harinama in Sri Krsna

sankirtana and Krsna mantra dhyana received through guru parampara. As

one's heart becomes purified, the pure name of Krsna manifests along

with his svarupa sakti in one's heart. Thus one comes to know of one's

siddha deha on no uncertain terms.

 

Q. Isn't raganuga-bhakti understood to be a sadhana or spiritual

practice unto itself?

 

A. Raganuga is sadhana and thus practice, but this practice is mature

when our svarupa (spiritual identity) is revealed. Even though

bhava-bhakti is distinct from sadhana-bhakti, bhava bhaktas still

engage in sadhana. Bhaktivinoda Thakura's opinion is that raganuga

sadhana can be practiced before attaining bhava, but it will be mixed

with and supported by vaidhi-bhakti.

 

Jiva Goswami calls this mixture ajata-ruci-raganuga-bhakti, or

raganuga-bhakti practiced in the stage before one develops spiritual

taste for a particular bhava of Vraja. He discusses two divisions of

raganuga-bhakti in his Bhakti-sandarbha. These he calls jata-ruci and

ajata-ruci-raganuga. Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami refers to them as

jata-rati and ajata-rati-raganuga-bhakti. These terms imply that

raganuga-bhakti is cultivated by those without ruci (ajata-ruci) or

with ruci (jata-ruci) or in the language of Krsnadasa Kaviraja, with

bhava (jata-rati) or without bhava (ajata-rati).

 

Kaviraja Goswami says, jata-ajata-rati-bhede sadhaka dui bheda

vidhi-raga-marge cari cari-asta bheda. The context of this verse is

Mahaprabhu's explanation of the atmarama verse to Sanatana Goswami in

which he explains four types of atmaramas: the eternal associates of

God (parisads), those who have attained perfection by sadhana

(sadhana-siddhas), and and two types of sadhakas, those cultivating

vaidhi-bhakti and those cultivating raganuga-bhakti.

 

Thus we have the parisads, sadhana-siddhas, and two types of sadhakas,

totaling four atmaramas. Then he explains that there are two types of

sadhakas within both vaidhi- and raga-bhakti sadhana, those with rati

(jata-rati), and those without (ajata-rati). This brings the total of

atmaramas to eight. He goes on from here to delineate 32 types of

atmaramas by discussing the four types (parisads, sadhana-siddhas, and

two types of sadhakas) in terms of four rasas both in vaidhi-bhakti and

raganuga-bhakti.

 

Out of all of this, we learn that there are devotees who are

raganuga-sadhakas who are either mature in their practice or immature.

They have attained ruci/rati or have yet to attain them. The terms ruci

and rati are not however, interchangeable. Ruci refers to advanced

sadhana-bhakti, and rati to bhava-bhakti. In either case we have two

types of raganuga bhaktas. In the language of Kaviraja Goswami we find

a blurring of sadhana-bhakti and bhava-bhakti.

 

This is not inappropriate because although bhava-bhakti is distinct

from sadhana-bhakti, sadhana continues in bhava-bhakti nonetheless.

Ruci is also the basis of rati. Thus the two, Jiva Goswami and

Krsnadasa Kaviraja, are saying the same thing--that there are two types

of raganuga-bhaktas, the mature and immature. The conclusion is that

those who are grounded in ritualistic bhakti with their ideal being

raganuga-bhakti can cross over ritualistic bhakti and tread the path of

sacred passionate love in due course.

 

Questions or comments may be submitted at the Q&A Forum

http://www.swami.org/sanga/ or email sangaeditor (AT) swami (DOT) org.

 

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