Rägänugä Sädhana.

[Guest guest]

Raganuga Sadhana

 

 

Rupa Goswami describes Rägänugä as “rägätmikäm anushritä” – that which emulates

 

the Rägätmikä. A “Rägätmikä” is a person who possesses passionate attachment

(raga) in a brilliantly intense and powerfully manifest degree. Rägänugä

Sädhana

is the emulation of and aspiration for that intense attachment to pleasing

Krishna

brilliantly exemplified by Rägätmikäs like the residents of Vrindaban (Brs.

1.2.270).

 

 

Rägätmikä

 

Rägätmikä is the goal and inspiration of Rägänugä Sädhana, so Rupa Goswami will

 

describe it first. He defines Rägätmikä-bhakti as “love composed of

all-consuming

attachment to the beloved object one has an inherent taste for.” (Brs. 1.2.272)

 

Every living being is eternally a unique individual, with unique tastes and

attractions

inherent in his or her eternal nature. Rupa Goswami calls these inherent tastes

 

“svärasiki.” Ultimately, one’s svärasiki attracts one to the Supreme in a

unique

way; who responds by appearing to one in the form most appropriate to one’s

unique

tastes. This form of the Supreme becomes the object of one’s eternal passionate

 

attachment, and is called one’s “ishta-deva.”

 

Rägätmikä is the type of love wherein attachment to one’s ishta-deva becomes

so intense that it consumes one entirely and absorbs one completely.

 

There are two types of Rägätmikä: (1) Kämarupä and (2) Sambandha-rupä.

 

 

Kämarupä Rägätmikä

 

“Kämarupä” is the kind of love that transforms lust into an endeavor singularly

 

motivated by zealous desire to please Krishna.

 

Lust (käma) is the intense thirst to enjoy, but love (prema) is the desire to

please one’s beloved. Lust is like iron, strong but base. Love is like gold,

beautiful but soft. If one could take the strength of iron and combine it with

the beauty of gold, one would truly have a most precious metal.

 

Kämarupä does exactly that. It takes the iron-strong, intense thirst of lust

but replaces it’s base nature with the golden beauty of pure love. The result

is an extremely zealous, passionate love for Krishna with emotions and

expressions

that are characteristic of lust.

 

Though it appears like lust, Kämarupä is a very special aspect of the purest

transcendental relationship with God (prema-vishesha). The purity of Kämarupä

is evidenced by the fact that pure souls like Uddhava glorify and desire it.

 

The Gopis of Vrindaban best exemplify this type of Prema.

 

 

Sambandha-rupä Rägätmikä

 

“Sambandha-rupä” is the kind of love that is based on one’s relationship to the

 

beloved – parental, friendly, or subordinate. The Cow-herders of Vrindaban are

the best examples of this type of Prema.

 

 

Rägänugä

 

Having briefly described the goal (Rägätmikä), Rupa Goswami will now describe

the means to attain that goal (Rägänugä).

 

 

Eligibility for Rägänugä Sädhana

 

The qualification to emulate and aspire for a Rägätmikä’s sentiments is simply

that one has singular and steady greed (eka-nishthä-lobha) to obtain those

sentiments.

One should get rid of all other types of greed (anartha-nivritti) and be

resolutely

fixated (nishthä) on the single greed to attain sentiments of Krishna bhakti

similar to those of a Rägätmikä.

 

Although singular and steady greed for the sentiments of a Rägätmikä does not

fully manifest until a rather advanced stage of spiritual development

(nishthä),

it can begin to appear much earlier, even from the very beginning of one’s

spiritual

journey. The beginning of this greed is the desire to hear about a Rägätmikä

(tat-tad-bhävädi-mädhurye shrute) – not because scripture says so, not because

of some logical rationale, but simply because one spontaneously wants to

(dhiyäd

apekshate).

 

Singular and steady greed is the real qualification to practice Rägänugä

Sädhana.

This greed begins with the desire to hear. Therefore, a natural desire to hear

is the initial qualification to practice Rägänugä Sädhana. One is qualified for

 

Rägänugä Sädhana in proportion to the extent one’s natural desire to hear about

 

a Rägätmikä has evolved into greed to obtain that Rägätmikä’s sentiments of

bhakti.

 

What kind of Sädhana should a partially qualified person practice?

 

A partially qualified person, one whose desire to hear is still in the process

of evolution towards becoming a singular and steady greed, should practice

Rägänugä

Sädhana as much as he or she is able. Whenever one feels a natural attraction

to the sentiments of a Rägätmikä, one should fan that fledgling spark of greed

by hearing about, aspiring for, and emulating those sentiments (i.e. one should

 

practice Rägänugä Sädhana). Whenever one does not feel such spontaneous

inspiration,

one should fall back upon scriptural injunction and favorable logic for

inspiration

in the interim (i.e. one should practice Vaidhi Sädhana), eagerly trying to

bring

forth and fan the next spark of natural inspiration.

 

This partial practice of Rägänugä Sädhana, mixed with a type of Vaidhi Sädhana

that aims to agitate one’s inherent spiritual inspirations, is the right way

to fan one’s initial spark of inclination to hear about a Rägätmikä into a

blazing

greed to obtain similar sentiments for Krishna, upon attaining which a person

can constantly practice Rägänugä Sädhana.

 

 

Practices of Rägänugä Sädhana

 

The foremost practice of Rägänugä Sädhana is to contemplate the specific form

of Krishna one holds most dear (krishnam preshtham), along with the specific

devotee whose sentiments one most desires (janam nija-samihitam). Contemplating

 

them both together, one meditates on the affection they have for one another

and how they interact to express that affection. This is how one performs

smarana

in Rägänugä Sädhana.

 

As a result of this smarana, one practices kirtan by glorifying and discussing

the particular form of Krishna and the particular devotee one has contemplated,

 

as well as their affectionate relationship (tat-tat-kathä-ratah).

 

The next practice of Rägänugä Sädhana is to emulate the sentiments and services

 

of the Rägätmikä. The Rägätmikä manifests two forms. When Rädhä and Krishna are

 

in their original form, the Rägätmikä also manifests his or her original form

to perform appropriate services (this form is the “sidhha-rupa”). When Rädhä

and Krishna take the form of a practitioner of Bhakti, Chaitanya Mahäprabhu,

the Rägätmikä also manifests a form that appears to be a practitioner, to

continue

rendering appropriate services (this form is the “sädhaka-rupa”).

 

Like the Rägätmikä, the practitioner of Rägänugä Sädhana also has two forms.

One is the form he or she received from birth, and which he or she uses to

practice

sädhana (the “sädhaka-rupa”). The other is his or her “perfect form,” barely

beginning to manifest, with which he or she will serve Rädhä-Krishna (the

“siddha-rupa”).

 

The practitioner of Rägänugä Sädhana uses both of these forms to emulate both

forms of the Rägätmikä. With one’s manifest form as a practitioner one emulates

 

the services performed by the Rägätmikä in his or her form as a practitioner.

With one’s mentally conceived “perfect form,” one emulates the services

performed

by the Rägätmikä in his or her perfect form.

 

For example, one who aspires to attain sentiments similar to those possessed

by the Rägätmikä named Lalitä will emulate her in two ways: (1) With one’s

manifest

form as a practitioner one will emulate the services performed by Svarupa

Damodar

Goswami – who is the sädhaka-rupa manifestation of Lalitä. (2) One will also

emulate, with one’s siddha-rupa, the services Lalitä herself performs in her

own siddha-rupa. However, since one’s siddha-rupa is not yet truly manifest,

one will mentally conceive of one, under the guidance of one’s guru, which is

appropriate for the services one desires to emulate.

 

The practices of Rägänugä Sädhana also include the aforementioned 64 practices

of Vaidhi Sädhana, practiced in a way favorable to the sentiments one aspires

for.

 

 

Kämänugä Sädhana

 

“Kämänugä” is the type of Rägänugä Sädhana that aspires for and emulates the

Kämarupä Rägätmikä. There are two sub-types of Kämänugä: (1) Sambhoga, and (2)

Tad-bhäva.

 

Sambhoga Kämänugä is based on the aspiration to directly participate in

romantic

affairs with Krishna. Thus, the practice of Sambhoga Kämänugä emulates those

Rägätmikäs who directly associate with Krishna, like Rädhäräni and Candrävali.

 

Tad-bhäva Kämänugä is based on the aspiration to facilitate the emotions of

those

who directly participate in romantic affairs with Krishna. Thus, the practice

of Tad-bhäva Kämänugä emulates those Rägätmikäs who assist Krishna’s romantic

affairs, like Lalitä and Vishäkhä, etc.

 

Though one must be female to realize Kämarupä Bhakti, males can also strive for

 

it, and can thus attain a female form, spiritually and/or in their next birth,

and thus realize Kämarupä Bhakti. Rupa Goswami cites the sages of Dandaka

Forest

as evidence.

 

Rupa Goswami says that those who aspire for Kämarupä Bhakti but allow Vaidhi

Sädhana to excessively govern their endeavors to attain it achieve queen-hood

in Dvärakä. This is because the effect always contains the properties of the

cause. If the cause (sädhana) is excessively governed by rules and regulations,

 

the effect (prema) will be similarly affected.

 

Sädhana does not create one’s loving relationship with Krishna. The seed of

that

relationship is eternally present in one’s soul in the form of one’s svärasiki.

 

Sädhana “germinates” that seed, allowing it to sprout and grow by softening it

and thus making it receptive to the “light and heat” of the shuddha-sattva-sun.

 

A seed not properly germinated will not be able to fully utilize the heat and

light of the sun, and will grow to a slightly diminished stature. Similarly,

the Kämarupä Prema that manifests from a seed cultivated by Rägänugä Sädhana

excessively governed by rules and regulations will always itself be governed

by some degree of regulation and formality – like wedded romance with Krishna,

as is had by his queens in Dvärakä.

 

Vishvanath Chakravarti explains that Rägänugä Sädhana becomes “excessively”

influenced

by Vaidhi Sädhana when one follows even those prescriptions that are contrary

to one’s desired sentiments.

 

 

Sambandhänugä Sädhana

 

“Sambandhänugä” the type of Rägänugä Sädhana that aspires for and emulates the

sentiments of the Sambandha-rupä Rägätmikä. In Sambandhänugä one ascribes to

oneself the conception of parenthood, friendship, etc. towards Govinda.

 

The practitioner of Sambandhänugä should imprint his or her own sentiments and

endeavors with the mark of the sentiments and endeavors of Rägätmikäs like

Nanda,

Subäla, etc. The practitioner ascribes those sentiments to his or her own self,

 

yet remains a distinct, unique person. He or she does not endeavor to become

the Rägätmikä, only to emulate pertinent aspects of the Rägätmikä’s sentiments.

 

By so doing, one augments and nourishes one’s own sentiments of attachment to

Krishna.

 

 

Closing Remark

 

Rupa Goswami states that the initial cause of developing qualification for

Rägänugä

Sädhana is the mercy of Krishna and his devotee. This mercy begins to uncover

the true nature of the soul, and thus inclines one to hear about the sweet

sentiments

and activities of particular Rägätmikäs. This desire to hear, in turn,

gradually

matures into singular and steady greed, fully enabling one to practice Rägänugä

 

Sädhana.

 

Some people use the term Pushti Märg (“The Path That Nourishes One’s

Sentiments”)

to refer to

Rägänugä Sädhana.

 

* * *

Essence of the Ambrosial Ocean of Devotion

(Bhakti-rasämrita-sindhu-sära)

Part 10

* * *

 

This has been a summary and explanation of Sri Rupa Goswami's Bhakti Rasamrita

Sindhu 1.2.270-309, and the commentaries of Sri Jiva Goswami, Mukundadas

Goswami,

and Vishvanath Chakravarti. For Rupa Goswami's original Sanskrit, English

Translations

and more detailed notes, please see The Ambrosial Ocean of Devotion web site

(http://www.the-gita.net/BRS/1-2-270.htm)

 

-----------

A better-formatted version is on www.the-gita.net/BRS in the Overviews section,

 

Chapter 10.

------------------