Raga marg-sponteanous devotional service

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>From "Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. His Life and Precepts" by Srila Saccidananda

Bhaktivinoda Thakura:

 

"Jivas are travelling on the path of mayik existence from time immemorial,

experiencing all sorts of pleasure and pain. How can one become free from this

unpleasant condition? Religious rituals, performance of duty, yoga,

development of powers of the body and mind, sankhya (empiric philosophical

analysis), simple knowledge that one is a spiritual being, and vairagya,

giving up all enjoyments in the world, are not the proper means by which one

can actually achieve what he genuinely wants. When a man comes in contact with

a Vaisnava whose heart has been melted by hari-bhakti-rasa, it is then that he

may desire to imbibe the sweet principle of bhakti and follow in the holy

footsteps of the devotee by constantly practicing krsna-bhakti. He slowly

washes off his mayik condition, and in the end, after obtaining his true

nature, enjoys the sweetest unalloyed rasa, which is the ultimate attainment

of the soul. Satsanga, or the company of spiritual people, is the only means

to obtain the ultimate objective of life. Bhakti is a principle which comes

from soul to soul, and like electricity or magnetism in gross matter, it

conducts itself from one congenial source to another. The principle of bhakti

is sincere, entire dependence on the Supreme Lord in every act of life. The

principle of duty is no part of bhakti, as it acts on the basis of gratitude

for favors obtained, and it involves obligation, which is contrary to natural

love.

 

The principle of morality in the mortal world, though good in its own way,

scarcely brings spiritual results in the end. Faith in the supreme beauty of

the Lord, a desire for the eternal unselfish service of that Supreme Being,

and a consequent repulsion of every other thought of pleasure or

self-aggrandizement are the three principles which constitute sraddha, or

actual hankering after bhakti. Bhakti by nature is ananya, or exclusive. Is it

chance then, which brings bhakti? No, sukriti or good work is the prime moving

principle.

 

Good work is of two types. One type, passing as morality, includes those works

which bring virtue and aggrandizement. The other type of good work includes

all activities which have a tendency to bring spiritual progress. This latter

type of good work or sukriti brings one in contact with a sincere Vaisnava

from whom one can initially imbibe sraddha or faith in spirit; and being then

capable of receiving bhakti, one obtains the seed of devotional service from

that Vaisnava, who is actually the person's guru.