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From the time of the Law Books and the Mahabharata (ca. 400 B.C.E.-400 C.E.), the Hindu tradition acknowledged four "goals of human life" (purusartha), namely: religious duty, (dharma), (dharma), the acquisition of wealth (artha), pleasure (kama), and final liberation (moksa). The first three were known collectively as the "triad" (trivarga). Although understood and accepted as valid and even necessary pursuits, they were recognized as having a common orientation toward concerns that were phenomenal and transient. Liberation, on the other hand, was quite naturally placed in a different category. It was a spiritual goal, one achieved only through its own unique means. Since it had, as it were, no competitors, it was sui generis, in a class by itself, and since it partook of ultimacy and finality, it became known, especially among the teachers of Advaita, as the paramapursartha, the "highest goal of life."38

129 With the rise of the devotional schools, however, the notion that bhakti was an end in itself, worthy of pursuit for its own sake, began to come into circulation. The Bhagavata-purana, as we have seen, proclaimed devotion to be the "highest religion" (paramo dharmah) and tended to devalue the quest for moksa. Such notions, combined with resentment against the excessive restrictions that orthodox Vedanta had placed on eligibility for final liberation, are likely to have produced considerable dissatisfaction with the rigid formula of the four ends of life and the notion that moksa alone was the ultimate spiritual goal. In any event, although the exact historical process that lead to it is difficult to trace, 39 we find the Gosvamins by the sixteenth century refusing to accept the finality of either the list of four purusarthas or the exaltation of moksa as the highest of them. The Vaisnavas' argument is based on their perception According to the of final release as a limited goal. doctrine of the three-fold deity, liberation for the jnanin results in the attainment of union (sayujya) with brahman. A limited experience of bliss in this condition is allowed, since the Vaisnava concept of union entails "difference and non-difference" rather than the Advaitins' absolute identity. Nevertheless, the jnanins' brahmatva is a state far lower than the yogins' realization of paramatman or the

130 devotees' attainment of bhagavat. In comparison with the supreme bliss of the vision of the savisesa ("quality-full") Lord attained in premabhakti, the bliss of union with nirvisesa ("qualityless") brahman is insignificant.40 "41 The Gosvamins, therefore, follow the Bhagavata-purana in its tendency to devalue the experience of moksa in favor of the joy of bhakti. Early in the Bhaktirasamrtasindhu (BRS, "Nectar-Ocean of Devotional Sentiment"), for example, Rupa declares that devotion "makes light of liberation. goes on to make his understanding of the superiority of bhakti quite plain. While moksa is "easily attained by knowledge,' he tells us, "devotion to Hari is difficult to acquire by thousands of spiritual exercises."42 He Again he declares: "Even if the bliss of brahman were to be multiplied a hundred thousand billion times, it would still not be equal to an infinitesimal droplet of the ocean of the bliss of bhakti."43 At 1.2.22 he begins a long section on this topic by describing the desire for moksa as a demon that will never disturb the devotee whose mind is absorbed in the service of the Lord's lotus-like feet. This is followed by close to 30 supporting citations from the Bhagavata-purana and other puranas. At the end, he declares that true devotees are so intent on bhakti that they exhibit no interest at all in acquiring any of the five forms of moksa commonly recognized by other Vaisnava schools.44

131 Such thinking obviously requires a reworking of the traditional formula of the four human ends. The Gosvamins, in fact, choose to expand it, declaring that bhakti is the "fifth goal of life" (pancamapurusartha). As the "ocean of the nectar of the bliss of divine love, " it is actually a higher attainment than moksa, being itself the paramapurusartha, the final and ultimate end of all human striving. 45 All of this, however, is not to say that moksa is never attained by devotees or that it has no spiritual value for them. Being the highest reality, bhagavat incorporates brahman as a part of his total nature. The realization of bhagavat thus includes the realization of brahman. Since bhakti is the sole means of realizing bhagavat, it must include jnana, the means of attaining brahman. Consequently, true bhakti implies jnana--and also moksa, its result. Liberation for the devotee is therefore at some point inevitable. It is release from bondage to mundane existence and the clear realization of the soul's true nature as an atom (anu) of consciousness dependent upon the Lord. As such, however, it does not by any means entail an end of devotional activity. On the contrary, it is a necessary preliminary to the emergence of the highest stages of bhakti. The liberated soul of the bhakta ascends to Krsna's transphenomenal paradise where it acquires a

132 spiritual body (siddhadeha) and, in this exalted condition, enjoys devotion eternally at levels impossible of attainment in the material world. Bhakti, previously restricted in its expression by mayasakti, the Lord's power of phenomenality, becomes free in moksa to manifest itself in its ecstatic fullness.46