Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
(Study and translation of first chapter)
by Lance Edward Nelson | 2021 | 139,165 words
This is a study and English translation of the Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati (16th century)—one of the greatest and most vigorous exponents of Advaita after Shankara-Acharya who was also a great devotee of Krishna. The Bhaktirasayana attempts to merge non-dualist metaphysics with the ecstatic devotion of the Bhagavata Purana, by assertin...
Part 27 - The Nature of the Higher Non-Attachment
The non-attachment that has this type of knowledge as its prerequisite is expounded as follows: The revealed texts, perception, traditional wisdom, and inference are the four means of knowledge. Because it remains unestablished in the face of these, the wise man 285 becomes detached from this mental construct. Because they are the fruits of actions, the wise man sees all things--the invisible, up to and including the world of Brahma, like the visible--as perishable and devoid of value. 11.19.17-18 And elsewhere: One should realize that, for men marrying and undertaking the prescribed actions for the sake of the avoidance of sorrow and the acquisition of pleasure, there will be the reverse of the expected result. What joy can there be from wealth, from houses, children, friends, or cattle? Though difficult to attain, they are, when acquired through much work, transient, and constant sources of distress which lead to one's own death. In the same way, one should know that heaven, a product of action, is perishable. In it there is the prospect of destruction at the hands of equals or superiors, as among the rulers of petty principalities. 11.3.18-20