Essay name: Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
Author:
Lance Edward Nelson
Affiliation: McMaster University / Religious Studies
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 asserting that Bhakti is the highest goal of life and by arguinng that Bhakti embodies God within the devotee's mind.
Page 196 of: Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
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External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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each path demands of its aspirants. Madhusūdana states it
in the most radical form possible: "While all living beings
are qualified for devotion, only the renunciates of the
highest degree (paramahamsaparivrajakas) who are possessed
of the four-fold means are eligible for the knowledge of
Brahman."63
The full significance of Madhusudana's opening
the devotional path to "all beings" in the BR will become
apparent in the discussion of the relation of bhakti and
moksa below.
The last difference between devotion and knowledge
discussed in section XI has also been touched upon above.
The end or result of the bhakti is "an abundance of love for
This
the Blessed Lord," while that of knowledge is "the cessation
"64
of the Ignorance which is the root of all evil.
again emphasizes the fact that, for the the bhakta, the
highest goal of life is devotion itself, not moká¹£a.
For convenience, the final list of "parallel
differences" between bhakti and knowledge can be expressed,
in the order of qualification, means, nature, object, and
result, as follows: (1) all beings/the highest renunciates,
by (2) hearing the BP/hearing the "great sayings" (3) attain
a conditioned experience/an unconditioned experience (4)
having the Lord as its object/having Brahman as its object
and (5) divine love as its result/liberation as its result.
The homology is thoroughgoing.
It is obviously intended as
