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192
duality, and any suggestion that after realization there
might be devotion of any sort, not to speak of a further
heightening of the devotional experience, is out of the
question. Yet, though Madhus奴dana here again fails to spell
out explicitly the full implications of what he is saying,
confirmation of his unorthodox intent is not difficult to
find. We need only look at his outline of the eleven stages
of devotional experience (bhaktibhumik膩) given in stanzas
34-36 and his commentary thereon.
84 The description of the sixth stage in this hierarchy
is particularly important for the present discussion. It is
preceded by four stages of spiritual preparation, and a
fifth which consists in the manifestation in the mind of the
form of the Lord. This fifth stage is bhakti in a complete
but as yet not fully manifested form. Called "love" (rati),
it functions as the "permanent emotion" of the sentiment of
devotion.85
Stages six through eleven are described as the
"fruits," i.e., results, of this experience, all but stage
six being higher, more developed forms of devotion.
culminate in the "Supreme Limit of Ecstatic Love" (premna岣�
paramak膩峁ａ弓ha), the eleventh. Stage six, called the
"Realization of the Essential Nature" (svarup膩dhigati), is
somewhat peculiar.
These
It is not a devotional experience as
such. Rather it turns out to be nothing less than the
immediate intuition of the ultimate that is the goal of