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 252 of: Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
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to be performed until that end is attained. According to
the declaration of the Blessed Lord:
As long as one has not gained indifference to the world
or fondness for the hearing of my story and the other
[spiritual disciplines], one should continue to perform
action.
11.20.9
That the yoga of action is the means to the purification of
the mind is established in revealed texts 28 such as, "By
sacrifice one rids himself of sin; therefore, they call
sacrifice the supreme," and, "By the ladle-oblation or any
other sacrifice one's mind is purified.
Two alternative possibilities are accepted as
marking the termination (of this process of purifying the
mind through the yoga of action]. Disgust with worldly
things leads to knowledge of Reality for those whose minds
are unmelted.29 For those whose minds are melted, however,
there is devotion, preceded by faith in the spiritual
disciplines of the Lord's devotees, 30 such as the hearing of
narratives about Him. 31
IV. The Approach to Devotion through the
Yoga of Knowledge
Then, when purity of mind has been attained, one
should practice the eight-fold yoga.
32 By this yoga, the
mind is made capable of a one-pointedness that is defined as
a continuous series, uninterrupted like a flow of oil, of
