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)鈥攐ne 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 271 of: Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
271 (of 553)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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there can be no commencement of the study of Ved膩nta, which
has the desire for liberation as one of its prereq-
uisites."121
We admit that this is true, because one already
attached to the bliss of devotion does not undertake such
study. 122
Nevertheless, Vedantic inquiry may be necessary
even for devotees for the sake of determining the essential
nature of the object of their worship. 123 But the
impossibility of detachment from the bliss of devotion is
certainly not a source of distress; in fact, it is
desirable. Even saints who are liberated-in-life124 enjoy
devotion to the Blessed Lord, as it is taught:
Sages who delight in the Self, who are free of the knots
[of ignorance], practice selfless devotion to the Wide-
strider, 125 such are the qualities of Hari! 126
1.7.10
Thus ends the commentary on the first stanza, which
serves as a summary of the meaning of the whole text.
The author now further 127 specifies the aim of the
work by mentioning its title:
2.
O WISE ONES, LET THIS INEXHAUSTIBLE ELIXIR OF
DEVOTION 128 BE DRUNK OF ABUNDANTLY BY YOU WHO HAVE LONG
BEEN AFFLICTED BY THE INTENSE ILLNESS OF WORLDLY
EXISTENCE, FOR IT IS EXTREMELY EFFICACIOUS IN THE
REMOVAL OF THAT.
The meaning of the stanza is clear.
