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 274 of: Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
274 (of 553)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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262
There can be no destruction of the hardness of lac
without conjunction with heating agents like fire. Rather,
when there is contact with such things as sunlight, there
will be mere softening and not a complete melting. This
fact is well known. In the same way, without conjunction
with heating agents such as the objects of desire, anger,
and so on--which will be explained immediately below--there
cannot be any melting of the mind. The result of contact
with just any object will be mere softening. This is why
the word "heating agent" is used.
The author now enumerates these heating agents:
5. THE HEATING AGENTS FOR THE LAC OF THE MIND ARE
DESIRE, ANGER, FEAR, AFFECTION, JOY, GRIEF, COMPASSION,
AND SO ON. WHEN THESE SUBSIDE, THE MIND BECOMES HARD.
He will give the definitions of each of these and explain
their differences.136 The basic idea here is that whatever
object stimulates a high degree of desire, anger, or other
emotion will cause the mind to melt. When the emotion
ceases due to the transference of attention to another
object, the mind will again become hard.
The author now states the purpose of the melting of
the mind:
A
6. THE FORM WHICH ANY OBJECT IMPRINTS IN A MELTED MIND
MAY BE DESIGNATED BY TERMS [MEANING "PERMANENT
IMPRESSION"] SUCH AS SAMSKARA, VASANA, BHAVA, OR
BHAVANA.
137 But it cannot be identified with the "soul-property"
postulated by the logicians of the Ny膩ya as something
