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 303 of: Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
303 (of 553)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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Because of the unreality of all things other than the
Self, the differences based on them, one's goals and
one's motives, are all false like the visions of a
dream.
He who, in the waking state, experiences the
everchanging external objects through all the senses;
Who, in dreams, enjoys objects resembling the external
ones in the mind; Who, in deep sleep, puts an end to
them all--He, the Lord of the senses, the Witness of
this threefold modification of the material qualities,
is one, because He has continuity of memory
throughout.247
So, having thoroughly pondered these three states of the
mind arising from the material qualities and determined
that they are superimposed on Me by My MÄyÄ, and having
cut out the whole store of doubts contained in the heart
by the sword of knowledge sharpened by inference and
scriptural testimony, you should worship Me.
11.13.27-33
Thus by inquiry removing the error of multiplicity, he
should come to rest in the Self, fixing his purified
mind on Me, the omnipresent.
11.11.21
The main point here is that the objects which
imprint their forms in the mind are not distinct from the
Lord because they are superimposed on Him. For all objects
appear as existent--as, for example, "an existing pot" or
"an existing cloth"--because they participate in the
existence of the Lord Himself. Furthermore, the Upanisadic
text, "All this, verily, is Brahman, in origin, duration,
and dissolution" [CU 3.14.1], teaches that all things arise
from the Blessed Lord alone, exist in the Blessed alone, and
dissolve into the Blessed Lord alone. They are non-
different from the Lord, like pots from clay, and will be
