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.
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382 (of 553)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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NOTES: INTRODUCTION 370 this that the emotions, placed below the 'mind' and the
'ego' and in fact directly involved via the sense
impressions in matter . . . were automatically suspect.
Any spiritual excercise must start by suppressing them"
(Friedhelm Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti [Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1983], p. 16).
9 SBR 1.1.1; Thibaut, p. 39.
10 Madhva's Tattvoddyota, quoted by C. Sharma, A
Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy (Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1964), p. 372.
llyac ch奴nyav膩dina岣� 艣奴nyam tad eva brahma m膩yina岣�,
Madhva's Anubh膩峁a on BS 2.2.29, quoted by M. Hirayana,
Outlines of Indian Philosophy (Bombay: George Allen & Unwin,
1973), p. 339.
12 Tattvasandarbha 23: "Sankara, however, commonly
accepted to be an avatara of Siva, realized the significance
of the Bh膩gavata [Pur膩峁嘺], characterized by utterances
concerning the joys of bhakti which surpass even the joy of
liberation, to be superior to his own doctrines, and was
afraid to upset the views found in this divinely composed
composition on Ved膩nta. As will be explained later, he
propagated the doctrines of Advaita at the command of
bhagavat in order that the latter's true nature might remain
hidden. Still, Samkara desired his own words to be
fruitful, and so touched on the Bh膩gavata indirectly, by
describing in such works as his Govinda峁ａ弓aka, etc. certain
events found only in the Bh膩gavata, such as Yasod膩's
amazement at the vision of the universal form [of K峁涐梗峁嘺],
K峁涐梗峁嘺's theft of the Gopis' clothes, etc." (trans. by
Eikman, pp. 189).
13 See, e.g., SBR 1.1.1, passim (Thibaut, pp. 39-
156); Tattvasandarbha 35-44 (Elkman, pp. 237-256).
14"It [Advaita] has been, and continues to be, the
most widely accepted system of thought among philosophers in
India, and it is, we believe, one of the greatest
philosophical achievements to be found in the East or the
West" (E. Deutsch, Advaita Ved膩nta: A Philosophical
Reconstruction [Honolulu: East-West Center Press, 1969], p.
3). The recent interest among (especially Christian)
scholars in R膩m膩nuja may be seen in such works as R. c.
Zaehner's The Bhagavad-G墨t膩 (London: Oxford University
Press, 1969) and John B. Carman's The Theology of R膩m膩nuja:
An Essay in Interreligious Understanding (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1974). See also Betty, Refutation of
