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 438 of: Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
438 (of 553)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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NOTES: CHAPTER FOUR 426 goals of life. See V. G. Pradhan, trans., J帽膩nesvar墨
(London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1967), I, 229 and II,
289; B. P. Bahirat, The Philosophy of J帽膩nadeva (3rd ed.;
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1984), p. 95. This thinker also
seems to have been the first to identify bhakti with the
supreme power or sakt寞 of the the Godhead, though he does it
from a non-dualistic Saiva perspective (owing much to
Kashmir Saivism), to which the Gosv膩mins could scarcely
acknowledge any debt (Bahirat, pp. xii-xiii, 93-96).
40 De, VFM, pp. 291; Chakravarti, p. 235-238.
41mok峁laghut膩k峁泃, BRS 1.1.17; Tridandi Swami Bhakti
Hrdaya Bon Maharaj, trans., Bhakti-ras膩m峁泃a-sindhu岣�
(Vrindaban: Institute of Oriental Philosophy, 1965), I, 31.
42j帽膩nata岣� sulabh膩 muktir
鈥�
鈥�
鈥�
seyam sadhana-
sahasrair bhakti岣� sudurlabha, BRS 1.1.36; Bon I, 36.
43brahm膩nando bhaved e峁 cet par膩rdhagu峁噄虈k峁泃a岣� /
naiti bhaktisukhambhodhe岣� parma峁噓tulam api, BRS 1.1.38; Bon
I. 49.
44 BRS 1.2.22-57; Bon I, 81-105. Verse 22, which is
quoted at CC madhya 19.176, reads: bhuktimuktisp峁沨膩 y膩vat
pi艣膩c墨 h峁沝i vartate / t膩vat bhaktisukhasyatra katham
abhyudayo bhavet. Verse 57: kin tu premaikam膩dhuryaju峁
ekantino harau 7 naiv膩峁単墨kurvate j膩tu muktim pa帽cavidham
api. Cp. BP 3.29.13, quoted by Rupa at BRS 1.2.28 (Bon I,
86) and Madhus奴dana in his commentary on the first chapter
of the BR (see BR 1, sec. XXIV).
--
45 k峁涐梗峁嘺vi峁yaka prem膩--parama purus峁Ｄ乺tha / y膩ra 膩ge
t峁涐箛a-tulya cari puru峁rtha / pa帽cama puru峁Ｄ乺tha-
prem膩nand膩m峁泃asindhu / mok峁di ananda yara nahe eka bindu,
CC 1.7.84-85; BVS, pt. 1, II, p. 68-69.
46 CC madhya 8.221-230; De, VFM, pp. 203-204, 222,
229, 238, 270, 289鈥�290, 295; Chakravarti, pp. 175, 243;
Kinsley, Divine Player, p. 159.
CC
47 any膩bhil膩峁t膩艣奴nyam j帽膩nakarm膩dyan膩v峁泃am /
膩nukulyena k峁涐梗峁嘺nustlanam bhaktir uttama, BRS 1.1.11 (= cc
madhya 19.167); Bon I, 19. See BRS 1.1.12 (= CC madhya
19.170) and also CC madhya 19.168-169a.
48 Ramanuja (VAS 128, 129, 252) speaks of bhakti as a
"particular kind of knowledge" (j帽膩navi艣e峁). "Only
knowledge which has attained the nature of supreme
devotion, he declares, "is in reality a means of attaining
the Lord" (parabhaktir奴p膩pannameva vedanam tattvato
It
