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 503 of: Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
503 (of 553)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
NOTES: CHAPTER SEVEN 491 204ahamkÄra.
-
205 Upadesasahasri 14.3.
206This
206 This explanatory phrase may be the interpolation
of some overzealous copyist or perhaps the mistaken
incorporation into the text of what was originally a
reader's marginal note. In the verse the copper, already
melted, is poured into the mūṣ�, the form of which it
assumes. The mÅ«sÄ must therefore be the mold itself, not
the crucible (putapÄkayantra) in which the copper is melted.
207 See sec. XIII.
208 UpadeÅ›asÄhasri 14.4.
209 The bhagavatpÅ«jyapÄda, i.e., Åšaṇkara.
210 Sureśvara (seventh century), disciple of Samkara
and author of the VÄrtikas or versified glosses on his
teacher's commentaries on the Bá¹›hadÄraṇyaka and Taitiriya
Upanisads.
211 Bá¹›hadÄraṇyakopaniá¹£advÄrtika 1.2.103. In the
process of knowing, the one universal Consciousness appears
in the three forms described in this stanza. The first is
the knower (mÄtá¹�), which is Consciousness limited by the
mind (antaḥkaraṇÄvacchinnacaitantya). The second is the
object of knowledge (meya), which is Consciousness limited
by the object (visayÄvacchinnacaitanya). Consciousness
limited by the modification (vrtti) of the mind
(antahkaraṇavṛttyavacchinnacaitantya) is the third, called
the means of knowledge mÄna). The function of the mental
modification is to create a connection between the subject-
Consciousness and the object-Consciousness and to
temporarily suppress the veil of Ignorance which obscures
the latter. (See stanza 12 and its commentary, with notes.)
The vá¹›tti accomplishes this by the process, clearly
described in the text, of flowing out and assuming the form
of the object. For further details see SB (ed. Divanji),
pp. 32-36, 235-238; Sinha, pp. 128-139.
212 mÄna
213±¹á¹›t³Ù¾±ÂáñÄå²Ô²¹.
214,
cidacidgranthirūpa, "a composite of consciousness
and unconsciousness." The mind is a product of the five
elements (bhautika) and, hence, unconscious (jaá¸a). Its
consciousness is derived from caitanya, which is refected in
it.
