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 88 of: Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati
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External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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(sadhanacatus峁瓂a) that an individual must have to qualify
for the study of Vedanta. The strict requirements include:
(1) the capacity to discriminate between the eternal and the
non-eternal; (2) indifference to the rewards of action in
this world or the next; (3) the "six-fold endowment," which
includes equanimity, self-control, withdrawal from sensual
pursuits, concentration, patience, and faith; and (4) the
intense desire for liberation.60 An even more detailed
outline of prerequisites for the study of Advaita is
presented at Upade艣asahasr鈥� 2.1.2. There Sankara indicates
that his teaching is truly intended only for the mendicant
(parivrajaka) who is a paramahamsa ("supreme swan"), a title
reserved, at least in the later tradition, for the highest
and most respected order of samnyasins.61 Those possessed
of such qualifications, the highest aspirants (uttam膩dhi-
karins), are utterly detached from the world and so able to
contemplate their identity with the impersonal Brahman.
Single-minded in their quest, they seek to remain aloof from
everything in the realm of process and becoming, including
both religious works and religious emotionalism. Only such
individuals are qualified for the path of knowledge, which
forms the direct means to immortality.
Other individuals, not possessed of such virtues,
are eligible only for the paths of selfless action and
devotion. According to 艢amkara, Arjuna was a seeker of this
