Jiva Goswami: Bhagavat Sandarbha 49
The Lord was present in the past, is present now and will be present in the future. Båhad-äraëyaka Upaniñad 3.8.3
Upasaà-häryatvam means that it is proper to gather all forms during meditation. The Lord’s birth is different from material birth. It is an appearance of the Lord, which resembles a material birth. Sometime it is not similar to a material birth also. Ajäyamänä bahudhä vijäyate: unborn, he is born in many ways. (Puruña-sükta)
“Then the Lord, complete with all his expansions, who is situated in the core of everyone’s heart, responding to the request of his devotees, appeared from Devaké, non-different from the Lord, in the dense darkness of night, like the full moon rising on the eastern horizon.” SB 10.3.8
“To prove the words of his servant–that he is present in all objects–to be true, the Lord showed an astonishing form which was neither animal nor human to the assembly.” SB 7.8.17
“After a long time, the Supreme Lord, Madhusüdana, who is like fire in wood, controlled by the strength of bhakti of Kardama, made his appearance.” SB 3.24.6
By the power of Kardama’s bhakti the avatära Kapila appeared in this manner. The philosophers say lokavat tu lélä-kaivalyam: the Lord’s pastimes without motive, similar to actions in this world. (Brahma-sütra 2.1.33) In this world a madman out of intense bliss dances without a particular motive. Similarly, the Lord acts without motive.
“Without a goal, the Lord carries out creation out of bliss alone, like a mad man dancing. What is the question of a goal for the Lord who is complete bliss? Persons who are liberated have no desires to be fulfilled. What then to speak of desires in the Lord, the soul of all beings?” Näräyaëa-saàhitä
In this example, the mad man is ignorant. One should not imply this in the Lord. Rather the example is used to show that the Lord enacts pastimes without considering his goal, by simply out of great inherent bliss. Similarly, one could find fault with the example of inhaling and exhaling. This is natural, but in deep sleep the person is also unaware (whereas the Lord is always aware). Thus the Lord’s pastimes arise from the natural bliss of his svarüpa. Çruti says “The act of creation is the nature of the Lord; for one whose desires are fulfilled at all times, what desire does he have?” Mäëòukya Upaniñad
If the Lord’s actions in relation to creation of the universe are unmotivated, then what can one say about his actions in Vaikuëöha?
“O Lord Håñékeça, master of the senses, please let us offer our obeisances unto you, whose pastimes are beyond matter, whose pastimes are proclaimed everywhere, unto you who are ätmäräma but not ätmäräma.” SB 10.16.47
[NOTE: BBT Translation of SB 10.16.47 is “O Lord Håñékeça, master of the senses, please let us offer our obeisances unto You, whose pastimes are inconceivably glorious. Your existence can be inferred from the necessity for a creator and revealer of all cosmic manifestations. But although Your devotees can understand You in this way, to the nondevotees You remain silent, absorbed in self-satisfaction.”]The attraction of Çukadeva and others for the Lord’s pastimes (without material motive) is therefore commendable.
BB 2.2.210
The final fruit of devotional service is prema, in which, by its nature, one will never be satiated. Saintly authorities deem self-satisfaction the most unwanted secondary fruit of prema.
COMMENTARY
A devotee who relishes prema is never satisfied with himself but always wants to surrender more and more for the satisfaction of his Lord. Thus experts in the science of devotional ecstasies condemn self-satisfaction as the most harmful impediment to bhakti. Of all the secondary fruits available to advancing Vaiñëavas, self-satisfaction is the one they should most carefully avoid. There is room for only very few exceptions. For example, satisfaction in the self may be all right for some time for a person trying to take shelter of the Supreme Lord but unable to give up hankering for liberation. Or the offerings of self-satisfaction and other perfections that come with the attainment of Brahman may entice an ignorant nondevotee to begin devotional service. These perfections are in fact opulences of the Supreme Person, and so they can attract certain kinds of persons toward Him.
BB 2.2.211
There is no reason to be unhappy if someone attains self-satisfaction without devotion to the Supreme Lord. The leaders of the saintly Vaiñëavas consider such an occurrence very good.
COMMENTARY
What is wrong if something so useless and contemptible as ätmärämatä, satisfaction in the self, arises when devotional service has not been performed? Bhakti is a precious jewel, ätmärämatä but a piece of straw. Wise devotees, therefore, are not bothered if satisfaction in the self is achieved without devotional service. Compared to the magic touchstone of devotion for the Personality of Godhead’s lotus feet, impersonal satisfaction in the self is abominable, a cause of misery only, like life in hell. The great authorities in the science of devotional service are pleased to see this contrast between the rare treasure of bhakti and the worthless attainment of ätmärämatä because it highlights the superexcellence of pure devotion. And if someone foolishly strives for mukti but fails, that also is very good.
BB 2.2.212
Or, from another point of view: Purity of heart, which is the cause of satisfaction in the self, may come about from performing one’s prescribed duties—and this, after all, is a kind of devotional service. Thus, the result that comes from the external form of devotional service is paltry, and from the internal form sublime.
COMMENTARY
After all this discussion, some Vaiñëavas may still insist on the principle that nothing at all can be achieved without at least a touch of bhakti. To satisfy them, the bhakti-çästras here look at the topic from another angle, as indicated by the word vä (“or else”). The self-satisfaction aspired for by impersonalists arises from purified consciousness, which one may achieve by fulfilling one’s duties within the varëäçrama system. And since performing such duties is a type of devotional service mixed with karma, it is true that even for an impersonalist success depends on bhakti.
In case someone objects that the fruit of devotional service cannot be satisfaction in the self but only love of God and nothing else, the bhakti-çästras further say that following one’s Vedic obligations is only devotional service in an external form. As such, it results in mere self-satisfaction, whereas the essential form of devotional service—through hearing and chanting about the Lord, remembering Him, and so on—bears the most desirable fruit, that of prema.
BB 2.2.213
After achieving impersonal self-satisfaction, some begin worshiping the Lord’s lotus feet, and without hardship they quickly obtain the abundant happiness of being fixed in devotional service.
COMMENTARY
Of those who achieve satisfaction in the self, a rare few somehow particularly favored by the Supreme Lord give up their self-satisfaction to worship Him. They quickly reach the highest perfection. Ordinary people, entangled in various miseries of material life, cannot at once succeed in devotional practice. But self-satisfied impersonalists have already transcended the small-minded miserable existence of material life, so they can progress to joyful bhakti without delay. They quickly comprehend that what they knew before as the unnameable essence of liberated life—the reality of full eternity, knowledge, and bliss—is actually the all-attractive Personality of Godhead.
Some philosophers even hold that self-contented impersonalists are excellent candidates (uttama-adhikärés) for bhakti. Indeed, no one is disallowed from entering devotional service. As the saying goes, gaìgä-snäna iva bhagavad-bhaktau sarve ’py adhikäriëaù: “Just as for bathing in the Gaìgä, everyone is a fit candidate for the Supreme Lord’s devotional service.”
Nonetheless, in the opinion of Çréla Sanätana Gosvämé and his sampradäya, no material opulence, such as the ability to follow all the rules of varëäçrama, can qualify one for beginning the process of pure bhakti. In Çrémad-Bhägavatam (10.14.8) Lord Brahmä confirms that pure devotion is easily attained simply by depending on the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead (tat te ’nukampäà su-samékñamäëaù). There is no other means to attain it. By the Supreme Lord’s mercy, one who practices bhakti, depending only on Him will surely achieve complete happiness. Devotion in practice gives birth to devotion in perfection.
