Mādhurya Kādambinī – Sri Visvanatha Cakravartipada

Commentaries by Śrī Rādhākuṇḍa’s Mahānta Paṇḍita Śrī Ananta Dās Bābājī Mahārāja
Translation by Advaita das

Second Shower of Nectar

athātra mādhurya kādambinyāṁ dvaitādvaitavāda vivādayor nāvakāśaḥ labhante iti kaiścid apekṣaṇīyāś ced aiśvarya kādambinyāṁ dṛśyatāṁ nāma.

TRANSLATION: In this book Mādhurya Kādambinī there is no discussion on dvaitādvaita-vāda. If, however, someone wants to know about the explanation of simultaneous difference and nondifference, he can study the book Aiśvarya Kādambinī.

Pīyūṣa kaṇā explanation:

In the first shower of this Mādhurya Kādambinī Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda has established the supremacy of bhakti, and now in this second shower he is defining the different types of bhakti by saying first of all: “In this book Mādhurya Kādambinī there is no need to discuss dvaitādvaita-vāda. The name of this book is Mādhurya Kādambinī, which means the cloud bank showering the sweet nectar of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His devotion. While practicing bhakti one should have a clear understanding about the truth of dvaitādvaita-vāda, the simultaneous difference and nondifference of Brahman between the jīva and the material manifestation. The author, however, does not see any necessity of discussing it in this book since here his main idea is to describe the various steps of bhakti. However, if someone wishes to know about it, he may consult his book Aiśvarya Kādambinī.
From these words of the blessed author it is known that he has written a book named Aiśvarya Kādambinī in which the dvaitādvaita vāda is discussed, but unfortunately this book is now out of human sight. From Vaiṣṇava history we learn that Śrīpāda Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa has accepted a position of a student of Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda and has studied Śrīmad Bhāgavata under him. Śrī Baladeva also wrote a book named Aiśvarya Kādambinī, but it does not have any text related to dvaitādvaita-vāda. In the seven showers and 134 verses of this book Śrīpāda Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa gradually describes the Lord’s threefold manifestation (the spiritual world), the Lord’s single manifestation (the mundane world), the presiding deities of these realms, the dynasties of Śrī Vasudeva and Nanda, Śrī Nanda’s capital city, the Lord’s birth festival, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s childhood- and other pastimes, His gradual growth and how He finally returns from Dvārakā to Vraja. Hence there is no doubt about it that this is another book than the Aiśvarya Kādambinī by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda. (1)

idānīṁ karaṇa kedārikāsu prādurbhavantyās tasyā eva bhakter-jñāna karmādy amiśrītatvena śuddhāyāḥ kalpavallyā api nirastānya-phalābhisandhitayaiva dhṛta vratair-madhuvratair iva bhavya janair āśriyamāṇāyāḥ sva-viṣayaikānukūlya mūla prāṇāyāḥ sva-sparśeṇa sparśamaṇir iva karaṇa vṛttīr api prākṛtatva-lohatāṁ śanais-tyājayitvā cinmayatva śuddha jāmbunadatāṁ prāpayantyāḥ kandalībhāvānte samudgacchantyāḥ sādhanābhikhye dve patrike vivriyete. tayoḥ prathamā kleśaghnī dvitīyā śubdhadeti. dvayor api tayor antas tu lobha pravartakatva lakṣaṇa-caikkanyena ‘yeṣām ahaṁ priya ātmā sutaś ca.’ ityādi śuddha sambandha snigdhatayā ca prāptotkarṣe deśe rāga nāmno rājña evādhikāraḥ. bahis tu ‘tasmād bhārata sarvātmā’ ityādi śāstra pravartakatva lakṣaṇa-pāruṣyābhāsena priyādi śuddha sambandhābhāvāt svata evāti snigdhatānudayena pūrvataḥ kiñcid apakṛṣṭe deśe vaidha nāmno’ parasya rājñaḥ. kleśaghnatva-śubhadatvābhyāntu prāyaśuyorṇa ko’pi viśeṣaḥ.

TRANSLATION: Unalloyed devotion unmixed with jñāna, karma and others can be compared to a wish-fulfilling creeper appearing in the field of the senses. This bhakti is the shelter of fortunate devotees, who are like bees desiring to taste only nectar and who vowed to give up all desires except Bhagavān and bhakti. The very life of this creeper is the favourable loving service of the Lord. Like a touchstone, this creeper of bhakti eventually transforms the iron-like material nature of the senses into the most pure transcendental gold. Gradually the sādhana-bhakti creeper sprouts and unfolds two leaves. The first is called kleśaghni, destroyer of material sufferings, and the second is called śubhadā, giver of all auspiciousness. The inner surface of the two leaves is the domain of the king called rāga (spontaneous devotion), and is very smooth, the sign of its being born out of spontaneous greed. It is superior due to its appearance from the pure affectionate relation with the Lord as described in the Bhāgavata (3.25.38), “I am their dear one, very life, son,…” The outer surface of the leaves is ruled by another king known as vaidha (regulative devotion) and slightly rough in nature, the sign of its being born from the injunctions of the scriptures. It is somewhat inferior and slightly rough due to the lack of pure affectionate relation with the Lord. Śrīmad-Bhāgavata (2.1.5) says, “Therefore, persons desiring fearlessness should worship the Lord, the Supersoul.” However, both rāga and vaidhī, almost equally manifest the symptoms of kleśaghni and śubhadā.

Pīyūṣa kaṇā explanation:

In the first shower of this book the author has established the independent and self-manifest nature of bhakti through logical arguments and scriptural evidence, and now, in the beginning of the second shower of nectar, he describes the appearance of the bhakti-desire-creeper in the devotee’s heart, its qualities, and nature. Later he will describe the gradual progress of sādhana-bhakti. Devotion free from all desires other than Kṛṣṇa and unmixed with karma, jñāna, and so on is known as pure devotion. Pure devotion is compared here with a wish-fulfilling creeper so that everyone can easily understand its qualities, performance, and gradual progression. As a wish-fulfilling creeper appears only in fertile land, similarly the wish-fulfilling bhakti creeper appears in the field of the senses of a devotee who has no other desires. One may say that a creeper cannot appear at all without seed, is there any seed from which bhakti creeper appears? Mahāprabhu said while instructing Rūpa Gosvāmī:

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva; guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-lata-bīja
māli hoiyā kare sei bīja āropaṇa; śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale koroye secana

“When a living entity while wandering throughout the universe in different species, attains good fortune by the causeless mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa, then only he can get the seed of the wish-fulfilling bhakti creeper. He becomes a gardener who plants the seed and waters it by hearing and chanting of Kṛṣṇa.” (Cai.-caritāmṛta, Madhya 19.151-51) Although Śrīman Mahāprabhu mentions the seed of the vine of devotion here, He did not specify it. In the Laghu-toṣaṇī commentary of the Bhāgavata-verse bhavāpavargau bhramato yadā (10.51.35), Śrīmad Jīva Gosvāmī describes: sat saṅgamena ratyaṅkura rūpaiva matir jāyata iti, by the association of sādhus the desire to do kṛṣṇa bhajana appears. This is called mati and is the seed of the bhakti creeper.
Watering that seed with śravaṇa and kīrtana makes the bhakti creeper sprout in the field of the devotee’s senses. Favourable service to the Lord is the root of that creeper. The very life-force of bhakti is to give pleasure to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmī explains the characteristics of love of God in his Prīti-sandarbha: tathā viṣayānukūlyātmakas tadānukūlyānugata tat spṛhā tad anubhava hetukollāsamaya jñāna viśeṣaḥ priyatā, that serving Kṛṣṇa in a favourable mood is the main characteristic and very life of bhagavat-prīti, or bhakti. The desire to give pleasure to the Lord in a favourable way appears from bhakti; concomitantly one develops a desire to attain Him. Gradually by realizing the Lord through favourable service, one attains supremely blissful knowledge. This means there are three functions of pure devotion giving prema as its fruit. The first, the very life of bhakti, is to give pleasure favorably to the Lord, who is the subject of bhakti. In other words a devotee desires nothing except loving service to the Lord. One may ask then: “Do devotees desire to attain Kṛṣṇa?” In reply to this the second function is described. The desire to attain Kṛṣṇa appears in the heart of a devotee only to give pleasure to the Lord, not for the pleasure of the devotee. One may again say if the devotee does not desire bliss, then he will not attain it. Thus bhakti cannot be called a puruṣārtha, the ultimate goal of human life, which is bliss. In reply to this the third function is described. Though a devotee does not desire bliss, he attains a spontaneous incomparable bliss by realizing the sweetness of ever-blissful Kṛṣṇa by serving His lotus feet. This is known as bhagavat-prīti, or prema-bhakti. As bees always take shelter of a creeper to relish nectar, so too the devotees, having no desire except kṛṣṇa-sevā, constantly take the shelter of the bhakti creeper to relish the nectar of prema.
One may ask if bhakti, being a specific state of svarūpa-śakti, is self-manifesting by nature and completely beyond material existence, then how does it manifest in the material senses of a devotee? The answer is that as a touchstone converts dirty iron into gold by its mere touch, so too bhakti by its spiritual touch converts the material senses into transcendental ones. The wonderful process of bhakti converting the material senses into transcendental ones begins immediately after taking shelter of a bona fide guru. As a devotee engages himself in hearing, chanting and other items of bhajana, bhakti, which is transcendental and self-manifest, like the Lord Himself, appears in the material senses and gradually spiritualises them, just as an iron bar put into fire attains the quality of fire. At the stage of bhāva, the internal senses, mind, intelligence, and heart become transcendental. At the stage of prema, even the material body is completely converted into a spiritual one. Sanātana Gosvāmī describes this in Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta.

kṛṣṇa-bhakti sudhā pānād-deha daihika vismṛteḥ
teṣāṁ bhautika dehe’pi sac-cid-ānanda rūpatā

“By drinking the nectar of devotion of Kṛṣṇa, the material body of the devotee is converted into a transcendental one. He completely forgets his body and its affairs.” Śrīman Mahāprabhu says in Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Antya 4/191-93):

prabhu kahe—vaiṣṇava-deha prākṛta kabhu noy; aprākṛta deha bhaktera cidānandamoy
dikṣā-kāle bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa; sei-kale kṛṣṇa tare kore ātma-sama
sei deha kare tāra cid-ānanda-maya; aprākṛta-dehe tañra caraṇa bhajaya

“The body of a devotee is never material, but spiritual, full of divine bliss. At the time of initiation, a devotee fully surrenders unto the lotus feet of the Lord, who makes him equal to Himself. When the devotee’s body is thus converted into spiritual form, he serves the lotus feet of the Lord in that body.”
Now the author is explaining the appearance of the bhakti creeper with the first two leaves that sprout. The seed of the wish-yielding vine of devotion that consists of the desire to worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa is attained by the grace of Śrī Guru and Kṛṣṇa and is planted in the field-like heart of the aspirant. Then it is sprinkled with the water of hearing and chanting, so that it swiftly sprouts and yields two leaves of sādhana. The first leaf is called kleśaghni [destroying misery] and the second one is called śubhadā [bestowing auspiciousness]. As the upper surface of a leaf is quite smooth and its lower surface is slightly rough, similarly sādhana-bhakti is of two types. rāga-bhakti, which is very smooth and beautiful since it appears from spontaneous greed and vaidhī-bhakti, Here it should be known that the names of the two attributes of sādhana bhakti are kleśaghnī and śubhadā. Here the blessed author gives an example to make it more easily understandable that there is no difference between the guṇa (quality) and the guṇī (the qualified), and thus both rāgānugā bhakti and vaidhi bhakti have kleśaghnī and śubhadā as their inherent qualities.

Vidhi bhakti, which has scriptural injunctions as its root cause, is slightly rough. Its inner core is bereft of softness as it appears from the injunctions of the śāstras. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda has written in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.6):
yatra rāgānvāptavāt pravṛttir upajāyate; śāsanenaiva śāstrasya sā vaidhi-bhaktir ucyate “Devotion is prompted either by spontaneous greed or the injunctions of the śāstras. When it is prompted by the injunctions of the śāstras, it is known as vaidhī-bhakti.”
Jīva Gosvāmī writes in the commentary of this śloka: rāgo’trānurāgas tad ruciśca- “rāga here means taste for doing bhajana with attachment. When bhakti is not prompted by rāga, then it is known as vaidhī-bhakti.”
Śrīla Viśvanātha has written in his commentary: rāgo’tra śrī mūrter darśanād daśama skandhīya tal līlā kathā śravaṇācca bhajana lobhaḥ, that rāga means the greed for doing bhajana that appears either by seeing the Deities of the Lord or by hearing the sweet nectarean pastimes of the Lord described in the tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavata. Śuka Muni describes about vaidhī-bhakti in the Bhāgavata (2.1.5): tasmād bhārata sarvātmā bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ; śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca smartavyaś cecchatābhayam “O descendent of King Bharata! The living entities desiring to be freed from all kinds of hellish sufferings and bodily consciousness, who desire paramount bliss, must hear the glories of the Lord and remember Him, the Supersoul, the controller, and the destroyer of all miseries.” Freedom from miseries and attainment of bliss are thus the urges to practise hearing and chanting in vaidhī-bhakti. It is slightly rough since it does not have the internal affection for the Lord; hence, it is compared with the lower surface of the two newly sprouted leaves of the bhakti creeper. They are bereft of inner softness because bhakti means that one desires to serve the Lord affectionately, knowing Him to be dear. Instead, one serves Him only because one only wants to destroy one’s own suffering and to accomplish one’s own happiness. This is what makes it inferior.
The inner side of the leaves of the vine of devotion is soft, smooth, and good-looking, hence it is compared to rāga bhakti. This is also known as rāgānugā bhakti. Kṛṣṇa’s eternal associates of Vraja are practising rāgātmikā-bhakti and bhakti following their mood is known as rāgānugā-bhakti.

iṣṭe svārasikī rāgah paramāviṣṭatā bhavet tanmayī yā bhaved bhaktiḥ sātra ragātmikoditā
virājantīm abhivyaktāṁ vrajavāsi-janādiṣu; rāgātmikām anusṛtā yā sā rāgānugocyate

“Rāga means spontaneous, natural and intense absorption in the Lord. Bhakti enriched with this kind of rāga is known as rāgātmikā-bhakti. This is manifested and expressed by the eternal associates of Vraja; bhakti following their footsteps is known as rāgānugā-bhakti.” (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.272-73)

Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.149) says:

rāgātmikā-bhakti mukhyā vrajavāsi jane; tāra anugatā bhakti rāgānugā nāme –
“The leading practitioners of rāgātmikā bhakti are the residents of Vraja.
Those who follow them are called rāgānugās.”

As one feels a spontaneous attraction of the senses for the sense objects, like the eyes for a beautiful object, and needs no encouragement in this, so too, the spontaneous overflowing thirst of love for the Lord is known as rāga. It is of various kinds, dāsya (servitude), sakhya (friendship), vātsalya (parenthood), and mādhurya (amorous love).

Śrī Kapiladeva tells His mother Devahūti in ṭhe Bhāgavata (3.25.38) yeṣāṁ ahaṁ priya ātmā sutaś ca sakhā guruḥ suhṛdo daivam iṣṭam “I am their dear one, very life, son, friend, guru, well-wisher and worshipable Lord.”In this verse the word priya stands for dear ones like sons and friends. In Vraja, Rādhā and other beloved gopīs are attached to Kṛṣṇa with amorous love, Nanda and Yaśodā with parental love, Śrīdāma and others with friendship, Patraka and others with servitude. They are bound to Kṛṣṇa in Vraja with a loving relationship. The greed to attain the mood of these rāgātmikā devotees appearing in the heart by hearing the excellence of their mood is the root cause of rāga-bhakti. This means that when the devotee whose heart is pure and uncontaminated from lust, anger, envy and all material desires hears from sādhus or śāstras about the excellence of the mood of the eternal Vraja associates, he develops a taste to attain that mood. When one follows this relish with passion rāgānugā bhakti takes place concomitantly.

In this special age of Kali, Mahāprabhu and the ācāryas who have taken shelter of Him have mercifully given the superexcellent process of mañjarī-bhāva, following the mood of the eternally perfect maidservants of Rādhā like Rūpa-mañjarī, Rati-mañjarī, and others.
Although there is a great difference between the taste one relishes in rāga-bhakti, which is rooted in sacred greed, and vaidhī-bhakti, which is rooted in scriptural injunctions, still the manifestation of the two symptoms kleśaghni and śubhadā are not really different.

to be cont´d