Sadhana-bhakti is of two types –

• vaidhi
• raganuga

Vaidhi -bhakti is when we perform bhakti because of scriptural injunctions, while raganuga-bhakti has only one qualification – greed.

When we are greedy for Sri Krishna-prema and this is the sole reason why we practice bhakti, then we call it raganuga bhakti.

When we practice bhakti following in the footsteps of ragatmika devotees, we can say we are performing raganuga-bhakti. Hence if we want to know about raganuga-bhakti, first of all we have to learn what ragatmika-bhakti is.

Srila Rupa Goswamipad has define ragatmika bhakti as follows –

“ishte swarasaiki ragah param-avishtata bhavet,
tanmayee ya bhaved-bhaktih satra ragatmikodita.”

“When we have natural loving and extremely strong thirst for Sri Krishna and it makes us supremely absorbed in Him – it is called ‘raga’; that raga-bhakti is ‘ragatmika-bhakti.’”
– (B.R.S.)

“Very loving and strong thirst for Sri Krishna is the primary (main) characteristic of raga-bhakti while absorption in Him is its secondary characteristic.”
– (C.C.Madhya.22.86)

‘Very strong thirst’ indicates, that we feel an intense desire to please Sri Krishna with our seva – this is the main characteristic. This immense greed makes us supremely absorbed in Sri Krishna – this is the secondary characteristic of raga-bhakti.

When we are completely absorbed in something, we lose touch with the external world, since we only think about how to make the ever-sportive Sri Krishna happy? How to serve Him according to our bhava?
In this state we are only concerned with His seva – nothing else enters the heart of a devotee. ‘Swarasaiki’ means the devotee has an intense greed to serve Sri Krishna and make Him happy by serving Him according to the rasa that he possesses.

For example – if the devotee is in parental rasa, he treats Sri Krishna like a child and has an immense longing to make Him taste that rasa. The devotee’s desire to make Sri Krishna happy is so enormous that he is absolutely immersed in Him.

This is ragatmika-bhakti and it is present completely in the eternal associates of the Lord in Vraja-dham – in fact it is present only in Vraja-dham and never outside Vraja.

“The bhakti that is present openly in the Vrajavasis is called ‘ragatmika-bhakti’; when someone practices devotion following in the footsteps of ragatmika-bhakti, then we call it raganuga-bhakti.”
– (B.R.S.)

“Ragatmika-bhakti is present chiefly in the Vrajavasis, and raganuga-bhakti is that which follows in the footsteps of ragatmika-bhakti.”
– (C.C.Madhya.22.85)

Srimat Jiva Goswamipad has stated the characteristics of raga-bhakti as follows –

“There are devotees who feel slight interest in rag-bhakti; however they have still not actually felt rag-bhakti. Raga-bhakti is like a radiant moon; when a little trace of the moonlight of the moon-like raga-bhakti falls in these devotees, their heart dazzles like crystal. Then they hear from the scriptures about the wonderful seva that ragatmika devotees perform, and then they are interested to achieve the same. Here we should note the point that the devotee’s heart should be clean – it should not be polluted with lust, anger, jealousy and the like. If such a devotee hears from the sadhus and the scriptures about the perfect seva rendered by the ragatmika devotees, he becomes interested.” 

Now with this interest, if he follows the footsteps of the ragatmika devotees, we can say he is performing raganuga-bhakti.

In this context ‘hear from the sadhus and scriptures’ means the devotee should hear about the loving seva performed by the Vrajavasis and how Sri Krishna relishes the rasa of their seva. When the devotee hears and glorifies these pastimes his enthusiasm knows no bounds; just as when a moon ray disperses through a prism it looks all the more beautiful, similarly the hearing and glorifying enters the clear heart of a devotee and he becomes more joyous. Thus the devotee is enthused with interest in prema-seva. This induces him to the path of raganuga-bhakti. Here ‘interest’ means the devotee realizes that the bhakti-shastras, which reveal the bhava of the eternal Vrajavasi associates of Sri Krishna are the best for hearing and he wants to follow those instructions only. This happens when the devotee has past samskaras in this field.

From the very beginning, the devotee is greedy for Sri Krishna-seva (please note: only that kind of seva which the Vrajavasis do) and does not practice bhakti simply because the scriptures order us to do so.

“Ragatmika-bhakti is full of pure loving service. Some rare fortunate person is tempted by hearing about it and then he follows in the footsteps of the eternal Vrajavasi associates. A raganuga devotee does not practice bhakti just because of scriptural injunctions.”
– (C.C.Madhya. 22.87-88)

It is true that when we feel tempted, we do not care for scriptural injunctions; however if we want to gain His seva, it becomes necessary to follow the processes prescribed by the bhakti-shastras.

Srila Vishwanath Chakravartipad has ordained – “When we hear about the sweet bhava of the Vrajavasis we feel tempted; we do not care whether the scriptures tell us to practice bhakti or do not tell us. If we want to practice bhakti simply because the scriptures order us to do so we cannot say we were greedy for seva.”
– (Raga-vartma Chandrika)

However, if we want to achieve the topmost goal that is Vraja-prema, then we must necessarily practice bhajan according to the rules prescribed in the raganuga scriptures.
This is because – “If someone performs exclusive Hari-bhakti by rejecting the shrutis, smritis, puranas and the Pancharatra – we find that he only creates trouble.”
(Brahma-Yamal-Tantra)

Earlier we have mentioned something about ‘interest’.

Now the fact is, that majority of the devotees do not have this interest in the preliminary stage. Yet, when they perform bhajan according to the rules of bhakti and they continue to hear about the raga-bhakti of the Vrajavasis, they develop interest. Then they become raganuga devotees.

When we hear from the devotees who are always immersed in pure love then we quickly gain interest. We also strive to follow these devotees in the same mood as they possess. This means that if we feel greedy after hearing about the loving seva of the eternal associates who are in madhura-bhava, we too start practicing in madhura-bhava.

Raganuga-bhajan is the spiritual practice by which we can attain that same stage of love as those devotees whom we are following (the eternal Vrajavasis in the madhura-bhava).
We have to follow scriptural rules in this process, since the raganuga scriptures aim to tell the raganuga devotees about the behavior of the eternal associates, and thus they infuse vigorous interest in us.

“siddhasya lakshanam yat syat sadhanam sadhakasya tat.”

Meaning – “We have to practice to get all those qualities that they already possess.”

When we really gain interest, then the scriptures will follow us. It means that in the early stage of interest we should perform bhajan according to the rules and regulations prescribed in the scriptures, and after we gain complete interest, the rules follow us – this is the difference between early stage and mature stage.

Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.1.7) says – “e-aivavihiteti keshanchit sangya, ruchimatra pravrittya vidhi-prayuktenapravrittatvat. na cha vaktavyam vidhyanadheenasya na sambhavati bhaktiriti.”

Srimat Jiva Goswamipad has explained this verse as follows –

“Raganuga-bhakti starts from the time we develop the slightest hint of interest. No one steps into raganuga-bhakti because the scriptures order so. Therefore some people call it ‘avihita’ (not according to the rules).

However, the ones who step in the path of bhakti not caring for the scriptural injunctions – we cannot say that they are not practicing bhakti, because we see in Srimad-Bhagavatam the following statement – ‘O king, very often sages, who are beyond the rules prescribed in the scriptures, are immersed in relishing Sri Hari-katha.’

For this reason the vidhi-marga is weak, since the devotees in this case practice bhakti because the scriptures order them to do so, while the devotees practicing raganuga-bhakti do so not caring for the scriptural order – hence it is much stronger – we should know this fact.”
– (B.S.310)

As soon as a devotee starts with raganuga-bhakti, it makes him disinterested in anything other than bhakti. This is synonymous with greed.

Srimad-Bhagavatam states that when we bend towards Sri Hari-katha, then it increases our interest gradually to such an extent that all topics other than Sri Krishna lose importance for us.

If we see some devotee who has developed interest in raganuga-bhakti, yet his conduct is contrary to the bhakti-shastras, then we should understand that he has not developed true interest or he is trying to gain something material and is only pretending to be interested.

__________

 

“The perfection of allegiance to the Vraja-people cannot be achieved by giving up external practices like hearing and chanting. As much as the external practices like hearing and chanting nourish the internal practice of smaraṇa, that much the internal practice also awakens taste for external practices. Since they nourish each other equally, efforts to fix one’s mind on līlā smaraṇa without taking shelter of external practices will not become fruitful. And again, efforts to perform only external practices without practicing līlā smaraṇa cannot be called rāgānugā mārga’s bhajana. Hence both are required.
…
Without practicing limbs of bhajana such as hearing and chanting within the external sādhaka body, the sādhaka cannot attain perfection in either destroying māyā, becoming free from vices in his own bhajana or in his allegiance to the people of Vraja. With hearing and chanting is meant following as much as possible the 64 items of bhajana, starting with taking shelter of a guru, that Śrīmat Rūpa Gosvāmī has mentioned in his Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu grantha
…
On the path of raganuga-bhakti, meditating on the divine pastimes is the main sadhana, however in the primary stage we are not qualified for lila-smaran (meditation on the pastimes). Therefore, we should concentrate more on hearing, chanting and following the other rules of bhakti. Then as our consciousness gets more and more purified, we are drawn towards lila-smaran. Slowly our smaran becomes more intense. Ultimately when we reach the zenith of bhajan, lila-smaran naturally becomes the major part of bhajan.”

 

__________

 

Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas take shelter of the mode of worship called rāgānugā bhakti (devotion in the wake of divine passions). Devotion in the wake of Vraja’s rāgātmikā devotion is called rāgānugā bhakti –

virājantīm abhivyaktaṁ vrajavāsī janādiṣu
rāgātmikām anusṛtā yā sā rāgānugocyate
(B.R.S. – 1.2.271)

In order to understand rāgātmikā or rāgānugā bhakti we must first understand the meaning of rāga. That deep, natural, loving thirst which causes the topmost absorption within the beloved deity is called raga.

iṣṭe svārasikī rāgaḥ paramāviṣṭatā bhavet
tanmayī yā bhaved bhaktiḥ sātra rāgātmikoditā
(ibid – 1.2.272)
iṣṭe gāḍha tṛṣṇā rāga svarūpa lakṣaṇa
iṣṭe āviṣṭatā taṭastha lakṣaṇa kathana
(C.C.)

“Deep thirst for the beloved deity is the inherent symptom of rāga whereas the absorption in the beloved deity is called the marginal symptom.”

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has defined rāga and rāgānuga as follows: tatra viṣayiṇaḥ svābhāviko viṣaya saṁsargecchātiśaya-mayaḥ premā rāga yathā cakṣurādīnāṁ saundaryādau tādṛśa evātra bhaktasya śrī bhagavatyapi rāga ityucyate……..
yasya pūrvokte rāga-viśeṣe rucir eva jātāsti na tu rāga-viśeṣa eva svayaṁ tasya tādṛśa rāga-sudhākara karābhāsa samullasita hṛdaya sphaṭika-maṇeḥ śāstrādi śrutāsu tādṛśyā rāgātmikāyā bhakteḥ paripāṭīṣvapi rucir jāyate. tatas tadīyaṁ rāgaṁ rucyānugacchantī sā rāgānugā tasyaiva pravartate (Bhakti Sandarbha 310).

“rāga means the strong and natural desire of a sense-enjoyer for his beloved sense-objects. The senses, like the eyes, are naturally attracted to their objects, such as beautiful forms, and they need no encouragement in this. In the same way, when a devotee’s heart is naturally attracted to the Lord and he has a deep thirst for the Lord then this is called rāga. When a mere ray of the nectar-moon of such rāga falls on the crystal-clear hearts of those devotees who only have some taste for a particular rāga but do not possess that rāga itself yet, then the heart rejoices and as a result of hearing from the scriptures and saints taste will awaken within the heart of such a devotee for the devotional expertise of a rāgātmika bhakta. This means that ruci (taste) will awaken within the heart when we hear about the loving devotional expertise of a rāgātmika vraja-bhakta from the scriptures or from the mouth of a saint whose heart is pure, that is, free from lust, anger and envy. The devotion which follows the rāga of a rāgātmikā Vraja-devotee along with ruci is called rāgānugā bhakti”.

Hardly anyone has such ruci in the first stage of devotional life, but still, when one hears about the loving activities of the people of Vraja (Kṛṣṇa’s servants, friends, elders and lovers) from the mouth of a pure soul who performs bhajana while following the scriptural injunctions and who has thus become immersed in the pure rāga of Vraja, sacred greed will awaken in the heart of the neophyte devotee to attain such a love also. This is called ‘rāgānugā bhajana’. Of the different kinds of sweet love of Vraja’s consorts Śrīman Mahāprabhu and His dear associates the Gosvāmīs have instructed us in the most excellent worship in the wake of mañjarīs like Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s dear maidservant Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī.

 

Srila Ananta das Babaji Maharaj