CLAIM/CHALLENGE:

Hare Krishna!
Quite honestly, I think you guys take raganuga-bhakti for very cheap and  I think you are watering down this high class process very much. According to you, raganuga-bhakti seems an effortless path and anyone can join in.
Raganuga-bhakti is only for very advanced souls who are fully liberated from material desires.

ANSWER:

Jay Sri Radhe.
Thank you for your serious feedback.

Your claim is actually two-fold.

1. We take raganuga-bhakti for cheap and water it down.
2. Raganuga-bhakti is only for very advanced and liberated souls.

1. Is raganuga-bhakti taken to be cheap? An effortless path for anyone?

First of all, we need to understand what raganuga-bhakti actually is.
Raganuga-bhakti is a SADHANA of BHAKTI.

Bhakti is divided into three main categories in accordance with its development.

sa bhaktih sadhanam bhavah prema ceti tridhodita ||
(Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu 1.2.1)

“This devotion is said to be of three kinds, namely practice (sadhana), feeling (bhava) and love (prema).”

The initial stage of practice (sadhana) is the time when the aspiring servant of God begins to cultivate his relationship with God.

Practice is understood as follows:

kriti-sadhya bhavet sadhya-bhava sa sadhanabhidha |
nitya-siddhasya bhavasya prakatyam hridi sadhyata ||
(BRS 1.2.2)

“Devotion which is enacted through the senses and which leads to the self-manifestation of bhava-bhakti, is called sadhana-bhakti.
The self-manifestation within the heart [of the practitioner] of the eternally existing transcendental affect of devotion (bhava) is known as the completion stage of devotion.”

Srila Rupa Goswami, in his Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu (section SADHANA BHAKTI) writes, that there are two different SADHANAS of BHAKTI to be performed.

vaidhi raganuga ceti sa dvidha sadhanabhidha ||
(BRS 1.2.5)

“Practice is of two kinds, namely vaidhi and raganuga.”

vaidhi-raganuga-marga-bhedena parikirtitah |
dvividhah khalu bhavo’tra sadhanabhinivesajah ||
(BRS 1.3.7)

“The paths of vaidhi and raganuga are known to be separate from each other.
Engagement in these two forms of practice certainly awakens two distinct varieties of bhava.”

The goals of these two paths of devotion in practice are understood as follows:

vidhi-bhaktye parshada-dehe vaikunthete yaya ||
(Caitanya Caritamrita 2.24.87)

“Through vidhi-bhakti, one will attain the form of an associate in
Vaikuntha.”

aisvarya-jnane vidhi-bhajana kariya |
vaikunthake yaya catur-vidha mukti pana ||
(CC 1.3.17)

“Those who worship according to scriptural commandments, being aware of the Lord’s superhuman prowess, attain the four kinds of liberation in Vaikuntha.”

raga-bhaktye vraje svayam-bhagavane paya ||
(CC 2.24.85)

“Through raga-bhakti, one will attain the Lord Himself in Vraja.”

raganuga-marge tanre bhaje yei jana |
sei-jana paya vraje vrajendra-nandana ||
(CC 2.8.221)

“He who worships on the path of raganuga will attain Vrajendranandana (Sri Krishna) in Vraja.”

So, raganuga-bhakti is a practice, a sadhana. All practices by definition are  consisting of efforts. Therefore, for a fact, raganuga-bhakti is not an effortless path.

It is true however, that bhakti is not dependent on EFFORTS. Bhakti is supremely independent and only bhakti causes bhakti.
So the question is: What prompts our “efforts”? What is the cause for our efforts?

krsna-tad-bhakta-karunya-matra-labhaika-hetuka \
pusti-margataya kaiscid iyam raganugocyate
|| BRS 1.2.309 ||

“The mercy of Krsna and His devotees is the only cause of attaining raganuga-bhakti. Some call this type of devotion pusti-marga.”

This mercy is the only cause for starting with raganuga-bhakti. But this doesn´t mean there will be no efforts from our side, from the one who practices, the sadhaka. Srila Rupa Goswami writes – “That, which is accomplished through the functions of the senses…” => EFFORT.

The most interesting factor is our desire: What is our goal? Where do we want to go? Which spiritual place is our beloved one? Vaikuntha? Vrindavana?

It is this greed to attain something which drives the sadhaka.
But this greed (LOBHA) doesn´t fall  from the sky cheaply.

rāgamayī bhaktira hoy rāgātmikā nāma;
tāhā śuni lubdha hoy kon bhagyavan
lobhe vrajavāsi-bhāve kore anugati;
śāstra-yukti nāhi māne – rāgānugāra prakṛti
(C.C.)

“Devotion full of sacred passion is called rāgātmikā. If a fortunate soul becomes greedy for that devotion after hearing about it he will eagerly follow the feelings of the people of Vraja without bothering about scriptural injunctions and logical arguments. Such is the nature of rāgānugā bhakti.”

tat tad bhavadi madhurye srute dhir yad apekshate |
natra sastram na yuktim ca tal lobhotpatti lakshanam ||
(BRS. 1.2.292)

“When one hears about the sweetness of their feelings and so forth, and a desire for attaining the same awakens in the consciousness without dependence on scripture and logic, this is a symptom of the awakening of greed (lobha).
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has personally given the following definition of lobha (sacred greed) in Śrī Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu: ‘When the heart yearns for the sweetness of the mutual feelings of Kṛṣṇa and His eternal associates in Vraja, and one is not dependent on scriptural injunctions or logical arguments, then that is the definition of ‘the cause of sacred greed’.”
(Srila Vishvanatha Cakravartipada, Raga Vartma Chandrika)

Nowhere in any shastra is it mentioned that raganuga-bhakti is effortless or taken to be cheap.
In fact, the sadhaka goes through the same stages in bhakti like the sadhaka in vaidhi-bhakti. Sraddha, sadhu-sanga, bhajana-kriya, anartha-nivritti, nistha, etc…

In his Bhakti Sandarbha (310), Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmīpāda has written:

atra viṣayiṇaḥ svābhāviko viṣaya saṁsargecchātiśayamayaḥ premā rāgaḥ yathā cakṣur ādīnāṁ 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 paripāṭiṣvapi rucir jāyate. tatas tadīyaṁ rāgaṁ rucyānugacchantī sā rāgānugā tasyaiva pravartate.

“The natural love and desire of a sense enjoyer for his favorite sense objects is called rāga. Just as the eyes are attracted to beautiful scenes and other senses are attracted to their favorite sense objects and need no encouragement in this, similarly when the heart of a devotee is naturally attracted to the Lord then this anxious thirst of love is called rāga…When even a semblance of the moonrays of the aforementioned rāga (which is situated within the hearts of the eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa) falls on the crystal-like heart of a devotee who attained a little taste for this aforementioned rāga, but did not really developed the real rāga yet, then the whole heart rejoices, and when he learns about it from the scriptures he develops a taste for the expert devotional service of these rāgātmikā devotees.”

The purport of this is that when those devotees whose hearts are clear from lust, anger, greed and envy hear from the scriptures and the mouths of the saints about the loving skill in devotional service of the rāgātmikā bhaktas their taste (ruci) will awaken.
With such ruci they will follow them and thus their real rāgānugā bhakti will commence. Thus it is to be understood.
(Srila Ananta das Babaji, tika to RVC)

So, to feel the REAL “raga” in the heart, we have to be on the stage of RUCI,
but this doesn´t mean that the PRACTICE of raganuga-bhakti starts at RUCI.
Like Srila Jiva Goswami wrote:

ajata-tadrisa-rucina tu sad-viseshadara-matradrita raganugapi vaidhi-samvalitaivanushtheya |
tatha loka-samgrahartham pratishthitena jata-tadrisa-rucina ca |
atra misratve ca yatha-yogyam raganugayaiki krityaiva vaidhi kartavya ||
(Bhakti-sandarbha 312)

“Those in whom such taste (ruci) has not awakened, but who have a special interest for it, should engage in a mixture of raganuga and vaidhi. For the sake of establishing an example for the people of the world, the one in whom such ruci has awakened will do the same. Therefore, as appropriate, raganuga should be performed together with vaidhi.”

So, the sadhaka on the path of raganuga-sadhana-bhakti performs a mixture of both paths. Srila Vishvanatha Cakravartipada writes in his Raga Vartma Chandrika that it is absolutely necessary for a raganuga-bhakti-sadhaka to practice those items of bhakti favorable to his inner mood. He elaborates extensively there on this point.

Without purification of the heart, such glorious raga can never descend into the heart of the sadhaka. THAT is our “effort”, to purify our heart…and even this is not possible without the mercy of Krishna, Guru and the Vaishnavas.

Ceto-darpana-marjanam. When our heart is pure, all will be revealed. But never is it mentioned that raganuga-bhakti STARTS with a completely pure heart.

My Gurudeva writes:

The very nature (dharma) of the mind is rāga (attachment, passion), and hence mental worship is the root cause of rāgānugā bhajana. Still the external practice of hearing and chanting must not be neglected or given up— this is to be noted specifically. 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.

Hearing and chanting are our “efforts”, under the guidance of our beloved Gurudeva and in the association of like-minded and loving Vaishnavas.

So, certainly we can see that raganuga-sadhana-bhakti is not cheap at all.

2. Raganuga-bhakti is only for very advanced and liberated souls.

Whenever I ask someone who claims this, I never get a satisfying reply as to what actually does this really mean.

Does it mean that a sadhaka can only start with raganuga-bhakti when he is “very advanced” and/or “liberated”? Where is this written?

Whenever I ask this question, I never get a response except the usual “You are bhogus/sahajiya”-whatever blablablabla.

If the sadhaka needs to be liberated from any material desire,
WHY ON EARTH DID SRILA RUPA GOSWAMI DESCRIBE THE PATH OF RAGANUGA-BHAKTI NOT IN HIS SECTION CALLED “BHAVA-BHAKTI” OR EVEN “PREMA-BHAKTI”?

He describes it in the section called “SADHANA-BHAKTI” (bhakti in practice).
Both, vaidhi and raganuga, are PARALLEL paths…

“Liberated from any material desire” would mean “bhava-bhakti”, not?

Though the paths of vaidhi and raganuga are two distinct paths, the practice of vaidhi-bhakti can offer indirect support for the awakening of the eligibility for raganuga-bhakti, its various practices being agents which assist in the purification of the heart. In addition to grace, a certain lucidity of awareness is necessary to facilitate the appearance of the aforementioned greed.

In fact, raganuga-sadhana-bhakti PURIFIES the sadhaka much faster than vaidhi-sadhana-bhakti. It is not that first BE PURE, then practice.

Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself describes (in Śrīmad Bhāgavata 11.14.26) how the devotee on the path of sacred passion advances and becomes more purified and more obsessed with sacred greed by the day, from the initial stage of surrender to the feet of a guru up to the point in which he directly attains the Lord:
‘The more one’s mind gets purified by hearing and chanting of My beautiful pastimes, the better one is able to discern the subtle reality (of the Self), just as the eye is better able to perceive more and more subtle things when it is treated with medicinal ointment’.
(Srila Vishvanatha Cakravartipada, RVC)

sa ca lobho raga vartma vartinam bhaktanam guru-padasraya lakshanam arabhya svabhishta vastu sakshat prapti samayam abhivyapya || (rvc 1.8)

“It is described that the devotees on the path of raga gradually progress from the initial surrender to the feet of Sri Guru up to the stage of directly attaining the object of their desires.”

Here we see that the path of raganuga-bhakti starts with “guru-pada-ashraya”, surrendering to Sri Gurudeva who then mercifully makes the sadhaka qualified to serve in raganuga-bhakti by giving him the diksha-mantras and who instructs the sadhaka on the path to perfection.

When the greed of a rāgānugā aspirant leads him down the road of rāga, keeping his beloved object in the centre, then it awakens a special taste for the forms and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His associates. At first the greed of an aspirant will be scattered over many different subject matters and cannot focus on the actual beloved object, but when sādhana bhajana ripens this greed will give up all other subject matters and will focus on the beloved. In this paragraph the blessed author shows how this sacred greed gradually develops. After the rāgānugīya practitioner has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Guru the stream of his bhajana starts flowing as he engages in hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord in the company of the devotees. Thus his heart is gradually cleansed from vices like lust and becomes completely immaculate. The purer his heart gets through this cleansing-process, the stronger the sacred greed will get in his heart.
(Srila Ananta das Babaji, tika to RVC)

Clearly raganuga-bhakti starts with bhajana-kriya.

Now it will be described how the rāgānugīya bhakta gradually advances through the stages of anartha nivṛtti (cessation of bad habits), niṣṭhā (fixation), ruci (taste), and āsakti (attachment to the beloved deity) up to the stage of prema (love of God) and the direct attainment of his beloved deity.
(Srila Vishvanatha Cakravartipada, RVC)