The process of bhakti is of an DESCENDING nature.

In Madhurya Kadambini, we can read that only BHAKTI causes BHAKTI.

It flows down from the heart of those who have it into our hearts like a celestial river.

Therefore, we have the concept of a guru pranali (succession of gurus).

Our heart is a fertile “field” into which the seed of bhakti can be sown.
This seed is nurtured by our own efforts in our sadhana bhakti, but mostly by the mercy of Sri Guru and the Vaishnavas.

My beloved Gurudeva writes:

The heart is the most appropriate place or receptacle for the manifestation of bhakti. Śabdasāra says, yato-nirjyāti viṣayo yasminścaiva pralīyate hṛdayaṁ tad-vijānīyāt-manasa sthitikāraṇam:

“The heart is the place where all desires appear and all desires merge. The heart is the cause of the mind’s disposition.”

Another name for the heart is citta. Though it is material in its nature, by the will of the Lord, it becomes worthy for the manifestation of transcendental pure devotion. It is thus compared to a fertile field for sprouting the grains of bhakti. As a desert or barren land full of stones is not suitable for cultivation, so the intellect, very rough due to mental speculations, is not at all suitable for the manifestation of bhakti. Through intelligence one can attain material knowledge, but spiritual knowledge needs to be approached through the heart.

An unintelligent boy may have deep faith in bhakti due to his previous birth’s saṁskāra (impression of previous activities on the mind), while a very intelligent person may be an atheist. So the heart is most receptive for the manifestation of bhakti, not the mind or intellect. Gradually the mind and intellect of the devotee are spiritualized, as a piece of iron is turned into gold by the touch of a touchstone.

The heart is thus the perfect place where love of God, prema, can manifest.

So, how does bhakti manifest in our hearts?

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.”
(Caitanya-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.

So, it starts with RECEIVING the bhakti-lata-bija.

How then, in due course of time, does prema descend into our hearts?

One very famous verse and another one closely related explain this DESCENDING process perfectly.

The first verse is:

nitya-siddha kṛṣna-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya
śravanādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya
(Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 22.107)

Unfortunately, the most wide-spread translation (given in ISKCON and oftentimes in the Gaudiya Math too) reads like this:

“Pure love for Kṛṣna is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.”

But the verse does not say that prema is “eternally established in the hearts of the living entities”, nor does it say “It is not something to be gained from another source”

It merely says that Krishna prema is eternally perfect (nitya-siddha) and it arises (udaya) in the heart/consciousness (śuddha-citte) which has been purified by śravanādi (hearing etc).

Srila Narayana Maharaja writes in his commentary to Srila Vishvanatha Cakravartipada´s “Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu-bindu (a drop from the nectarean ocean of devotion)”, verse 2:

“Bhāva is an eternally accomplished phenomenon (nitya-siddha). It always exists in the eternal associates (nitya-parikaras) of Bhagavān. This nitya-siddha-bhāva manifests itself from the Lord’s eternal associates into the heart of the purified jīva.

This is verified in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya-līlā 22.107):

nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema sādhya kabhu naya
śravaṇādi śuddha-citte karaye udaya

“Kṛṣṇa-prema is an eternally established reality; it is not brought about by sādhana. It automatically manifests itself in the heart purified by the performance of the various limbs of bhakti such as śravaṇa, kīrtana and so on.”

His translation fits very well with the translation and meaning given by all other traditional Gaudiya Vaisnavas:

“Krsna prema is eternally perfect (nitya-siddha kṛṣna-prema) and it cannot be generated by anything (sādhya’ kabhu naya). It arises within the heart that has become purified by practices such as hearing, etc… (śravanādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya)”

Now, I spoke with several very senior disciples of Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami and they all agree that the crux is the word “ESTABLISHED”.
It can never mean that (full) PREMA is established in the heart of a baddha jiva (tatastha sakti), since PREMA is entirely of SVARUPA SAKTI.

All these senior disciples agreed that what IS eternally established in the heart of the jiva is the POTENTIAL to ATTAIN prema.

The understanding is that prema bhakti (sadhya – that which is to be attained) is not created by sadhana bhakti.
Prema bhakti is not like that, it is eternally perfect and is the nature of the svarupa sakti which comes into the heart of the sadhaka. If it were dormant, we would find use of the word jagrita (awaken) and not arise (udaya) in the sloka. Or the sastra could use the terms supta/nidrita prema (sleeping prema) to indicate the stage before it awakes. Rather there is no such explanation because prema arises in the heart, just like the moon in the night sky.

Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami in his Caitanya Caritamrta usually cites a sanskrit verse and then composes a Bengali verse translation of it.
This “nitya siddha krsna prema” verse is no different.

In the chapter where we find the famous verse, just two verses prior, he has quoted Srila Rupa Goswami’s original sanskrit verse from his Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu.

Let us now look at the commentaries of the verse to confirm our understanding.

tatra sādhana-bhaktiḥ –

“Now sadhana bhakti will be defined”:

kṛti-sādhyā bhavet sādhya-bhāvā sā sādhanābhidhā |
nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya prākaṭyaṁ hṛdi sādhyatā ||
(BRS 1.2.2)

“Devotion which is enacted through the senses and which leads to the self-manifestation of bhāva-bhakti, is called sādhana-bhakti. The self-manifestation within the heart [of the practitioner] of the eternally existing transcendental affect of devotion (bhāva) is known as the completion stage of devotion.”
 Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu 1.2.2)

From Srila Jiva Gosvami’s Durgama sangamani commentary:

“A doubt may arise that since this state is achieved [sadhya], implying that it is artificially produced, it is not the ultimate goal. The second line responds to this doubt by saying that is is eternal, and simply appears within the heart. That is because its appearance [and not its creation] will be accomplished in the future by the special actions of the most excellent transformations [samvit and hladini aspects] of Bhagavan’s svarupa sakti [which are perfect and eternal].

From Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s Bhakti sara pradarsini commentary:

“This may give rise to the fear that, though bhava bhakti has been mentioned as supreme, it may not actually be the supreme goal of human endeavour, because it is created by sadhana or achieved [i.e. it is not eternal]. The answer is given in the second line. This bhava is eternal, and merely appears within the heart of the devotee.
Bhava also includes hearing, chanting and other actions [not just emotions]. These actions of bhava [limbs of bhakti] also appear on the tongue or in the ear, but are not created, just as Krsna appears in the house of Vasudeva. The emotions and actions of bhava are all eternal and spiritual and not material because their appearance in the future will be accomplished by the extraordinary actions of the most excellent transformations [samvit and hladini] of Bhagavan’s svarupa sakti.”

Mukunda dasa Goswami’s Artha-ratnalpa-dipika commentary:

This 3rd popular commentator and disciple of Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami states that the term “nitya-siddhasya bhavasya” in the BRS 1.2.2 sloka here means the bhava of the nitya siddha associates of Bhagavan and not that it is within the jiva or “pure love for Kṛṣna is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities”.

Mukunda dasa Gosvami says: nitya-siddha-bhakteṣu śuddha-sattva-viśeṣa-rūpatayā sadā vartamānasyātra svayaṁ sphuraṇān na kṛtrimatva-śaṅkā) – “The pure sattva which is ever present in the nitya siddha devotees manifests itself [in the heart of the practitioner devotee] and thus should not be seen as artificial.”

So, when we conclude that the POTENTIAL for ATTAINING prema is eternally established in the heart, all is reconciled.

The living entity has the capacity to love.

Right now, our capacity to love is focused on the material realm where we identify with our body and our material circumstances and relationships.

But when we come into contact with Krishna´s inner potency (svarupa-sakti) through bhakti (hladini & samvit saktis), our capacity to love is then focused on the real direction: PREMA.

Srila Jiva Goswami says that the jiva has the potential to attain PREMA, but not yet the functionality.

So, by receiving the bhakti-lata-bija through the mercy of Sri Guru and the Vaishnavas, we can attain this highest goal of human life, PREMA, by performing sadhana-bhakti.

Therefore, Srila Rupa Goswami recommends three things first:

Shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Gurudeva, receiving diksha from him and instructions to do bhajana.

These three things open the door to everything, in our case the door to the nikunjas in Goloka Vrindavana by attaining Vraja-PREMA.

Thank you, Radha Charan das
Thank you, Advaita das