When we speak about the stages of bhakti, āsakti is described as that intense attachment where the heart simply cannot live without Kṛṣṇa. It is no longer a practice (sādhana) performed with effort, nor just a taste (ruci) that comes and goes. Āsakti is when Kṛṣṇa becomes the very breath of life.

But here is the essential point: āsakti is not an abstract longing. Attachment always requires an object. And in bhakti, that object is always personal, always relational. A sādhu is not simply attached to some vague “idea of God”—he is attached to a very specific form of Kṛṣṇa, in a very specific mood of relationship.

Vaidhi and Its Limit

By the path of vaidhi-bhakti, one can indeed cultivate devotion, attachment, and longing. But the natural current of vaidhi is towards Kṛṣṇa in His majestic aspect, as the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha. That kind of attachment matures in reverential devotion. Beautiful, yes. Sublime, yes. But not Vraja.

If one desires the sweetness of Vṛndāvana, with its intimate flows of love, vaidhi is not enough. The Goswāmīs again and again establish that for entry into Vraja-bhāva, one must follow the rāgātmikās—the eternal residents of Vraja—through the practice of rāgānugā-bhakti.

The Call of Rāgānugā

Śrīman Mahāprabhu revealed the essence when He instructed His intimate associates:

“Use the mind for contemplating your siddha-deha.”
(CC Madhya 22.157)

“Visualize your siddha-deha and mentally serve in that form.”
(CC Madhya)

These are not poetic flourishes. They are direct instructions. Without knowing who we are in the līlā, how can attachment ever become personal, specific, and eternal? How can one’s heart melt in āsakti if the relationship remains undefined?

The Grace of Guru

Only by the mercy of Śrī Guru does the sādhaka receive the key: the revelation of the siddha-deha. This is not imagination, not some mental play. It is the eternal identity unveiled, so that the sādhaka can begin to cultivate attachment in that very form.

From then on, āsakti is no longer general—it is the pull of one’s own eternal service, in the company of one’s own eternal beloveds, under the shelter of Śrīmatī Rādhikā. And without receiving siddha-praṇālī, the systematic revelation and guidance into one’s eternal identity, reaching the stage of āsakti is nearly impossible.

Therefore…

To think that one can reach the stage of āsakti without rāgānugā practice is self-deception. Without knowing our eternal relationship, there can be no firmly established attachment.

Āsakti is not vague yearning. It is the irresistible attraction of the soul to its eternal function in the Divine Couple’s līlā. And that can only manifest when Gurudeva reveals the truth of our siddha-deha and plants us firmly in the current of rāgānugā-bhakti.

The conclusion is simple: āsakti without rāgānugā is impossible.
For those who long for Vraja, there is no other way.