History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.159

v7.c91.159

Before proceeding with the treatment of *bhakti* in the Purāṇas the words 'bhakti' and 'Bhāgavata' must be briefly defined and explained. Śāṇḍilya defines1552a 'bhakti' as '*sā* parānuraktirīśvare’. This may be interpreted in two ways ‘the highest form of bhakti is affection fixed on God’ or ‘bhakti is the highest affection fixed on God’. Svapneśvara, the author of a bhāṣya on Śāṇḍilya, prefers the first and Nārada-bhakti-sūtra, Tilak and others favour the second. Svapneśvara explains that in general ‘bhakti’ means ‘affection fixed on a being that is to be won over or worshipped’, but that in this śāstra it means ‘a particular state of the mind having the Supreme Lord as its object’ and quotes a verse from the Viṣṇupurāṇa uttered by the great devotee Prahlāda ‘May that fixed (or unwavering) love, which the ignorant (or unreflecting) people feel for worldly objects, never depart from my heart, ever remembering you’. The Gītā employs the word ‘prīti’ (affection) and conveys that the word ‘bhakti’ is derived from the root ‘bhaj’ to resort to. ‘Those whose minds are on me, whose lives are offered to me, who instruct each other, who speak of me, are always contented and happy. On these who are continuously devoted to me and serve me with affection, I bestow that knowledge by which they reach me’. Svapneśvara explains that the word ‘anurakti’ (with prefix ‘anu’) is employed to convey that the affection for God arises after the devotee secures knowledge of the greatness and other attributes of the Bhagavat (Adorable One). In the Viṣṇupurāṇa the word ‘anurāga’ is used for ‘bhakti’, where, after describing the ascent of Rāma and his brothers to heaven, it says that the people of the capital of Kosala who had deep affection for those incarnate parts of the Bhagavat (Viṣṇu), having their minds fixed on them, reached the position of residence in the same world with them. Śāṇḍilya further¹⁵⁵³ says that there is the teaching that there is immortality for him who abides in Him. In the Chāndogya Up. it is said ‘He who abides in brahman reaches immortality’. The idea is that immortality being the promise of abiding in God, there will be no indifference in the effort to know God or in the effort to cultivate highest affection for God. It may be noticed that the sūtras of Nārada appear to be a mere paraphrase of Śāṇḍilya's aphorisms¹⁵⁵⁴ Śāṇḍilya further (sūtra 7) provides that bhakti, like knowledge, is not an action because it does not follow an effort of the will and that (sūtra 9) it is different from *jñāna*, as the Gītā refers to self-surrender being attained by one having knowledge after many births (Gītā VII. 19).