Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c8.s2.11

c8.s2.11

But passionate souls soon pass beyond outward rule and form to an inner and more esoteric way of realisation, based upon the cultivation of inward feelings of devotion. The second type of Sādhana bhakti, named Rāgānugā, is so called because it follows (*anuga*) the trend of the devotion and attachment, Rāgātmikā Bhakti, of the people of Vraja who stood in actual relation to Kṛṣṇa.¹ Rāga is defined as the natural, deep and inseparable absorption (*svārasiki tanmayi pārāviṣṭatā*) in the desired object (*iṣṭa*), namely, Kṛṣṇa. The Rāgānugā is distinguished from the Vaidhi (pp. 173-75) inasmuch as in the Vaidhi the realisation is through the injunction (*vidhi*) of the Śāstra, but here it is through the greed (*lobha*) of realising the feelings of the people of Vraja.² It consists of devoted meditation or recollection (*smarana*) of Kṛṣṇa and his dear ones (*preṣṭha*), and living either physically or mentally³ in Vraja, as a Sādhaka or as a Siddha, following the ways of Vraja-loka (*vraja-lokānusārataḥ*) with a desire to realise the same state of feeling (*tadbhāva-lipsā*). One desirous of this way of realisation will adopt the particular Bhāva (e. g. Rādhā-bhāva, Sakhī-bhāva, etc.) of the particular favourite of Kṛṣṇa according to his or her Līlā, Veśa and Svabhāva, and live in the ecstasy of that vicarious enjoyment. The emotion is achieved chiefly by Smaraṇa or recollection (*rāgānugāyām smaraṇasya mukhyatvam*), a concentrated imaginative process which is supposed to be more effective for a mystic union with the beloved object. It is indeed not achieved by the direct injunction of the Śāstras, but it does not also arise spontaneously in one's own self. It is engendered by external effort, by elaborately imitating the action and feeling of those connected with Kṛṣṇa in Vraja, and is thus a phase of Sādhana-bhakti attainable by extraneous ways.¹ But it is governed by no mechanical Śāstric rules whatever, even if they are not necessarily discarded; it follows the natural inclination of the heart, and depends entirely upon one's own emotional capacity of devotion. The devotee by his ardent meditation not only seeks to visualise and make the whole Vṛndāvana-līlā of Kṛṣṇa live before him, but he enters into it imaginatively, and by playing the part of a beloved of Kṛṣṇa, he experiences vicariously the passionate feelings which are so vividly pictured in the literature. The Vaidhi Bhakti need not involve any emotional realisation of this character; it is enough if the religious duties enjoined by the Vaiṣṇava scriptures in general and the Śrīmad-bhāgavata in particular are performed as overt acts in an attitude of piety. The Rāgānugā Bhakti, on the other hand, consists of an emotional sublimation of intimate human sentiments towards Kṛṣṇa, in terms of the intimate devotional sentiments displayed in different personal relationships (as that of a son, relative, lover, friend, servant and so forth) between the deity and his dear ones in his eternal sport at Vraja. It is thus an ecstasy of vicarious enjoyment in the sense that the devotee does not seek to establish a direct personal contact of his own with the deity, but prepares himself for it by imitating and realising within himself the different aspect of the beatific sports in terms of one or other of the blissful devotional sentiments; and through years of constant practice he ultimately identifies himself with such sentiments.