Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c8.s2.6.1

c8.s2.6.1

Of the three forms of Uttamā Bhakti, namely, Sādhana-bhakti, Bhāva-bhakti and Prema-bhakti, the next section proceeds to deal with the first, the Sādhana-bhakti, which is defined as Bhakti realisable by the senses (kṛti-sādhyā ; kṛti= the senses)¹ and not by Bhāva or inward emotion, of which, however, it is a means (sādhya-bhāvā, explained as sādhyo bhāvo yayā sā). The Sādhana-bhakti is said to have been explained in Śrīmad-bhāgavata vii. 1, and may be either Vaidhi or Rāgānugā, both of which are forms of Bhakti attained by extraneous means and ways. The Vaidhi Sādhana-bhakti occurs where the impulse to devotional acts comes entirely from the injunction of the Vaiṣṇava Śāstra (śastrasya śāsanenaiva) and where the state of Rāga is not reached (rāgānavāptatvāt).² Viśvanātha Cakravartin explains that by the term Śāstra is meant exclusively the Śrīmad-bhāgavata which enjoins acts of devotion.¹ As the type of Bhakti follows the *vidhi* or injunction of the Śāstra, it is Vaidhī; and for the same reason it is sometimes called Maryādā-mārga or the Way of Convention. The Aṅgas or means of Vaidhī having already been defined in detail in the *Haribhakti-vilāsa*, Rūpa Gosvāmin contents himself by a reference to that work, briefly summarising them as sixty-four in number and illustrating them from the scriptures. These are acts of piety, great or small, such as resorting to the spiritual teacher (*guru-pādāśraya*); initiation and instruction by him (*dīkṣā-śikṣādi*);