Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c8.s2.7

c8.s2.7

¹ Lest the word sādhya, 'realisable', should mislead, Rūpa Gosvāmin adds that Bhakti is nitya-siddha (eternally existing), but by sādhya is merely meant its manifestation (nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya prākaryam hṛdi sādhyatā). Jīva Gosvāmin explains that Bhakti is nitya-siddha because it is an aspect of the Svarūpa-śakti of the Bhagavat, but this metaphysical explanation need not concern us here. What it implies is that the Sādhana of Bhakti is merely the manifestation of an already existing and natural impulse of love and bliss in man as a reflex of the attribute of infinite love and bliss in the Bhagavat (see C-C, Madhya xxii. 103-4: श्रवणादि क्रिया तार स्वरूप लक्षण । तदस्थलक्षणे उपजये प्रेमधन ॥ नित्यसिद्ध कृष्णप्रेम साध्य कभु नय । श्रवणादि शुद्धचित्ते करये उदय ॥ )