~ Bhakti Intrinsic to the Jiva's Existence ~

4 June 2022

[This article has been written to justify the stance taken by certain Gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava ācāryas that
Bhakti and prema are intrinsic in the heart of the jīva. This article does so while maintaining complete
respect to the other opinion that Bhakti is bestowed by a nitya-siddha devotee. The purpose of this
article is not to spite any particular individual, institution or philosophical position. This is a somewhat
lengthy article mainly for those who are interested in this particular topic.]

A popular adage says that — "If two people have the exact same opinion on all topics in the world, then
one of the two is irrelevant". Needless to say, differences of opinion may arise even between two
ācāryas of the same disciplic succession.

Problems especially arise when those of us who are marred by limited sense perception try to gaze into
the domain of the unlimited spiritual world. Thus, answers to simple questions such as — "Is bhakti an
intrinsic part of the existence of the jīva?" are almost impossible to give without getting into a
convoluted discussion about jīva-tattva.

The Pandora's box opens up with two popular verses — one from the Caitanya-caritāmṛtam and the
other from the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhuḥ:

nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ’sādhya’ kabhu naya

śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya

BBT Translation: Pure love for Krishna is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is
not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting,
this love naturally awakens. (CC, Madhya, 22.107)

nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya

prākaṭyaṁ hṛdi sādhyatā

BBT Translation: Such devotion eternally exists within the heart of every living entity. The awakening
of this eternal devotion is the potentiality of devotional service in practice. (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhuḥ,
quoted in CC Madhya 22.105)

The issue here is that some previous authorities will not exactly translate the verse in this fashion.
They do not agree that prema is an intrinsic part of the eternal existence of the conditioned jīva, or
that it somehow "naturally awakens". According to them, the conditioned jīva has no eternally existing
prema and can only get it when it is bestowed by an existing nitya-siddha devotee who is eternally in
possession of such prema.

On the other hand, other authorities say that prema is intrinsic to the existence of the jīva. It merely
has to be "discovered" and is not begotten from an external source. These two viewpoints are certainly
contradictory, and a resolution is definitely needed.

If we study the entire matter carefully, we will realize that the ācāryas who wrote that prema is
"intrinsic" to the jīva as well as the ācāryas who wrote that it is "bestowed" upon the jīva are both
correct in their own ways. None of these ācāryas were making a siddhāntic adjustment when they
made their respective statements. Let's explore how this is so.
The sandarbhas specify that there are many intrinsic qualities of the nitya-siddha jīva. These intrinsic
qualities are merely covered up in the nitya-baddha jīva. This is specified in verses of Viṣṇu-dharma
quoted in Prīti-sandarbha (5):

ādarśasya malābhāvād

vaimalyaṁ kāśate yathā

jñānāgni-dagdha-heyasya

sa hlādo hy ātmanas tathā

yathā heya-guṇa-dhvaṁsād

avabodhādayo guṇāḥ

prakāśante na janyante

nityā evātmano hi te

jñānaṁ vairāgyam aiśvaryaṁ

dharmaś ca manujeśvara

ātmano brahma-bhūtasya

nityam eva catuṣṭayam

Translation: O King! Just as pristine clarity is seen in a mirror in the absence of dirt, similarly when
rejectable material influences are burnt to ashes by the fire of transcendental knowledge, the innate
happiness of the soul becomes naturally manifest.

In a similar manner, by the destruction of rejectable material influences, qualities such as avabodha
(complete awareness of the self) are merely *discovered*. Such qualities are never *produced* , for
they are an intrinsic part of the living entity's eternal existence.
Thus — jñāna (eternal knowledge of the self etc.), vairāgya (detachment from matter), aiśvarya
(transcendental opulences) and dharma (all sorts of religiosity) are four eternal qualities of the
*liberated* soul. — (Viṣṇu-dharma, Quoted in Prīti-sandarbha, 5)

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī himself elaborates further as follows — tad-vaimukhyenānādinā labdhac-chidrayeśa-

māyayā tad-anubhava-lopādeḥ sambhavāt kathañcit sāmmukhyena tad-anugrahān nivṛttiś cāsti

Translation: "Due to beginningless disinclination towards Bhagavān, Māyā detects the fault of the jīva
and causes the lopa (disappearance) of the experience of the self and Bhagavān. Somehow by becoming
inclined to Bhagavān and by attaining his mercy, that same Māyā is removed". (Prīti-sandarbha, 5)

It is very clear from this paragraph by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī that Māyā is able to cover up certain intrinsic
qualities of the baddha-jīva, and these qualities are merely *uncovered* when such Māyā is removed by
the mercy of Bhagavān.

However, previously in the Paramātma-sandarbha (47), Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī had said for the baddha-jīva
that — tadīya-jñāna-abhāvāt — "Such a nitya-baddha soul has lack of knowledge of Bhagavān". Some
interpret the term "jñāna-abhāva" (lack of knowledge) as prāg-abhāva (negation prior to appearance).

However, the Prīti-sandarbha quote above has clearly mentioned that it is "lopa" (disappearance) of
that jñāna which is nitya-guṇa (intrinsic quality) of the jīva. Clearly, the terms abhāva (lack) and lopa
(disappearance) do not tally with each other. Neither does anyone have the eyes to look into the
window of anādi-kāla and determine if it was abhāva (lack) or lopa (disappearance) of intrinsic jñāna of
the jīva which caused its bondage in this world.
In the same Prīti-sandarbha, it is specified that although the jīva is in a conditioned state right now, but
there is a potential eternal spiritual body waiting since time immemorial to be assigned to the jīva in
the spiritual world. This is specified in the Prīti-sandarbha as follows — anantā mūrtayas tatra vartante,
tāsām ekayā saha muktasyaikasya mūrtiḥ bhagavatā kriyate — "Unlimited [eternal] bodily forms exist
in Vaikuṇṭha. Out of those unlimited eternal forms, the liberated soul is assigned one form by
Bhagavān". — (Prīti-sandarbha, 10)

These potential bodies in the spiritual world are all eternal, because the Bhagavat-sandarbha firmly
establishes the siddhānta that in the spiritual world none of the spiritual bodies are ever "created" at a
certain point of time. They are all eternally existing. Creation of new bodies does not take place in the
spiritual world. This means that the potential eternal spiritual bodies of all the conditioned jīvas are
already waiting in the spiritual world. These spiritual bodies are replete with all spiritual guṇas
(qualities), and are merely waiting to be assigned to the jīva by the mercy of Bhagavān as and when
these jīvas become fully accepted by Bhagavān.

Thus, when some ācāryas say that prema is eternally dormant in the heart of the jīva, the meaning is
that it is dormant in the hearts of *THESE ETERNAL SPIRITUAL BODIES*. Each spiritual body in the
spiritual world has all sense organs, including a heart. Prema is intrinsically and eternally present in
that very heart that the jīva possesses in the spiritual world. The ācāryas never say that prema is
dormant in the conditioned heart of the material body of the jīva. The eternally existing spiritual body
is thus the upādāna-kāraṇa (substantial cause) and the mercy of Bhagavān or the nitya-siddha is the
nimitta-kāraṇa (instrumental cause) of the manifestation of prema. In this way, the apparent
contradictory opinions are harmonized, and such harmonization should be sought by all sāragrāhī
vaiṣṇavas.

If prema were to be "introduced" to the jīva at a certain point of time by an external agency, then such
prema will also have to be introduced in the heart of the eternal spiritual body that the jīva is going to
get post liberation. That event itself will change the constitution of the eternal spiritual body, and a
body which has undergone a fundamental constitutional change will cease to fall in the category of
"eternal". Vipariṇāma (transformation) is a function of the material world, not the spiritual world.
Thus, when it is said that prema is "bestowed" by a nitya-siddha devotee, it only means that the nitya-
siddha devotee bestows a realization of that specific flavor and those specific details of the prema that
is already dormant in the eternal heart of the eternal spiritual body that is waiting to be assigned to the
jīva post liberation. It doesn't mean that the nitya-siddha literally pours half a gallon of prema in the
heart of the conditioned jīva.

The nitya-siddha cannot bestow prema in the conditioned heart of the material body, since the
conditioned heart is a product of māyā and is thus an unfit container for receiving prema. Neither can
the nitya-siddha generate such prema in the eternal heart of the eternal spiritual body, because such a
body is already eternally perfect and is simply waiting in a dormant state in the spiritual world.
Therefore, the "bestowing" of prema by a nitya-siddha devotee is nothing but revelation of the eternal
perfected identity (siddha deha) that exists already in the spiritual world.

Some gurus bestow this perfected identity at the time of dīkṣā and this is known as siddha-praṇālī.
Some other gurus do not bestow it at the time of dīkṣā and expect the sādhaka to achieve the direct
mercy of Bhagavān in order to get the revelation of their siddha-deha. Both processes work equally
well. The sages at Daṇḍakāraṇya who met Lord Rāma wanted to be situated in conjugal rasa with the
Lord, but did not have any siddha-praṇālī bestowed upon them. They attained their svarūpa simply by
the mercy of the Lord. Thus, siddha-praṇālī is not a compulsion upon every guru and sādhaka. There
are also other practical issues with the siddha-praṇālī system, which are beyond the scope of the
article.

In this way, the two differing opinions of previous ācāryas are harmonized. A devotee faithful to his
guru-janas should not think that his gurus merely gave some temporary siddhānta in this regard
according to time, place and circumstance. If it is possible to reconcile and justify the views of one's
guru-janas from śāstra, then the disciple should definitely take that route.

---

rucaṁ no dhehi brāhmaṇeṣu

rucaṁ rājasu nas kṛdhi |

rucaṁ viśyeṣu śūdreṣu

mayi dhehi rucā rucam || (Śukla-yajurveda 18.48)

|| oṁ tat sat ||

— Hari Pārṣada Dāsa. 04-June-2022. 🙏