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BHAKTI IN ADVAITA VEDANTA:
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MADHUSUDANA SARASVATI'S BHAKTIRASAYANA
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BHAKTI IN ADVAITA VEDANTA:
A TRANSLATION AND STUDY OF
MADHUSUDANA SARASVATI'S BHAKTIRASAYANA
By
LANCE EDWARD NELSON, M.A.
A Thesis
Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies
in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements
for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
McMaster University
June, 1986
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (1986) McMASTER UNIVERSITY
(Religious Studies) Hamilton, Ontario
TITLE: Bhakti in Advaita Ved~nta: A Translation and
Study of Madhusadana Sarasvatt's
Bhaktiras~yana
AUTHOR: Lance Edward Nelson, B.A. (State University of
New York at Albany)
M.A. (University of San Diego)
SUPERVISOR: Professor J. G. Arapura
NUMBER OF PAGES: xi, 541
ii
ABSTRACT
Madhusudana Sarasvatr (16th century), one of the
I
greatest and most vigorous exponents of post-Sa~kara
Advaita, was simultaneously, and somewhat paradoxically, a
great devotee of Kf~~a. He authored several works in which
he sought to give bhakti a more prominent place within
Advaita, a system traditionally regarded as hostile to
devotional spirituality.
The Bhaktirasayana (BR), the most important of
these, is an independent composition which attempts a
theoretical integration of non-dualist metaphysics and the
ecstatic devotionalism of the Bhagavata PurS9a. The work's
main thesis, borrowed from the Vai~~ava devotionalists, is
that bhakti is highest goal of life (paramapuru~~rtha). To
establish this in the face of the orthodox Advaita doctrine
that liberation alone is the highest aim, Madhusudana argues
(1) that bhakti is God (bhagavat) appearing in the melted
mind of the devotee, {2) that, since bhagavat is supreme
bliss, so is bhakti, and (3) that bhakti includes knowledge
of the ~tman and is a more blissful experience than mok~a.
While the argument for the experiential superiority
of bhakti in the state of jivanmukti ("liberation in life")
is plausible, Madhusudana does not show, in Advaitic terms,
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how it can be experienced eternally after death. Moreover,
he fails to establish that bhagavat is ontologically equal
to Brahman, which makes it difficult to see how bhakti, as
identified with bhagavat, can be ontologically superior, or
even equal, to moksa. In short, he does not present a
convincing argument for bhakti's being the paramapurus~rtha.
In later works such as the Gad~rthadtpik~ and
Advaitasiddhi, Madhusadana abandons the idea that bhakti is
an independent spiritual path and itself the parama
purus~rtha. The commonly accepted view that he was a
champion of the cause of bhakti who successfully integrated
devotion and Advaita cannot therefore be accepted without
serious qualification.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I must, first and foremost, express my deep
gratitude to my Mother, Mrs. Sheila B. Nelson, without whose
unfailing support and encouragement this dissertation would
never have been completed.
To my doctoral committee at McMaster University-·
Profs. J. G. Arapura, P. Granoff, and K. Sivaraman--I owe a
special debt for their continued support and understanding
during the extended period it took me to complete this work.
It is my happy duty also to acknowledge the financial
support given to me by The Cananda Council, which made my
research possible, and also to thank the Canandian people,
who indirectly provided for my graduate study through that
agency and others as well, notably the Ontario Graduate
Fellowship. It is my sincere hope that I will be able to
make a contribution equal in some small proportion to the
trust that these persons and institutions have placed in me.
To my professors, now colleagues and friends, at the
University of San Diego, especially Fr. Ronald Pachence and
Dr. Helen deLaurentis, I must express my deep appreciation
for the loving encouragement and esteem they provided in
times of need. This kindness was of immeasurable help to me
in the midst of my struggles with this material.
v
For his considerable practical help with the
mechanical details of committing this project to print, I
must thank Dr. Jack Pope of the University of San Diego,
Academic Computing. Thanks are due as well to Mr. Devin
s.
Milner and Ms. Pat Higgins, of the James Copley Library,
USD, who cheerfully helped me find many obscure texts
through interlibrary loans. I also must acknowledge the
assistance and editorial acumen of Mrs. Lila Youngs, who was
kind enough to proofread the manuscript at several stages of
its development.
To the revered teachers with whom I had the
priviledge of studying in Poena--Sri K. Venugopalan, Dr.
v.
M. Paranjpe, and Mrs. M. K. Desai--! offer my prav~ms
and sincere expression of deep gratitude for sharing with me
a small part of their immeasurably rich tradition. It is
more than a mere platitude to say that without their help
this work would have been impossible for me. I must also
s.
express my thanks to Dr. D. Joshi, Head of the Institute
of Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Poena, for his
kind hospitality and guidance during my stay in India, and
to Prof. R. D. Laddu, retired Professor of Sanskrit,
University of Gwalior, who helped me with the sections of
the GcrQh~rthadtpik~ translated in chapter nine.
The people of India--sages and scholars, and common
folk as well--have allowed me access to a profound world of
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meaning, insight, and sentiment (~). In acknowledgement
of this debt, I wish finally to dedicate this work to them.
I cherish the hope that it will make some small contribution
to the process through which their heritage is becoming a
major factor in the increasingly cosmopolitan and ecumenical
culture of our small planet.
San Diego,
June, 1986
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
. . . . . . . .
ABSTRACT iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
....
INTRODUCTION: ADVAITA, BHAKTI, AND MADHUSUDANA 1
PART I:
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS
Chapter
I. DEVOTIONAL TRENDS AND IMPERSONALISM IN THE
EARLY SCRIPTURES • • • • • • • . • • 20
Bhakti, Personalism, and
Impersonalism • • • • • • • • • • • • 20
1.2 Devotional and Impersonalist Aspects of
Vedic Religion • • • • • • • • . . • • . 24
Devotional Trends and Impersonalism
in the Major Upanisads • • 33
Bhakti and Advaica in the
Bhagavad Gtt~ • . • • • 43
I
II. BHAKTI IN THE WRITINGS OF S~KARA 52
2.1 Jntroductl• on: SI
a~kara as a devotee? 52
2.2 Sa~kara1 s Authentic Works •.•..•• 54
2.3 Levels of Being and Religious Structures 56
2.4 St[UCtures in Place: Jtva and
I~vara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.5 sa,kara 1 s Devaluation of Devotion .•. 67
2.5.1 The penultimacy of religious
structures and bhakti • • . • 67
2.5.2 Bhakti not an independent path • 70
2.5.3 Knowledge the means to liberation 73
2.5.4 Saving knowledge mediated through
the Vedic revelation • . 74
2.5.5 Eligibility for knowledge 75
2.5.6 Karma and bhakti as
preparatory to knowledge • 77
2.5.7 Bhakti and up~sana •••••. 78
2.5.8 The seeker of knowledge rejects
devotion . • . • • . • • • 82
2.5.9 The Gtt~ interpreted for the
jfi~nin • • • • • . • . • • • • 88
viii
2. 6 Social Dimensions . • • • • . 90
2.7 Advaita Exclusivism and the Ethos of
Bhakti . . . • . • . . 93
...
III. BHAKTI AND ADVAITA IN THE BHAGAVATA
PURANA • • • • • • • • • • • • • 96
3.1 Introduction: the Scripture of
Kf~Qa Bhakti . • • • . . • • • 96
3.2 Devotion as the Supreme Path and One Goal . 99
3.3 Devotion as Practice and Devotion as Goal . 102
3.4 Ecstatic Devotion • . . . . • • • 103
3.5 Metaphysical Non-dualism . • • • • • 106
3.6 Social Teaching . • • . . • . • • • 111
IV. BENGAL CONCEPT OF BHAKTI 115
VAI~~AVA
4.1 The Flowering of Ecstatic Bhakti in Bengal 115
4.2 Caitanya and Srtdhara . . • . • . • . • . . 117
4.3 The Theology of the Gosv~mins • • • • . . . 123
4.3.1 The three-fold deity and his
three-fold energy . • • 124
4.3.2 Bhakti as the fifth and
goal of life • • . . .• 128
h~ghest
4.3.3 The definition of bhakti ••.•.• 132
4.3.4 The stages of • . • • . 134
devot~on
4.3.5 The levels of ecstatic love . . • . 137
4.3.6 Bhakti given ontic status
as Kf~Qa's highest power •..•. 141
4.4 Bengal Vai~Qava Social Practice . • . • • . 149
...
V. MADHUSUDANA ON ADVAITA-BHAKTI: THE THEOLOGY
OF DEVOTION IN THE BHAKTIRASAYANA • . . 152
5.1 Approaching the Bhaktirasay~yana . . . 152
5.2 Bhakti as an Independent Path . . . . . . . 154
5.3 The Highest Goal of Life ..... 156
5.4 Bhakti as a Modality of the Mind 159
5.5 as Bhagavat • • . • . . . • . . 162
Bhakt~
5.6 The Nature of Bhagavat 167
5.7 Bhakti and Knowledge of Brahman . . . 176
5.8 and Moksa . • • . . . . . . . . . . 185
Bhakt~
5.9 Bhakti Superior to Mok~a 194
VI. BHAKTI AND SANSKRIT AESTHETICS • 199
6.1 Bhakti, Myth, and Imagination . . . .. 200
6.2 The Theory of Rasa • . • • • • . . . . . . 205
6.3 Religious Application of the Rasa Theory 210
6.4 Bhaktirasa in the Theology of the
Bengal School • . . • . . • • . . • . 215
6.5 Madhusodana on Bhaktirasa • . . . 223
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Description:Advaita, was simultaneously, and somewhat paradoxically, a great devotee .
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS. Chapter .
enlightenment. But for the relationship be personal, capable of feeling and
response.
