The Pravṛtti-mārga in Prema-sādhana

There are two models of religious and spiritual life, which appear to be in conflict: pravṛtti and nivṛtti, the path of engagement and the path of renunciation.

Most of the commentaries like Shankara, including even Shridhar Swami on the Bhāgavatam, will emphasize the side of renunciation as the path to liberation over that of engagement and taking responsibility in the world. Indeed, since jñāna is the prerequisite for liberation, which have renunciation as the cause and as the effect, it is no surprise that this predominated in monastic-driven Indian intellectual circles for centuries. It is also the cluster of ideas that is at play in Buddhism. And there can be little doubt that it had an influence in Vaishnava circles also, including the Bhāgavata itself.

It is not that anyone could possible discount the pravṛtti-mārga altogether, the karma-kāṇḍa and karma-yoga are important in the scheme of sanātana-dharma, but it is certainly placed on a lower level than the ideal of renunciation.

And for good reason, too. Life ends with a final renunciation, for which we must all be prepared.  This is why the results of one give the results of the other. It is our consciousness at the moment of death that summarizes the way we have lived, whether we believe in a hereafter or not. 

However, the all-important Bhagavad Gita outlines how the idealized qualities, one's maturation as a human being in the world, are to be cultivated as a sādhanā. This is the pravṛtti-mārga understood as sādhana. The first thing is the rejection of kaitava-dharma, religion that has some illusory objective, which includes the idea of liberation from the world. 

Now Gaudiya Vaishnava theism, or personalism, means that there is always going to be a personal relationship with the Supreme Truth as manifest in the Person of God Himself. It could be said that if you wish to know God as an Idol, as a Boss, as a Friend, as a Child, or as a Lover or Husband, you must learn the art of love in those areas. Theory and Practice are two different things. 

Here, of course, I am talking about renunciation in Orthodox Vaishnavism as opposed to the pravṛtti-mārgīs, which includes just about all the apasampradāyas despised by the neo-Orthodox. 

What the stories of Vraja cause to happen is primarily going to affect those who are in the pravṛtta life.  And since pravr̥tta life means sexual activity in one way or another, Radha and Krishna are the remedy for the negative aspects of sexuality, which are indeed the source of all entanglement and ambition, but also , responsibility, religious sentiment, and social involvement.

For the sādhaka, the purpose is to transform your life as a devotee on deeper and deeper levels through cultivating love in this world. It is not just that one turns an obsession for sex into a religious cult. All the rasas need to be cultivated to be worthy of madhura-rasa. The purpose of bhakti is to experience God's reciprocation. That is when bhāva becomes prema. In small proportions the same is true. Prema or Krishna's reciprocation is what shapes and nourishes bhāva. 

This is how you see Krishna everywhere. And if you are a lifelong sādhaka in madhura-rasa, you will indeed see Radha and Krishna everywhere. And there is no difference between that and the prema Gauranga came to give you.

Because we are always transcendental witnesses to the līlās of our bodily existence, we remain so even in bhajana. There are numerous psychological stances that one can take in bhakti. Of these, the highest is madhura-rasa.

Rasa comes when you lose yourself in total absorption in the līlā. There is no greater absorption in the līlā than through madhura-rasa. The culture of madhura-rasa for a devotee is that of meditation on Radha-Krishna līlā as a devotee couple. That is the real pravṛtti-mārga to prema-bhakti.

The yukta-vairāgya concept has to be understood. One has to renounce only that which cannot be used in Krishna's service. And if one can use prakṛti, nature, to further the cause of one's own Krishna consciousness, then that is bhakti.

The trouble comes down to the way one thinks about sex. Pravṛtti-mārga means entering "the world" and experiencing it in its multitudinous manifestations. Nivr̥tti-marga is to say no to everything. The world is temporary and unreal; the reality is death, so learn to die by practicing renunciation.

The middle way is the bhakti-yoga way. Learn to love God and then to love the devotees, and then to love all without limit. Learning to love the devotees is easiest if one can perfect madhura-rasa. Madhura-rasa is best perfected by someone who has undergone the discipline of the pravartaka stage and thus learned brahmacharya.

All the qualities of the saint are the perfection of married life. Because the stakes are so high in terms of one's expectations for enjoyment, there are many great frustrations. One is tested in the sequence shown in the Gītā verse:

dhyāyato viṣayān puṁsaḥ sangas teṣūpajāyate | 

sangāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ kāmāt krodho'bhijāyate ||

Yoga means to "work smart." The Zen aspect of bhakti is in the attitude towards karma. Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam. "Yoga means expertise in one's actions."

And on the devotional pravr̥tti-mārga, that means that you have to include everything related to your most important relationship, that with your life partner.