For all places and all times (sarvatra sarvadä)

I spoke the other day about the Bhakti Sandarbha and the explanation given there of the verse

etāvad eva jijñāsyaṁ tattva-jijñāsunātmanaḥ
anvaya-vyatirekābhyāṁ yat syāt sarvatra sarvadā

One who is inquiring into the truth of the Self should inquire only until the point it has been fully established for all places and for all times, both by affirmation and by negation. (SB 2.9.35)

Jiva Goswami's task here is to show how this verse is about bhakti and not about jñāna. The word jñāna is twice in the verse, both times in the desiderative, "wanting to know." The first usage jijñāsyaṁ means "it is to be inquired", "to this extent only" (etāvad eva). By whom? By the ātmanaḥ tattva-jijñāsunā, "one who seeks to know the truth of the Self." "To what extent?" That is a reference to the previous verse, in which the prayojana was stated, the rahasyam of verse 29. This is now about the aṅga of the rahasya (mystery), which is sādhana bhakti. So just as the culture of jñāna is to become situated in direct perception of the Absolute Truth through the process of transforming one's perception through wisdom, so it is with bhakti. But, says Jiva, we want to show that the intent of the speaker is not jñāna, but bhakti, and so we will show how by looking at the rest of the verse.

Anvaya and vyatireka are the two processes used by the mind, accepting and rejecting. In the case of jñāna, one accepts that which is favorable to transforming his perception of the world in accordance with his understanding, and rejects all that is unfavorable. This is executed primarily in terms of knowledge, or philosophical understanding, whereby one trains oneself to see the underlying unity of all things, until that is what one sees. This is a transformative state of being. The purpose of it is transformation. Transformation into what? Into the epitome of humanity. To be the very emblem of what the human form of life is for.

So it is with bhakti. Bhakti is a state of consciousness, a way of perceiving the world, which has a great deal in common and indeed assimilates much of what can be gained from the jñāna path. But the difference in the bhakti path is that it is focused on the personal, the reality of the personal and the personal means love. It means beauty. It means embracing the world in an ultimate sense, which is called prema.

Bhakti is the process whereby one attains prema. And it is up to this point that you must cultivate it. And how do you cultivate it? Through the process of accepting what is favorable, i.e., injunctions that direct one to the desired state of prema consciousness, and rejecting what is unfavorable to that goal.

Since the idea that there is something beyond this is absurd, only this prema consciousness can be experienced in all times and all places. All other paths are limited, they have an end:

एतदुक्तं भवति—यत् कर्म तत् सन्न्यासभोगशरीरप्राप्त्यवधि । योगः सिद्ध्यवधिः । साङ्ख्यमात्मज्ञानावधि । ज्ञानं मोक्षावधि । तथा तथा तत्तद्योग्यतादिकानि च सर्वाणि । एवंभूतेषु तेषु कर्मादिषु शास्त्रादिव्यभिचारिता ज्ञेया । हरिभक्तेस्तु अन्वयव्यक्तिरेकाभ्यां सदा सर्वत्र तत्तन्महिमभिरुपपन्नत्वात् तथाभूतस्य रहस्यस्याङ्गत्वं युक्तम् । यतो रहस्याङ्गत्वेन च ज्ञानरूपार्थान्तराच्छन्नतयैवेदमुक्तमिति ।

Let this be said here: The practice of karma-yoga achieves its end after one takes sannyāsa or obtains a body suitable for enjoyment; yoga ends after attaining yogic perfection; sāṅkhya ends when one has attained knowledge of the self; and jñāna ends at the point of liberation. In the same way, each of these paths has its appropriateness for those ends, etc. This being the case, scriptural injunctions to follow one or the other of these processes are inconstant. But since bhakti to Bhagavān Hari has is present or can be manifested through in all times in all places, through both injunction and prohibition, for this reason it is appropriate to refer to it as a limb (aṅga) of the mystery (rahasya) [of divine love]. Since a mystery or secret is confidential, so a component part of that secret is also confidential, and therefore this instruction has been spoken of in a concealed manner in this verse [SB 2.9.35], covering its true identity in the garb of gnosis.

So what interests us is the idea that Bhakti can manifest anywhere, without exception. Jiva Goswami decides to break "everywhere" (sarvatra) into eight components, where bhakti can be found. I had a bit of trouble with the word upapadyate or upapannam. This word has the following relevant meanings, according to the dictionary: "to reach, to enter any state," "to take place, come forth, be produced, appear, occur, happen"; "to be present, to exist"; "to be possible." So the question is whether bhakti is already everywhere or that it can appear and be everywhere, and I think that the latter meaning makes the more sense, especially since we are talking about a sādhana in which one sees the instruction to always remember, serve and love Krishna in all times and places, in whatever circumstance one finds oneself, in all the senses, in all the objects of the senses, in all actions, prescribed duties and results of one's actions. The possibility for bhakti resides in all these aspects of everywhere.

And then he gives scriptural examples for each.

I don't think that I will go into all that now. But anyone who has read this blog probably knows what lights went on in my head. If there is no bhakti in human love, then it fails the test.