Bhakti Sandarbha 226-227 : Kaivalya-kāmā Bhakti mixed with karma and jnana

Devotion performed with the desire for liberation is called kaivalya-kāmā bhakti.

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Anuccheda 226

Kaivalya-kāmā Bhakti mixed with Karma and Jñāna

अथ कैवल्यकामा। क्वचित् कर्मज्ञानमिश्रा, क्वचिद्ज्ञानमिश्रा च। तत्र ज्ञानं, "ज्ञानं चैकात्म्यदर्शनम्" (भा. ११.१९.२५) इति दर्शितम्। तदीयश्रवणादीनां वैराग्ययोगसाङ्ख्यानां च तदङ्गत्वात् तदन्तःपातः।

Now we will describe kaivalya-kāmā, devotion performed with a desire for liberation. Sometimes this form of devotion is mixed with karma and jñāna together and sometimes with jñāna alone. The word jñāna here refers to non-dual awareness, as defined earlier: “Jñāna means o see only one underlying reality.” (SB 11.19.27, See Anu. 214.) Because activities such as hearing the truths concerning non-dual awareness, renunciation, yoga and sāṅkhya are all parts of jñāna, they are all included in it.

अथ कर्मज्ञानमिश्रा, यथा (भा. ३.२७.२१-२३)

अनिमित्तनिमित्तेन स्वधर्मेणामलात्मना। तीव्रया मयि भक्त्या च श्रुतसम्भृतया चिरम्॥
ज्ञानेन दृष्टतत्त्वेन वैराग्येण बलीयसा। तपोयुक्तेन योगेन तीव्रेणात्मसमाधिना॥प्रकृतिः पुरुषस्येह दह्यमाना त्वहर्निशम् । तिरोभवित्री शनकैरग्नेर्योनिरिवारणिः॥
Devotion mixed with both karma and jñāna is described by Kapiladeva:

My dear mother! Just as the araṇi wood, the source of fire, is consumed by the very fire it produces, the material identity of the individual is burnt day and night and gradually disappears through performing one's own duty with the goal of having no goal, thereby having a purified heart, by intense devotion nourished by hearing about Me for a long time, by knowledge based on experience of the Absolute, by acute renunciation, by yoga practice coupled with penance, by deep absorption in the trance of non-dual awareness. (SB 3.27.21-23)

निमित्तं फलं, तन्न निमित्तं प्रवर्तकं, यस्मिन् तेन निष्कामेन। अमलात्मना निर्मलेन मनसा । ज्ञानेन शास्त्रोत्थेन। योगो जीवात्मपरमात्मनोर्ध्यानं, योगः सन्नहनोपायध्यानसङ्गतियुक्तिषु इति नानार्थवर्गात्। ध्यानमेव ध्यातृध्येयविवेकरहितं समाधिः।

"With the goal of having no goal" (animitta-nimittena): "goal" (nimitta) means result, and "with the goal" means prompting. [Prescribed action that is not prompted by the desire for fruits] purifies the self or mind, meaning that it is free of desires. The "knowledge" spoken of here means that acquired from scripture. "The practice of yoga" refers to meditation on the individual and the Supreme Self. That [yoga is synonymous with meditation] is stated in the Amarakoṣa lexicon: “The words yoga, preparation, methodology, meditation, union, and logic are all synonyms.” The state of meditation in which all distinction between the witness and the witnessed disappears is known as samādhi, or trance.

अत्र "सर्वासामेव सिद्धीनां मूलं तच्चरणार्चनम्" (भा. १०.८१.१६) इत्युक्त्या भक्तेरङ्गित्वेऽपि अङ्गवन् निर्देशः, तेषां तत्र साधनान्तरसामान्यदृष्टिरित्यभिप्रायेण। अत एव तेषां मोक्षमात्रफलमिति॥

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said: “Worship of Bhagavān’s feet is the source of all perfection.” (SB 10.81.19) So according to this statement, bhakti is the whole of which other methods are but parts. Yet in the group of three verses quoted above, bhakti is mentioned merely as one part of the practice aiming at liberation. This is so because the practitioners of this type of mixed devotion regard bhakti in the same manner as any other method. Therefore, the result they attain through their practice is limited to liberation.

॥३.२७॥ श्रीकपिलदेवः॥२२६॥

Commentary by Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji Maharaja

The second type of saṅga-siddhā bhakti is kaivalya-kāmā or bhakti done with the intention of attaining liberation, mukti. Mukti is the goal of jñāna. Although one can also attain mukti by bhakti alone, people who are fascinated by jñāna-mārga consider bhakti inferior to jñāna. Thus they do not give due importance to bhakti and use it as an assisting means on the path of jñāna. If they come from the path of karma and are attached to it, then they may also continue following some parts of the karma mārga. Thus there are two type of kaivalya-kāmā bhakti, one mixed only with jñāna, and the other mixed with both karma and jñāna. Here Śrī Jīva gives an example for the second.

In the verses cited here the first half of the first verse refers to niṣkāma karma. Animitta means without any material desire, and nimitta means karma. Thus the combination of these two means niṣkāma-karma. Svadharma here refers to Varṇāśrama-dharma. The second half of this verse refers to bhakti. The rest of the description is of jñāna.

Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī comments that whether bhakti is primary or secondary depends upon the mind-set of the sādhaka. The jñāna-mārga followers consider bhakti to be secondary to jñāna. Therefore, bhakti does not yield its highest fruit of prema to such practitioners. In these verses the word yoga and the distinction between prakṛti and puruṣa (sāṅkhya) are all being used as synonyms for jñāna. 

Here fire is given as the example of that which burns its source. Similarly, non-dual awareness arises from the subtle body but then burns it. Mukti happens when the jñānī dissociates himself from both the gross and subtle bodies and becomes situated in the self (SB 2.10.6).

Anuccheda 227

Kaivalya-kāmā Bhakti Mixed With Jñāna

ज्ञानमिश्रामाह (भा. ११.१८.२१)—

विविक्तक्षेमशरणो मद्भावविमलाशयः।
आत्मानं चिन्तयेदेकमभेदेन मया मुनिः॥
भावो भावना॥

Devotion mixed with jñāna alone is expressed in these words of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa:

Residing in a secluded and peaceful place and being pure of mind through awareness of Me, the sage should meditate on the one self as non-different from Me. (SB 11.18.21)

The word bhāva here means awareness.

॥११.१८॥ श्रीभगवान्॥२२७॥

Commentary by Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji Maharaja

Bhakti mixed with jñāna motivated by the desire for liberation is the second division of kaivalya-kāmā bhakti. In this verse the phrase mad-bhāva, “conscious of Me” is the bhakti part, and the rest of the activities are part of jñāna.

Bhakti Sandarbha 225 : Three Divisions of Saṅga-siddhā Bhakti
Bhakti Sandarbha 224 : Three Motives Behind the Offering of Karma
Bhakti Sandarbha 222-223: The Result Of Karma is Under the Control of Bhagavān
Bhakti Sandarbha 218-221: Karma Offered To Bhagavān Destroys Karma
Bhakti Sandarbha 217: Three Divisions of Bhakti (Āropa siddhā bhakti)
Bhakti Sandarbha 216 : Ahaṅgrahopāsanā and Sādhanā Bhakti Defined
Bhakti Sandarbha 214-215 : The Process of Brahman Realization
Bhakti Sandarbha 212-213 : The Spiritual Guru is the Manifestation of Bhagavān
Bhakti Sandarbha 210-211: The Mantra Guru is Also Compulsory
Bhakti Sandarbha 209 : The bhajana-śikṣā guru is also necessary