Priti Sandarbha 1.6 : Six defining features of priti (now including summary in English)


This is the final portion of the introduction to Prīti Sandarbha. This can be recognized by the final words being the same as those with which Sri Jiva Goswami started

(atha prīti-sandarbho lekhyaḥ). "Now the treatise on love of God (Prīti Sandarbha) is to be written." 

Today's reading is a bit longer and I went through it a bit quickly so not enough focus is there on the six characteristics that are in the title.

It might not be so easy to see, but a step-by-step argument has been building, beginning with

puruṣa-prayojanaṁ tāvat sukha-prāptir duḥkha-nivṛttiś ca | śrī-bhagavat-prītau tu sukhatvaṁ duḥkha-nivartakatvaṁ cātyantikam iti |

 The purpose of human life is the attainment of happiness and the elimination of pain. However, only with love forBhagavān is the attainment of happiness and freedom from suffering absolute.

This is the pratijñā, i.e., the proposition that is to be proved, primarily in this introduction, but in the entire Prīti Sandarbha as well. So many steps have been covered in the first six segments of this introduction and I won't go over it all again, though I probably should.

This section starts with a summation of what has been established so far, namely that that mukti in the form of direct realization of the Absolute Truth (parama-tattva-sākṣātkāra) is the ultimate goal. Here Sri Jiva Prabhu reminds us of the difference between Brahman and Bhagavān/Paramātmā, making reference to Bhagavat Sandarbha 81 and the summary given there of the First Canto, ch. 5. 

 The point there is that direct realization of the Absolute with clearly distinct attributes is superior to that of the Absolute without such attributes known as Brahman.

Now he says that he will reprise this same point in different words. This is where he brings up the six points about prīti.

(1) Love of Bhagavān (prīti) is His most important attribute. This is an important point that requires attention. Prīti is an attribute of Bhagavān. This is an extension of the previously established siddhānta that the Absolute is of the essential nature of bliss. So direct realization (sākṣātkāra) of this attribute is more important than any other realization.

(2) Through prīti one removes all suffering once and for all. 

(3) Without prīti one cannot realize Bhagavān's other attributes.

 (4) With prīti one can certainly realize them.

(5) To the extent one has prīti one will proportionately realize His other attributes.

 (6) There is a mutual cause and effect relation betwen prīti and the realization of Bhagavān's attributes. In other words as one realizes the other attributes, one's prīti increases.

Sri Jiva then summarizes the argument again:
  • Supreme bliss is the intrinsic nature of both Bhagavān and His attributes. 
  • Bliss is the object of pure love; therefore the chief purpose[ of love is attained in the experience of the Absolute. 
  • As such, a person should always seek out prīti [for Bhagavān] alone. 
  • In this way, it has been established that prīti is the supermost[ attainment of human life.
Verses are then given to support each of the six propositions about prīti, some of which are familiar from the previous Sandarbhas.

The section concludes with a brief discussion of the famous mahā-vākya, tat tvam asi. Jiva's argument is for the oneness in love rather than ontological oneness and he shows how the desire for such oneness is innate in the living being and how one is unable to find a worthy object of such love in this world. Elsewhere he states (in Bhakti Sandarbha 311) that the oneness of husband and wife is artificial (kṛtrimam ekātmatvam), not innate or natural. Therefore one gives up on attaining oneness with love objects in the world and moves from one to the other. The fortunate individual should search out the perfect love and the perfect object of love in Bhagavān, the divine person.


Murari Gupta writes that when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was to take this mantra at the time of sannyas initiation, he was distressed because the dissipation of distinctions made prema-bhakti impossible. Murari Gupta told him to interpret the mantra as a ṣaṣthī-tatpurusa samāsa: "You are His." I have a problem understanding how this works grammatically. Source: Murari 2.18.4 ṣaṣṭhī-samāsaṁ manasā vicintya tvaṁ sukhī bhava .

According to Pran Gopal Goswami this idea originated with Madhvacharya, but he does not indicate the source reference.

From Sanatana Goswami's commentary to Hari-bhakti-vilāsa:

tad-aṁśatvāt abhinnatvena viśuddhaḥ tad-adhīnatvāt tad-adhīna-dāsa-sevako'ham asmīti bhāvaḥ ||

"Being a part, I am pure because I am non-different [from the Absolute]. Being dependent on Him, I am his dependent slave and servant." This is the idea.

[I got this from another source without any references and was not able to track it down.]


tad evaṁ parama-tattva-sākṣātkārātmakasya tasya mokṣasya parama-puruṣārthatve sthite punar vivicyate | tac ca paramaṁ tattvaṁ dvidhāvirbhavati—aspaṣṭa-viśeṣatvena, spaṣṭa-svarūpa-bhūta-viśeṣatvena ca | tatra brahmākhyāspaṣṭa-viśeṣa-para-tattva-sākṣātkārato’pi bhagavat-paramātmādy-ākhya-spaṣṭa-viśeṣa-tat-sākṣātkārasyotkarṣaṁ bhagavat-sandarbhe [87] —

jijñāsitam adhītaṁ ca brahma yat tat sanātanam |
tathāpi śocasy ātmānam akṛtārtha iva prabho || [bhā.pu. 1.5.4]

ity-ādi-prakaraṇa-praghaṭṭakena darśitavān asmi | atrāpi vacanāntarair darśayiṣyāmi | tasmāt paramātmatvādi-lakṣaṇa-nānāvastha-bhagavat-sākṣātkāra eva tatrāpi paramaḥ | (1) tatra saty api nirupadhi -prīty-āspadatva-svabhāvasya tasya svarūpa-dharmāntara-vṛnda-sākṣātkṛtau paramatve prīti-bhakty-ādi-saṁjñaṁ priyatva-lakṣaṇa-dharma-viśeṣa-sākṣātkāram eva paramatamatvena manyante | (2) tayā prītyaivātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛttiś ca | (3) yāṁ prītiṁ vinā tat-svarūpasya tad-dharmāntara-vṛndasya ca sākṣātkāro na sampadyate | (4) yatra sā tatrāvaśyam eva sampadyate | (5) yāvaty eva prīti-sampattiḥ, tāvaty eva tat-sampattiḥ | (6) sampadyamāne sampanne ca tasmin sādhikam āvirbhavati |

tad etat sarvam api yuktam eva | parama-sukhaṁ khalu bhagavatas tad-guṇa-vṛndasya ca svarūpam | sukhaṁ ca nirupadhi-prīty-āspadam | tatas tad-anubhave prīter eva mukhyatvam iti | tasmāt puruṣeṇa saiva sarvadānveṣitavyeti puruṣa-prayojanatvaṁ tatraiva paramatamam iti sthitam | krameṇodāhriyate—

(1) tatra "saty api" ity-ādikam—

sarvaṁ mad-bhakti-yogena mad-bhakto labhate’ñjasā |
svargāpavargaṁ mad-dhāma kathañcid yadi vāñchati || [bhā.pu. 11.20.33]

ity-ādi śrī-bhagavad-vākyādau |

(2) "tayā" ity-ādikam |

prītir na yāvan mayi vāsudeve
na mucyate deha-yogena tāvat | [bhā.pu. 5.5.6] iti śrī-ṛṣabhadeva-vākye |

(3) "yām" ity-ādikaṁ—

bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ
śraddhayātmā priyaḥ satām | [bhā.pu. 11.14.21] iti śrī-bhagavad-vākye |

(4) "yatra" ity-ādikaṁ—

bhaktir evainaṁ nayati, bhaktir evainaṁ darśayati
bhakti-vaśaḥ puruṣo bhaktir eva bhūyasī || iti māṭhara-śrutau |

(5) "yāvatī" ity-ādikam—

bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir
anyatra caiṣa trika eka-kālaḥ |
prapadyamānasya yathāśnataḥ syus
tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣud-apāyo’nughāsam || kavi-yogeśvara-vākye [bhā.pu. 11.2.42]

(6) "sampadyamāne" ity-ādikaṁ—

mad-rūpam advayaṁ brahma madhyādyanta-vivarjitam |
sva-prabhaṁ saccidānandaṁ bhaktyā jānāti cāvyayam || iti vāsudevopaniṣadi |

evaṁ "tat tvam asi" [chā.u. 6.8.7] ity-ādi-śāstram api tat-prema-param eva jñeyam | tvam evāmuka itivat | kiṁ ca, loka-vyavahāro’pi tat-para eva dṛśyate | sarve hi prāṇinaḥ prīti-tātparyakā eva, tad-artham ātma-vyayāder api darśanāt | kintu yogya-viṣayam alabdhvā, tais tatra tatra sā parivarjyate | ataḥ sarvair eva yogya-tad-viṣaye’nveṣṭum iṣṭe sati, śrī-bhagavaty eva tasyāḥ paryavasānaṁ syād iti | tad evaṁ bhagavat-prīter eva parama-puruṣārthatve samarthite sādhūktaṁ “atha prīti-sandarbho lekhya” ity-ādi |

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