Divisions of Service to Krishna (Part I)

From my daily japa walk in Laval QC

It is my contention that we should understand the five relational rasas on the basis of human relationships. I was reminded today by a friend of the debate I had a few years ago with Babaji about "love in this world." My contention is that even though we may deny the perfection of the love in this world, if we say that Krishna needs to come into the world not only to teach but to experience love, then love or at least the conditions of love are only possible in the world of death and imperfection. This is indeed a philosophical position that is essential to understanding the avatar doctrine as found in Chaitanya Vaishnavism.

It is my further contention that the different relations represent different sādhanas on the way to the completion of the sādhana of prema. Krishna appears to us in our different relationships. A madhyama devotee restricts his relationships to other devotees because the culture of loving relationships must begin with a common mutuality, i.e., a shared interest in cultivating prema.

Love is seeing the presence of God in another human being, in accordance with the particular modalities of the specific relationship, and thereby a sense of unity. The degree of intimacy is thus the measuring stick whereby a hierarchy of the rasas is constructed.

What I am specifically looking at here is the āśrayālambanas of dāsya-rasa. There is some difference between the presentations of Rūpa in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu and Jīva Gosvāmī in Prīti-sandarbha, which we will summarize in a table at the end of this document.

In BRS 3.2 there are four subdivisions of dāsya. The dāsas have four general qualities that pervade all the further subdivisions of dāsya-rati and indeed -- with some exceptions -- throughout all the devotional rasas. They are:

dāsās tu praśritās tasya nideśa-vaśa-vartiṇaḥ |
viśvastāḥ prabhutā-jñāna-vinamrita-dhiyaś ca te ||16||

"Externally they are respectful and polite (praśritāḥ); they controlled by his every direction (nideśa-vaśa-vartiṇaḥ); they are trustworthy (viśvastāḥ); and their intelligence has been humbled by the knowledge of Krishna's lordship (prabhutā-jñāna-vinamrita-dhiyaḥ)." (3.2.16)

The exemplary verse is:

prabhur ayam akhilair guṇair garīyān
iha tulanām aparaḥ prayāti nāsya |
iti pariṇata-nirṇayena namrān
hita-caritān hari-sevakān bhajadhvam ||

Worship those servants of Hari who have been humbled by this mature realization: "This Lord of ours is weighty with unlimited virtue. No other person could possibly come near to equaling him," and whose actions are for his benefit and are beneficial to all. (3.2.17)

There are four kinds of servant:

caturdhāmī adhikṛtāśrita-pāriṣadānugāḥ ||18||

1. adhikṛta : These are the gods; RG names Shiva, Brahma, and Indra. The word adhikr̥ta refers to those who have been delegated some responsibility; in this case that of worldly affairs. JG in PS 203.1 stipulates that because of some other kinds of special relationship of some of these gods to move upwards on the rasa (intimacy scale). I think in the context of the reflected world this meaning can be extended to any kind of employee in relation to the boss.

2. āśrita : This means "sheltered." RG subdivides this one into three further categories.

te śaraṇyā jñāni-carāḥ sevā-niṣṭhās tridhāśritāḥ ||

Those to be given shelter (śaraṇyāḥ), those who were previously jñānīs (jñāni-carāḥ) and those who are fixed in their service (sevā-niṣṭhāḥ).

The summary verse depicts all three of these:

kecid bhītāḥ śaraṇam abhitaḥ saṁśrayante bhavantaṁ
vijñātārthās tvad-anubhavataḥ prāsya kecin mumukṣām |
śrāvaṁ śrāvaṁ tava nava-navāṁ mādhurīṁ sādhu-vṛndād
vṛndāraṇyotsava kila vayaṁ deva sevemahi tvām ||

Some are fearful and take shelter of you completely
Others have done so after giving up all desire for liberation,

coming to know the truth through direct experience of you,
O you, the festive joy of Vrinda forest!

After hearing from saints of your ever delightful sweetness
we would serve you alone, O Divine Being!

This could also be seen as a variation on Gita 7.16 where four different kinds of people turn to or take refuge in God.

a) śaraṇyāḥ : Those who were to be given asylum like Kaliya or the kings imprisoned by Jarāsandha.

api gahanāgasi nāge
prabhu-vara mayy adbhutādya te karuṇā |
bhaktair api durlabhayā
yad ahaṁ pada-mudrayojjvalitaḥ ||24||

Oh best of masters! Today you have shown amazing compassion to me, a most sinful snake. By that most rare mercy, I have been made effulgent by the marks of your feet. (3.2.24)

Jiva Goswami's taxonomy is a bit different: instead of śaraṇya, he uses the term pālya, "to be protected", "being under any one's protection or guardianship." This is a recognition that dāsya and vātsalya are complementary partners: love in a relation of inferiority and superiority respectively. The other three relations are different kinds of equal relationships.

(PrītiS 203.2) "The devotees under Krishna’s protection (pālya) devotees are of two types, namely the external (bahiraṅgas), i.e., the gods who are responsible for universal affairs, and the internal (antaraṅga), whose very life is given to remaining in the shade of Bhagavān’s lotus feet. Some belonging to the first group, like Brahmā and Śiva, are also taken to be internal pālyas because they have a special kind of devotional relation with Bhagavān."

Sri Jiva further subdivides the internal pālya in three: the general, the Puravāsīs and the Vraja-vāsīs.

Sri Rupa here adds a second kind of śāraṇya -- one who remorsefully takes shelter after committing an offense (aparādha-bhañjane).

kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās
teṣāṁ jātā mayi na karuṇā na trapā nopaśāntiḥ |
utsṛjyaitān atha yadu-pate sāmprataṁ labdha-buddhis
tvām āyātaḥ śaraṇam abhayaṁ māṁ niyuṅkṣvātma-dāsye ||

How many, O how many were the days I faithfully kept
the evil orders of lust, anger and greed?
For all that I did so, they never felt compassion for me
nor shame at their own wickedness
nor did they ever release me from my servitude.
But today! I thrust them all aside for my intelligence has awakened,
O Lord of the Yadus, I come to take shelter at your feet,
Please engage me in your service. (BRS 3.2.25)

[I have a note that this is from the Aparādha-bhañjana-(stotra), which I believe is a reference to the chapter in the Padama Purāṇa that describes the ten offences to the Holy Name. I don't think I have ever seen this chapter in its entirety in the Padma Purāṇa, but that is hardly a book I can speak on with any authority. Great verse though. I learned it while in ISKCON and still know it by heart.]

b) jñāni-carāḥ : These are the ones who have come to a state of knowledge after giving up their desire for liberation. The primary example RG gives here is Śaunaka Rishi (meaning the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya).

In BRS 3.1.45, however Śukadeva is named as one of those jñāni-bhaktas who have become enchanted by Krishna's human characteristics and thereby move up the intimacy scale. Suka is also named as an example of someone promoted to a higher grade through grace.

tat-kāruṇya-ślathībhūta-jñāna-saṁskāra-santatiḥ |
eṣa bhakti-rasānanda-nipuṇaḥ syād yathā śukaḥ ||45

"The seeker of liberation or the yogi if through grace all the conditioning induced by his practice of jñāna and becomes an expert in bhakti-rasa, like Śukadeva." (3.1.45)

Jiva Goswami has the following to say about Śuka, counting him rather as a jñāni-bhakta:

"Among the ātmārāmas, the four Kumāras and others are jñānī-bhaktas. In the case of Śukadeva, however, he is only acceptable as an āśraya of jñāna-bhakti-rasa after he had realized the Śrīmad Bhāgavata as the supreme teaching and had become absorbed in it, having been attracted by the taste of Bhagavān’s līlā."

The examples of jñāna-niṣṭhā are nice and remember that if you like them then that is the appropriate adhikāra for you. The first is taken from Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya (4.17), following a rather common poetic trope:

aho mahātman bahu-doṣa-duṣṭo’py

ekena bhāty eṣa bhavo guṇena |
sat-saṅgamākhyena sukhāvahena 

kṛtādya no yena kṛśā mumukṣā ||27||

Oh Great Soul! Birth in this world has numerous flaws but even so shines brightly because of only one great virtue; and that is the joyful association of saintly persons by which today our desire for liberation has waned. (BRS 3.2.27)

Another example from Padyāvalī (77)—

dhyānātītaṁ kim api paramaṁ ye tu jānanti tattvaṁ
teṣām āstāṁ hṛdaya-kuhare śuddha-cinmātra ātmā |
asmākaṁ tu prakṛti-madhuraḥ smera-vaktrāravindo

megha-śyāmaḥ kanaka-paridhiḥ paṅkajākṣo’yam ātmā ||

"The self manifests as pure consciousness alone
in the caves of the hearts of those
who know the supreme truth that lies beyond meditation

For us however see this self manifested as sweet smiling,
lotus-eyed, black like a cloud, a golden cloth around the waist.

See a similar verse by Madhusudan Saraswati and Bhakti.

Durgama-saṅgamanī: mumukṣā-tyāga-pūrvaṁ āśrayaṇaṁ bodhyate: "Taking shelter is preceded by giving up liberation."

To be continued:

Divisions of Service to Krishna (Part I)

Divisions of Service to Krishna (Part II)

Divisions of Service to Krishna (Part III)

Divisions of Service to Krishna (Part IV)

Divisions of Service to Krishna (Part V)