Deceitful Bhakti and Bhakti Free From Deceit

(From "Bhakti Tattva Viveka" - click to read more from it.
You can also read the previous page: The Type of Jnana Directly Opposed to Bhakti)

Now, by carefully reviewing all the previous statements, we can understand that to remain uncovered by jnana, karma and so forth — which means accepting them as subservient entities — and engage in the favorable cultivation of activities meant to please Sri Krsna which are devoid of any other desire is called uttama-bhakti.

Bhakti is the only means by which the jiva can obtain transcendental bliss.

Besides bhakti all other methods are external.

With the assistance of bhakti, sometimes karma is identified as aropa-siddha-bhakti or endeavours which are indirectly attributed with the quality of devotion and sometimes jnana is identified as sanga-siddha-bhakti or endeavours associated with or favorable to the cultivation of devotion.

But they can never be accepted as svarupa-siddha-bhakti or bhakti in its constitutionally perfected stage.

Svarupa-siddha-bhakti is kaitava-shunya or free from any deceit and full of unalloyed bliss by nature, meaning that it is devoid of any desires for heavenly enjoyment and the attainment of liberation.

But in aropa-siddha-bhakti the desires for bhukti and mukti remain in a hidden position.

Therefore, it is also called sakaitava-bhakti or deceitful bhakti.

Oh my dear intimate Vaisnavas! By your constitutional nature you are attracted to svarupa-siddha-bhakti and have no taste for aropa-siddha-bhakti or sanga-siddha-bhakti.

Although these two types of devotion are not actually bhakti by their constitution, some people refer to these two types of activities as bhakti.

In fact they are not bhakti, but bhakti-abhasa or the semblance of real bhakti.

If by some good fortune through the practice of bhakti-abhasa one develops shraddha for the true nature of bhakti, then only can such practice transform into shuddha-bhakti.

But this doesn’t happen easily, because by the practice of bhakti-abhasa there exists every possibility of remaining bereft of shuddha-bhakti.

Therefore, in all the scriptures the instruction is to follow svarupa-siddha-bhakti.(from Part 1 – "The Intrinsic Nature of Devotion")

Another revelation, Intrinsic Nature of Shuddha-Bhakti (Summary). Check out the previous page too: The Type of Jnana Directly Opposed to Bhakti. You will benefit from reading the whole work: Bhakti Tattva Viveka.

And now listen to this sound >>

Harih Om Tat Sat.