bhakti is the Essential itikartavyatA of all sAdhanas

31. anubandhAdhikaraNam (3.3.51)

This adhikaraNa arises by way of disposing of an objection that if vidyA independent of karma leads to moxa, the need for bhakti as a necessary sAdhana for moxa as established in sUtras 3.2.19 - 20 can be altogether eliminated from upAsanA. As the sheshhatAtparyachandrikA points out, this adhikaraNa makes it clear that bhakti is the basic ' itikartavyatA ' of all other sAdhanas. The term ' Adi ' in the sUtra (anubandhAdibhyaH) is to include several other aN^gas like the cultivation of shama, dama and other virtues and mental and physical disciplines like yama, niyama, etc..

pUrvapaxa
The pUrvapaxa is that bhakti is not at all necessary to attain jJNAna. It can be had through guruprasAda and gurupradAna alone. For there is nothing which the guru's grace cannot achieve. This does not mean we can dispense with upAsanA too: for there is a well - established anvayavyatireka relation between jJNAna and gurupradAna. There is no such concomitance between bhakti and dhyAna. For dhyAna is possible even in the absence of bhakti or love of God. For dhyAna understood in the sense of fixing the mind on a given something is possible even if one loves or hates the person he is thinking of to the point of an obsession. There are

texts in the bhAgavata - purANa which tell us in so many words that men like shishupAla attained moxa by sheer hatred of God. Since mukti by jJNAna (attained through guruprasAda) can somehow be attained by ' dhyAna ' even through ' hatred of God, there is absolutely no need to include bhakti within the orbit of itikartavyatA of upAsanAs.

siddhAnta
The siddhAnta presents bhakti as the corner - stone of all sAdhanas and their ' itikartavyatA. ' It is by virtue of bhakti that other noble attributes which lie at the core of one's being get awakened by the grace of guru. Such awakened bhakti harnessed to the active pursuit of upAsanAs leads to aparoxa. Mighty as may be guruprasAda, God - vision is NOT attained through shravaNa, manana and other forms of upAsanAs without bhakti towards the Supreme brahman. The presumption that it is concentration of thought alone that matters in dhyAna irrespective of love or hatred for the object of meditation for purposes of moxa is utterly misconceived. dhyAna founded on dislike or hatred of God as the object of meditation is fraught with disastrous consequences. The shrutis and smR^itis make this clear to the meanest intelligence. The stray references like dveshhAchchhaidyAdayo nR^ipaH are not to be taken as approving of dveshha (dislike or hatred of God) as a means of attaining moxa. They refer to cases of original and natural bhaktas who act as haters of God while under the power of a temporary disability of a curse or the like. A grave misconception of the ideology of bhakti and dhyAna has been responsible for the emergence of the socalled theory of dveshha - bhakti and its coming to be read into some of our purANic stories and incidents.

Echoes of this supposedly mystic view are to be found in the writings of some of the religio - philosophical schools of a popular brand as embodying freedom from rigidity of means in the appoach to God - as in the opinion of these schools God attaches no value to man's motives or attitudes of love or hatred towards Him and grants moxa to all as he has no friend or foe(See jJNAneshvarI 9.467). AnandatIrtha is the first and only bhAshhyakAra of the vedAnta system to refute anti - Theistic heresies by way of preventing the infiltration of such misleading ideas into the body - politic of the genuine traditions of the religious and philosophical doctrines of bhakti and dhyAna, in his anuvyAkhyAna: *** ( ..) *** ( .. )

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The expression ' anubandha ' in the sUtra has been explained by madhva in his bhAgavta tAtparyanirNaya: ( ..)

With his insight into the sUtrakAra's choice of words, vAdirAja writes that the expression ' anubandha ' brings out the power of true bhakti to hold God as if bound to the bhakta so as to make God respond to his appeal to lift him from the depths of transmigration. jayatIrtha makes it clear that bhakti which is at the core of one's being paves the way for the guru's grace which in its turn makes the seed of bhakti sprout and develope into mellowed devotion which leads to aparoxa.

From the book The Brahmasutras and Their Principle Commentaries: A Critical Exposition Vol. 3 by B.N.K. Sharma
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