Process of Blending Bhakti, Jnana & Vairagya in Bhagvatam
For the benefit of the vast majority of the people drifting towards destruction, the ancient Sages prompted by their inner voice, disseminated Bhakti cult to help them also realize the Self through the Puranas. The Bhagavatam, being the outstanding among them, contains in it a judicious mixture of Bhakti (devoted love for Bhagavan), Jnana (the knowledge about the Atman) and Vairagya (total renunciation or dispassion) wherein the pride of place has been given to Bhakti and through Bhakti to the other two.
Bhakti is easy for all and any one can practice it by following the thoughts enunciated in the Bhagavatam. It proclaims that motiveless Bhakti ( Para Bhakti) is even superior to Mukti or Salvation. Bhakti is both the means and the end. By developing love for Bhagavan, the love and attraction for other things will drop off, resulting in complete renunciation. As renunciation goes on increasing, actions will become less and less self-centered and devotion will get strengthened more and more. Bhagavan will then shine inside the devotee as Jnana.
It is not that Bhagavan has the form of Jnana or wisdom, Bhagavan is Jnana or wisdom itself. He is Consciousness itself. The Bhakta or devotee will become unconscious of everything else. He will be conscious of only Bhagavan and nothing but Bhagavan. Then the idea of the Bhakta that he is conscious of Bhagavan (Consciousness) will drop off and the Bhakta will become the consciousness itself. This is the Three-in-one fusion of Bhakti, Jnana and Vairagya, leading to ultimate Self-Realization.
Though Bhakti is the theme of the Bhagavatam, the Jnana conveyed by the Upanishads are contained in various stutis or hymns like that of Suka, Btahma, Dhruva, Prahlada, Akrura, Kunti, Gajendra and so on. Motiveless Bhakti or Para Bhakti and Jnana and Vairagya are all thus one and the same.
Conclusion
“A scripture is more like a great book of poetry than like a text book on logic, and God is more of a poet than a logician. It is easy to conceive that a revelation that God has given to mankind at various levels of moral and spiritual development and with the individuals falling into several psychological groups, can have different strands of teaching to suit the tastes and capacities of different types of aspirants. It is in the universality of its teachings, this applicability of its teachings to all, that a scripture excels a logician’s work.” - Swami Tapasyananda.
It is beyond even a speck of doubt that Srimad Bhagavat Mahapuran fits into that kind of scriptural excellence. It is really a comprehensive fusion skillfully blending Bhakti, Jnana, and Vairagya wherein the flavor of Bhakti is robust. Bhagvan is beyond all sciences and all religions and all philosophies, which are the products of the extremely inadequate equipment of the human intellect, expressed in most inadequate words and phrases and sentences. So as Prahlada says the wise men withdraw themselves from the jugglery of words and start practicing Bhakti.
The following quotation from the Bhagavata Mahatmya of the Padma Purana would be a fitting finale to this essay. ‘The Bhakti which carries with it the aesthetic delight of prema or pure love and which is strengthened by Jnana and vairagya, knowledge and renunciation, will then have free play in every home and in every human heart,’
Reference:
1. Bhagavata, a Study - Swami Harshananda
2. Srimad Bhagavata (In four volumes) - Swami Tapasyananda
3. Central Theme of Srimad Bhagavatam - Swami Ranganathananda
4. Lord Krishna: His Lilas & Teachings - Swami Sivananda
5. Srimad Bhagavatam - Swamy Srikrishna Das
6. Advaitic Theism of the Bhagavata Purana - Daniel P. Sheridan
7. Srimad Bhagavatam: Its Message For the Modern Man - Swami Shantananda Puri
