Verse Text
śravaṇotkīrtanādīni vaidha-bhakty-uditāni tu|
yāny aṅgāni ca tāny atra vijṣeyāni manīṣibhiḥ ||296||
Translation
The discriminating practitioners should accept the aṅgas which were mentioned in vaidhi-bhakti such as hearing and chanting as the aṅgas of rāgānuga-bhakti.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Along with hearing and chanting, items such as surrendering to the lotus feet of guru should be understood as favorable. Without those favorable items how can one accomplish following after the eternal inhabitants of Vraja? After considering with intelligence, one should select activities conducive to one’s own sentiments for Kṛṣṇa, and not those activities which are contrary to one’s sentiments. Though prescribed in the scriptures, activities of deity worship such as worshipping Rukmiṇī, meditation of Dvārakā, performing mudrās and nyāsas, [Note: Mudrās are gestures using hands and fingers. Some are functional, indicating stages of the arcana; some indicate the weapons of the Lord; some indicate the items offered in worship. Nyāsa consists of touching various parts of the body with the fingers while uttering mantras. Both of these items are described in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa as part of vaidhi-bhakti arcana. Nyāsa is also mentioned in the definition of arcana given in verse 1.2.137.] or identifying oneself with the Lord and worshipping oneself, should be rejected. The scriptures also say that, on the path of bhakti, there is no fault in omitting some of the procedures (procedures such as meditation on Rukmiṇī).
yān āsthāya naro rājan na pramādyeta karhicit
dhāvan nimīlya vā netre na skhalen na pated iha
O King, one who accepts this process of devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead will never blunder on his path in this world. Even while running with his eyes closed, he will never trip or fall. SB 11.2.35
na hy aṅgopakrame dhvaṁso mad-dharmasyoddhavāṇv api
mayā vyavasitaḥ samyaṅ nirguṇatvād anāśiṣaḥ
My dear Uddhava, because I have personally established it, this process of devotional service unto Me is transcendental and free from any material motivation. Certainly, a devotee never suffers even the slightest loss by adopting this process. SB 11.29.20
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The aṅgas here refer to those aṅgas of vaidhi-bhakti which are favorable to one’s particular rāgānugā cultivation.
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
A devotee who is actually advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, who is constantly engaged in devotional service, should not manifest himself, even though he has attained perfection. The idea is that he should always continue to act as a neophyte devotee as long as his material body is there. Activities in devotional service under regulative principles must be followed even by the pure devotee. But when he realizes his actual position in relationship with the Lord, he can, along with the discharging of regulative service, think within himself of serving the Lord under the guidance of a particular associate of the Lord and develop his transcendental sentiments in following that associate.
In this connection, we should be careful about the so-called siddha-praṇālī. The siddha-praṇālī process is followed by a class of men who are not very authorized and who have manufactured their own way of devotional service. They imagine that they have become associates of the Lord simply by thinking of themselves like that. This external behavior is not at all according to the regulative principles. The so-called siddha-praṇālī process is followed by the prākṛta-sahajiyā, a pseudosect of so-called Vaiṣṇavas. In the opinion of Rūpa Gosvāmī, such activities are simply disturbances to the standard way of devotional service.
Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī says that learned ācāryas recommend that we follow the regulative principles even after the development of spontaneous love for Kṛṣṇa. According to the regulative principles, there are nine departmental activities, as described above, and one should specifically engage himself in the type of devotional service for which he has a natural aptitude. For example, one person may have a particular interest in hearing, another may have a particular interest in chanting, and another may have a particular interest in serving in the temple. So these, or any of the other six different types of devotional service (remembering, serving, praying, engaging in some particular service, being in a friendly relationship or offering everything in one’s possession), should be executed in full earnestness. In this way, everyone should act according to his particular taste.