Shukavak N.

Dasa Page 1 Rüpa Gosvåmî

Rågånugå-bhakti-sådhana of Rüpa Gosvåmî

by

Shukavak N. Dasa

Gosvåmî, Rüpa,

Born 1489, Bengal – died 1564, Vrindavan, India. Caitanya Vaiß∫ava theologian,

poet and dramatist, one of the Six Gosvåmîs of Vrindavan.

The name of Rüpa Gosvåmî is most associated with that of Caitanya

Mahåprabhu (1486–1533 C. E.), the Bengali saint and proponent of an important

Hindu devotional movement that spread throughout Bengal and many parts of

North India during the sixteenth century. Caitanya himself left no writing, instead,

he left the task of systematizing his teachings to a group of theologians often

known as the Six Gosvåmîs of Vrindavan. Rüpa Gosvåmî was one member of this

group of theologians.

Born of Kar∫åta bråhma∫a ancestry of South Indian the family of Rüpa

Gosvåmî migrated to Bengal near the end of the fourteenth century. Rüpa

Gosvåmî was employed under the service of the Muslim Emperor of Bengal,

Nawab Husein Shah and took the Muslim name of Såker Malik. The name Rüpa

Gosvåmî was subsequently given by Caitanya.

Rüpa Gosvåmî is perhaps the most famous of the Six Gosvåmîs. He is

important for establishing the theoretical foundations of Caitanya Vaiß∫ava

devotional practice, sådhana-bhakti. Rüpa Gosvåmî ’s theories of devotional

practice are primarily outlined in his two Sanskrit works: Bhakti-rasåm®ta-sindhu and

Ujjvala-nîlama∫i. In his efforts to describe the practice of bhakti, Rüpa utilizes the
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theory of aesthetics developed by Bharata in his ancient treatise on Sanskrit

drama, the Nå†ya-Ωåstra. In his work Bharat goes into great detail explaining how

dramatic performance can be used to evoke various aesthetic feelings known as

rasas. Rüpa takes Bharata’s rasa theory one step further by applying his ideas to

religious practice, most notably towards the cultivation of devotional sentiments,

bhakti-rasa. Rüpa describes bhakti as the most important rasa or aesthetic feeling,

and, as in the Nå†ya-Ωåstra where drama is used as the means to evoke aesthetic

feelings, Rüpa Gosvåmî utilizes the divine play (lîlå) of K®ß∫a as the supreme

means to evoke devotional feelings. For Rüpa Gosvåmî the divine pastimes of

K®ß∫a become the means to access ultimate reality. Rüpa Gosvåmî builds his

system of sådhana-bhakti almost exclusively on K®ß∫a-lîlå which are those stories

found in the Bhågavat-purå∫a and similar works that describe the activities of

K®ß∫a.

In his Bhakti-rasåm®ta-sindhu Rüpa Gosvåmî’s divides devotional practice

(sådhana-bhakti) into three types: vaidhi-bhakti, rågånugå-bhakti and rågåtmikå-bhakti.

The path of vaidhi-bhakti is that means of devotional cultivation that follows various

rules that are conducive to the attainment of devotion. The word vaidhi means

“what is based on rules”. Such practice includes reciting the names of K®ß∫a (japa),

worship of the sacred image of God, fasting, study of scripture, and so forth. Rüpa

Gosvåmî outlines sixty-four such procedures of devotional piety. The intent of

these rules is to purify the heart of the performer in preparation for the next stage

of devotion, rågånuga-bhakti. Literally the word råga means passion. In this way the

path of vaidhi-bhakti prepares the way for the path of rågånugå-bhakti.

The path of rågånugå-bhakti is distinct from vaidhi-bhakti because it involves the

transformation of the practitioner’s identity from a person of this world into a

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divine participant within K®ß∫a-lîlå. Rüpa Gosvåmî defines rågånugå-bhakti as that

method of bhakti which follows the perfect devotion demonstrated by the

inhabitants of Vraja. Here the people of Vraja described in K®ß∫a-lîlå become

exemplary models of devotion. In their interaction with K®ß∫a they display a

perfect form devotion called rågåtmikå-bhakti. It is this rågåtmikå-bhakti that the

followers of rågånugå-bhakti must learn to follow by studying the emotional feeling

of love exchanged between K®ß∫a and the other participants of lîlå, such as K®ß∫a’s

boy friends, parents, lady friends and other members described in K®ß∫a-lîlå. The

followers of rågånugå-bhakti gradually learn to model their feelings after these

individuals. Thus K®ß∫a’s friends, parents and other members become

paradigmatic individuals.

In analyzing the emotional states of the participants of K®ß∫a-lîlå, Rüpa

Gosvåmî describes five emotional types: those individuals who express the peaceful

mood (Ωånta-rasa) such as meditating sages; those who express the mood of

servitude (dåsya-rasa) such as K®ß∫a’s servants; those who express the mood of

friendship (såkhya-rasa) such as K®ß∫a’s friends; those who express the parental

mood (vatslya-rasa) such as K®ß∫a’s parents; and those who express the conjugal

mood (mådhurya-rasa) such as the Gopîs. Thus, by studying the emotional

temperament of one of these individuals the practitioners of rågånugå-bhakti can

learn to experience or ‘taste’ the rasa of these individuals. Eventually, through the

practice of rågånugå-bhakti the practitioner will rise to the level of rågåtmikå-bhakti.

In Rüpa Gosvåmî’s system of bhakti vaidhi-bhakti may be described as the grammar

of love, rågånugå-bhakti may be described as the literature of love and rågåtmikå-

bhakti may be described as the actual poetic experience itself.

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Bibliography:

Haberman, David L. (1988). Acting as a Way of Salvation, A Study of Rågånugå Bhakti

Sådhana. New York: Oxford University Press.

Chakravarti, Ramakanta. (1985), Vaiß∫avism in Bengal 1486–1900. Calcutta:

Sanskrit Pustak Bhandar.

De, S. K. (1961). Early History of the Vaisnava Faith and Movement in Bengal. Calcutta:

Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay.

Das, Shukavak N. (1999). Hindu Encounter with Modernity, Kedarnath Datta

Bhaktivinoda Vaiß∫ava Theologian. Los Angeles: SRI Publications.

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Index of Words

Rüpa Gosvåmî

Caitanya Mahåprabhu

Six Gosvåmîs of Vrindavan

Såker Malik

Nawab Husein Shah

Caitanya Vaiß∫ava

sådhana-bhakti

Bhakti-rasåm®ta-sindhu

Ujjvala-nîlama∫I

Nå†ya-Ωåstra

Bhågavat-purå∫a

rågånugå-bhakti

rågåtmikå-bhakti

vaidhi-bhakti

Ωånta-rasa

dåsya-rasa

såkhya-rasa

vatslya-rasa

mådhurya-rasa