Monday Morning Greetings 2025 #12 – Rāgānugā-bhakti Made Easy
Dhanurdhara Swami March 17th, 2025
Rāgānugā-bhakti Made Easy[1]
I spoke to a Vaiṣṇava scholar in Vrindavan recently who described his perspective on rāgānugā-bhakti. He depicted it as a challenging path. Śrīla Prabhupāda also taught us that the path is for those who are advanced in bhakti. That scholar’s explanation:
“The most important thing in perfecting one’s devotion is chanting the holy name properly. One day my guru maharaja called me into his room when he was chanting and asked me to sit with him. He sat like a statue totally absorbed for three hours. That made a deep impression on me. Since then, I tried to follow his example. Every day I try to sit up motionless for hours to make sure my mind is not diverted away from the holy name to my body.
“When one is absorbed in this way, eventually the Lord’s rūpa (form) appears within the mind. Continuing in this way, then the lord’s guṇa, his sixty-four qualities, manifest within the name. Eventually while chanting, the Lord’s eternal associates spontaneously appear. While chanting one then observes those devotees all intensely focused on different aspects of the Lord’s form (rūpa) and various qualities (guṇa).
“Ultimately by chanting in this way a desire awakens within the heart to perceive, serve, and follow Krishna in the same way as one of these eternal associates, and naturally in the same relationship that devotee has with Krishna. Such devotees whose very essence or state of being (ātmikā) is intense devotional passion (rāga) are called also rāgātmikā bhaktas (perfected devotees. Rāgānugā-bhakti is thus the practice of devotion that arises from the spontaneous desire to follow (anuga) the intense yearnings (rāga) of such rāgātmikā bhaktas, obviously a practice that awakens at an advanced stage of devotion.”
For many reasons, spontaneous (rāga) devotion (bhakti) is generally for those who can execute devotion with very deep taste and are thus not ruled by the scriptural injunctions of obligatory (vaidhī) devotion (bhakti). Śrī Caitanya specifically came to give the experience of spontaneous devotion, and Śrī Jīva gave some encouragement for those still on the level of vaidhī-bhakti. He recommended that one should consciously cultivate a taste for Vraja (rāgānugā-bhakti) while remaining determinedly fixed in one’s spiritual practices out of duty (vaidhī-bhakti) by reading about Krishna’s pastimes in books like the Bhāgavatam and singing songs about Krishna. One then can naturally think of Krishna and his associates while performing devotional activities. He called this ajāta-ruci-rāgānugā-bhakti (following in the wake of spontaneous devotion before the taste has awoken).
This process requires some determined effort. But compared to the more advanced practices of rāgānuga-bhakti, it is simple, so I call this “rāgānugā-bhakti made easy.” This post outlines rāgānuga-bhakti in a way that offers encouragement to the reader to take up the path along the lines Śrī Jīva recommended.
Here are some excerpts from Śrīla Prabhupāda’s commentary on the beginning of the dāmodara-līlā, where Mother Yasoda’s churning of yogurt into butter is described.
“While churning the butter, mother Yaśodā was singing about the childhood activities of Krishna. It was formerly a custom that if one wanted to remember something constantly, he would transform it into poetry or have this done by a professional poet. It appears that mother Yaśodā did not want to forget Krishna’s activities at any time. Therefore she poeticized all of Krishna’s childhood activities, such as the killing of Pūtanā, Aghāsura, Śakaṭāsura and Tṛṇāvarta, and while churning the butter, she sang about these activities in poetical form. This should be the practice of persons eager to remain Krishna conscious twenty-four hours a day. This incident shows how Krishna conscious mother Yaśodā was. To stay in Krishna consciousness, we should follow such persons.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.8.1-2, purport)
“Anyone who desires to be Krishna conscious in motherly affection or parental affection should contemplate the bodily features of mother Yaśodā. […] Advanced devotees must cherish this description, always thinking of mother Yaśodā’s features — how she was dressed, how she was working and perspiring, how beautifully the flowers were arranged in her hair, and so on. One should take advantage of the full description provided here by thinking of mother Yaśodā in maternal affection for Krishna.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.8.3, purport)
Of course, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s commentary describing the practice of rāgānugā-bhakti indicates that a serious attraction for Krishna’s pastimes is still required. But it is described in a way that is accessible for those who have not yet attained such a spontaneous (rāga) mood. Therefore why not follow Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrī Jīva, embrace their mercy, and take the path of “rāgānugā-bhakti made easy”.
[1] According to my inspiration during the week I write a post for Monday Morning Greetings. Sometimes the subjects are more generic and sometimes they deal with subjects more esoteric. This week my inspiration is to write about rāgānugā-bhakti, a more esoteric subject. If one wants to understand the subject more deeply or if some of the terms used in the article are unfamiliar, I have written a more comprehensive article on the subject: https://wavesofdevotion.com/essays/srila-bhaktisiddhanta-and-rāganuga-sadhana-bhakti/.