TLC – Teachings of Lord Caitanya to Rupa Gosvami—Part 02

Giriraj Swami:

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaitacandra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Yesterday, we discussed the verse,

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

When some living entity becomes fortunate, he gets the seed of devotional service by the mercy of guru and Krishna. And how does one become fortunate? One can see from the example of the life of Narada Muni. By rendering service to pure devotees, unknowingly, he performed pious activities, which ultimately led him to devotional service. Now, someone asked, how does one know when one has received mercy? One incident took place in Jagannatha Puri when Lord Chaitanya first arrived there. He came to the temple of Jagannatha and went into an ecstatic trance and fainted before the deity. So the chief pandit in the court of Maharaja Pratap Rudra, saw Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and had moved to his own place. After some time, Lord Chaitanya came to external consciousness, and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya had some talk with Him. He became attracted by the humility and the beauty of the Lord. Still, he thought the Lord was a human being. But Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya’s brother-in-law, Gopinatha Acharya, knew that Lord Chaitanya was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So Sarvabhauma arranged for the Lord’s stay at some other place, and then when the brother-in-law returned, Sarvabhauma spoke to him and asked some questions that, “What is the sannyasi’s name?” So he said, “Krishna Chaitanya.” Sarvabhauma was very satisfied. He said, “That is a very good name.” And Chaitanya is a brahmachari title, so he was pleased that the Lord was so humble that he retained the title of Chaitanya, the title of brahmachari. And then he asked, “In what sampradāya he was initiated? From whom did he take sannyasa?” And Gopinatha Acharya replied that, “He took from Kesava Bharati.” Then Sarvabhauma said, “Oh, he only took initiation into the Bharati sampradāya. I can arrange for him to be initiated into the higher sampradāya, like Sarasvati.”

So, Gopinatha Acharya and Mukunda dasa accompanied him, heard the words of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, they felt very sorry because they understood that he was thinking that Lord Chaitanya was a human being and that he belonged to a lower order of sannyasa and that he should be brought into a higher class. Then there was some discussion about the identity of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Gopinatha Acharya said that, “He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” And Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya and his disciples challenged him, “On what authority do you say so?” Which is correct because no one should accept anyone as God or an incarnation of God without reference to authority. So, Gopinatha Acharya quoted some references from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Mahābhārata, kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ and others. But still, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya did not accept. He said that, “According to scripture, the Lord only appears in three ages: Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, and Dvapara-yuga, and He does not appear in Kali-yuga. And therefore, He is known as Triyuga because He only appears in three ages.” Gopinatha Acharya replied that He only appears in three ages as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He does appear in Kali-yuga in a covered form as a devotee.

Then Gopinatha Acharya said that, “Because you are accustomed to speculative knowledge, even though you read the scriptures and are the most learned person in the scriptures, still you will not be able to understand the Lord because no one can understand the Lord without the mercy of the Lord.” Then Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked that, “All right, I admit that I don’t have the mercy of the Lord, but what about you? What is the evidence that you have it?” He replied, “The proof is that I can understand that He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and that is the proof. And therefore, I can engage in devotional service.” He was not convinced. Then the next day, he went to the Jagannatha temple with Sri Krishna Chaitanya and wanted to speak Vedanta philosophy to him because he thought, “He is a young sannyasi. He may not be able to maintain his vows. So he should hear about spiritual knowledge and renunciation from Vedānta-sūtra so he can be fixed.” So for seven days, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya spoke, and Lord Chaitanya did not say one word. At the end, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked him that, “Why are you not saying anything? If there is anything that you don’t understand, you can ask.” And Lord Chaitanya replied, “I can understand the verses of Vedanta quite clearly, but I cannot understand your explanation at all.” And he said, “How is it that you can understand the original but not the explanation, which explains the original?”

So then Lord Chaitanya explained to him, how one has to receive the Vedic literatures by the direct meaning and not imagine some meaning or give some interpretation. Somehow or other, at the end of the discussion, especially when Lord Chaitanya explained the ātmārāma verse, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was able to see that Lord Chaitanya was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and he immediately fell down at the Lord’s feet. He felt very bad because he hadn’t been able to recognize the Lord before. Then Lord Chaitanya showed further mercy and first showed him His four-handed form as Vishnu and then His two-handed form as Krishna. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya become completely changed, he became the most staunch follower of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and everyone was so pleased to see him, especially Gopinatha Acharya. Then Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya approached him and told him. Well, first, Gopinatha Acharya said, “Now you have received the mercy of the Lord, so now you know He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and now you know what mercy is.” Then he said that, “Because you are the Lord’s devotee and you showed mercy to me, therefore the Lord Himself showed mercy.” So Lord Chaitanya was very pleased with the statement of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. The incident shows how, without mercy, even if one is very qualified in other respects, such as knowledge, renunciation, and good behavior, still without the mercy of the Lord, which follows the mercy of the devotee, one cannot get bhakti.

So when one gets the seed of bhakti, he is considered most fortunate because unless one gets the seed of bhakti, he cannot fulfill his desires. Everyone wants to be peaceful and happy, but unless one takes to Krishna consciousness, he can’t actually get peace or happiness. So without Krishna consciousness, his desires will be frustrated. So someone who can actually come to Krishna consciousness he is so fortunate. But he should not neglect what he has received, but he should take care. And Lord Chaitanya now explains how he should take care of the seed of devotion once he receives it. [CC. Madhya-līlā 152]

mālī hañā kare sei bīja āropaṇa
śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana

mālī hañā, he should become a mālī. He should become a gardener. And kare sei bīja āropaṇa, he should sow the seed. In other words, he should accept the seed deep in his heart. śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana, and he should sprinkle it with the water of hearing and chanting. So no seed can sprout without water, and therefore the devotee who receives the seed of devotion must water it by hearing and chanting. He receives the seed first of all by hearing from the spiritual master, and after hearing from the spiritual master, he should repeat what the spiritual master has said, and that is chanting.

upajiyā bāḍe latā ‘brahmāṇḍa’ bhedi’ yāya
‘virajā’, ‘brahma-loka’ bhedi’ ‘para-vyoma’ pāya

upajiyā bāḍe, thus being cultivated, the creeper increases. latā ‘brahmāṇḍa’ bhedi’ yāya, it penetrates the universe. ‘virajā’, ‘brahma-loka’ bhedi’ ‘para-vyoma’ pāya, and it penetrates the Viraja river, which is a river between the material world and the spiritual world. It is marginal. It separates the material world from the spiritual world. So some types of impersonalists attain the Viraja river because they don’t remain in the material world, neither do they ascend to the spiritual world. Then beyond the Viraja River is the brahmajyoti. The material world is compared to a cloud in the spiritual sky. So beyond the covering of the cloud or beyond the coverings of the universe is the spiritual sky, which is filled with the spiritual light from the transcendental body of Krishna. And the light is called brahmajyoti. So he goes beyond the brahmajyoti also, and he comes to the spiritual abode of Krishna, of the planet known as Goloka Vrindavan, which is the highest planet in the spiritual sky. Then the creeper takes shelter there because a creeper cannot stand on its own strength. The creeper must take shelter of another plant, like a tree. So here, the creeper of devotion takes shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna in the planet of Goloka Vrindavan. And there it produces the fruit of love of God.

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has explained that after the seed is planted within the heart and watered by the process of chanting and hearing, the seed will sprout and after the seed sprouts, two leaves will appear. And the two leaves are the qualities of sādhana-bhakti. One leaf is kleśaghnī, which means eradication of miseries or relief from miseries, and the other leaf is śubhadā, which means that it bestows auspiciousness. It gives happiness to the devotee. It gives all good qualities to the devotee and so on. So both come at the stage of sādhana-bhakti. That is, he becomes free from bad qualities and desires, and he becomes full of good qualities and activities. Then the plant grows, penetrates the covering of the universe, and enters the spiritual world. So this describes bhāva-bhakti, because in bhāva-bhakti one actually begins to leave the material world and enter into the spiritual world. And then the fruit of the plant is prema. And when one gets prema, one gets the ability to attract Krishna. And then Krishna, and Krishna’s associates, and Krishna’s abode, all come to the devotee. They all manifest to the devotees, and that is how the devotee enters Goloka Vrindavan.

Now the present verse says, “There in the spiritual world, the creeper expands and produces the fruit known as Love of Godhead. And here, in the material world, the gardener regularly sprinkles the creeper with the water of hearing and chanting.” In other words, although the devotee enters the spiritual world, he remains simultaneously within the material world. He is in both, the spiritual world and the material world, and he continues the process of chanting and hearing. And therefore, Srila Prabhupada said that the process of chanting and hearing is absolute. It is the means, and it is the end. By chanting and hearing, our bhakti increases. And when our bhakti becomes perfect, fruitful, still the chanting and hearing continues. So one never stops the process of chanting and hearing. And if one does stop the process of chanting and hearing, even if he has become elevated in Krishna consciousness, he can fall down, because even after the plant bears fruit, the plant still has to be watered, otherwise, the plant will dry. So this is very important. Nobody should think that they are so advanced that they don’t have to chant and hear anymore.

So everything sounds very nice. We get the seed of devotion by the mercy of guru and Krishna, and we water it by chanting and hearing, and we go back home, back to Godhead. It sounds very easy, and it is, provided nothing bad happens to the creeper. And sometimes bad things can happen. So we have to be careful, not to allow them to happen. And how we can do so is explained by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself. yadi vaiṣṇava-aparādha uṭhe hātī mātā, if the devotee commits an offense at the feet of the Vaishnava, the offense is likened to a mad elephant, upāḍe vā chiṇḍe, tāra śukhi’ yāya pātā. He uproots the devotional creeper and breaks it, and thus the devotional creeper shrivels and dries. So, just as one can cultivate a garden for many years and grow many nice plants with many fragrant flowers, but if a mad elephant enters the garden, he can create havoc in the garden in no time. And everything that one has worked so hard to cultivate and grow and produce can be destroyed. So here, vaiṣṇava-aparādha, especially refers to guru aparādha, for the offense of disobeying the orders of the spiritual master. When one takes shelter of the spiritual master by initiation, he promises not to commit any sinful activities and to chant the holy names of Krishna. So after receiving the seed of devotion at the time of initiation, if one then offends the spiritual master by disobeying the instructions of the spiritual master, breaking the principles, then that is compared to a mad elephant. But there are certain precautions that one can take so that he doesn’t break the regulative principles.

tāte mālī yatna kari’ kare āvaraṇa
aparādha-hastīra yaiche nā haya udgama

Therefore, the gardener with great attention must surround the creeper with protective fencing so that the elephant of offense cannot enter. Now what is the fencing? The fencing is the association of pure devotees. In other words, the devotee should remain within the circle of pure devotees, and if he is always surrounded by pure devotees, there is no chance that he will commit offenses and break the regulative principles. Now, one may say, or one may think, that he doesn’t need to stay in the circle of pure devotees, but he can maintain Krishna consciousness even outside the association of pure devotees. But here there is one practical problem, and that is that man is a social animal; he cannot remain without association. So if we don’t associate with devotees, then who will we associate with? We will associate with non-devotees. And what do non-devotees do? They engage in material activities. So if we leave the association of devotees, surely we will take the association of non-devotees, and surely we will become implicated in the same types of activities that they do. Therefore, the two, go together: the injunction to associate with pure devotees and the prohibition not to associate intimately with non-devotees. And if one follows both, then he will be protected from vaiṣṇava-aparādha. Therefore, Lord Chaitanya has said elsewhere, asat-saṅga-tyāga ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra, giving up association of ordinary people. And who are ordinary people? ‘strī-saṅgī’, one type is the man who is attached to women for sense gratification, and ‘kṛṣṇābhakta’, the other is one who is not a devotee of Lord Krishna. So, he should avoid intimate association with both kinds of ordinary people. Otherwise, if he does so associate with them, surely, he will be influenced by their association, and he will fall down, and everything that he worked for so many years will be lost at least for some time. So,

‘sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’ — sarva-śāstre kaya
 lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya

One should associate with devotees, because even by a moment’s association, one can achieve all perfection. And how he achieves all perfection is explained here: by even a moment’s association with a devotee, one can get the seed of bhakti, and then if he keeps the association of devotees, the seed will grow and ultimately yield the fruit of kṛṣṇa-prema, which is the highest perfection. So both must be there: association of devotees and avoidance of intimate association with non-devotees. And in Upadeśāmṛta, Rupa Gosvami describes six items that make one successful in devotional service, and one of the items is association with devotees. And he also mentions six items that spoil one’s devotional service, and one of the six items is association with non-devotees. So we have to fence the devotional creeper on all sides. If you can stay within the circle of pure devotees, then there is no chance that the mad elephant of vaiṣṇava-aparādha can enter. This means that even when we go to preach, we should be careful because if we associate intimately with common people, we can become influenced.

Therefore, Srila Prabhupada said that the highest activity is preaching Krishna consciousness, but there is one thing even higher than preaching Krishna consciousness, and that is saving oneself first. So it is not that in the name of preaching Krishna consciousness, that in the end we fall down due to bad association. We can approach innocent persons to give them good instructions, but otherwise, we should not intimately associate with ordinary persons. And Srila Prabhupada also told us, how he was always concerned when the preachers went out, especially when they went to new places without much association. So he said that he was always anxious about what would happen to them when they went out. Actually, it did happen sometimes when devotees went to new places; they became affected. So, we have to take risks when we preach, but at the same time, we should keep the association of pure devotees, and by strong association, we will be able to preach to the innocent without being affected.

Now, if we remain within the circle of pure devotees, and we water the creeper by chanting and hearing, does it mean that there will be no other problems? No, because many devotees follow the regulative principles, chant and hear, and stay in the devotees’ association, but still there can be trouble. And the trouble arises if weeds start to grow up alongside the devotional creeper.

kintu yadi latāra saṅge uṭhe ‘upaśākhā’
bhukti-mukti-vāñchā, yata asaṅkhya tāra lekhā

Sometimes unwanted creepers, such as desires for bhukti and mukti, grow up alongside the devotional creeper, and there are unlimited varieties of such unwanted creepers or weeds. So, this is practical. We plant a seed and water it, and we put fencing around, so no animals can come and disturb it, but still, small seeds that are carried by the wind can come to the area of the creeper and settle on the soil, take root, and grow. Now, Lord Chaitanya, after saying that the varieties of unwanted creepers are without limit, mentions some important ones.

‘niṣiddhācāra’, ‘kuṭīnāṭī’, ‘jīva-hiṁsana’
‘lābha’, ‘pūjā’, ‘pratiṣṭhādi’ yata upaśākhā-gaṇa

niṣiddhācāra, behavior not to be exhibited by a person desiring to become perfect. So, niṣiddhācāra means breaking the regulative principles; eating meat, taking intoxicants, having illicit sex, or gambling, or getting gold. kuṭīnāṭī—diplomacy for duplicity. kuṭīnāṭī is very subtle, and practically anyone can be affected by kuṭīnāṭī. Because every conditioned soul has many material desires, even when he comes to Krishna consciousness, and sometimes he will attempt to fulfill his material desires in the guise of devotional service. He will put forward the appearance that he wants something for service, when actually he wants it for sense gratification. Or he will do something apparently for the sake of service, but actually, he is doing it for the sake of sense gratification.

Srila Prabhupada gives the example of a devotee who chants the holy name in seclusion like an imitation of Haridasa Thakura. So, he is showing that he is chanting the holy name, but actually, he is not chanting the holy name; he is making a show so that people will think that he is a devotee and honor him and worship him. And Ātmavat manyate jagat —as we think, we think others also think. So, when someone is involved in kuṭīnāṭī, he is also suspicious of others because he thinks that they may be cheaters like him. Or he is suspicious of others because he is afraid, they may find out his inner motives, and so he is very careful with them to be diplomatic, so that they cannot know what his actual desires are. Another example of how we can understand kuṭīnāṭī, or another related weed called kapata, which means duplicity or cheating. Kapata is a word used by Raghunatha dasa Gosvami in Manaḥ-śikṣā along with kuṭīnāṭī. One friend, a devotee friend, had a heart condition, and he wasn’t supposed to take so many items, but actually, he liked gulābjāmun very much. So he told me, whenever there were gulābjāmun as mahā-prasāda, he would immediately say, “O mahā-prasāda has come, I must honor mahā-prasāda, bring gulābjāmun, bring gulābjāmun.” And he admitted that actually he wasn’t interested in honoring mahā-prasāda; he was actually interested in gulābjāmun. But in the name of mahā-prasāda, he was calling for the gulābjāmun. So, this may be a relatively innocent example. But this is the principle that in the name of Krishna consciousness, we ask for something actually with the purpose of enjoyment.

Once Srila Prabhupada became aware of boys and girls mixing in the deity area. So he said that the boy and the girl will come in front of the deity, and one will say, “Oh, doesn’t Krishna look beautiful today?” And the other one will say, “Oh, isn’t Radharani decorated very nicely today?” But inwardly, they are thinking, “I am Radha and you are Krishna, let us enjoy.” Jīva-hiṁsana, jiva means living entity and hiṁsana means violence. So, jīva-hiṁsana means one is unnecessary killing of animals or the soul. Jiva means life, soul, jiva means living entities, all including animals. So if one eats meat or fish or eggs, he is involved in jīva-hiṁsana. But jiva also means life, and as mentioned in various places in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, real life is devotional service. Without devotional service, there is no real life. So therefore, if we deny someone the right to live or the opportunity to live, that is also jīva-hiṁsana. And if people don’t have the chance to engage in devotional service, then they are as good as dead. Their breathing is like the breathing of the bellows of the blacksmith; there is no actual life, it only appears to be breathing. So real life is devotional service, and if we don’t give people devotional service, then we are not actually giving them the chance to live, which is also jīva-hiṁsana. And therefore, if one is a devotee, he has begun the process of devotional service, but he doesn’t preach, then he is implicated with jīva-hiṁsana, which is a weed also. So therefore, one should never give up preaching. If one gives up preaching, he is involved in jīva-hiṁsana.

Then lābha—profit; pūjā, pratiṣṭhā—position or distinction, becoming an important man. So, when one gets bhakti, he becomes attractive to others because bhakti is attractive. And becoming attractive to others, they may come forward to him and offer him honor, offer him respect, offer him money, offer him facilities, and so many things. So even after beginning the process of devotional service, if the person becomes influenced by a desire for wealth or for followers, these are weeds. And pratiṣṭhā-asha, the desire for name and fame, is also mentioned by Raghunatha dasa Gosvami in Manaḥ-śikṣā, and he compares pratiṣṭhā-asha to a prostitute—not just a prostitute, but a prostitute who eats dog flesh. She eats dog flesh, and she is dancing in his heart. He is telling his mind that ‘Why have you allowed this prostitute to enter my heart? Not only is she a prostitute, but she eats dog flesh. And not only that she entered my heart, but she is dancing there without any shame. Now, as long as she is dancing in my heart, how can kṛṣṇa-prema enter? kṛṣṇa-prema will not be able to touch my heart as long as she is there.’ Raghunatha dasa Gosvami advises his mind that ‘You should serve the best devotees of the Lord, and if you serve the best devotees of the Lord, then the result is that they will kick the prostitute out. And then, when the prostitute is gone, then kṛṣṇa-prema can enter.’

So here is a specific remedy, service of the Vaishnavas, and the other is chanting without offense. By offenseless chanting and serving Vaishnavas, one can be freed from all anarthas. So, Srila Prabhupada says at the end of the purport: one should be very careful to avoid all these unwanted things. Sometimes these unwanted creepers look exactly like the bhakti-latā creeper. They appear to be of the same size and the same species when they are packed together with the bhakti-latā creeper, but in spite of this, the creepers are called upaśākhā. A pure devotee can distinguish between the bhakti-latā creeper and a mundane creeper, and he is very alert to distinguish them and keep them separate. So there are two types of devotees: pure devotees and mixed devotees. So, mixed devotees, which includes some type of neophyte devotees, may not be able to distinguish. They have many ideas for Krishna consciousness, and they cannot distinguish the ones that are actually impelled by pure devotional service and the ones that may be influenced by material desires because they themselves may not be fully conscious of their own desires or their own motives.

So, that is why we should stay in the association of pure devotees. Because the pure devotees can help us to distinguish between the actual creeper and the unwanted creepers. In other words, we should disclose our mind to the devotees because by disclosing our mind to the devotees, we can reveal what is in our hearts, and then if they are capable, they can see that this is the actual creeper. This should be watered, and these are some unwanted creepers, these should be pulled out. So, the association of devotees is most important; otherwise, we may become confused and think that the weed is the creeper, or we might even think that the creeper is a weed. Sometimes people think that the creeper is a weed, and they try to curb some devotional tendency, which they think is material, but which actually is not material. So, that is why, with the help of good association, we should distinguish between the devotional creeper and the unwanted creepers and keep them separate, and pull out the weeds and protect the creeper. seka-jala—sprinkling water, pāñā upaśākhā bāḍi’ yāya, the unwanted creepers get the water and grow luxuriously. And the mūla-śākhā — the chief creeper, the devotional creeper stabdha hañā becomes choked, bāḍite nā pāya, and not able to grow. So, if we allow the seeds of weeds in the heart, then they can drink the water that is meant for the creeper, and they can grow bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger, and they take away the water that is actually meant for the creeper, and thus the creeper becomes choked and cannot grow.

So, someone may ask, how can the weeds take benefit from the process of chanting and hearing? But actually, they can because, if we chant and at the same time commit offenses, then material desires can grow. Material desires include desires for bhukti and mukti; both are considered material. And the holy name is Krishna, nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. Now mentioned, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante, and Krishna, as you surrender to Krishna, Krishna rewards you accordingly. So, if one approaches the holy name for material benefit, he may get material benefit. If he approaches the holy name for impersonal liberation, he may get impersonal liberation. So, one has to approach the holy name with the intention of developing pure devotional service, and then one will get the real fruit, which is kṛṣṇa-prema. But if one approaches the holy name with other desires, like desires for fruitive gain or impersonal liberation, then he won’t get the real fruits of kṛṣṇa-prema. So, that is why we have to be careful, and that is why even though we superficially engage in the process of devotional service, we won’t get the result. Now, bahu janma kare yadi śravaṇa, kīrtana, this is not from here; this is from the Eighth Chapter of the Ādi-līlā. If one’s chanting is infested with offenses, even in spite of chanting and hearing for many lifetimes, you will not achieve the results of kṛṣṇa-prema.

TEXT 161

“As soon as an intelligent devotee sees an unwanted creeper growing beside the original creeper, he must cut it down instantly. Then the real creeper, the bhakti-latā, grows nicely, returns home, back to Godhead, and seeks shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.

TEXT 162

“When the fruit of devotional service becomes ripe and falls down, the gardener tastes the fruit and thus takes advantage of the creeper and reaches the desire tree of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa in Goloka Vṛndāvana.

TEXT 163

“There the devotee serves the lotus feet of the Lord, which are compared to a wish-fulfilling tree. With great bliss he tastes the juice of the fruit of love and becomes eternally happy.

So, what is the juice of the fruit? The juice of the fruit is rasa. Rasa means the mellows of devotional service in some relationship with the Lord. And in brief here, Lord Chaitanya has described three general divisions of devotional service. First, the devotee gets the seed, which is sraddha. Then he waters it by the process of chanting and hearing, which is sādhu-saṅga and bhajana-kriyā. Then he pulls out the weeds that may arise, which is anartha-nivṛtti. And then he becomes steady; he develops taste and attachment. So, this is sādhana-bhakti. These are different stages of sādhana-bhakti. And then, when the creeper pierces the covering of the universe, that is bhāva-bhakti. Because at the stage of bhāva-bhakti, one actually goes beyond the material modes of nature and begins to enter into the spiritual world.