10.4. Pativratā-bhakti

The most accepted type of devotion amongst all the bhakti movements is pativratā-bhakti (loyal or faithful devotion). Parabrahman likes the devotees who are associated with Him by the strong bonds of love, loyalty, and dedication like that of a wife who is most loyally committed to her husband (pativratā-stri). Such love and attachment and devotion unto Parabrahman is portrayed as ‘pativratā-bhakti’. Such 'pativratā-bhakti' is expected of everyone who wishes pleasing Parabrahman. Such singular devotion with undivided fidelity helps in drawing the grace of Parabrahman. The concept of pativratā-bhakti is endorsed to extricate a man from his chronic tendency of viewing Parabrahman as a human being.^[1]

Thus, pativratā-bhakti is to understand that, my Parabrahman is the abode of an infinite number of infinitely auspicious qualities and He is free from all imperfections, and He is the bottomless ocean of all bliss and happiness such that even a single act of seeing (darśana) Him is so fulfilling that he stands in need of nothing. On the other hand, the worldly pleasures are fractional, for each sense-organ is able to enjoy its own limited pleasure. What eyes enjoy, ears, tongue etc., cannot experience, while in the case of Parabrahman, all pleasures come jointly in a synthetic conjoined form like a flood of bliss which simultaneously satisfies all the senses and the mind.^[2]

The concept of pativratā-bhakti has its roots also in the Bhagavad-Gītā (9/34), wherein Kṛṣṇa says:

manmanā bhava madbhakto madyājī māṃ namaskuru |
māmevaiṣyasi yuktvaivamātmānaṃ matparāyaṇaḥ ||507

“Focus your mind on me, be my devotee, and be my propitiator. Offer obeisance to me alone. Affixing your mind in this way on me, regard me alone as your supreme goal, and you will attain me.”

Thus, when a devotee holds supreme Parabrahman Puruṣottama alone as his sole foundation, rescuer, and peer of the realm. He engrosses his heart and ātman in meditating upon Him and pleasing Him; he reaches none else but alone in his state of liberation.

For Pativratā-bhakti, the best examples are the gopīs of Vṛndāvana. The gopīs used to say: from the day we had the great fortune to touch the holy feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, all the inclinations of the world have become scornful like deadly poison. Just as a pativratā woman is not captivated and charmed by the handsomeness of the personality of Indra, demi-gods or a royal prince, and rather withdraws her gaze with antipathy and disgust, so pativratā-bhakta' s mind is totally united with Parabrahman. He is so committed to Parabrahman that he can never be pleased by any being other than Him.^[3] In this way, the devotee should always meditate upon that form of Parabrahman, who has assumed human form and has become visible (perceptibly manifest) before them. The other forms of previous incarnations, though they are of the same Parabrahman, need not be meditated upon. Thus, unalterable fidelity should be offered to one's Parabrahman only. For example, Pārvatiji (Goddess Umā) had resolved to marry Lord Śivā, and with such a determination she tied up herself in severe tapas (austerities) to invoke and please Lord Śivā to accept her as his bride. She used to say: ‘I don't mind remaining unmarried for many births but shall not marry anyone except my Lord Śivā.’^[4]

The Bhagavad-Gītā confirms it:

bhaktyā tvananyayā śakya ahamevaṃvidho'rjuna |
jñātuṃ draṣṭuṃ ca tattvena praveṣṭuṃ ca parantapa ||^[5]

“However, through single-minded devotion alone, I can be seen in this form, can be known in essence, and also can be reached.”

Bhadreśadāsa comments:

“tvananyayā matsvarūpaikaniṣṭhayā avyabhicaritayā bhaktyā paramadivyabhāvasabharaprakṛṣṭapremalakṣaṇayā... akhaṇḍitatayā sākṣātkṛtārthanimagnatāṃ prāptuṃ śakyaḥ |” (Bhagavad-Gītā 11/54, p.262)

“Through this focused and undeviated profound loving devotion, the seeker can experience the constant bliss of Parabrahman forever.”

He explains further that a devotee should, therefore, offer such loyalty to Parabrahman. A faithful devotee would never equate the manifest form of incarnate Parabrahman with other (mortal) human beings. Conversely, a devotee who engages himself in the meditations disregarding the form of Parabrahman visible (perceptibly-manifest) before him, is likely to be drawn towards other forms also, either human or semi-divine. Thus, one should develop complete fidelity to the currently manifest form of Parabrahman visible before him in human form, even though there is no difference between this manifest Parabrahman visible to him in human form and His previous incarnations. The whole logic of the concept of pativratā-bhakti aims at uprooting from the mind the tendency of conceiving Parabrahman's formm on par with ordinary mortals, in addition to making the vṛtti-nirodha (arrest of mental modifications) on a single goal.^[6]

In this manner, as per the principle of pativratā-bhakti, none but Parabrahman Puruṣottama alone ought to be contemplated as the highest goal. In whatever form/guise a devotee comes in a personal face-to-face relationship with Him during His manifestation on earth, He becomes the singular and sufficient object of worship for him. This further suggests that no other avatāra of the past, nor any deity or object, can serve as a substitute for Him.^[7]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā II/19, 2/62

[2]:

Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā II/1

[3]:

Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā II/62

[4]:

Vacanamrut Loyā 11

[5]:

Bhagavad-Gītā 11/54

[6]:

Bhagavad-Gītā 7/17, p.165

[7]:

Vacanāmṛta Gadhadā III/16