Bhakti-yoga

Chapter 29

The progressive yogi moves from sankhya towards bhakti. Kapiladeva thus described the science of bhakti-yoga. He detailed how devotional service can be practised in three modes of material nature. In ignorance (tamas) it is executed with envy, pride, violence and anger, in passion (rajas) it is executed with motives for material enjoyment, fame and opulence, and in goodness (sattva) it is executed out of duty, with a spirit of detachment and for self-purification. When one in situated in pure devotional service, the mind is spontaneously attracted to hearing about the Lord, the desire for any kind of liberation disappears and one transcends the modes and is fixed in spiritual purity (vasudeva state).

Kapiladeva also described the vision of an advanced devotee, who sees the Lord within every living being (jiva), and thus embodies a friendly spirit toward all, carefully avoiding any insensitivity or offence. While cultivating such vision, the devotee still exercises discrimination based on gradations of jivas in order to relate to them appropriately.