Chapter One: Rāgamayī Bhakti and Its Vaishnava Tradition
That is to say, līlā means the desire for play. An action devoid of any purpose is called līlā. It produces no external result; even if a result does arise, it is not intended. Nor does the action produce the slightest effort in its agent. Rather, when the inner being has become filled with complete bliss, an activity resembling the production of a result arises from the exuberance of that bliss. This is called līlā.
The Lord is complete and satisfied in himself. Therefore he continually performs līlā without ulterior purpose, solely to relish the flavour of divine play and enable others to relish it: "There is no purpose whatsoever, because līlā itself is the purpose." [Aṇubhāṣya] Although eternally satisfied, the Lord remains eternally unsatisfied; although free of desire, he desires to play. Although one without a second, he is subject to the devotee's love. Although the very embodiment of rasa, he thirsts for rasa.
Brahma-sambandha and Tāpa
By bestowing love for God in the disciple's heart, the guru establishes the disciple's relationship with God. In the Puṣṭi Mārga this is called brahma-sambandha. After brahma-sambandha, longing for union arises in the disciple's heart; this is called tāpa, the burning anguish of love. This tāpa is the very life of the Puṣṭi Mārga discipline: "Where the fivefold remorse is always present—"1
Footnotes
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Sri Haridasa's Puṣṭimārga-lakṣaṇāni is noteworthy in this connection. Its first seven definitions are:
- Where the absence of every spiritual means is itself the means of attaining the fruit—or where the fruit itself becomes the means—that is called Puṣṭi Mārga.
- Where both worldly and Vedic accomplishment occur only through grace, and never through personal effort, know that to be Puṣṭi Mārga.
- Where there is exclusive devotion to the Lord's essential form, preceded by knowledge of its true purport, but no reliance upon formal religious observance, that is called Puṣṭi Mārga.
- Where the Lord accepts a person without considering eligibility or any other qualification, and dependence rests upon what the Lord himself has done, that is called Puṣṭi Mārga.
- Where the Lord does not examine hidden faults, and the highest knowledge arises through his action, that is called Puṣṭi Mārga.
- Where there is no dependence whatsoever upon worldly convention or the Veda, and the sole concern is the Master's happiness, that is called Puṣṭi Mārga.
- Where not even the slightest cause for divine election can be found, and the Lord chooses solely by his own will, that is called Puṣṭi Mārga.