Jagadguru Shree Kripalu Ji Maharaj, our beloved Shree Maharaj Ji, says in one of his compositions,
जब समझ प्रेम में डूब गई, तब क्या होगा समझने से ।
Jab samajh prem meiṇ doob gayiī, tab kyā hogā samjhaane se.
There comes a point when ‘samajh (intellect) prem (Divine love) mein doob gayi’ - the intellect drowns in love.
So now, when love is formed, the intellect is no longer active. The intellect is now suppressed; it is drowned in love. Now only the mind, only the heart, is in āsakti (attachment).
And then bhāv bhakti, the stage of bhāv bhakti, is reached. I must caution you - many think that bhāv bhakti means when someone goes into bhāv (devotional emotion), when an aspiring devotee starts crying a little bit for God, or when he or she starts trembling a little bit in love for God, with the grace of the Guru, people may say,
“Oh, you know what? He’s gone into bhāv bhakti.”
That’s not bhāv bhakti. That is just the grace of God and Guru. One moment we are in bhāv, and next moment we are in tāv (agitation). One moment we look so devotional, “Oh, she’s like Meera Bai (a God realized Devotee of Shree Krishna)!”, the next moment she’s getting angry; she’s speaking very cruel words. That’s not bhāv bhakti. That was just, we were experiencing the grace of God and Guru, and wonderful sanskārs (spiritual impressions) came to the forefront, and we had few tears in the eyes. And the moment that the thought comes,
“Oh, I’m really a good devotee,” there’s a dry period, there’s a dry spell. We’ve all experienced it, haven’t we? Bhāv bhakti is totally different. It’s a stage of bhakti, a stage of devotion. But now we think,
“How can I be sure that I haven’t reached it? Have I reached it? Have I reached that stage?”
We may think we have reached it, so it’s good to know what Roop Goswami says in Bhakti Rasamrit Sindhu about the signs and indications, the anubhāv (symptoms) of bhāv bhakti. He says,
क्षान्तिरव्यर्थकालत्वं विरक्तिर्मानशून्यता ।
आशाबन्धः समुत्कण्ठा नामगाने सदा रुचिः ॥ १८ ॥(ক্ষান্তিরব্যর্থকালত্বং বিরক্তির্মানশূন্যতা ।
আশাবন্ধঃ সমুৎকণ্ঠা নামগানে সদা রুচিঃ ॥ ১৮ ॥)Kṣhāntir avyartha-kālatvaṁ viraktir māna-śhūnyatā.
Āśhā-bandhaḥ samutkaṇṭhā nāmagāne sadā ruchiḥ.- CC Madhya 23.18-19
Some of the ‘anubhāv’. Let’s start with some of them; there are nine all in all.
First of all, he says there is kṣhānti (tolerance). Look out for kṣhānti. It’s not to be confused with the word ‘shānti’, which means ‘peace’. This is kṣhānti, ‘k-sh-h-a-n-t-i’, if you will, kṣhānti, meaning ‘tolerance’.
“Tolerance? I’m tolerant. I am tolerant! I have reached bhāv bhakti.”
We ask our intellect, Buddhi Devi (the faculty of intelligence),
“Am I tolerant? Do I have kṣhānti?”
And our intellect is the biggest fan we have. The intellect says,
“But of course, you are very tolerant!”
We are tolerant when no one is saying something to us. We are sitting down and watching TV at home.
“I’m very tolerant when I’m watching TV at home because no one is saying anything. No one is speaking, no one is talking to me, no one is insulting me. So, I’m not getting angry. That doesn’t prove my tolerance.”
So what is tolerance?
क्षोभ-हेताव् अपि प्राप्ते क्षान्तिर् अक्षुभितात्मता ॥१.३.२७॥
Kṣhobh-hetāv api prāpte kṣhāntir akṣhubhitātmatā ||1.3.27||- Bhakti-Rasamrta-Sindhu 1.3.27
Roop Goswami Ji says, “Tolerance is when there is a cause for anger and you don’t get angry. When there is a reason to get tense and upset, you don’t become tense, you don’t get tense, you don’t get upset; you remain calm. There is a reason for anger, but there is no anger. You are calm. Your mind is very calm.”
That is kṣhānti.
