Does bhakti come from bhakti or from punya?

n SB 10.12.11- ittham satam brahmasukhanubhutya.., there is the word krita punya punjah- which means those who have accumulated pious deeds- the verse is saying that such persons can play with the Supreme Lord. I have heard you explain that bhakti only comes from bhakti, not from punya? Does the word ‘punya’ here mean ‘bhakti’?  BG 7.28 and its purport also seem to suggest that one’s sins need to end first through pious activities before bhakti can begin.In general, there seems to be some confusion on this point. Some devotees talk about ‘sukriti’ in the context of bhakti, others say that sukriti is irrelevant, that it is the *causeless* mercy of the Vaisnavas and point to Srila Prabhupada’s disciples who were hippies and led sinful lives before becoming Vaisnavas. It would really help to get a clear discussion of this point.

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

Hare Krishna. Question, does bhakti come from punya or only from bhakti? In the Srimad Bhagavatam 10.12.11, Ittham satam brahma sukhanubhutya, there is the word krita-punya-punjaha, which means those who have accumulated pious deeds. The verse is saying that such persons can play with the Supreme Lord.

I have heard you explain that bhakti only comes from bhakti, not from punya. Does the word punya here mean bhakti? Bhagavad Gita 7.28 and its purport also seems to suggest that one's sins need to end first through pious activities before bhakti can begin. In general, there seems to be some confusion on this point.

Some devotees talk about sukhrti in the context of bhakti. Others say that sukhrti is irrelevant, that it is the causeless mercy of the Vaishnavas, and point to Shlobhrapa, the disciples who were hippies and led sinful lives before becoming Vaishnavas. It would really help to get a clear discussion of this point.

Answer? Yes, Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur, in his book Madhurya Kadambini, analyzes this quite elaborately, systematically, and that is also similarly presented by other acharyas. So bhakti comes primarily from bhakti. Bhakti sanjayate bhakti, that is the verse in the 11th canto.

So bhakti comes from bhakti. At the same time, does punya play a role? Yes. If you look at 7.28, the verse emphasizes significantly.

ye shantvantagatam papam jananampunyakarmana te dvandvamoha nirmukta bhajante mam drudhavratah So what the verse is saying is that those who become free from all sins, antagatam papam, and then jananampunyakarmana, those who are punyakarmana, punyakarmana means that they are situated in, they have done punya for a long time, jananampunyakarmana, te dvandvamoha nirmukta, they become free from moha, and bhajante mam drudhavratah. So here the point is becoming steady in bhakti. The point is not starting bhakti.

There's a difference. So, and in fact even this verse, our Acharyas, Ishwara Prabhupada also quotes this verse later, in 18.76, when Krishna says, aham tvam sarvapape bhi mokshe shami maruja I'll free you from all sinful reactions, just surrender to me. So there what Krishna is saying is, whatever be one's state, one can surrender to him, and surrender, sharanagati, is essentially an act of bhakti.

So, that means, if we consider these three modes, ignorance, passion, goodness. So, the spiritual platform and the devotional platform are above all these. So the spiritual is above.

In the spiritual we could say, just the impersonal spiritual and the devotional. Both are transcendental. So, naturally, when we are going to purify ourselves, we are going from ignorance to passion to goodness to transcendence.

That's a progression that will happen. So while this progression is happening, we will become more and more steady as the progression progresses. That means a person who is in goodness can practice bhakti more steadily than a person who is in passion or ignorance.

So that's what Krishna is saying, drudha vrataha. Now, the influence of papa is that, papa keeps us in the lower modes of consciousness. Because we are in the lower modes, we do sinful activities, and when we do sinful activities, then those sinful activities keep us down in the lower modes or drag us down further.

So when we understand this point, that actually the modes that sin drags us down, and punya generally is done in goodness. So, punya brings us upwards towards transcendence. So definitely punya is favorable for bhakti and papa is unfavorable for bhakti.

At the same time, with respect to starting of bhakti, in one sense, it becomes like this, that all three, rather than being a vertical progression, a person from anywhere can start bhakti. Of course, when the person starts bhakti, the person has to go through the modes. And anybody will have to actually rise through the modes to come to transcendence, to come to the devotional platform.

So, now, this is the broad philosophical understanding that anybody can start bhakti from any mode. And this Krishna makes it clear in the 9th chapter, when he says, ye pisyu papayoniha, that even those who are papayoni, those who are born sinful, those who are sinful by birth, the lower births they have, those people can also become mamipartha vyapashyutya ye pisyu papayoniha te piyanti param gatin, Krishna says. That even they can attain supreme destination, 9.32. So, Krishna says that papa is not a disqualification for practicing bhakti.

And conversely, punya in and of itself is not a qualification. And we see this point being talked about elsewhere when Krishna says that, actually, as I said, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo mokshishyam, I'll free you from sinful reactions. So, this is now the broad understanding of bhakti can be practiced by anyone from any mode, whether that person is punyavan or papi, but the less papi the person is, the less sinful and the more pious the person is, the easier it will be to practice bhakti.

After understanding this point, now let's look at the other aspects of it. So, now, Krishna talks about the starting of bhakti in 7.16. And there he says, chaturvidha bhajante ma, janah supritna arjuna, artho jijnasura artharti, jnani ca bharatarsabha, so he says jnani, janah supritna arjuna, sukruti. So, now, what is this sukruti? So, Vishwanatha Thakur and Bhaktivinoda Thakur, both of them talk about this.

And they say there is bhakti unmukha sukruti. Bhakti unmukha sukruti means that, that sukruti, which makes a person come closer to bhakti. Unmukha means vimukha, mukha is face.

So, vimukha means to turn away. Unmukha means to turn towards. So, bhakti unmukha sukruti means, say, a person likes to garden.

And while gardening, the person waters a tulsi tree also. That is bhakti unmukha sukruti. So, this is favorable for bhakti because it turns a person towards Krishna.

Now, this attracts bhakti because this is like the beginning of bhakti. So, a devotee is causeless mercy when it comes. If a person has performed bhakti unmukha sukruti and person's heart turns out to be more receptive to receive Krishna.

Now, there can be material sukruti also, there can be material punya also, which can also help a person to come closer to Krishna. But that does not stimulate or start bhakti. So, that is, that may, punya may make one receptive to bhakti because when a person is punyavan, at that time that person is ready, is more likely to be philosophical, more likely to be inclined towards religion, religion and metaphysics and the person is more likely to respect saintly people and then that, that itself may create receptivity.

But that itself, so, there can be, in one sense you can have material platform, something which is receptive, conducive for spiritual practices and that is a spiritual receptive. So, bhakti unmukha sukruti makes one spiritually receptive. It kindles our spiritual desires.

Whereas, the material receptivity, which is created by punya, that does not necessarily see bhakti as a spiritually transformative process. It sees it primarily as a, it is a good cultural practice. So, we will see many people who are, say, born in traditional Indian families, they have a cultural respect for the spiritual tradition.

But they don't necessarily see it as a method for self-transformation. Certainly they don't see it as the ultimate goal of life, that vital essence of life. They don't see it like that.

This is one part of life. It is a good part of life. And when I get time, I'll practice it.

Until then, I'll respect it. So, that attitude is also one level of receptivity. And that can be created by sattva guna.

But when we talk about bhakti unmukha sukruti, that means, that refers to the spiritual desire that is activated by the association of devotees or by the performance of unknowing devotional service. Now, over and above the sukruti, sukruti plays a role, but over and above that, far greater is the role of mercy. So, if some devotee comes in our life and devotee gives us the opportunity to practice devotional service, then Krishna's mercy manifests through that devotee and that enables us to practice devotional life.

So, that is the primary factor. So, Vishnachakra says that a punya in and of itself would engender bhakti. Then bhakti would become dependent on material things.

Then bhakti is ahaituki apratihata. Nothing material can cause it, nothing material can interrupt it. So, bhakti is transcendental.

So, what attracts, what stimulates bhakti is the bhakti from another person. So, the point here is that the candle can be lit by another candle. One candle can be lit by another candle.

So, the lit candle is the bhakta and the unlit candle is the person who has some, who is going to become a devotee. So, now, if for example, if instead of candle I have got metal, then metallic stick is much more difficult to light. A candle is much more easy to light.

But ultimately the lighting comes not because it's a candle or because it's a metal. The lighting comes because it comes in contact with something that is illuminated. So, similarly, what starts bhakti primarily is the contact with the devotee.

And that's why the mercy of the devotee is the most important factor in the practice of spiritual life. But along with that, the material situations, material punya does help. So, now, yes, in the verse that is quoted over there, the acharya has explained that here it refers to bhakti.

Ittham satam brahma sukhaanubhutya Saakham vijahum punah kuta-punya-punja The verse is Saakham vijahum punah kuta-punya-punja They have actually practiced lots and lots of piety. So, this has to be understood carefully. At one level, the associates of Krishna are eternal associates.

So, it's not that they have done punya and then come to the level of becoming Krishna's associates. They are eternal associates. But, along with that, it is also stated that there are sadhana siddha people also who go there.

And they have to practice a lot of bhakti. So, in general, the scriptures, where the technical point is being talked, at that place, there may be a difference between punya, between bhakti, unmoksha, prati and punya. But, overall, after that, the scriptures do use the word punya in the sense of bhakti also.

So, for the technical differentiation, we will have to look at the sections of the scriptures where the acharyas provide systematic analysis and draw from various references. But, in a generic sense, the word punya can refer to material sukruti or it can refer to devotional sukruti also. So, here, it refers to devotional sukruti.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.