CC Madhya 22.149
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 149
- rāgātmikā-bhakti—'mukhyā' vraja-vāsi-jane
- tāra anugata bhaktira 'rāgānugā'-nāme
SYNONYMS
rāgātmikā-bhakti—spontaneous devotional service; mukhyā—preeminent; vraja-vāsi-jane—in the inhabitants of Vraja, or Vṛndāvana; tāra—that; anugata—following; bhaktira—of devotional service; rāgānugā-nāme—named rāgānugā or following after spontaneous devotional service.
TRANSLATION
"The original inhabitants of Vṛndāvana are attached to Kṛṣṇa spontaneously in devotional service. Nothing can compare to such spontaneous devotional service, which is called rāgātmikā bhakti. When a devotee follows in the footsteps of the devotees of Vṛndāvana, his devotional service is called rāgānugā bhakti.
PURPORT
In his Bhakti-sandarbha, Jīva Gosvāmī states:
tad evaṁ tat-tad-abhimāna-lakṣaṇa-bhāva-viśeṣeṇa svābhāvika-rāgasya vaiśiṣṭye sati tat-tad-rāga-prayuktā śravaṇa-kīrtana-smaraṇa-pāda-sevana-vandanātma-nivedana-prāyā bhaktis teṣāṁ rāgātmikā bhaktir ity ucyate. . . . tatas tadīyaṁ rāgaṁ rucyānugacchantī sā rāgānugā.
When a pure devotee follows the footsteps of a devotee in Vṛndāvana, he develops rāgānugā bhakti.