[Advaita-l] Madhusudhana Saraswathi and Advaita.

[Ramesh Krishnamurthy]

On 26 February 2012 15:09, Rajaram Venkataramani <rajaramvenk at gmail.com>wrote:

> << Gaudapada's source of the concept of upasana is Upanishads, which has
> the
> term bhakti. Also, how can you do Upasana without Bhakti?>>
>


It must be understood that upAsana is a broad term that includes may
different kinds of sAdhana. Conventional bhakti, in the sense of an
intensely personal relationship with an anthropomorphic deity, may or not
be an element of upAsana. In particular, there are many kinds of
mantra-based upAsana where the emphasis is on the correct process and
application of the mantra, rather than what may be more conventionally
recognized as bhakti-bhAva.

The presence or otherwise of bhakti in the upaniShat-s is not a
straightforward matter. Most neutral observers, as well as many traditional
AchArya-s, would agree that the upaniShat-s (as well as the shruti in
general) place a much lesser emphasis on bhakti than some of the purANa-s
(such as the bhAgavatam) do.