Now we have got our senses. If it is beyond our senses, then we become disappointed, that "We have got our senses. Everything we realize by our senses. And the Absolute Truth has to be understood by some method which is beyond our senses." That means, beyond our senses, the method or the system of religion beyond our senses means bhakti-yoga. Just to clear the disease. Bhakti-yoga is not sense activities. Bhakti-yoga is transcendental activities, beyond senses, beyond the three guṇas, three modes of material nature. That is explained by Kṛṣṇa Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā, māṁ ca 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate (BG 14.26). There also this very word has been used, bhakti-yoga. Avyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yoga. Not vyabhicārī.
Vyabhicārī and avyabhicārī. There are different types of, according to the person. Avyabhicārī. Avyabhicārī means just to the point, as it is described by the authorities. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī. He describes the bhakti-yoga:
- anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
- jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
- ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
- śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
- (Brs. 1.1.11)
So this is avyabhicāriṇī-bhakti, without any adulteration. There are so-called bhakti-yoga. They are not bhakti-yoga. Someone is thinking that "By executing bhakti-yoga, I shall become merged into the body of the Supreme." There are many. Superficially, they appear to be bhakti-yogīs, but at heart, they are nirbheda-brahmānusandhana. They clearly say also, śaṅkarera mata caitanyera patha: "When you adopt the process of Caitanya Mahāprabhu—that means chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra—but ultimately we accept the opinion of Śaṅkarācārya."
Śaṅkarācārya means nirbheda-brahmānusandhana, to become one with the Absolute. This is Śaṅkara's philosophy. "When we are liberated, there is no more distinction between the Absolute and myself. I'll be, both of us, we become one, merge." This is the Māyāvāda philosophy. But Caitanya philosophy's different. Caitanya philosophy is stated by Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His Śikṣāṣṭaka:
- na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
- kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye
- mama janmani janmanīśvare
- bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
- (CC Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4)
Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, na dhanaṁ na janam. Dhanam, riches; janam means men, manpower; na kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye. Kavitām, nice wife. So this means that it is not karma and jñāna. In the next line He says, mama janmani janmani. Jñānīs' process is to stop birth and merge into the existence of the Absolute.