Shishir Katote R Does vaidhi bhakti refer to sadhana bhakti and bhava bhakti to raganuga bhakti? I find it more of a preaching strategy that vaidhi bhakti gets converted to raganuga bhakti. Why? Sadhana-bhakti arises from nirguna-sraddha or paramarthiki sastriya sraddha arising out of visuddha-sattva. Brahma-Samhita (5.61) clearly states that the caliber of sadhya-bhakti (the stage of siddhi or perfection) depends on the caliber of sadhana-bhakti (i.e. bhavana). Vide – “…yādṛśī yādṛśī śraddhā siddhir bhavati tādṛśī…”. Hence, the sadhana-bhakti is also part of uttama-bhakti, though not its paramount stage. JG writes in his vaisnava-tosani commentary to SB 10th canto that "sraddha tu raty-ankura-rupa jayate..." or that this paramarthiki sraddha arises as a seed of the actual rati or bhava. If bhava and prema are visuddha-sattvatmika (as explained in BRS 1.3.1 and BRS 1.4.1), then the seed of that bhava and prema will also be visuddha-sattvatmika – making it to be uttama also (b
