This quiz is designed to motivate you to study the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava scriptures in specific, and the Sad Darshanas in general, which are necessary to understand Gauḍīya philosophy properly.
Jnana or knowledge related to bhakti is also part of bhakti. In fact, hearing, which includes studying shastra, is the first limb of bhakti. Learning, followed by consolidating and then testing our knowledge in the form of a quiz is a fun and effective way to help us retain information.
This quiz is in multiple-choice questions format. (MCQs). If you see the response that you anticipated simply click on it. The quiz will immediately show which answers are correct or incorrect so we can learn as we go.
1 / 10
According to Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, what is the very first step in bhakti?
Bhakti is not a material process and without training, nobody in this world is familiar with it. One has to learn it from a qualified teacher. This is why there is so much stress on having a teacher.
Indeed, according to Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, the very first step in bhakti is accepting a teacher, and then the second step is to formalize the relation and study from him—guru-pādāśrayastasmāt kṛṣṇa-dīkṣādi-śikṣaṇam (BRS 1.2.74).
Studying under a guru means acquiring knowledge. Kṛṣṇa also advises Arjuna to study from a teacher. He has given similar instruction to Uddhava a few times.
Learn more: Studying Śastra: Jñāna or Bhakti?
2 / 10
How does one acquire śraddhā in bhakti?
In the Bhakti Sandarbha anuchheda 171, Śrī Jīva examines the following verse:
nirviṇṇānāṃ jñāna-yogo nyāsinām iha karmasu |teṣv anirviṇṇa-cittānāṃ karma-yogas tu kāminām ||yadṛcchayā mat-kathādau jāta-śraddhas tu yaḥ pumān |na nirviṇṇo nāti-sakto bhakti-yogo’sya siddhi-daḥ ||
Out of these three methods, jñāna-yoga grants success to those who are disinterested in fruitive actions and who have thus abandoned them, whereas karma-yoga grants success to those who are not disinterested in fruitive actions and who still desire the fruits of such actions. However, for a person who, by great fortune, has acquired śraddhā in hearing My narrations and other similar devotional acts, and who is neither completely indifferent to sense objects nor overly attached to them, bhakti-yoga grants success. (SB 11.20.7-8)
Here, Śrī Jīva Goswami notes that the sole cause for eligibility in bhakti is śraddhā (śraddhā-mātraṃ hetu), and this is indicated in the verse by the word yadṛchhayā (by great fortune). Śrī Jīva glosses yadṛchhayā as
kenāpi parama-svatantra-bhagavad-bhakta-saṅga-tat-kṛpā-jāta-maṅgalodayena – by the auspicious fortune born of the grace issuing from the association of a devotee of Bhagavān, who is supremely independent (parama-svatantra) [in the matter of bestowing such grace]
The main point is that the śraddhā in bhakti does not arise because of one’s past activities, such as karma yoga which increases one’s level of sattva. In fact, people who have spent a long time performing such activities resist the greatness of bhakti which seems very simple to them. Likewise, there are those who have a fixed notion of what bhakti is, and find it difficult to change their ideas about it. In contrast, those who have not taken up another spiritual discipline in the Vedas, or have not been exposed to aśāstric concepts, find it easier to accept bhakti’s greatness and uniqueness. The word yadṛchhayā indicates that the śraddhā in bhakti is not dependent upon any qualification of the recipient, but arises only through the completely independent mercy of Bhagavān, who makes available the association of His devotee to the recipient.
To prove the point that the arising of bhakti does not depend on one’s background, Śrī Jīva reminds the reader of the fact that Vṛtrāsura, who was tamasic, was a great devotee, while bhakti does not manifest in the devas, despite their having a high level of sattva (Anuccheda 134).
3 / 10
What are the primary types of offenses to bhakti?
There are primarily two types of offenses, namely sevāparādha and nāmaprādha. A bhakta must avoid them very attentively.
Learn more: Influence of Offenses.
4 / 10
On the path of bhakti, how can we remove anarthas?
Bhakti is the path where no separate endeavor is needed for removing anarthas. It's only on other paths, like jñāna and yoga, that you have to do pratyāhāra, practice to control your senses, or make endeavors for removing anarthas.
5 / 10
At which stage of bhakti does one become free from misery?
Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa states, “Bhakti-yoga directly mitigates the miseries of the conditioned beings” (anarthopaśamaṁ sākṣād bhaktiyogam, SB 1.7.6).
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī offers two explanations of the word sākṣāt (direct) in this context. He says that sādhana-bhakti unaided by any other process directly removes all worldly miseries such as mental and physical disturbances caused by the dualities of heat and cold. In the second sense, he says that sādhana-bhakti directly removes material miseries, because it naturally matures into prema-bhakti without external aid.
Thus, it is not wrong to say that sādhana-bhakti directly mitigates all miseries.
6 / 10
If bhakti is supremely powerful just like Bhagavān and even a semblance of bhakti has purifying power, then why are its effects generally not experienced by people practicing it?
A single act of devotion will bring perfection once a person is free of offenses.
Therefore, a sincere devotee should avoid offenses very carefully and execute devotion meticulously. Then one can experience the glory of bhakti.
7 / 10
How does one experience bhakti?
Learn more: Presence of Paramatma, Spiritual Destinations
8 / 10
Which of the following statements about sādhana-bhakti are true?
Unlike prema-bhakti, sādhana-bhakti must be imbibed systematically from scriptural revelation and by aligning the self in full correspondence with realized devotional transcendentalists. Sādhana-bhakti, being the stage in which empirical selfhood is not yet fully transcended, is prompted primarily by the authority of scriptural injunctions.
As the devotee enacts the regulated practice of bhakti, the heart is gradually purified of egoic identification, and as the pure self emerges, it attains fitness to receive the self-revelation of devotion of the nature of love of God.
Only in this sense can it be said that sādhana-bhakti matures into prema-bhakti. But in fact, prema, the inherent potency of Bhagavān, self-manifests in the aspiring devotee’s heart only by the grace of Bhagavān and His pure devotee.
In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī states that devotional service, which is enacted through the senses and which matures into bhāva-bhakti, is called sādhana-bhakti:
"Devotion which is enacted through the senses and which leads to the self-manifestation of bhāva-bhakti, is called sādhana-bhakti. The self-manifestation within the heart [of the practitioner] of the eternally existing transcendental affect of devotion (bhāva) is known as the completion stage of devotion." (BRS 1.2.2)
9 / 10
Which of the following statements about vaidhī-bhakti is false?
Learn more: The Two Divisions of Pure Bhakti
10 / 10
Why do devotees sometimes lose sight of their original desire for bhakti?
Learn more: Varnashrama Dharma in Modern Context
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