According to the revealed Shastras and the opinion of the Sadhus in the Gaudiya Vaishnava Parampara, there are two broad ways in which one attains the “Prayojana” or the ultimate goal of Sadhana. They are namely the attainment through sadhana (Sadhana Sadhya) and the attainment through mercy (Kripa Sadhya).
In our Gaudiya Vaishnava parampara, surrender to a Sadhguru is the preliminary step towards attainment of one’s cherished goal that is service to the divine couple as a manjari in the spiritual realm. Unless one surrenders one’s mind, heart, intentions and intelligence to the Sadhguru it is brilliantly evident that one does not even begin the process of Bhakti. Before the Sadhguru comes into one’s life , one may be involved with some kind of spiritual practices based on spiritual merits of previous lives, however the goal of all such sadhana is attainment of the auspices of a Sadhguru and nothing else. Unalloyed bhakti only begins after surrender to Sadhguru.
There are two levels of mercy (kripa) available to every living entity. They are universal (sadharan kripa) and specific (vishesh kripa) mercy. Having attained the mercy of a Sadhguru one receives sadharan kripa by default which means that the living entity now has the shelter by which one can attain the cherished goal through sadhana and Guru seva. Thus in the domain of sadharan kripa one performs activities which include service to Guru by means of following his specific and general instructions and helping Guru with his activities directed towards jeeva kalyan ( Welfare of the jeevas). Thus as one performs bhajana under the benign auspices of Sadhguru, the process provided will guide the jeeva to its ultimate objective of Seva Prapti (Attainment of Service to the divine couple). Thus under the domain of sadharan Kripa, the jeeva attains “Prapti” sometimes known as “Siddhi” or attainment. In the case of Sadharan Kripa, the living entity may attain “Siddhi” even in the physical absence of the Sadhguru (Sadhguru has left the world) purely based on Sadhana or practices as has been revealed to the jeeva by the Sadhguru at the time of his physical presence. This process of attainment is called Sadhana Sadhya. It should be however noted that the blessings of the Sadhguru and his personal sanction is mandatory in the case of Sadhana Sadhya. Thus one attains one’s cherished goal through the blessings of Sadhguru and the sadhana process in particular.
The process of Kripa Sadhya is based on vishesh kripa or specific mercy of the Sadhguru and the Lord on the sadhaka. This is possible if the Sadhguru and the Lord have developed specific interest on a sadhaka based on past life activities of the sadhaka which are exemplary or commitment to seva by which the Sadhguru’s heart melts. In such cases the Guru Tattva automatically bestows all the attainments of the Prayojana without any personal effort on the part of the sadhaka. The sadhaka thus attains the cherished goal through “kripa” (mercy) alone. The Bhajana process as such is auxiliary in this case and serves as an ornament for the sadhaka and remains in the background as a support to maintain the devotional mood of the sadhaka.
Charan Pahari 