Freedom and Predestination of Devotion. Rūpa Gosvāmin's System of Bhaktirasa

Alessandro Graheli

Rūpa Gosvāmin’s and Jīva Gosvāmin’s (15th—16th century C.E.) writings are the theological foundations of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism, the bhakti movement initiated by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Gauḍīya theologians believe that in this world souls are trapped in the cycle of rebirths since beginningless time. As such, since God is the only being who can look at the world from an atemporal perspective, it seems that the effort to free oneself from endless rebirths is beyond human power.

Rūpa writes that the process of salvation starts with faith (śraddhā). Such faith is the result of contact with saintly people who have already developed it. Jīva, Rūpa’s commentator, explains how a sincere and unbiased heart is an important factor of success in developing faith, when the occasion of contact with God or saintly people occurs. As a counterexample, he explains how wicked people such as Duryodhana never developed true faith, even if often exposed to the company of saintly people and to God himself.

The question is: Can such sincerity and unbiasedness of heart be freely chosen? How can they be developed by those who are doomed by their karmic actions and reactions?

From a rational viewpoint both the extremes of predestination and free-will have their pitfalls. Luther’s denial of human free-will, although theologically coherent, is contrasted by the subjective experience of human choices. An opposite stance that magnifies the power of free-will is liable to the accusation of elevating human beings at the level of God.

The grey area between the two is open to many possible mediations, such as Erasmus’s, who tried to preserve the omnipotence of God and at the same time to make room for a free-will subordinated to his grace. Rūpa and Jīva seem to adopt a similar strategy. Yet, if free-will is subordinated to God’s grace, is it at all free? Or, isn’t such a “subordinate freedom” just and oxymoronic expression denoting a surrender of reason before the unfathomable nature of God and of the relation of human beings with him?