As we learn more about the bhakti, the three criteria of ananyata, nishkamta, and nirantar keep cropping up repeatedly. Clearly, they are very important if we are to perfect our love for Krishna so let’s try to understand them in detail starting with ananya bhakti. Ananya bhakti was mentioned in one of our previous blogs titled, What is Bhakti? and Nature of Bhakti.

Ananyata comes from “na + anya” meaning “no other” i.e. no one else other than Radha Krishna reside in our heart. In order to better understand the significance of the laser like focus and one-pointedness of this idea, we need to understand two main aspects behind it.

The first aspect is that our heart and mind should be filled only with loving thoughts of Radha Krishna. Since the mind gets bored easily, it seeks variety. In order to provide variety, Radha Krishna allow us to focus on anything and everything within the divine realm i.e. their names, forms, abodes, pastimes, virtues, and Saints.

We have one mind and one heart and at any moment in time, they can hold only one entity/idea. If we are thinking of our material family, we are not thinking of the divine family and vice versa. The material world and divine world are opposites. If we allow anything or anyone from the material world to reside in our heart, then Radha Krishna will not enter.

On the night of the maharas, when the attention of the gopis turned away from their beloved Krishna and onto themselves, Krishna left them. It was at the moment when they had started thinking “Krishna is with me because I am so beautiful” or “I am so lucky that Krishna is with me” etc. The moment “I” stepped in, Krishna left, stressing the importance of ananya bhakti.  “mām ekaṁ śharaṇaṁ vraja” is how Shree Krishna explained to Arjun on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. In other words, surrender alone to me – single-pointed surrender and devotion to me, and me alone, again emphasizing ananya bhakti.

Through various scriptures, texts, pads and kirtans, ananya bhakti is the most emphasized point. “Love me alone and only me” says Shree Krishna. If we are to love him alone, there should be no love whatsoever for anything or anyone material, including ourselves. Our only desire should be the happiness of God and Guru. All our actions towards anyone material should come from a sense of duty, not attachment, or because we actually see Guru and God in them. There is a popular kirtan that beautifully expresses this point about ananya bhakti:

maiṁ āpako chāhūṁ aur pāūṁ, sansār kā kuchh rah na pāya

meaning, “May I love you and attain you, so that no worldiness remains in me.”

This drives home the point of exclusivity – none other than Radha Krishna or anything or anyone related to them should reside in the heart.

The second aspect is that no matter what the behavior of the beloved, we will always remain exclusively devoted to him i.e. ananya bhakti. In other words, unlike material relationships, we will not turn away from him if his behavior does not meet our expectations. The beloved’s behavior can take three forms – he can love us, get angry with us, or remain neutral towards us.

Shree Krishna can bestow his grace by accepting and reciprocating our love as he did with his parents (Nand Maharaj and Yashoda Maiya) or his friends (Sudama and Arjun). He can also get angry with us as he did with Shishupal and aimed his Sudarshan Chakra at him or as he killed Kansa with his bare hands. Despite the negative sentiments, legend has it that from the moment he was born, Shishupal could not think of anyone else except Shree Krishna. Once Kansa heard Krishna was the eighth son of Devaki, who would kill him, he became so obsessed that he would see Krishna everywhere – in his bed, in his food, on his clothes, etc. In other words, just like the Gopis of Braj, wherever he turned his attention, he would only see Shree Krishna. Instead of showering us with love and attention, Krishna can also choose to ignore us or remain neutral towards us.

In the above examples, despite Shree Krishna’s behavior toward them, each of these personalities carried only Krishna, and no other, in their heart at all times, thereby serving as role models for the concept of ananya bhakti.

Having understood the concept of ananya bhakti, let’s aim to grow our attachment and love for the divine. The more the mind gets attached to Radha Krishna, the more detached it becomes from the material world. Let us keep in mind the idea of single mindedness focus and attention on Radha Krishna and grow in our bhakti.