The cause of devotion in Gaudiya Vaisnava theology: devotion

Devotion (bhakti) is the defining religious practice and central theological concept of the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition, and this article is about the catalytic event that is said to instigate bhakti in the non-devoted. I examine how Jiva Gosvamin (c. 1517-1608) and Visvanatha Cakravartin (fl. 1679-1709), two important theologians in this tradition, argue that the cause of bhakti in the non-devoted is a meeting with a devotee. In this meeting, the non-devoted may develop conviction (sraddha), which in turn gives him or her the motivation to continue along the path of bhakti, the steps of which were charted in the Bhaktirasamrtasindhu of Rupa Gosvamin (c. 1470-1555). Based on a few key passages from the Gaudiya's primary scriptural source, the Bhagavata Parana, Jiva and Viavanatha argue that this conviction for bhakti is developed spontaneously