Commentary 02.40

Generally, maha-bhaya is taken as the all-devouring fear of repeated birth and death in this world of exploitation. But maha-bhaya also refers to sayujya-mukti, the liberation of merging into the impersonal nondifferentiated consciousness of Brahmaloka, Viraja, or samadhi. Renunciation leads to sayujya-mukti, the fullstop of birth and death, but not a life in the positive plane. It takes one to a permanent burial in Brahmaloka. The demon of mukti will devour one wholesale, and therefore it is even more dangerous than this ordinary worldly life of action and reaction. Mukti means a strike in the organic system, so it must be avoided. To either abuse duties in a factory or to declare a strike by cessation of duties are both abnormal. Bhukti, exploitation, and mukti, renunciation, are both fearsome ghosts. Therefore, maha-bhaya means the great apprehension fo falling prey to both the ghost of exploitation leading to repeated birth and death, as well as the ghost of committing suicide by merging into the impersonalism of incarceration in Brahmaloka fear of both bhoga-bhumi, the plane of exploitation, and tyaga-bhumi, the plane of renunciation. It is stated in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu:

bhukti-mukti sprha yavat, pisaci hrdi vartate
tavad bhakti-sukhasyatra, katham abhyudayo bhavet

"As long as the two ghosts of exploitation and renunciation remain haunting the heart, the ecstasy of devotion to Krsna will never awaken there." (B.r.s. 1.2.22)

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam
anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

"The highest devotion is that which pleases exclusively the Supreme Lord, Krsna, and it is devoid of any desire apart from His service. It is not covered by the action of daily or customary duties (karma), nor by the knowledge that searches for the impersonal nondifferentiated aspect of the Absolute (jnana), nor by the meditational attempt to become one with the Lord (yoga)." (B.r.s. 1.1.9)
Only the Supreme Lord is abhaya, beyond apprehension. Therefore only participation in His service can free one from the ghosts of exploitation and renunciation, bhukti and mukti. If we subtract bhukti and mukti, then only positive bhakti, devotion, is the remainder. Therefore without bhakti everything is maha-bhaya, great danger.

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