Sajātīya-buddhi — The Sense of Shared Spiritual Kinship
Sajātīya-buddhi ('the cognition/feeling of being same-kind, of shared identity') is the deep sense of spiritual kinship that binds the members of the bhāgavata-saṅgha — the community of Bhagavān's sincere devotees. It is the recognition that those who have surrendered to the same Bhagavān, who share the same Āchārya-paramparā, who carry the same anādi-sambandha with Bhagavān as their śeṣī, are fundamentally of one kind (sajātīya) in the most meaningful sense.
In classical ontology, jāti ('species/class') is determined by shared essential nature. The sajātīya-buddhi among Bhāgavatas asserts that the most fundamental class-identity of all souls is not determined by birth-varṇa, social position, wealth, or learning — but by their relationship to Bhagavān. Two devotees from vastly different social backgrounds who share the śeṣa-śeṣī relationship with the same Bhagavān are more fundamentally alike than two birth-relatives who differ in their spiritual orientation.
This teaching has a specific practical implication: the Bhāgavata community is the devotee's truest family (ātīya), and the affection, care, and sense of belonging that the devotee feels toward other Bhāgavatas is not merely social solidarity but a theologically grounded recognition of shared essence. Nammāzhvār's Tiruvāimoḷi is full of this sajātīya-buddhi — his joy at encountering other devotees of Bhagavān, his grief at being separated from their company, and his sense that the Bhāgavata community is itself a form of Bhagavān's presence.
Sajātīya-buddhi is also what motivates the devotee to seek and maintain bhāgavata-saṅgam (the company of devotees) — not as a social preference but as a spiritual imperative. The soul that has sajātīya-buddhi experiences the Bhāgavata community as āśrayam (refuge), as upabṛṃhaṇam (amplification of one's own devotion), and as a foretaste of the community of nitya-sūris in Paramapadham.