[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] What is Bhakthi - By Sri Swami Sivananda

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rajan nair <rajan_k_nair2002guruvayur Sent: Friday, August 3, 2007 2:03:23 PM[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] What is Bhakthi - By Sri Swami Sivananda

 

Om Namo Narayanaya !!!!WHAT IS BHAKTI ?The term Bhakti comes from the root 'Bhaj', whichmeans 'to be attached to God'. Bhajan, worship,Bhakti, Anurag, Prem, Priti are synonymous terms.Bhakti is love for love's sake. The devotee wants Godand God alone. There is no selfish expectation here.There is no fear also. Therefore it is called 'ParamaPrem Rupa'. The devotee feels, believes, conceives andimagines that his Ishtam (tutelary deity) is an Oceanof Love or Prem. Bhakti is the slender thread of Prem or love thatbinds the heart of a devotee with the lotus feet ofthe Lord. Bhakti is intense devotion and supremeattachment to God. Bhakti is supreme love for God. Itis the spontaneous out-pouring of Prem towards theBeloved. It is pure, unselfish, divine love or SuddhaPrem. There is not a bit of bargaining or expectationof anything here. This higher feeling is

indescribablein words. It has to be sincerely experienced by thedevotee. Bhakti is a sacred, higher emotion withsublime sentiments that unites the devotees with theLord. Mark how love develops. First arises faith. Thenfollows attraction and after that adoration. Adorationleads to suppression of mundane desires. The result issingle-mindedness and satisfaction. Then growattachment and supreme love towards God. In this type of highest Bhakti all attraction andattachment which one has for objects of enjoyment aretransferred to the only dearest object, viz., God.This leads the devotee to an eternal union with hisBeloved and culminates in oneness. TYPES OF BHAKTIBhakti is of various kinds. One classification isSakamya and Nishkamya Bhakti. Sakamya Bhakti isdevotion with desire for material gains. A man wantswealth with this motive practices Bhakti. Another manwants

freedom from diseases and therefore does Japaand offers prayers. A third one wants to become aMinister and does Upasana with this aim. This isSakamya Bhakti. Whatever you want the Lord willcertainly give you, if your Bhakti is intense and ifyour prayers are sincerely offered from the bottom ofyour heart. But you will not get supreme satisfaction,immortality and Moksha through Sakamya Bhakti. Your Bhakti should always be Nishkamya Bhakti. God hasalready given you a good position, a good job, wifeand children and enough wealth. Be contented withthese. Aspire for Nishkamya Bhakti. Your heart will bepurified and the Divine Grace will descend upon you.Be in communion with the Lord, you will become onewith the Lord and you will enjoy all the DivineAisvaryas (Divine attributes like wisdom,renunciation, power, etc.). All the Vibhutis (Specialforms in which the Lord manifests) of the Lord He

willgive you. He will give you Darsan. He will help you todwell in Him. At the same time He will give you allthe Divine Aisvaryas also. Another classification of Bhakti is Apara-Bhakti andPara-Bhakti. Apara-Bhakti is for beginners in Yoga.The beginner decorates an image with flowers andgarlands, rings the bell, offers Naivedya(food-offerings) , wave lights; he observes rituals andceremonies. The Bhakta here regards the Lord as aSupreme Person, who is immanent in that image and whocan be propitiated through that form only. He has no expanded heart. He is a sectarian. Hedislikes other kinds of Bhaktas who worship otherDevatas. Gradually, from Apara-Bhakti, the devoteegoes to Para-Bhakti, the highest form of Bhakti. Hesees the Lord and Lord alone everywhere and feels HisPower manifest as the entire universe. "Thou artall-pervading; on what Simhasana shall I seat Thee ?Thou

art the Supreme Light, in whose borrowed lightthe sun, the moon, the stars and the fire shine; shallI wave this little Deepa or light before You ?" - thusthe devotee recognizes the transcendental nature ofGod. Para-Bhakti and Jnana are one. But every Bhaktawill have to start from Apara-Bhakti. Before you takeyour food, offer it to God mentally; and the food willbe purified. When you pass through a garden offlowers, mentally offer all the flowers to the Lord inArchana (offering flowers in worship). When you passthrough the bazaar and see a sweetmeat shop, offer allthe sweetmeats as Naivedya to the Lord. Such practiceswill lead to Para-Bhakti. Bhakti is also classified into Gauna-Bhakti andMukhya-Bhakti. Gauna-Bhakti is the lower Bhakti andMukhya-Bhakti is the higher type of Bhakti. Go from stage to stage. Just as a flower grows in thegarden, so also gradually develop love or Prem

in thegarden of your heart. The enemy of devotion is egoism and desire. Wherethere is no Kama or desire, there alone will Rama (theLord) manifest Himself. The enemies of peace anddevotion are lust, anger and greed. Anger destroysyour peace and your health also. When a man abusesyou, keep peaceful. When blood begins to boil, it isimpoverished. You lose vitality if you become a preyto fits of temper. HOW TO CULTIVATE BHAKTIIt would be a gross mistake if you consider Bhakti asmerely a stage of emotionalism, while it is actually athorough discipline and training of one's will and themind, a sure means to intuitive realization of GodAlmighty through intense love and affection for Him.It is a means to thorough apprehension of the trueknowledge of Reality, beginning from the ordinary formof idol worship right upto the highest form of cosmicrealisation of your oneness with

Him. You can achievethis by following the eleven fundamental factors whichSri Ramanuja had prescribed. They are Abhyasa orpractice of continuous thinking of God; Viveka ordiscrimination; Vimoka or freedom from everything elseand longing for God; Satyam or truthfulness; Arjavamor straightforwardness ; Kriya or doing good to others;Kalyana or wishing well-being to all; Daya orcompassion; Ahimsa or non-injury; Dana or charity; andAnavasada or cheerfulness and optimism. People put a question: "How can we love God whom wehave not seen ?" Live in the company of saints. Hear the Lilas of God.Study the sacred scriptures. Worship Him first in Hisseveral forms as manifested in the world. Worship anyimage or picture of the Lord or the Guru. Recite HisName. Sing His glories. Stay for one year in Ayodhyaor Brindavan, Chirakut or Pandhapur, Benares or AnandaKutir. You will develop love

for God. Every act must be done that awakens the emotion ofBhakti. Keep the Puja(worship) room clean. Decoratethe room. Burn incense. Light a lamp. Keep a cleanseat. Bathe. Wear clean clothes. Apply Vibhuti (sacredash) or Bhasma, and Kumkum on the forehead. WearRudraksha or Tulasi Mala. All these produce a benigninfluence on the mind and elevate the mind. Theygenerate piety. They help to create the necessaryBhava or feeling to invoke the Deity that you want toworship. The mind will be easily concentrated. Practice of right conduct, Satsanga, Japa, Smarana,Kirtan, prayer, worship, service of saints, residencein places of pilgrimage, service of the poor and thesick with divine Bhava, observance of Varnashramaduties, offering of all actions and their fruits tothe Lord, feeling the presence of the Lord in allbeings, prostrations before the image and saints,renunciation of

earthly enjoyments and wealth,charity, austerities and vows, practice of Ahimsa,Satyam and Brahmacharya - all these will help you todevelop Bhakti. BHAVAS IN BHAKTIWhen the devotee grows in devotion there is absoluteself-forgetfulness. This is called Bhava. Bhavaestablishes a true relationship between the devoteeand the Lord. Bhava then grows into Maha-Bhava whereinthe devotee lives, moves and has his being in theLord. This is Parama-Prema, the consummation of loveor Supreme Love. There are five kinds of Bhava in Bhakti. They areShanta, Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalya and Madhurya Bhavas.These Bhavas or feelings are natural to human beingsand so these are easy to practice. Practice whicheverBhava suits your temperament. In Shanta Bhava, the devotee is Shanta or peaceful. Hedoes not jump and dance. He is not highly emotional.His heart is filled with love and joy. Bhishma

was aShanta Bhakta. Sri Hanuman was a Dasya Bhakta. He had Dasya Bhava,servant attitude. He served Lord Rama whole-heartedly.He pleased his Master in all possible ways. He foundjoy and bliss in the service of his Master. In Sakhya Bhava, God is a friend of the devotee.Arjuna had this Bhava towards Lord Krishna. Thedevotee moves with the Lord on equal terms. Arjuna andKrishna used to sit, eat, talk and walk together asintimate friends. In Vatsalya Bhava, the devotee looks upon God as hischild. Yasoda had this Bhava with Lord Krishna. Thereis no fear in this Bhava, because God is your petchild. The devotee serves, feeds, and looks upon Godas a mother does in the case of her child. The last is Madhurya Bhava or Kanta Bhava. This is thehighest form of Bhakti. The devotee regards the Lordas his Lover. This was the relation between Radha andKrishna. This is

Atma-Samarpana. The lover and thebeloved become one. The devotee and God feel one witheach other and still maintain a separateness in orderto enjoy the bliss of the play of love between them.This is oneness in separation and separation inoneness. Lord Gauranga, Jayadeva, Mira and Andal hadthis Bhava. A Caution: Madhurya Bhava is absolutely different fromconjugality of earthly experience. One should not bemistaken for the other. Earthly conjugality is purelyselfish and is undertaken only because it givespleasure to one's own self. But in love for God it isbecause it gives pleasure to God and not for the sakeof the devotee. Divine love is not selfish. It is bornof sattva. But earthly lust is born of rajas andattachment to bodies. Earthly conjugality is theoutcome of egoisitc self-regarding egoistic feeling,while divine communion is the outcome ofother-regarding feeling devoid of

egoism. Strongselfishness is the root of worldly passion; divinelove is the product of loss of egoism. This is thegreatest difference between lust (kama) and divinelove (prema). The two are related as darkness isrelated to light. No development of earthly affection,however perfect it may be, can lead one to supreme joyof divine communion. Lust lurks in the heart due tothe passion that burns in the core of things. Divinelove is unknown to the man of the world, howeverreligious he may be. The secret of divine love cannotbe understood, and should not be tried to beunderstood, so long as man is only a man and womanonly a woman. The austere transformation of the humaninto the divine is the beginning of true love for God.NAVA-VIDHA-BHAKTIDevotion to God is developed in nine different ways.It is supreme attacment to God through a Bhavapredominant in the devotee. Intense love is the

commonfactor in all the nine modes. Exclusive love for Godis expressed through various methods. All Bhaktas ofthis type are above the formalities of the world. Theyare untouched by the laws of human Dharma and are outand out concerned with God. Good conduct which is in accordance with perfect morallaw is an auxiliary to pure Bhakti and it follows thetrue Bhakta wherever he goes. One cannot develop truedevotion to God if he is crooked in his heart, if hehas got objects of love in this world, if he istempted by charming worldly things, if he wishes totake care of his wife, children and relatives, if hewishes to feed his body well, if he wishes to earn agreat name in the world, if he wants to establish apermanent fame on earth, if he does not like to partwith the alluring contents of the world. Perfectdetachment from all objects is a preliminary to realdevotion. Vairagya is the

product of real love forGod. One who has love for the world cannot have lovefor God. Where there is Kama, there cannot be Rama andwhere there is Rama there cannot be Kama. Love for theworld and love for God are diametrically oppositethings. One has to be renounced for the attainment ofthe other. This renunciation can be acquired throughthe nine forms of Bhakti. In the Srimad-Bhagavata and the Vishnu Purana it istold that the nine forms of Bhakti are Sravana (hearing of God's Lilas and stories), Kirtana (singing of His glories), Smarana (remembrance of His name and presence), Padasevana (service of His feet), Archana (worship of God), Vandana (prostration to Lord), Dasya (cultivating the Bhava of a servant with God), Sakhya (cultivation of the friend-Bhava) and Atmanivedana (complete surrender of the self). A devotee can practice any method of Bhakti whichsuits him

best. Through that he will attain Divineillumination. Sravana is hearing of Lord's Lilas. Sravana includeshearing of God's virtues, glories, sports and storiesconnected with His divine Name and Form. The devoteegets absorbed in the hearing of Divine stories and hismind merges in the thought of divinity; it cannotthink of undivine things. The mind loses, as it were,its charm for the world. The devotee remembers Godonly even in dream. The devotee should sit before a learned teacher who isa great saint and hear Divine stories. He should hearthem with a sincere heart devoid of the sense ofcriticism or fault-finding. The devotee should try hisbest to live in the ideals preached in the scriptures.One cannot attain Sravana-Bhakti without the companyof saints or wise men. Mere reading for oneself is notof much use. Doubts will crop up. They cannot besolved by oneself easily. An

experienced man isnecessary to instruct the devotee in the right path. King Parikshit attained Liberation through Sravana. Heheard the glories of God from Suka Maharishi. Hisheart was purified. He attained the Abode of LordVishnu in Vaikuntha. He became liberated and enjoyedthe Supreme Bliss. Kirtana is singing of Lord's glories. The devotee isthrilled with Divine Emotion. He loses himself in thelove of God. He gets horripilation in the body due toextreme love for God. He weeps in the middle whenthinking of the glory of God. His voice becomeschoked, and he flies into a state of Divine Bhava. Thedevotee is ever engaged in Japa of the Lord's Name andin describing His glories to one and all. Wherever hegoes he begins to sing and praise God. He requests allto join his Kirtana. He sings and dances in ecstasy.He makes others also dance. Smarana is remembrance of the Lord at

all times. Thisis unbroken memory of the Name and Form of the Lord.The mind does not think of any object of the world,but is ever engrossed in thinking of the glorious Lordalone. The mind meditates on what is heard about theglories of God and His virtues, Names, etc., andforgets even the body and contents itself in theremembrance of God, just as Dhruva or Prahlada did.Even Japa is only remembrance of God and comes underthis category of Bhakti. Remembrance also includeshearing of stories pertaining to God at all times,talking of God, teaching to others what pertains toGod, meditation on the attributes of God, etc.Remembrance has no particular time. God is to beremembered at all times without break, so long as onehas got his consciousness intact. Padasevana is serving the Lord's Feet. Actually thiscan be done only by Lakshmi or Parvati. No mortalbeing has got the fortune to

practice this method ofBhakti, for the Lord is not visible to the physicaleyes. But it is possible to serve the image of God inidols and better still, taking the whole humanity asGod. This is Padasevana. Padasevana is service of thesick. Padasevana is service of the whole humanity atlarge. The whole universe is only Virat-Swarupa.Service of the world is service of the Lord. Archana is worship of the Lord. Worship can be doneeither through an image or a picture or even a mentalform. The image should be one appealing to the mind ofthe worshipper. Worship can be done either with external materials ormerely through an internal Bhava or strong feeling.The latter one is an advanced form of worship whichonly men of purified intellect can do. The purpose ofworship is to please the Lord, to purify the heartthrough surrender of the ego and love of God. Vandana is prayer and

prostration. Humble prostrationtouching the earth with the eight limbs of the body(Sashtanga-Namaskar a), with faith and reverence,before a form of God, or prostration to all beingsknowing them to be the forms of the One God, andgetting absorbed in the Divine Love of the Lord istermed prostration to God or Vandana. The ego or Ahamkara is effaced out completely throughdevout prayer and prostration to God. Divine gracedescends upon the devotee and man becomes God. Dasya Bhakti is the love of God throughservant-sentiment. To serve God and carry out Hiswishes, realizing His virtues, nature, mystery andglory, considering oneself as a slave of God, theSupreme Master, is Dasya Bhakti. Serving and worshipping the Murtis in temples,sweeping the temple premises, meditating on God andmentally serving Him like a slave, serving the saintsand the sages, serving the devotees of God,

servingpoor and sick people who are forms of God, is alsoincluded in Dasya-Bhakti. To follow the words of the scriptures, to actaccording to the injunctions of the Vedas, consideringthem to be direct words of God, is Dasya Bhakti.Association with and service of love-intoxicateddevotees and service of those who have knowledge ofGod is Dasya Bhakti. The purpose behind Dasya Bhaktiis to be ever with God in order to offer service toHim and win His Divine Grace and attain therebyimmortality. Sakhya-Bhava is the cultivation of thefriend-sentiment with God. The inmates of the familyof Nandagopa cultivated this Bhakti. Arjuna cultivatedthis kind of Bhakti towards Lord Krishna. To be always with the Lord, to treat Him as one's owndear relative or a friend belonging to one's ownfamily, to be in His company at all times, to love Himas one's own self, is Sakhya-Bhava of

Bhakti-Marga.How do friends, real friends, love in this world ?What an amount of love they possess between oneanother ? Such a love is developed towards God insteadof towards man; physical love turned into spirituallove. There is a transformation of the mundane intothe Eternal. Atma-Nivedana is self-surrender. The devotee offerseverything to God, including his body, mind and soul.He keeps nothing for himself. He loses even his ownself. He has no personal and independent existence. Hehas given up his self for God. He has become part andparcel of God. God takes care of him and God treatshim as Himself. Grief and sorrow, pleasure and pain,the devotee treats as gifts sent by God and does notattach himself to them. He considers himself as apuppet of God and an instrument in the hands of God. This self-surrender is Absolute Love for Godexclusively. There is nothing but

God-consciousness inthe devotee. Even against his own wishes, the devoteeshall become one with God and lose his individuality.This is the law of being. The highest truth isAbsoluteness and the soul rises above throughdifferent states of consciousness until it attainsAbsolute Perfection when it becomes identical withGod. This is the culmination of all aspiration andlove. The nine modes of Bhakti are the ways in which adevotee attains the Supreme Ideal of life. A devoteecan take up any of these paths and reach the higheststate. The path of Bhakti is the easiest of all and isnot very much against the nature of humaninclinations. It slowly and gradually takes theindividual to the Supreme without frustrating hishuman instincts. It is not direct assertion of God,but a progressive realization of Him. FRUITS OF BHAKTIBhakti softens the heart and removes jealousy,

hatred,lust, anger, egoism, pride and arrogance. It infusesjoy, divine ecstasy, bliss, peace and knowledge. Allcares, worries and anxieties, fears, mental tormentsand tribulations entirely vanish. The devotee is freedfrom the Samsaric wheel of births and deaths. Heattains the immortal abode of everlasting peace, blissand knowledge. The fruits of Bhakti is Jnana. Jnana intensifiesBhakti. Even Jnanis like Sankara, Madhusudana and SukaDev took to Bhakti after Realization to enjoy thesweetness of loving relationship with God. Knowledge or wisdom will dawn by itself when youpractice Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti is the pleasant, smooth,direct road to God. Bhakti is sweet in the beginning,sweet in the middle and sweet in the end. It gives thehighest, undecaying bliss. Kindle love divine in thy heart, for this is theimmediate way to the Kingdom of God. Pray to the Lord. Sing His

glory. Recite His Name.Become a channel of His grace. Seek His will. Do His will. Surrender to His will. Youwill become one with the cosmic will. Surrender unto the Lord. He will become yourcharioteer on the field of life. He will drive yourchariot well. You will reach the destination, theAbode of Immortal Bliss. MAY GOD BLESS ALL !!!Did you know? You can CHAT without downloading messenger. Go to http://in.messenger ./ webmessengerprom o.php/

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