Bhakti and Its Ways and Benefits.

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Dear Devotees in TBP,

 

Love and Love alone....

 

The below reproduced mail I have received from a different digest. As

it is a wonderful post, very detailed, I thought I shoud share it

with you all. Please read and re-read, remember and assimilate the

essence of this post and enjoy. May God Bless Us All.

 

Love and Love alone....

 

P. Gopi Krishna

 

======

 

Posted by: " para_anuloma " para_anuloma para_anuloma

Tue May 22, 2007 9:40 am (PST)

 

God is love. Love is God. God is nectar. God is Prema. Bhakti is

supreme love towards God. It is love for love's sake. The devotee

wants God and God alone. There is no selfish expectation here. Bhakti

is the greatest power on this earth. It gushes from one's pure heart.

It redeems and saves. It purifies the heart. Devotion is the seed.

Faith is the root. Service of saints is the shower. Communion with

the Lord is the fruit.

 

Bhakti is of two kinds, viz., Apara Bhakti (lower type of devotion)

and Para Bhakti (highest Bhakti or Supreme Love). Ringing bells and

waving lights is Apara Bhakti. In Para Bhakti, there is no

ritualistic worship. The devotee is absorbed in God. In Supreme Love,

the devotee forgets his self entirely. He has only thoughts of God.

Para Bhakti and Jnana are one. Bhakti melts into wisdom in the end.

Two have become one now. Bhakti grows gradually just as you grow a

flower or a tree in a garden. Cultivate Bhakti in the garden of your

heart gradually. Faith is necessary for attaining God-realisation.

Faith can work wonders. Faith can move mountains. Faith can take you

to the inner chambers of the Lord, where reason dares not enter.

Japa, Kirtan, prayer, service of saints, study of books on Bhakti are

all aids to devotion.

 

Sattvic food is a help to devotion. Take milk, fruits, etc. Evil

company is an enemy of devotion. Give up evil company. Take recourse

to Satsanga or company of the saints. Pray to the Lord thus; " O

Adorable Lord of Compassion and Love! Give me faith and devotion. Let

my mind be ever fixed On Thy Lotus Feet. Let me have constant

remembrance of Thee. Let me sing Thy glory always. "

 

The Name of the Lord is your sole refuge. It is your prop, shelter

and abode. Name is divine nectar. Nama and Nami are inseparable. Keep

a picture of the Lord and concentrate on it…quot;the face or feet or the

whole picture. Then visualise the picture in your heart or the space

between the two eyebrows. Repeat your Ishta Mantra…quot;Om Namah Sivaya,

Om Namo Narayanaya, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya…quot;mentally, sometimes

verbally when the mind wanders.

 

The five kinds of Bhavas are: Santa Bhava, Dasya Bhava (master-

servant relation), Vatsalya Bhava (father-son relation), Sakhya Bhava

(friendship), Madhurya Bhava (the relationship of lover and beloved).

Bhishma had Santa Bhava; Hanuman had Dasya Bhava; Jayadeva and

Gauranga had Madhurya Bhava; the Gopis had Sakhya-Bhava; Arjuna and

Guha had Sakhya Bhava; Yasoda and Vishnuchitta had Vatsalya Bhava.

Have any kind of Bhava that suits your temperament. Develop it again

and again.

 

Practise the nine modes of devotion or Nava-vidha Bhakti, viz.,

Sravana (hearing the Lilas of the Lord), Kirtan (singing His Name),

Smarana (His remembrance), Padasevana (service of His Feet), Archana

(offering flowers), Vandana (prostrations), Dasyam (servant-Bhava),

Sakhya (His friendship), and Atmanivedana (self-surrender). Say unto

the Lord: `I am Thine, all is Thine, Thy Will be done'.

 

Feel you are an instrument in the hands of the Lord, that the Lord

works through your mind, body and senses. Offer all your actions and

the fruits of the actions unto the Lord. This is the way to do self-

surrender.

 

Do Anushtan frequently. Live on milk and fruits for a week. Observe

Mouna or silence and do Japa and meditate in an intense manner.

Manasic Puja or mental worship is a great help for increasing

devotion and attaining concentration. Offer flowers, incense, etc.,

mentally to the Lord. Consider your house as a temple of the Lord,

every action as service of Lord, the light that you burn as waving

lights to the Lord, every word you speak as the Japa of the Lord's

Name, your daily walk as perambulation to the Lord. This is an easy

way of worship of the Lord. Shall I wash Thy Feet with holy water, O

Lord? The very Ganga flows from Thy Feet. Shall I give You seat? Thou

art all-pervading. Shall I wave lights for Thee? Sun and Moon are Thy

Eyes! Shall I offer flowers to Thee? Thou art the essence of flowers…quot;

this is Para Puja. Feel the presence of the Lord everywhere. He

dwells in the chambers of your heart, too. He is in the breath in the

nostrils; He glitters in your eyes. He is nearer to you than your

jugular vein. Behold Him in every face.

 

Horripilation (Romanchana), tears from the eyes (Asrupat), Kampan or

twitching of muscles, Svarabhanga (choking of the voice) are marks or

Lingas of devotion. A realised Bhakta is free from lust, egoism, mine-

ness, hatred, jealousy, greed. He is full of humility, compassion and

kindness. He sees God in all beings, in all objects. He has equal

vision and a balanced mind. Draupadi was an Arta-Bhaktini; Nachiketas

was Jijnasu-Bhakta; Dhruva was an Artharthee-Bhakta; Suka Deva was a

Jnani-Bhakta; Prahlada was an absolutely Nishkama Bhakta. Bhakti is

immortalising nectar. It transmutes a man into divinity. It makes him

perfect. It bestows on him everlasting peace and bliss.

 

Shreeram Balijepalli