Greetings

[Guest guest]

Dear friends and devotees,

 

Bhakti is eternal.

 

Wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year 2008.

 

In this New Year day, I would like to say few words.

 

We are in a devotional site, named Telugu Bhakti Pages.

Bhakti the devotion and also a divine Love have no new bounds. As God the

omnipotent is every where and one who desires to reach His feet, has to

cultivate BHAKTI, which has the power to spread in the entire universe to reach

Him.

 

Aatmaanam maanusham manye.

 

1. Lord Srimannarayana made up His mind to remain as a man, when He incarnated

as Rama, in order to teach the world the importance of reverence or Bhakti

towards father, mother, teacher and God. He so identified Himself with His human

role that He behaved exactly like an ordinary mortal and when any one attributed

to Him qualities of God, He reminded him that He as only a man.

2. Similarly though Sri Adi Sankara was Lord Siva incarnate, he tried to

inculcate Siva-bhakti in the people by his actions and writings. One such

composition of his is Sivaananda Lahari.

3. The great Jnanis like Sadasiva Brahmendra and Jnaneswar merged in immerse

Bhakti, while the great Bhaktas like Namadeva and Prahlada saw self in all.

4. The other saints like Garga and Vyasa insisted upon the Sadhanas.

5. According to Narada Maharshi, the quality of Bhakti is to offer each and

every action to it and getting the misery by forgetting it.

6. Bhagavan Sri Sathyasai Baba the present living God is the moralizer to the

universe in propagating Bhakti as a devotional love.

 

Bhakti and Love is nothing but immortality.

 

He who sees Self in all and all in Self never hates' says Sukla Yajur Veda.

Yastu sarvani bhutani atmanyevanupasyati; Sarvabhutesu catmanam tato na

vijugupsate.

Love flows to that object which recognises it as related to self. If the whole

Universe and is seen as Self, Love never perishes. Love towards any object is

mortal. Love towards any object remains till the object remains as an

impression. Love towards the Self is immortal because it remains always as Self.

Therefore Pure Love is as immortal as the Self itself. To love all the beings is

the very nature of the seers. Their love goes beyond all the castes, creeds,

religions and races as they see Self in all.

 

Then what about us?

 

Bhakti is more defined:

 

Bhaktyaamam Abhijanaati Yaavaan Yaschaami Tatvatah.

 

The word, BHAKTYAA, meaning through devotion, shows that bhakthi is the means

for the realisation of the truth of God's nature. Dvaita, Advaita and

Visishtadvaita are one in this emphasis on Bhakti to obtain God's grace. To

whatever school we belong, we should invoke that grace through Bhakti, leaving

it to Him to reveal the truth of His nature. All Achaaryas have stressed this

need for Bhakti.

True Bhakti or devotion is that condition of a devotee’s mind when it is

unable to bear even a moment’s separation from the shelter of God, and when even

if it is forcibly withdrawn from that shelter, by force of circumstances, it

struggles and rushes back and attaches itself to God, like a needle to a magnet.

To say 'I have devotion to God and not to act up to His commands is

meaningless. Performance of prescribed duties is the sign of true devotion.

Doing one's Karma, one should dedicate it to God. Obligatory duties are Nitya

and Naimittika. Such performance of Karmas as detailed in the Vedas is true

Isvara Aaradhana. They not only bring about personal merit, but also secure the

welfare of the whole world. Thus Karma, and Jnana should associate Bhakti to

secure salvation.

The relationship between Bhagavan and Bhakta through Bhakti is well identified

in Gajendramoksha of Bhagavatha Purana.

If goes to say, there is no end to elucidate Bhakti which is spread over the

entire universe.

On this eve of New Year, we should express our gratitude to the persons behind

the curtain in promoting this valuable Bhakti site.

We all owe much to Sri Raghava Rao Garu the web master for his pains and

dedicated mind to create this Telugu Bhakti Pages with his benevolent service,

and delivering geetas, keertanas, padyas, slokas, itihaasas and other devotional

links.

In the monthly magazine, there are more supportive scholars, pundits, poets

and editors. In addition, there is one Satsang maintained by Sri Gopi Krishna.

Sri Adi Sankara in “Bhaja Govindam” very graphically describes how Satsang

(good company) can ultimately lead one to liberation:

 

Satsangatwe Nissangatwam,

Nissangatwe Nirmohatwam,

Nirmohatwe Nischalatattwam,

Nischalatattwe Jivanmuktihi.

 

Good company leads to detachment; detachment makes one free from delusion;

freedom from delusion leads to steadiness of mind; steadiness of mind confers

liberation.

We all should feel proud to be the members in this Group. Though we do not

meet and personally know each other, we are assembling indirectly on this

platform and exchanging the views on Bhakti.

Is this not Satsang?

Though every one of us is more inclined to write in Telugu, we are forced to

exchange our views in English only, as provided by the web.

Let us all pray the almighty to shower His blessings on all.

 

Wishing you once again a Happy and prosperous New Year.

 

With love and regards,

 

Sastry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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