BHAKTI AND JNANA, THE ONE THAT IS NEEDFUL

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A posting fromSwami sadasivananda <sadasivananda

 

 

Devotee: "Will bhakti (devotion) lead to mukti (liberation)?"

Bhagavan: "Bhakti is not different from mukti. Bhakti is being as the Self (swarupa). One is always that. He realizes it by the means he adopts. What is bhakti? To think of God. That means: only one thought prevails to the exclusion of all other thoughts. That thought is of God, which is the Self, or it is the self surrendered unto God. When He has taken you up nothing will assail you. The absence of thoughts is bhakti. It is also mukti. The jnana method is said to be vichara (enquiry). That is nothing but 'supreme devotion' (parabhakti). The difference is in words only." 1 Though we forget God with

apparent ease, the devotion required to attract the grace of remembrance of Him develops slowly, and deepens only with our ardent perseverance in concentration, meditation and prayer. Bhagavan affirmed this by saying:

"If bhakti is sufficiently developed, vairagya (dispassion for objects of the senses) and concentration follow as a matter of course. If devotion to an Ideal (commonly an Ishta Devata) is also lacking, the seeker may resort to japa (repetition of the Name of God) or pranayama (awareness and control of breath) to arrest the restlessness of the mind. All these practices specifically aim at stopping the vritti, the ceaseless modification, the wanderings of the mind, so that the latter may be nailed to itself and may eventually cognize its own native state. Mental diffusiveness resembles a mixture of gold dust with sand, earth, ashes and dirt of all sorts. Concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana) are the sieve, which sifts the gold dust from the others. They churn the

nadis (nerves) along which consciousness flows to the whole body and tracks them down to their source, the Heart. Relaxation of the nervous system then takes place, denoting the ebbing of the consciousness from the nadis back to the Heart. The ebbs and flows of the consciousness, which constant practice renders increasingly perceptible to the meditator, gradually loosen the consciousness from the body and end by separating them in samadhi, so that the sadhaka (spiritual practitioner) is enabled to perceive the consciousness alone and pure. This is the Self, God the Absolute." 2 Focusing on the Goal We must begin our sadhana with an ardent determination to arise out of a body full of tamasic habits, the consequences of which overshadow our soul's flight

to the Divine with dull sluggish heaviness. We must now set to work to focus the mind by gaining a depth of concentration needed for merging with and realizing our Divine nature. This is essential, for concentration on one object effectively reduces the onslaught of thoughts habitual to our mercurial minds. Bhagavan has said that the degree of effort required to secure and maintain the needed depth in meditation results from "long and protracted" sadhana. This one–pointedness of mind cannot be imagined or conjured up. Bhagavan repeatedly stressed avoidance of what can be rightly referred to as an effortless cover-up.

"Protracted practice ripens into an intuitive approximation of the Self, otherwise the Self remains but an imaginary conception even for sadhakas." 3 The attainment of concentration that results in the purity Bhagavan describes is most easily achieved by adopting a meditative practice that naturally suits one's temperament and nature. Bhagavan often seemed to stress for most of us that Knowledge of the Self is attained by an integrated practice of jnana (path of Knowledge) and bhakti (path of Devotion). In this regard the master reveals:

Bhagavan: "Any kind of meditation is good. But if the sense of separateness [from God, from the Self] is lost and the object of meditation or the subject who meditates is alone left behind without anything else to know, it is jnana. Jnana is said to be ekabhakti. The jnani is the finality because he has become the Self and there is nothing more to do. He is also so fearless 'Dwitiyat vai bhayam bhavati'- only the existence of a second gives rise to fear. This is mukti. It is also bhakti." 4______________________________ 1. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, recorded by Sri Munagala Venkataramiah, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, Talk 650, p. 635.2. Reflections on Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, S.S. Cohen, Sri

Ramanashramam 2006, notes on Talk 27, p. 133.3. Reflections on Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, S.S. Cohen, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, p. 156.4. Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, recorded by Sri Munagala Venkataramiah, Sri Ramanashramam 2006, Talk 650, p. 635