Tuesday, March 07, 2006
A Spiritual Insight – Bhakthi Yoga
Srimad Bhagavatham – A Spiritual Insight – Bhakthi Yoga
Let us try to analyze Bhakthi or devotion according to the scriptures. An understanding of Bhakthi is required here as Bhagavatham has stated that through Bhakthi one gets the non-dual knowledge about the ultimate reality – meaning that Bhakthi leads to Jnaana or non-dual knowledge. Hence, a study of bhakthi and how to implement it in life is essential.
What is Bhakthi or devotion???
Sri Krishna defines Bhakthi in the second sloka of Chapter 12 in Gita as
Mayi aaveshya mano ye maam nitya yuktaa upaasathe
Sraddhayaa parayopethaah te me yukta tamaa mataah
He is a devotee who
Fixes his mind always on Me
is ever steadfast (or constantly established in Me)
and knows me as the ultimate goal to be achieved.
Here ME doesn’t refer to Lord Krishna as the very form of Krishna vanished once Kali Yuga started. Here ME means the ultimate reality of Brahman or Self or Consciousness or Paramatman – all these words are synonymous.
Thus, according to Sri Krishna, devotion is constant remembrance of the Lord – always offering all work & actions to the Lord – always cherishing in the memory of the Lord, always singing the glories of the Lord, always being immersed or merging into the Lord. By this, the devotee slowly merges into the Lord & there remains only the Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. This is what is called Brahma Jnaana or non-dual knowledge of one’s own real nature. This devotion which doesn’t have the differentiation of the devotee & the Lord is called Paraa Bhakthi or Higher devotion which is equal or one with Jnaana or non-dual knowledge. But initially, the devotee is attached & identified with the body and the mind. Hence he considers himself as suffering & enjoying in the illusory world. But once he starts in the path of devotion, he realizes that Lord alone is the ultimate reality, everything else is an illusion in the Lord. Here Lord doesn’t mean Vishnu or Siva with a form – because each form is subject to birth & death. Lord here means the ultimate reality of Consciousness, one without a second, partless and without any attributes. The devotee thus sees the Lord as distinct from himself but sees him everywhere. All his mind, all his actions are towards the Lord alone. This is what devotion really is.
Devotion is not just chanting some mantras or names of the Lord twice a day or at some times, devotion is not just going to temples daily and visiting the shrines alone. The body is the temple where the deity of Lord is present – says Krishna in Chapter 13. God is present everywhere – he is not limited to any place. But since the devotee is seeing himself as limited, a particular form is said to him for meditation and concentration. But once the devotee advances, he realizes that there is no place where God is not present. As the Upanishads proclaim “SARVAM BRAHMA MAYAM” – everything is Brahman alone – ISHAAVAASYAM IDAM SARVAM – everything here is Ishwara or God alone.
When the devotee still further continues his contemplation – he merges into the Lord, the ultimate reality of Consciousness. This is termed as realization or liberation or Moksha or Mukthi.
Now, some people will raise the question that “If I do all actions unto HIM & do not have any EGO attitude, what will happen to my children and family????”. These all are questions of idiotic and foolish people alone. When the omnipresent and omnipotent God can create all the beings in the world (illusory world & beings), then will he not take care of them????? Of course he will. If a father is attracted to his son very much – then how cannot the Lord be attracted and attached to his children.
And God doesn’t have any discriminate between a devotee and a non-devotee. This has been explicitly stated by Sri Krishna in Gita Chapter 9.
Samoham sarva bhooteshu na me dveshyo asthi na priyah
Ye bhajanthi tu maam bhaktyaa mayi te teshu cha api aham
All people are equal to Me (Me here represents the ultimate reality of God or Brahman), there is no aversion or attraction for Me towards anyone. But those who worship me with devotion (and the knowledge that everything is God) they are completely present in ME & I am completely present in them.
Even though God is present in all the beings – some people realize it and others don’t. Thus Krishna here says that those who worship Me, they have realized the ultimate reality that “I am God, there is nothing distinct from I which is of the nature of Existence and Consciousness and this I is not different from God – this I is one without a second or Adviteeyam”.
Thus, it is all foolish if a person tells that God loves only those who serve him & he hates others & sends them to hell. Hell and heaven are in us only. When we realize that God is present in the heart & thereby purify our mind – our mind becomes heaven. The opposite of this is hell wherein there is only hatred, delusion, lust, greed, jealousy in the mind.
Sri Krishna says in Gita Chapter 18
Ishwarah sarva bhootaanaam hridheshe arjuna thistathi
O Arjuna, God resides in the heart of all beings (heart here represents the spiritual heart from which the Ego and other things spring up – thus heart is the seat of Atman or Consciousness or Self) – and hence all beings are the Self only.
He is a real bhaktha who sees the Lord in all places & realizes the ultimate reality of ONENESS behind the multiple and diversified illusory world.
Krishna beautifully explains the qualities of real bhaktha in Gita, Chapter 12 (slokaas 13-19).
Adevshtaah sarva bhootanaam maitrah karuna eva cha
Nirmamo nirahankaarah samadukha sukhah shame
Santhushtah satatam yogi yataatma drida nishchayah
Mayi arpita mano buddhih yo madbhaktah sa me priyah
That devotee whose mind and intellect is completely fixed on Me (whose thoughts are always on the Lord alone), he is the dearest to Me. He is one who has the qualities of friendship and compassion. He is without any egoism of I and Mine, he is one who remains the same in happiness and sorrow. He is ever happy and content – he is a Yogi whose mind is completely focused because of the stern conviction that everything is God alone, one without a second.
Interested people can read through the complete 7 verses where Krishna beautifully explains a real devotee.
Devarshi Narada explains about Bhakthi in Narada Bhakthi Sutraas as
Naradah tu tad arpita akhila aachaaratha tad vismarane parama vyaakulathaa cha
Narada defines Bhakthi as that attitude in which the devotee does everything with the memory of the Lord & if for a single moment the devotee forgets the Lord he becomes sad and sorrowful (here Vyaakulathaa doesn’t mean sadness or sorrow nature but it means that the devotee cannot even live for a second without remembering the Lord as the fish cannot live even for a second without water & as the lover cannot live for even a second without his love, her memories).
This devotion is not mere blind faith wherein the devotee is unable to explain devotion to others when questioned and he is hiding this attitude from others for fear of criticism. The devotee doesn’t perceive any thing other than the Lord – he is ready to explain and talk about the Lord to anyone and at anytime. He is ever ready to face any criticism and prove the ever present Lord’s presence in the illusory world.
Devotion gets its power due to the conviction that everything is the Lord alone & due to the conviction that “I cannot live without the Lord who alone is the ultimate reality & other things are merely dependent on HIM”.
As Madhvacharya beautifully puts it
Etat tu paratantram sarvameva hareeh sadaa
Vasham ithi eva jaanaathi samsaaraan muchyathe sa hi
He who knows that he & all objects are sub ordinates of the Lord & are dependent on the Lord at all times, he gets liberated from Samsaara – the ocean of sorrow and sufferings.
Here Madhvacharya mentions the Aparaa bhakthi of the devotee which in turn will make one realize the reality that the individual devotee & his difference from the Lord is only an illusion. Thus he realizes the ultimate reality that there is nothing here but only Brahman or Consciousness or Lord or God.
Therefore, through devotion – the devotee attains the highest state of Brahmanhood or Self-realization wherein he realizes the ultimate reality that there is nothing here but only the Self or God. This is the real state of a bhaktha. He alone is a real and true bhaktha who knows that there is nothing here but the Lord of the nature of Consciousness. Such a bhaktha verily enters into non-dual knowledge & merges into Brahman or Self.
Let us all try to be bhakthas of the ultimate reality of Brahman thereby making us eligible for the non-dual knowledge or Para Bhakthi (higher devotion) and thereby making us realize the ultimate reality of Brahman or Consciousness, one without a second.
Let us try to analyze Bhakthi or devotion according to the scriptures. An understanding of Bhakthi is required here as Bhagavatham has stated that through Bhakthi one gets the non-dual knowledge about the ultimate reality – meaning that Bhakthi leads to Jnaana or non-dual knowledge. Hence, a study of bhakthi and how to implement it in life is essential.
What is Bhakthi or devotion???
Sri Krishna defines Bhakthi in the second sloka of Chapter 12 in Gita as
Mayi aaveshya mano ye maam nitya yuktaa upaasathe
Sraddhayaa parayopethaah te me yukta tamaa mataah
He is a devotee who
Fixes his mind always on Me
is ever steadfast (or constantly established in Me)
and knows me as the ultimate goal to be achieved.
Here ME doesn’t refer to Lord Krishna as the very form of Krishna vanished once Kali Yuga started. Here ME means the ultimate reality of Brahman or Self or Consciousness or Paramatman – all these words are synonymous.
Thus, according to Sri Krishna, devotion is constant remembrance of the Lord – always offering all work & actions to the Lord – always cherishing in the memory of the Lord, always singing the glories of the Lord, always being immersed or merging into the Lord. By this, the devotee slowly merges into the Lord & there remains only the Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. This is what is called Brahma Jnaana or non-dual knowledge of one’s own real nature. This devotion which doesn’t have the differentiation of the devotee & the Lord is called Paraa Bhakthi or Higher devotion which is equal or one with Jnaana or non-dual knowledge. But initially, the devotee is attached & identified with the body and the mind. Hence he considers himself as suffering & enjoying in the illusory world. But once he starts in the path of devotion, he realizes that Lord alone is the ultimate reality, everything else is an illusion in the Lord. Here Lord doesn’t mean Vishnu or Siva with a form – because each form is subject to birth & death. Lord here means the ultimate reality of Consciousness, one without a second, partless and without any attributes. The devotee thus sees the Lord as distinct from himself but sees him everywhere. All his mind, all his actions are towards the Lord alone. This is what devotion really is.
Devotion is not just chanting some mantras or names of the Lord twice a day or at some times, devotion is not just going to temples daily and visiting the shrines alone. The body is the temple where the deity of Lord is present – says Krishna in Chapter 13. God is present everywhere – he is not limited to any place. But since the devotee is seeing himself as limited, a particular form is said to him for meditation and concentration. But once the devotee advances, he realizes that there is no place where God is not present. As the Upanishads proclaim “SARVAM BRAHMA MAYAM” – everything is Brahman alone – ISHAAVAASYAM IDAM SARVAM – everything here is Ishwara or God alone.
When the devotee still further continues his contemplation – he merges into the Lord, the ultimate reality of Consciousness. This is termed as realization or liberation or Moksha or Mukthi.
Now, some people will raise the question that “If I do all actions unto HIM & do not have any EGO attitude, what will happen to my children and family????”. These all are questions of idiotic and foolish people alone. When the omnipresent and omnipotent God can create all the beings in the world (illusory world & beings), then will he not take care of them????? Of course he will. If a father is attracted to his son very much – then how cannot the Lord be attracted and attached to his children.
And God doesn’t have any discriminate between a devotee and a non-devotee. This has been explicitly stated by Sri Krishna in Gita Chapter 9.
Samoham sarva bhooteshu na me dveshyo asthi na priyah
Ye bhajanthi tu maam bhaktyaa mayi te teshu cha api aham
All people are equal to Me (Me here represents the ultimate reality of God or Brahman), there is no aversion or attraction for Me towards anyone. But those who worship me with devotion (and the knowledge that everything is God) they are completely present in ME & I am completely present in them.
Even though God is present in all the beings – some people realize it and others don’t. Thus Krishna here says that those who worship Me, they have realized the ultimate reality that “I am God, there is nothing distinct from I which is of the nature of Existence and Consciousness and this I is not different from God – this I is one without a second or Adviteeyam”.
Thus, it is all foolish if a person tells that God loves only those who serve him & he hates others & sends them to hell. Hell and heaven are in us only. When we realize that God is present in the heart & thereby purify our mind – our mind becomes heaven. The opposite of this is hell wherein there is only hatred, delusion, lust, greed, jealousy in the mind.
Sri Krishna says in Gita Chapter 18
Ishwarah sarva bhootaanaam hridheshe arjuna thistathi
O Arjuna, God resides in the heart of all beings (heart here represents the spiritual heart from which the Ego and other things spring up – thus heart is the seat of Atman or Consciousness or Self) – and hence all beings are the Self only.
He is a real bhaktha who sees the Lord in all places & realizes the ultimate reality of ONENESS behind the multiple and diversified illusory world.
Krishna beautifully explains the qualities of real bhaktha in Gita, Chapter 12 (slokaas 13-19).
Adevshtaah sarva bhootanaam maitrah karuna eva cha
Nirmamo nirahankaarah samadukha sukhah shame
Santhushtah satatam yogi yataatma drida nishchayah
Mayi arpita mano buddhih yo madbhaktah sa me priyah
That devotee whose mind and intellect is completely fixed on Me (whose thoughts are always on the Lord alone), he is the dearest to Me. He is one who has the qualities of friendship and compassion. He is without any egoism of I and Mine, he is one who remains the same in happiness and sorrow. He is ever happy and content – he is a Yogi whose mind is completely focused because of the stern conviction that everything is God alone, one without a second.
Interested people can read through the complete 7 verses where Krishna beautifully explains a real devotee.
Devarshi Narada explains about Bhakthi in Narada Bhakthi Sutraas as
Naradah tu tad arpita akhila aachaaratha tad vismarane parama vyaakulathaa cha
Narada defines Bhakthi as that attitude in which the devotee does everything with the memory of the Lord & if for a single moment the devotee forgets the Lord he becomes sad and sorrowful (here Vyaakulathaa doesn’t mean sadness or sorrow nature but it means that the devotee cannot even live for a second without remembering the Lord as the fish cannot live even for a second without water & as the lover cannot live for even a second without his love, her memories).
This devotion is not mere blind faith wherein the devotee is unable to explain devotion to others when questioned and he is hiding this attitude from others for fear of criticism. The devotee doesn’t perceive any thing other than the Lord – he is ready to explain and talk about the Lord to anyone and at anytime. He is ever ready to face any criticism and prove the ever present Lord’s presence in the illusory world.
Devotion gets its power due to the conviction that everything is the Lord alone & due to the conviction that “I cannot live without the Lord who alone is the ultimate reality & other things are merely dependent on HIM”.
As Madhvacharya beautifully puts it
Etat tu paratantram sarvameva hareeh sadaa
Vasham ithi eva jaanaathi samsaaraan muchyathe sa hi
He who knows that he & all objects are sub ordinates of the Lord & are dependent on the Lord at all times, he gets liberated from Samsaara – the ocean of sorrow and sufferings.
Here Madhvacharya mentions the Aparaa bhakthi of the devotee which in turn will make one realize the reality that the individual devotee & his difference from the Lord is only an illusion. Thus he realizes the ultimate reality that there is nothing here but only Brahman or Consciousness or Lord or God.
Therefore, through devotion – the devotee attains the highest state of Brahmanhood or Self-realization wherein he realizes the ultimate reality that there is nothing here but only the Self or God. This is the real state of a bhaktha. He alone is a real and true bhaktha who knows that there is nothing here but the Lord of the nature of Consciousness. Such a bhaktha verily enters into non-dual knowledge & merges into Brahman or Self.
Let us all try to be bhakthas of the ultimate reality of Brahman thereby making us eligible for the non-dual knowledge or Para Bhakthi (higher devotion) and thereby making us realize the ultimate reality of Brahman or Consciousness, one without a second.
# posted by vedanta : 9:20 AM
