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Vol 01.031 Pre-SaraNAgati Issues
11 December, 1996

In this Issue:
1. Note from the Editor
2. From Chapter 17 of "Hinduism Rediscovered"- BHAKTI YOGA

1. NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Bhagavatas,
We present Part 1 of our article on Bhakti Yoga. Part 2 will follow and conclude the series. After a summing up of the topics covered so far, further postings will be resumed after a fortnight- maybe after the Satsangam Conference at Buffalo. Thanks for your patience. We hope that you will have the time to go through all the postings before we meet at the Conference.

Dasoham
Anbil Ramaswamy


2. Excerpts from CHAPTER 17 of  "Hinduism Rediscovered"

BHAKTI - YOGA
BHAKTI has been translated in English as `Devotion' - But, it includes piety, faith, mysticism, worship, inspiration, love, holiness, sacredness, spiritualism and a score of other such concepts.

A dictionary entry adopted from Monier Williams Sanskrit -English Dictionary(Oxford 1956- ) ( p.743 ) says that the word Bhakti is derived from the root 'Bhuj' which has several meanings like -

To divide, distribute, allot or apportion to, to share, to grant, bestow, furnish, supply - To obtain as one's share, receive as, partake or enjoy - also carnally possess, have - To turn or resort to, engage in, assume as a form , To put on (garments), experience, incur, undergo, feel, go or fall into abstract noun, to feel terror, to pursue, practice, cultivate - To declare for, to prefer, to choose (e.g.) as a servant - To serve, honor, revere, love, adore etc.

It is Svetaswatara Upanishad that mentions (in its concluding portion) the concept of Bhakti as the highest devotion to God "which is the only means for receiving liberating knowledge".1

In short, it signifies relationship between the individual soul and the Universal spirit sanctified by these traits.

As RAJAJI has said in his Introduction to Bhaja Govindam -2 "The way of devotion is not different from the way of Knowledge or Gnana. When intelligence matures and lodges securely in the mind, it becomes wisdom. When wisdom is integrated with life and issues out in action, it becomes Bhakti. Knowledge when it becomes fully mature is Bhakti. If it does not get transformed into Bhakti, such Knowledge is useless tinsel. To believe Gnana and Bhakti, knowledge and devotion are different from each other is ignorance".

The secular sentiments sublimate into spiritual intensity. Human proclivities transform into divine love. Even family affiliations and routine chores assume the status of sanctity when performed as dedication to the Lord and acquire a new dimension of faith and earnestness.

This earnestness, this yearning intensifies as all consuming and blossoms forth as devotional service to the Lord. Nothing else matters to the Bhakta than this bliss of pure love and devotion. When this builds up to a crescendo, he becomes increasingly impatient in his quest for God realization and can brook no further delay. This sense of urgent necessity has been aptly described in our scriptures by several examples.

i. This `Tvara' or urgency is compared to the plight of a person in a house caught in the midst of a raging fire. His only thought would be somehow to escape the inferno, to be saved from being scorched to death - and nothing else. His possessions, friends or even dear and near ones would not cross his mind in that moment of emergency. So also the Bhakta scorched with the pangs of the fire of life in the world like birth, death and the intervening self deluding mad rush after ephemeral experiences would hasten to seek liberation by communion with God.

ii. In the Puranas, there is a story about the divine bard, NARADA. He found Lord Vishnu being so much concerned about a poor farmer in a remote village that he paused for a while during his conversation with Narada. Narada asked how the farmer who remembered the Lord only twice a day (when he got up in the morning and when he retired to bed at night) had been preferred to himself who was chanting the name of the Lord throughout day and night all through his life.

Lord Vishnu gave him an oil lamp with a burning wick and asked him to circumambulate the Lord three times taking care to see that the light did not go off at any stage. This Narada did and enquired Lord Vishnu what this had to do with his question.
Lord Vishnu asked Narada
" What was the thought uppermost in your mind when you did the circum-ambulation?"
Narada replied -
"Because you asked me to take care of the light, all my attention was focussed on protecting the light from being put off by a gust of winds by enclosing the lamp with the palm of my hands".

Lord Vishnu explained that in spite of being poor and in spite of his struggle for subsistence and in spite of all his worries and anxieties, the farmer could spare only a few moments twice a day to remember the Lord. But, during those moments the intensity of his devotion was really great. Narada whose only preoccupation was "Nama sam keerthanam" (chanting the names of the Lord) could not concentrate on the Lord since his attention was diverted to the lamp. This shows that the intensity of Bhakti is more important than routine "Nama smarana". ( Remembering the names of the Lord)

iii. Sri `SUKABRAHMAM', the great sage whose only thought was `PARABRAHMAM' ( the Supreme Lord) and nothing else was one day passing along the banks of a river. Some girls taking bath in the waters were completely nude. On sighting Sri. Sukabrahmam' they did not hasten to cover themselves. But, when his father, sage Vyasa followed Sukha, they hurriedly wrapped themselves with whatever clothing they could lay hands on.

VYASA was amazed at their behavior and asked them why they who did not feel shy in the presence of the youthful. `Sukha' felt shy before an old man like himself. They replied that Sri. Sukha was so engrossed in the Lord that he was oblivious to sexual distinctions of persons encountered by him and saw them all only as Brahmam. But since Vyasa's concentration was not that intense, he could discern the distinctions which distracted his attention and that in spite of his deep erudition and his `magnum opus' of classifying the four Vedas, besides authoring epics like Mahabharata etc. This, they said, was the difference between the two which accounted for their reaction. This kind of intensity of concentration of Sukha to the exclusion of all the rest is the hallmark of Bhakti.

iv. When `DRONACHARYA' set a test of skills of accuracy for his students, he asked each of his disciples one by one as they were aiming at a bird perched on the branch of a tree and were about to release the arrow from the bow, what they saw. Some answered they saw the tree, some the branch, some the leaves and fruits. But Arjuna answered that he could see only the bird and nothing else. This kind of `pointed' concentration pushing everything else away from attention is what Bhakti implies.

v. Leaving aside the Puranic examples, we will take an instance which happened not long ago One of the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a non-believer. He insisted on Sri Ramakrishna to show `God', so he could actually see him with his own eyes. One day both of them were crossing a river with hip deep water. When in midstream, Sri Ramakrishna suddenly pushed the disciple down under the water and held him tight that he could not raise his head. When after sometime, Sri Ramakrishna released him the disciple asked in a fit of anger and horror why Sri Ramakrishna did what he did. Sri Ramakrishna replied that he did it only to give him an answer to his persistent question.

The Guru asked "What is that you wanted most during the few moments when you were held submerged under the water? "Nothing" replied the Sishya "except to be able to breath, as I was getting suffocated". Sri Ramakrishna explained "if you seek to see God with the same amount of intensity which you felt for mere breathing, you can certainly `see' God and not by merely questioning or even by mere desire". This intensity of feeling is Bhakti.

vi. Now, let us take a commonplace occurrence which you would have experienced. You go to a temple. You leave your expensive footwear outside the temple. Suppose, there is no arrangement for the security of footwear during your preoccupation with the puja in the temple. Even though you are physically present in the 'Sanctum Sanctorum', your mind flirts between the Lord on one side and the footwear on the other. More often than not, it gets attached so much on the footwear, and does not return to where it ought to be. Now, let us reverse the scenario.

Forget the footwear, keep your mind in a constant, continuos, unbroken concentration on the Lord. If you can do this, it will become difficult for you to stoop to something silly, worthless, mean or corrupt because you are now with the noblest, the greatest and the most sublime.

vii. The concern of an athlete would dissuade him from any indulgences likely to deflect him from achieving his prize.

viii. A tight rope dancer with a pot on her head exhibits concentration to guard against the pot falling or herself falling during the entire event.

ix. A musician will avoid any cold drinks which would affect his vocal chord.

x. The exclusive concentration of a poet in composing poetry, and

xi. The hunter in aiming at his target would jealously guard against all intrusions that would distract from the objective even peripherally.

Just extrapolate this concern, this anxiety, this precaution against allowing extraneous distractions to interfere with your concentration on the Lord. If you can do this, you can succeed in training your mind towards Bhakti.

xii. Let us take a newly married man who is headlong in love with his sweetheart. Whatever he does and wherever he is, the only thought that pervades and provides motivation to all his labors is that of his beloved to such an extent that he becomes oblivious of his own self. It is this kind of equation developed with the Lord that is called Bhakti which binds the individual soul to the Supreme Lord.

As we are familiar with human forms and we figure out a human relationship with God, the most intimate expression would be to imagine him as the lover and ourselves as His lady love. This bonding expresses itself in the `Nayaka nayaki bhava' which the `Alwars' (immersed ones) had adopted with consummate effect. When experiencing the Lord in this bhava, He no more appears as an inaccessible abstract concept but AS A FORCE WELL WITH US AND WELL WITHIN US. The vibrations of the feelings become almost palpable.

To put it simply, `Love is the key in Bhakti. In fact, of all the Alwars, it is in Sri ANDAL's effusion of `THIRUPPAVAI' and 'NACHIYAR THIRUMOZHI' one can find the `naturalness' of the intensity. This is because all other Alwars were males and had to simulate the role of the beloved but Andal had no need to do so as she was a woman herself and the feeling flowed naturally in her mind. Same is the case with MEERA, SAKKUBAI and a host of other female devotees whose lives reverberate the `natural' exposition of the' Nayaki Bhava'.

This, however, does not mean that the other Alwars were any the less in the intensity of their devotion. The word `Alwar' itself means one who is immersed in God'. Mr.A.K.RAMANUJAM in translating into English verse Nammalwar's THIRUVOI MOZHI has entitled his book as "Hymns for the drowning" meaning that these Savants were not only `immersed' but were also `drowned' in the sea of devotion to the Lord. Contrast this with another kind of immersion and drowning we experience viz. 'Samsara Sagara' (i.e.) the ocean of life in the world.3

The evidence of the fact of `drowning' is to be experienced and cannot be explained. When this happens we will realize that God had grasped us in revelation since we cannot grasp God through our faulty reason or senses. Otherwise, how could we mortals meet God, if not in prayer? Prayer indeed is meeting with God.

Even in ordinary life, we find that a person can be fully real only when we strike a personal relationship. No amount of talking or thinking about him can measure up to knowing him intimately. If you want to know God, you must learn to pray. If you still do not know him, it only means that you have not learnt to pray aright.

Just like a fireplace that gives warmth to a person who is nearby and not to the one who is far away, Bhagavan gives solace to the person who feels nearer to Him and not to the one who distances himself from God. Solace or absence thereof depends upon how close or estranged we feel in our relationship with God.

Prayer is like a dam stopping the flow of a river. It stops the sufferings of humanity. Did not the English poet assert that "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of"

YOU MAY BE TERMED CRAZY BUT BEING GOD-CRAZY IS THE HALLMARK OF A TRUE DEVOTEE.

The Bhakta prays to God individually on a one-to-one basis. Even while he is in a group of hundreds of others he is alone face-to-face with God where everything else vanishes. It is those who call you crazy who are really crazy -crazy about undesirable wordily pleasures that soon turn painful .

IN FACT, A BHAKTA HAS NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER ABOUT HIS BEING IN COMMUNION WITH GOD. HE IS AMAZED WHY PEOPLE ARE SO OBLIVIOUS TO THE DIVINE THAT IS SO OBVIOUS.

How does a Bhakta rivet his mind to the Supreme? By concentration. The object of concentration whether a glowing point of an incense stick, or a serene light on `OM' in a dark room, or the tip of the nose as advised in Yoga or the flame of the lamp or even an abstract perception of infinite (if you could muster concentration enough), the object is not important.

IT IS THE FACT OR PROCESS OF RIVETTING, THE HOOKING, THE BONDING, THE YOKING OF THE MIND THAT IS SIGNIFICANT. AT THIS MOMENT, THE KNOWER AND THE KNOWN BLEND INTO A PERFECT UNITY.

Well, we may endeavor to do the bonding. But, why should not God grant us Bhakti for after all it is by his Grace only anything can be achieved, True, God's grace is absolutely necessary to crown our efforts with success. And, God does not withhold Bhakti from us. Let us reflect whether we are prepared to receive it. The fact is that we have insulated our minds and we do not generally wish to open up our hearts to receive that love. God actually waits and waits patiently until we MAKE A SMALL GESTURE, just a SINGLE STEP towards him out of our own free will and he is prepared to TAKE NINE STEPS towards us.

It is a mystery why God should undergo this traumatic waiting for his own children to come to him and why he should be longing for a mere pretext to rush to draw us to him like a paper-towel that is quick to absorb water on mere contact. When he is prepared to consume us with his love and give us the greatest of his gifts, we seek only trivial benefits..

HE GIVES US WHAT WE WANT SO THAT ULTIMATELY WE WOULD WANT WHAT HE WANTS TO GIVE US VIZ MOKSHA.

Prayer should not be considered a sort of Allauddin's lamp. God does not do magic by scrapping sin ARBITRARILY. His instrument is truth which permits the moral law to run its course through his justice but is never the less tempered with his mercy. God cannot be purchased and sin cannot be overlooked, but has to be requited by suffering or atonement.

When we are ripe enough to receive this Bhakti, we will discern that it is total and all consuming. With one sweep of God's grace, the effects of every action are permanently obliterated and the soul is liberated from the dreaded bondage of Samsara.

It is aptly said "KARMA IS DIVINE JUSTICE ; BHAKTI IS DIVINE GRACE". GOD'S GRACE IS MIGHTIER THAN GOD'S JUSTICE.

SWAMI VEDANTA DESIKA has devoted a hundred verses personifying divine grace as God's consort in his `DAYA SATAKAM' to explain how God's mercy can work wonders as an alchemy in effacing the effects of all Karma.

The allegory of the human as a fugitive from God as the hound is a familiar theme in the Hindu religion. It has parallels in other religions also and we give below an example of similar sentiments expressed by the great poet, FRANCIS THOMPSON in his `Hound of Heaven'. He fancies himself to be a fugitive from God whom he portrays as the `divine hound'.4

The poet fled because he was sore adread that :" lest having him, I must have naught beside". He evades the hound through "labyrinthine ways" to women, children, nature but nothing gives him the refuge he seeks.

The hound with its steady unfaltering steps mocks at him saying - "All things betray thee who betrayest me".

The poet tempts all His servitors only to find "My own betrayal in their constancy, in faith to him, their fickleness to me" And, the voice repeats - "Naught shelters thee who will not shelter me". Man, maid, child, nature one by one he tries to intertwine with but they either turned away from him or "spoke to him in silences" which are hardly intelligible to him.

And, the voice proclaims -
"Lo! Naught contents thee who contents not me".

Finally, "Smitten to his Knees he feels 'utterly defenseless', finds himself "Stripped in sleep and even the "dream fails the dreamer" and 'the lute fails the lutanist'  His heart is like a "broken fount"

And the voice reiterating -
"Lo! All things fly thee for thou fliest me" and asks the poet - "Strange, Piteous, futile thing!
Wherefore should any set thee love apart? Seeing none but I makes much of naught" and explains -

"Human love needs human meriting, How hast thou merited, how little worthy of any love thou art! Who will thou find to love ignoble thee, save me, save only me"?

And, finally God assures -
"All which I took from thee, I did but take not for thy harms. But, just that you mightst seek it in my arms" And offers His hands, exhorting the fugitive - "Rise! clasp my hand and come"

The fugitive realizes and asks -
"Is my gloom, after all the shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?"

To which God replies -
"Ah! Fondest, Blindest, Weakest! I am He whom thou seekest Thou dravest love from thee who dravest me".

When once this realization dawns, the human soul would engage in actions that would be pleasurable to God (Anukulya Sankalpam) and scrupulously avoid all that is contrary (Pratikulya Varjanam). We know that actions prescribed or permitted in the scriptures are pleasurable to God which include the `Nitya' and `Naimittika' Karmas done as dedication to God and would constitute a source of joy for the Bhakta.