Q: What is Bhakti or Devotion?
Today, let us contemplate on Bhakti or Devotion. What is the meaning of devotion?
We have heard this sentence called ‘the boy fell in love with the girl’. Falling in love. Why did he ‘fell in love’?Why he didn’t rise in love? Falling in love is related to sense attraction or the attraction for the senses. Whereas you rise in love when you go beyond senses. When you have a love for some higher principle, Divinity, that love helps you to rise. You will rise only when there is love. Love coupled with deep respect. The respect comes when you understand the glory of that Supreme reality. So, understanding the glory, respect coming out of that and love together is called ‘Devotion’.
The devotion uplifts you; devotion uplifts the soul. From a human being, you become Divine Being, because of devotion. When you have a love for something, whether devotion or ordinary love, the mind constantly and naturally goes towards that subject. There is no effort involved in that. The mind naturally flows. For example, a child has gone out of the station. Mother remembers the child in every corner of the house. The place where the child sits, the toys of the child, everything the mother remembers. It is a very natural tendency of the mind, whatever you love, you will remember. So, the love, the devotion, makes you remember constantly of the Divinity.
The Divinity can be any form or any aspect of Divine, any Deity. The Deity who attracts you, what you call ‘Ishta devata’. The mind constantly, naturally goes towards that Ishta devata. When the mind goes naturally and constantly towards Ishta devata, the mind acquires the qualities of the Deity. Whatever you think, becomes the impression within you.
Constantly whatever you think, becomes a deep-rooted impression. Your mind starts taking that quality. There is a saying in Sanskrit ‘Bhramara keeta nyaya’. ‘Bhramara’ means insect, a sort of beetle. It brings a keeta or insect, keeps it in its nest, and feeds it to the kids. So, the keeta or insect is afraid now. Because it knows that it is being eaten. It constantly thinks of that beetle and starts developing wings and one day it flies off. Out of fear, it keeps thinking. This is a way of saying, whatever you constantly think, you become that. So, if you constantly think of Divinity, you acquire the aspect of Divinity. This is how our mind gets purified and uplifted by devotion.
Whatever qualities of the Divine being you think of those qualities manifest in you. If you take Shiva as Ishta devata, the qualities of Shiva, jnana and vairagya manifest in you. Similarly, if you take Vishnu as Ishta devata, love and compassion manifest in your life. If you take Guru as Ishta devata, wisdom and enlightenment will manifest in your life. Whatever Ishta devata you take, that aspect of the Divinity manifests in your life.
This goes through different stages. They are called Salokya, Samipya, Saropya and Sayujya. Salokya means that your mind constantly dwells on the Ishta devata. That means you are on the same loka or world of that Ishta devata or Ishta devata is in your world. When you say the world, it doesn’t mean the physical world. Whichever place the mind goes, that is called the world. Somebody may be physically present here, but mentally present elsewhere. Where he is mentally present, is his world. So, the mind constantly going towards Ishta devata, will be present in the world of Ishta devata or Ishta devata present in your world. It is called Salokya.
Samipya means closeness. As you constantly think of the Ishta devata, you develop closeness. It is not physical closeness, but mental closeness. You start understanding the world, the way Ishta devata understands the world. Mental closeness, your mind starts approximating or understanding the Divinity.
Sarupya means you start taking the form. It is not a physical form. It is the psychological form. Your mind will start taking the form of Ishta devata. This means that if Shiva is your Ishta devata, your mind will become full of vairagya and jnana. Wisdom and dispassion. If your Ishta devata is Guru, your mind will be filled with clarity about enlightenment teachings and will become more and more clear about Mukti. It is called Sarupya.
Sayujya means that you will attain oneness. The mind will take the form of the Deity or all the qualities of the Deity, will fully manifest. These are the 4 stages of spiritual upliftment and they are called Mukti, Krama Mukti or stage by stage liberation. The Devotion itself, how does it proceed?
There are different stages of devotion. They are called Navada Bhakti. 9 forms of devotion. They are Shravanam, keerthanam, smaranam, pada sevanam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam and atma nivedanam.
Shravanam means that you would like to constantly hear about the Divinity. Keerthanam means that you would like to sing either prayers or bhajans or you will possibly teach or talk about the Divinity to others. Smaranam means, whenever you get time, your mind constantly goes towards the Deity or Divinity. Pada Sevanam means, you start doing service. Pada means feet and seva means service. What is pada sevanam? Pada is not physical, in that sense. Pada sevanam means, ‘paado asya vishwa bhutani’. The Supreme Lord, his feet are in living beings in this universe. All living beings, not just human beings, all forms of living beings are nothing but the feet of the Lord. Because Lord manifests in each of them. So, you start serving all those living beings in the form of pancha yajna.
Pancha yajnas are Deva yajna, Pitru yajna, Manushya yajna, Bhuta yajna and Rishi yajna. It is called pada sevanam. Vandanam means you start developing a deep respect for all living beings and Divinity because you experience Divinity everywhere. Dasyam means, whatever work you do, you will do as a servant. Dasya means servant. All work we do become worship. Everything becomes offering to the Lord, offering to the Divine, offering to the Supreme being. Just like Hanuman to Rama, all your work becomes a service for the Lord. As you progress in devotion, you will get a promotion, from a servant to a friend. So, you become closer to the Lord. Between friends, there are no secrets. A good amount of sharing happens between you and the Lord. This is something similar to Krishna and Arjuna. Dasyam sakhyam.
Finally, Atma nivedanam. The Lord is realized as no different from you. Atmani means in yourself, vedanam means realization. From a master-servant relationship to a friend relationship, ultimately you will be promoted. You will become, you will experience the Divinity in your heart, in your being. You will find that God is in your being, in yourself. This is a Self-realization or God-realization. This is how one proceeds in the path of Devotion. It is called Navada Bhakti.
Pranams
Prabhuji
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Self Knowledge Talks_T22_Bhakthi (Devotion)_20Apr2016