Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti Yoga is the Yoga of love and devotion.  It precedes other Yoga because it is the love and devotion that enables us to develop spiritual qualities.  

Bhakti Yoga is a process by which one is motivated towards purification of senses.  With Bhakti Yoga, our senses that have natural tendency to be impure, being engaged in sense gratification, become purified and in purified state they come directly in contact with divinity –the original nature of being pure, the Param-Atma.

Bhakti Yoga is the path of unshaken love and devotion, positive attitude and attention. 

Love in truest sense means sacrifice, renunciation of all forms of attachment, and purity in thought and action.  The true love is unconditional and the unconditional love arises from complete devotion. 

The devotion is emboldened with (i) serenity, (ii) confidence and (iii) inspiration. 

Moktsa –liberation, the enlightened existence can be attained with deep and undivided love and devotion. 

Devotion activates awareness and mindfulness in our inner consciousness that regulates our mind and thought pattern.

 

Devotion enables to achieve highest level of concentration that brings about visualisation of truth. 

Thinking without devotion creates jagged thought pattern which strains our mind, creating pressure, leading to more stress and tension.  Wherein, thinking with devotion, that is, thinking with love creates soft, soothing thought patterns which bring about calmness and serenity without pressure, stress or tension of conflicting thoughts.

Bhakti Yoga enables us to cultivate self awareness that brings about clarity from the ocean of thoughts that cause storms and imbalances in our mind. 

In Bhagvad Katha, Radha demonstrates her unconditional love for Krishna.  Uddhav when he returns after meeting Radha at Vrindhavan says to Krishna: “Lord, the real appearance of Love I saw in Vridhavan is the only Truth.” 

Radha could have stopped Krishna from living her behind and going to Mathura or gone along with Krishna.  But the love and devotion she had for Krishna, she let him go and accomplish his mission. 

In Ramayana, Sita could have stopped Rama from going to forest for fourteen years or could have decided not to go along with him.  Going with Rama to forest for fourteen years, Sita let Rama to accomplish his mission.

Similarly, in Buddha Dharma, Yashodhara let Siddhartha to leave the palace.  All the years, Siddhartha was in search of truth, Yashodhara in highest austerity, with truest love and devotion, was the most ardent well wisher, free from all forms of attachment, for the success of Siddhartha’s mission. 

In each of the three cases; Radha, Sita and Yashodhara are the embodiments of Bhakti Yoga. 

In Bhagwad Gita, the Universal Self, personified in the form of Krishna, says; “Practicing Bhakti Yoga one should detach from those actions that are the causes of pain and pleasure.  Know that enjoying the pleasure is misfortune. 

I naturally enter the mind of those who are selflessly devoted to Me.  As I enter in their mind, their desires start diminishing and see their own Atma in Me, and see Me only.  At that state of being, all the causes of pain and pleasure are completely destroyed. 

Those who are selflessly devoted to Me and think about Me only, they do not even need Jnana –spiritual knowledge, as they are taken care by My devotion. 

My true devotees do not want anything from Me.”