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Registered: Apr 2009

posted August 10, 2009 04:39 PM         

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Bhakti is the path of love and devotion, and is the most popular (and probably the most accessible) form of Yoga. Whereas in Jnana Yoga the intention is to become identified with the transcendant, in Bhakti this form of identification is strongly discouraged. In the words of Ramakrishna, "I want to taste sugar; I do not want to be sugar." And the poet-seer Tukaram writes: "Can water drink itself? Can a tree taste its own fruit? The worshiper of God must remain distinct from Him. Only thus will he come to know God's joyful love. But if he were to say that God and he are one, that joy and love would vanish instantly. Pray no more for utter oneness with God: Where were the beauty, if jewel and setting were one? The heat and shade are two. If not, where were the comfort of shade? Mother and child are two. If not, where were love?" The devotees of this form of yoga do not immerse themselves in the abstract, but worship a personal God, and are both humbled and spiritually aroused by the distance between themselves and the divine. While some may denounce this as a form of idol worship, the followers are careful to bear in mind the practical meaning of the personal image. It is a symbol, intended to launch the soul into a full-on romance with the impersonal spirit of God. A popular invocation reads:

O Lord, forgive three sins
that are due to my human limitations:
Thou are everywhere,
but I worship you here;
Thou are without form,
but I worship you in these forms;
Thou needest no praise,
yet I offer you these prayers
and salutations.
Lord, forgive three sins
that are due to my human limitations.

Bhakti is not about overlooking the world, or piercing the veil in order to perceive God, -- or, rather, it is only indirectly about these things. More immediately, Bhakti is about finding God in the world, and loving God in and through all the aspects of creation. Two important methods of Bhakti are the repetition of the divine names of God and the contemplation of various forms of love. Repetition of the divine names is intended to direct the practitioner's aspirations to God in the midst of the most menial activities. It is believed that what begins as a purely mechanical ritual will ultimately end in the sincerest absorption with the divine. Contemplation on the forms of love, likewise, raises the consciousness gradually from the mundane to the immortal. The love of a mother for her child, or a child for his mother, or a lover for her beloved, or a friend for a friend, -- all of these give insight into the nature of love, and a proper relation to God will, according to devotees of this Yoga, include all these forms. These forms are classified in a hierarchy of increasing intimacy with God; first, one holds the attitude of a child towards a parent, the protected towards the protector, the receiver towards the giver, etc.; next, one thinks of God as a friend, companion, or even playmate; third, one takes the attitude of a parent to a child, with God as child; lastly, God is contemplated as the beloved.

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