By
What is
Bhakti ?
Types
of Bhakti
How to
Cultivate Bhakti
Bhavas in Bhakti
Nava-Vidha-Bhakti
Fruits
of Bhakti
WHAT IS BHAKTI ?
The term Bhakti comes from the root 'Bhaj', which means 'to be attached to God'. Bhajan, worship, Bhakti, Anurag, Prem, Priti
are synonymous terms. Bhakti is love for love's sake.
The devotee wants God and God alone. There is no selfish expectation here.
There is no fear also. Therefore it is called 'Parama
Prem Rupa'. The devotee
feels, believes, conceives and imagines that his Ishtam
(tutelary deity) is an
Bhakti is the slender thread of Prem or love that binds the heart of a devotee with the
lotus feet of the Lord. Bhakti is intense devotion
and supreme attachment to God. Bhakti is supreme love
for God. It is the spontaneous out-pouring of Prem
towards the Beloved. It is pure, unselfish, divine love or Suddha
Prem. There is not a bit of bargaining or expectation of anything here. This
higher feeling is indescribable in words. It has to be sincerely experienced by
the devotee. Bhakti is a sacred, higher emotion with
sublime sentiments that unites the devotees with the Lord.
Mark how love develops. First arises faith. Then
follows attraction and after that adoration. Adoration leads to suppression of
mundane desires. The result is single-mindedness and satisfaction. Then grow
attachment and supreme love towards God.
In this type of highest Bhakti all attraction and
attachment which one has for objects of enjoyment are transferred to the only
dearest object, viz., God. This leads the devotee to an eternal union with his
Beloved and culminates in oneness.
Bhakti is of various kinds. One classification is Sakamya and Nishkamya
Bhakti. Sakamya Bhakti is devotion with desire for material gains. A man
wants wealth with this motive practices Bhakti.
Another man wants freedom from diseases and therefore does Japa
and offers prayers. A third one wants to become a Minister and does Upasana with this aim. This is Sakamya
Bhakti. Whatever you want the Lord will certainly
give you, if your Bhakti is intense and if your
prayers are sincerely offered from the bottom of your heart. But you will not
get supreme satisfaction, immortality and Moksha
through Sakamya Bhakti.
Your Bhakti should always be Nishkamya
Bhakti. God has already given you a good position, a
good job, wife and children and enough wealth. Be contented with these. Aspire
for Nishkamya Bhakti. Your
heart will be purified and the Divine Grace will descend upon you. Be in
communion with the Lord, you will become one with the Lord and you will enjoy
all the Divine Aisvaryas (Divine attributes like
wisdom, renunciation, power, etc.). All the Vibhutis
(Special forms in which the Lord manifests) of the Lord He will give you. He
will give you Darsan. He will help you to dwell in
Him. At the same time He will give you all the Divine Aisvaryas
also.
Another classification of Bhakti is Apara-Bhakti and Para-Bhakti.
Apara-Bhakti is for beginners in Yoga. The beginner
decorates an image with flowers and garlands, rings the bell, offers Naivedya (food-offerings), wave lights;
he observes rituals and ceremonies. The Bhakta here
regards the Lord as a Supreme Person, who is immanent in that image and who can
be propitiated through that form only.
He has no expanded heart. He is a sectarian. He dislikes other kinds of Bhaktas who worship other Devatas.
Gradually, from Apara-Bhakti, the devotee goes to
Para-Bhakti, the highest form of Bhakti.
He sees the Lord and Lord alone everywhere and feels His Power manifest as the
entire universe. "Thou art all-pervading; on what Simhasana
shall I seat Thee ? Thou art the Supreme Light, in
whose borrowed light the sun, the moon, the stars and the fire shine; shall I
wave this little Deepa or light before You ?" - thus the devotee
recognizes the transcendental nature of God. Para-Bhakti
and Jnana are one. But every Bhakta
will have to start from Apara-Bhakti. Before you take
your food, offer it to God mentally; and the food will be purified. When you
pass through a garden of flowers, mentally offer all the flowers to the Lord in
Archana (offering flowers in worship). When
you pass through the bazaar and see a sweetmeat shop, offer all the sweetmeats
as Naivedya to the Lord. Such practices will
lead to Para-Bhakti.
Bhakti is also classified into Gauna-Bhakti
and Mukhya-Bhakti. Gauna-Bhakti
is the lower Bhakti and Mukhya-Bhakti
is the higher type of Bhakti.
Go from stage to stage. Just as a flower grows in the garden, so also
gradually develop love or Prem in the garden of your
heart.
The enemy of devotion is egoism and desire. Where there is no
It would be a gross mistake if you consider Bhakti
as merely a stage of emotionalism, while it is actually a thorough discipline
and training of one's will and the mind, a sure means to intuitive realization
of God Almighty through intense love and affection for Him. It is a means to
thorough apprehension of the true knowledge of Reality, beginning from the
ordinary form of idol worship right upto the highest
form of cosmic realisation of your oneness with Him.
You can achieve this by following the eleven fundamental factors which Sri Ramanuja had prescribed. They are Abhyasa
or practice of continuous thinking of God; Viveka
or discrimination; Vimoka or freedom from
everything else and longing for God; Satyam or
truthfulness; Arjavam or straightforwardness; Kriya or doing good to others; Kalyana
or wishing well-being to all; Daya or
compassion; Ahimsa or non-injury; Dana or charity; and Anavasada or cheerfulness and optimism.
People put a question: "How can we love God whom we have not seen ?"
Live in the company of saints. Hear the Lilas of
God. Study the sacred scriptures. Worship Him first in His several forms as
manifested in the world. Worship any image or picture of the Lord or the Guru.
Recite His Name. Sing His glories. Stay for one year in Ayodhya
or Brindavan, Chirakut or Pandhapur,
Every act must be done that awakens the emotion of Bhakti.
Keep the Puja(worship) room clean. Decorate the room. Burn
incense. Light a lamp. Keep a clean seat. Bathe. Wear clean clothes.
Apply Vibhuti (sacred ash) or Bhasma,
and Kumkum on the forehead. Wear Rudraksha
or Tulasi Mala. All these
produce a benign influence on the mind and elevate the mind. They generate
piety. They help to create the necessary Bhava or
feeling to invoke the Deity that you want to worship. The mind will be easily
concentrated.
Practice of right conduct, Satsanga, Japa, Smarana, Kirtan, prayer, worship, service of saints, residence in
places of pilgrimage, service of the poor and the sick with divine Bhava, observance of Varnashrama
duties, offering of all actions and their fruits to the Lord, feeling the
presence of the Lord in all beings, prostrations before the image and saints,
renunciation of earthly enjoyments and wealth, charity, austerities and vows,
practice of Ahimsa, Satyam and Brahmacharya
- all these will help you to develop Bhakti.
When the devotee grows in devotion there is absolute self-forgetfulness.
This is called Bhava. Bhava
establishes a true relationship between the devotee and the Lord. Bhava then grows into Maha-Bhava
wherein the devotee lives, moves and has his being in the Lord. This is Parama-Prema, the consummation of love or Supreme
Love.
There are five kinds of Bhava in Bhakti. They are Shanta,
Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalya and Madhurya Bhavas. These Bhavas or feelings
are natural to human beings and so these are easy to practice. Practice whichever
Bhava suits your temperament.
In Shanta Bhava, the
devotee is Shanta or peaceful. He does not jump and
dance. He is not highly emotional. His heart is filled with love and joy. Bhishma was a Shanta Bhakta.
Sri Hanuman was a Dasya Bhakta.
He had Dasya Bhava, servant
attitude. He served Lord Rama whole-heartedly. He
pleased his Master in all possible ways. He found joy and bliss in the service
of his Master.
In Sakhya Bhava, God is
a friend of the devotee. Arjuna had this Bhava towards Lord Krishna. The devotee moves with the Lord
on equal terms. Arjuna and
In Vatsalya Bhava, the
devotee looks upon God as his child. Yasoda had this Bhava with Lord Krishna. There is no fear in this Bhava, because God is your pet child. The devotee serves,
feeds, and looks upon God as a mother does in the case of her child.
The last is Madhurya Bhava
or Kanta Bhava. This is the
highest form of Bhakti. The devotee regards the Lord
as his Lover. This was the relation between Radha and
A Caution: Madhurya Bhava
is absolutely different from conjugality of earthly experience. One should not
be mistaken for the other. Earthly conjugality is purely selfish and is
undertaken only because it gives pleasure to one's own self. But in love for
God it is because it gives pleasure to God and not for the sake of the devotee.
Divine love is not selfish. It is born of sattva. But
earthly lust is born of rajas and attachment to bodies. Earthly conjugality is
the outcome of egoisitc self-regarding egoistic
feeling, while divine communion is the outcome of other-regarding feeling
devoid of egoism. Strong selfishness is the root of worldly passion; divine love
is the product of loss of egoism. This is the greatest difference between lust
(
Devotion to God is developed in nine different ways. It is supreme attacment to God through a Bhava
predominant in the devotee. Intense love is the common factor in all the nine
modes. Exclusive love for God is expressed through various methods. All Bhaktas of this type are above the formalities of the
world. They are untouched by the laws of human Dharma and are out and out
concerned with God.
Good conduct which is in accordance with perfect moral law is an auxiliary
to pure Bhakti and it follows the true Bhakta wherever he goes. One cannot develop true devotion
to God if he is crooked in his heart, if he has got objects of love in this
world, if he is tempted by charming worldly things, if he wishes to take care
of his wife, children and relatives, if he wishes to feed his body well, if he
wishes to earn a great name in the world, if he wants to establish a permanent
fame on earth, if he does not like to part with the alluring contents of the
world. Perfect detachment from all objects is a preliminary to real devotion. Vairagya is the product of real love for God. One who has
love for the world cannot have love for God. Where there is
In the Srimad-Bhagavata and the Vishnu Purana it is told that the nine forms of Bhakti are
A devotee can practice any method of Bhakti which
suits him best. Through that he will attain Divine illumination.
Sravana is hearing of Lord's Lilas. Sravana includes hearing
of God's virtues, glories, sports and stories connected with His divine Name
and Form. The devotee gets absorbed in the hearing of Divine stories and his
mind merges in the thought of divinity; it cannot think of undivine
things. The mind loses, as it were, its charm for the world. The devotee remembers
God only even in dream.
The devotee should sit before a learned teacher who is a great saint and
hear Divine stories. He should hear them with a sincere heart devoid of the
sense of criticism or fault-finding. The devotee should try his best to live in
the ideals preached in the scriptures.
One cannot attain Sravana-Bhakti without the
company of saints or wise men. Mere reading for oneself is not of much use.
Doubts will crop up. They cannot be solved by oneself
easily. An experienced man is necessary to instruct the devotee in the right
path.
King Parikshit attained Liberation through Sravana. He heard the glories of God from Suka Maharishi. His heart was
purified. He attained the Abode of Lord Vishnu in Vaikuntha.
He became liberated and enjoyed the Supreme Bliss.
Kirtana is singing of Lord's glories. The
devotee is thrilled with Divine Emotion. He loses himself in the love of God.
He gets horripilation in the body due to extreme love
for God. He weeps in the middle when thinking of the glory of God. His voice
becomes choked, and he flies into a state of Divine Bhava.
The devotee is ever engaged in Japa of the Lord's
Name and in describing His glories to one and all. Wherever he goes he begins
to sing and praise God. He requests all to join his Kirtana.
He sings and dances in ecstasy. He makes others also dance.
Smarana is remembrance of the Lord at all
times. This is unbroken memory of the Name and Form of the Lord. The mind does
not think of any object of the world, but is ever engrossed in thinking of the
glorious Lord alone. The mind meditates on what is heard about the glories of
God and His virtues, Names, etc., and forgets even the
body and contents itself in the remembrance of God, just as Dhruva
or Prahlada did. Even Japa
is only remembrance of God and comes under this category of Bhakti.
Remembrance also includes hearing of stories pertaining to God at all times,
talking of God, teaching to others what pertains to God, meditation on the
attributes of God, etc. Remembrance has no particular time. God is to be
remembered at all times without break, so long as one has got his consciousness
intact.
Padasevana is serving the Lord's Feet.
Actually this can be done only by Lakshmi or Parvati. No mortal being has got the fortune to practice
this method of Bhakti, for the Lord is not visible to
the physical eyes. But it is possible to serve the image of God in idols and
better still, taking the whole humanity as God. This is Padasevana.
Padasevana is service of the sick. Padasevana is service of the whole humanity at large. The
whole universe is only Virat-Swarupa. Service of the
world is service of the Lord.
Archana is worship of the Lord. Worship can
be done either through an image or a picture or even a mental form. The image
should be one appealing to the mind of the worshipper.
Worship can be done either with external materials or merely through an
internal Bhava or strong feeling. The latter one is
an advanced form of worship which only men of purified intellect can do. The
purpose of worship is to please the Lord, to purify the heart through surrender
of the ego and love of God.
Vandana is prayer and prostration. Humble
prostration touching the earth with the eight limbs of the body (Sashtanga-Namaskara), with faith and reverence, before a
form of God, or prostration to all beings knowing them to be the forms of the
One God, and getting absorbed in the Divine Love of the Lord is termed
prostration to God or Vandana.
The ego or Ahamkara is effaced out completely
through devout prayer and prostration to God. Divine grace descends upon the
devotee and man becomes God.
Dasya Bhakti
is the love of God through servant-sentiment. To serve God and carry out His
wishes, realizing His virtues, nature, mystery and glory, considering oneself
as a slave of God, the Supreme Master, is Dasya Bhakti.
Serving and worshipping the Murtis in temples,
sweeping the temple premises, meditating on God and mentally serving Him like a
slave, serving the saints and the sages, serving the devotees of God, serving
poor and sick people who are forms of God, is also included in Dasya-Bhakti.
To follow the words of the scriptures, to act according to the injunctions
of the Vedas, considering them to be direct words of God,
is Dasya Bhakti.
Association with and service of love-intoxicated devotees and service of those
who have knowledge of God is Dasya Bhakti. The purpose behind Dasya Bhakti is to be ever with God in order to offer service to
Him and win His Divine Grace and attain thereby immortality.
Sakhya-Bhava is the cultivation of the
friend-sentiment with God. The inmates of the family of Nandagopa
cultivated this Bhakti. Arjuna
cultivated this kind of Bhakti towards Lord Krishna.
To be always with the Lord, to treat Him as one's own dear relative or a
friend belonging to one's own family, to be in His company at all times, to
love Him as one's own self, is Sakhya-Bhava of Bhakti-Marga. How do friends, real friends, love in this world ? What an amount of love they possess between one another ? Such a love is developed towards God instead of
towards man; physical love turned into spiritual love. There is a
transformation of the mundane into the Eternal.
Atma-Nivedana is self-surrender. The
devotee offers everything to God, including his body, mind and soul. He keeps
nothing for himself. He loses even his own self. He has no personal and
independent existence. He has given up his self for God. He has become part and
parcel of God. God takes care of him and God treats him as Himself. Grief and
sorrow, pleasure and pain, the devotee treats as gifts sent by God and does not
attach himself to them. He considers himself as a
puppet of God and an instrument in the hands of God.
This self-surrender is Absolute Love for God exclusively. There is nothing
but God-consciousness in the devotee. Even against his own wishes, the devotee
shall become one with God and lose his individuality. This is the law of being.
The highest truth is Absoluteness and the soul rises above through different
states of consciousness until it attains Absolute Perfection when it becomes
identical with God. This is the culmination of all aspiration and love.
The nine modes of Bhakti are the ways in which a
devotee attains the Supreme Ideal of life. A devotee can take up any of these
paths and reach the highest state. The path of Bhakti
is the easiest of all and is not very much against the nature of human
inclinations. It slowly and gradually takes the individual to the Supreme
without frustrating his human instincts. It is not direct assertion of God, but
a progressive realization of Him.
Bhakti softens the heart and removes jealousy,
hatred, lust, anger, egoism, pride and arrogance. It infuses joy, divine
ecstasy, bliss, peace and knowledge. All cares, worries and anxieties, fears,
mental torments and tribulations entirely vanish. The devotee is freed from the
Samsaric wheel of births and deaths. He attains the
immortal abode of everlasting peace, bliss and knowledge.
The fruits of Bhakti is Jnana. Jnana intensifies Bhakti. Even Jnanis like Sankara, Madhusudana and Suka Dev took to Bhakti after
Realization to enjoy the sweetness of loving relationship with God.
Knowledge or wisdom will dawn by itself when you practice Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti is the
pleasant, smooth, direct road to God. Bhakti is sweet
in the beginning, sweet in the middle and sweet in the end. It gives the
highest, undecaying bliss.
Kindle love divine in thy heart, for this is the immediate way to the
Pray to the Lord. Sing His glory. Recite His Name. Become a channel of His
grace.
Seek His will. Do His will. Surrender to His will.
You will become one with the cosmic will.
Surrender unto the Lord. He will become your
charioteer on the field of life. He will drive your chariot well. You will
reach the destination, the Abode of Immortal Bliss.