Chapter 18 - Bhakti Yoga - The Yoga of Love
There are two possibilities in us to comprehend the world, the possibility of feeling and the possibility of reasoning. The way to a comprehension of the world through feeling is Bhakti Yoga, while the way through conscious reasoning is Jnana Yoga. One addresses itself to the emotions and the subconscious forces, the other to reason, using consciousness as a means to salvation. The pair of opposites can be compared with the contrast existing between mysticism and scholasticism which characterizes the early development of Christianity. Bhakti Yoga would correspond to mysticism, Jnana Yoga to scholasticism. Such differentiations, of course, have always something artificial about them, because at a certain degree of development, the two opposites, reason and feeling blend together in something more perfect. Then the heart thinks, the brain feels, there is inspiration and intuition.
It is said that the way of feeling, Bhakti Yoga is easier, love demanding no effort. All is possible to love. A mother, in daily life perhaps afraid of a mouse, will snatch her baby from the clutches of a tiger to save the life of her child. Love is the great ennobling impulse of our life. All Christians know St Paul's hymn to love: "... love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not; love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own ..." Love is the force which cements the universe.
Hindus have a number of names for the many shadings of love. But when the great Yogi Vivekananda sings his himn to love he uses only one name: God. In the source of love, all its various forms and manifestations have their origin, even animal love, even the forces of attraction within matter. To Vivekananda, even the passionate desire that may lead to crime is a manifestation of love, "Whichever it may be - divine, angelic, rational, animal or instinctive," says Saint Hierotheus, "through love we hear and understand the force which establishes and maintains harmony between beings." In following the different rivers back to their source, we recognise that there is an original source which creates unity and harmony between all things, from the highest to the lowest creature. In the same spirit Jesus (St Luke 7-47) declares: "Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her: "Thy sins are forgiven."
Love is the lever used by God to lift us out of our egotism. In love every sacrifice seems easy, even that of our own egotistical desires. For this reason Bhakti Yoga does not teach: "Resign thyself", but simply: "Love!" Love with all your heart and resignation will follow by itself. But all that we may love on earth: beauty, virtue, happiness, is only a pale reflection of the glory of God. Thus, love of Him should be far more ardent than the love of earthly things.
There is in the Vedas a verse which means: "The husband loves not his wife, but only the Atman (God) in her." He believes to love the wife; but soon he sees that it was only his ideal which he projected on her and loved in her. Our final ideal is God. Why therefore love the second-rate? The more we love Him, the better we will understand Him.
It is difficult, however, to love an abstract notion. Bhakti Yoga says: "There are two forces in you which can carry you up to God: Feeling and Reason, representation and idea. But the representation will prove more powerful than the mere idea."
As we have seen in Hatha Yoga, it is possible to influence bodily functions through the imagination. When we lift our arm, for instance, we do not do so on the strength of a conscious, logical process of thinking, consciously sending the impulse of the will from the brain to the nerves and from there to the muscles. No, it is done in a flash by means of our imagination. This power of the imagination affecting our subconscious mind is used by Bhakti Yoga. The discriminative factor of reason is largely eliminated in favour of imagination and love.
The Occident has made its no doubt phenomenal conquest of the realm of matter under the sign of reason, although the imagination has played its part in the formulation of the most revolutionary ideas such as relativity etc. There are many signs which portend a change of attitude and the reign of pure materialism is surely at an end. All artistic creation is a child of phantasy, of "temporary insanity". In the last analysis, all is imagination, idea, mind. As C.G. Jung says: "It is a matter of indifference what the world thinks of religious experience; he who possess it has a treasure, the source of life, intelligence and beauty, lending the world and humanity a new sense."
Images existed before abstractions. This is why images affect deeper regions of the soul than mere abstractions. Such images are not to be confused with illusions. Modern psychology recognizes the reality of the soul experience. A psychic experience is not necessarily a hallucination just because we do not share in it. To term it as such would be erroneous as when a blind man would call the perceptions of a seeing man mere illusion.
All religions are full of images and symbols. Mere study will not disclose their deep sense, we must live them. A tree is best known by its fruit, and thus living can only be an individual experience. Men differ from each other especially by the quality of their imagination. Even the notions regarding our perceptions of colour, sounds, odours differ widely from man to man. "De gustibus non est disputandum." There is no discussing of tastes. Individual notions regarding metaphysical realities are of necessity even more differentiated.
For these reasons Bhakti Yoga leaves to each of us the choice of the image of God most comfortable to his inner nature. Indian mythology is infinitely rich in such images. What is important is that the image chosen contains the magic forces apt to affect to a higher degree the emotions of the faithful. It is recommended that the God-seeker keep his image of God to himself and do not speak about it to anyone. It should be guarded like a tender plant until it has grown strong. He who has attained knowledge can then dispense with the image. Leaders of psychology today recognise that religious images can be a wall, a safeguard against irruptions of the unconscious.
The goal of Bhakti Yoga consists of an intensification of the emotional forces to such a degree that the faithful is raised step by step, until love of God has grown to perfect and constant concentration on Him, to absorption in Him. It is not sufficient to this end to go to church once a week or to think of God once or twice a day. The goal of Union with the Divine Ground can only be reached when our consciousness is constantly filled with the thought of God. "Love Him, love Him immeasurably, exhaust the sources of your emotion, then one day, you will recognize that Love, the Lover and the Loved One are One." The Bhakti who has reached the goal is not bound to church or sect. These are only ways to God, but they are not God themselves. Said Ramakrishna: "It is as with water, you can draw it in all kinds of jugs, all kinds of forms, but the water is always the same."
The perfect Bhakti is liberated from desire and egotism. In him shines the light of love. Love of God becomes love of the world and of all its creatures. The "love thy neighbour as thyself" is for him a matter of course, since in his neighbour he recognizes himself. The whole world, to him, is the expression, in infinite language, of the Infinite.
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