Bhakti Yoga : भक्ति योग

Bhakti Yoga : भक्ति योग is a Spiritual discipline in which through the cultivation of Love and devotion towards God one attains to the highest state of Nirvana. It is a practice of devotion towards God, solely motivated by the sincere, loving desire to please the God, rather than the hope of divine reward or the fear of divine punishment. It is a means toward a state of spiritual liberation or enlightenment through the "realisation", or the attainment of "oneness" with God. Bhakti yoga is often considered by Hindus to be the easiest way for ordinary people to attain such a spiritually liberated state, because although it is a form of yoga, its practice is not as rigorous as most other yogic schools, and it is possible to practice bhakti yoga without needing to become a full-time yogi.

As per the Hindu mythology, in other paths like "Jnana Yoga", the path of Knowledge or "Dhyana Yoga", the Yoga of Meditation etc. it is essential that one practices self discipline, masters his senses, passions etc. to realize the God. But Bhakti Yoga, the path of devotion is Unique in that sense.

Bhakti is a Sanskrit term that signifies an attitude of devotion towards God which is similar to a number of interpersonal relationships between humans, such as between lovers or friends. The difference is that in bhakti, the relationship is between a soul (that of the devotee) and a "Supersoul" (God). Bhakti is a yogic path, in that the devotee's aim is of loving union with God.

As per the great saint Sri Ramakrishna:

" Is it possible to realize God unless one’s passions have already been controlled? In a sense not. But that is true only of Jnana Yoga, the path of Knowledge. The knowing one says, “One must first be pure if one desires to see God. One must first control one’s passions. First self-discipline, then knowledge of God.”

There is however, another path leading to God – the path of devotion (Bhakti Yoga). If one man gains love of God, if once the chanting of His holy name begins to thrill the devotee with joy, what effort is needed for the control of passions afterwards? The control comes of itself. Can a man suffering from intense grief be in a mood to enter into a quarrel, or to enjoy a feast, or to give his mind up to the pleasures of the senses? So one absorbed in the love of God cannot think of sense-pleasures.

A poet has compared devotion to God to a tiger. As the tiger devours animals, devotion also swallows up all the ‘arch-enemies’ of man, such as lust, passion and the rest. Once the devotion to God is fully awakened, all evil passions like lust and anger are completely destroyed."

In "Bhagwat Gita", Lord Krishna Says that if a person is devoted to God only then God rescues that person from ocean of Birth & Death i.e. that man becomes eligible for permanent life beyond death forever with God.

As per (Gita: Chapter XII verse 8) God says that:

"mayy eva mana adhatsva
mayi buddhim nivesaya
nivasisyasi mayy eva
ata urdhvam na samsayah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Twelve verse 8)

" Fix Your mind on Me (God) and establish your reasoning in Me (God) alone; thereafter doing so you shall abide in Me (God) only. There is no doubt about it. "

' Ye tu srvani krmani
myi sanyasya mat-para
anany-naiv yogen
maam dhyayant upasate '
' Tesham-aham samud-dharta
mrityu-sansar-saagrat
bhavami na-chirat parth
mayy-avesita-chetsam ' ( Bhagwat Gita: Chapter XII verse 6-7 )

'Those people, who worship Me by surrendering all their activities unto Me, are always devoted to Me, always meditate upon Me, Having always fixing their minds upon Me, O Parth - to them, I swiftly rescue from the ocean of birth and death.'

So as per assurance given by God in Gita, Lets all be devotees of God only & let's pray for Him (God) daily.

Jai Shri Krishna

Don't be like a Parrot but be Practical

"Once there was a Holy teacher who was having a big hermitage. He was having a pet Parrot to whom he taught how not to get caught in the forest by the hunter’s trap. His parrot, who could speak well learnt all those ways & recited daily to his friends in the forest those ways, how not to get caught in the hunter’s trap. All of his friends learnt all the ways well.

One day a hunter came in the forest. The parrot started reciting loudly all the ways how to run away & not to get caught in the hunter’s trap. All of the friends of the parrot ran away & escaped the hunter’s trap but that parrot did nothing but went on chanting those lines, how not to get caught in the trap of the hunter. So he himself was trapped & killed while all his friends acting on his advice ran away & saved their lives.

So the Holy teacher told his disciples that, "Don’t be like that parrot who only believed in chanting but be practical in implementing his advice in their lives as then only they can be great people. God is happy with those who do the action & not mere recite the holy words."

Below are verses of Bhagwat Gita which tell that doing action is better than not working at all :

"niyatam kuru karma tvam
karma jyayo hy akarmanah
satire-satrapy cha tee
an prasiddhyed akarmanah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 8)

"Sri Krishna said: Do You perform your prescribed duty; for doing action is better than not working. One cannot even maintain one’s physical body without work."

"brahmany adhaya karmani
sangam tyaktva karoti yah
lipyate an sa papena
padma-patram ivambhasa" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Five verse 10)

"Sri Krishna said: One who performs his duty offering all actions & surrendering the results unto the God, remains unaffected by sin; same as the lotus leaf is untouched by water."

"ye tu sarvani karmani
mayi sannyasya mat-parah
ananyenaiva yogena
mam dhyayanta upasate"

"tesam aham samuddharta
mrityu-samsara-sagarat
bhavami an cirat partha
mayy avesita-cetasam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Twelve verse 6-7)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, But those depending exclusively on me & those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pritha (Arjuna) — for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death."

"sreyo hi jnanam abhyasaj
jnanad dhyanam visisyate
dhyanat karma-phala-tyagas
tyagac chantir anantaram" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Twelve verse 12)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, If you cannot take to this practice, then engage yourself in the cultivation of knowledge. Better than knowledge, however, is meditation, and better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of action, for by such renunciation one can attain peace of mind."

So let's do all our work always remembering the God & offer all our work to God. In this way you shall be sustaining your family life & shall be doing good to the society also. God shall be happy with you as you shall devote all of your work & life to God only.



Jai Sri Krishna

Do You Believe In Luck?

That day a poor person won 'Many millions worth of Lottery' & people said, "Wow, what a Lucky guy!". Recently an old lady in her last will, gave everything to her caretaker (servant) of 30 years, all her property, money worth millions & people said "Wow, what a Lucky person!". In this way, many people find themselves Lucky suddenly. Similarly, people do get sudden losses in business, have sudden misfortunes in life & people say, "What a bad Luck!". Sudden gain or sudden loss in life is said to be due to one's Luck. Now what is this Luck? Do you believe in this Luck? Here below is described what is Luck & what is it's relation with the Human Karmas.

Luck is generally said to be blessings of God. It is also similar to Bhagya, Kismet, Fate etc. but differs from these in a way that it is sudden, by chance that something good or bad happens in one's life. Now the question is, "Why suddenly Luck shines on a particular person & that person wins a lottery?" To understand this we need to understand the Hindu theory of Karmas.

As per Bhagwat Gita, individual soul is immortal & is capable of taking rebirth in different bodies after it leaves one body at death. As per the Hindu Philosophy, 'Actions or Karmas' of previous birth become the basis of this birth & Karmas of this birth become the basis of next birth & so on. Every Karma has a consequential Fruit related to it. A person has to enjoy the good or bad fruits of "Karmas", in his/her next births. Karmas done by a person, remains with that person, unless he/she has enjoyed the consequential Fruits arisen out of doing that Karma.

At the death of a person, individual soul takes with it all the accumulated Karmas, which contain Karmas done in this birth & also the Karmas from the previous births for which its fruits are yet to be enjoyed . Now when a person gets something by chance, it is the outcome or fruits of previous births Karmas which are bearing fruit now. So when a person suddenly wins a lottery, then at that time some very good deeds or Karmas of previous births suddenly bear good fruits. Similarly when a person gets sudden loss in life & have a bad Luck, then also some bad deeds or Karmas of previous births suddenly bear bad fruits.

So this explains all such events as per the Hindu Philosophy. It is also due to good & bad Karmas done by an individual in earlier births only that a person is born in a rich or poor family. All inheritances too can be explained like that only. So let's all do Good deeds or Good Karmas only so that our this & next lives can be good.

Read also: What is Karma?

Action or Meditation

We all have heard of Himalayan Yogis who do meditation for years together in search of God in the caves of Himalaya. The stories of such Yogis are true & they do such meditation to achieve God all through their lives. Now just tell me whether in your busy life schedule, can you do such vigorous mediation in isolation for years together? Certainly not, as we all are worldly people who are doing our duty towards our family, society & nation. We do not have the luxury of such time that we can do meditation for years together.

Now, can't we then attain to God if we are not able to do the meditation? Don't worry, Bhagwat Gita gives a solution for this.

"Once there was a Master who was having a big hermitage in which he was having many disciples. Strangely, Master was never seen sitting in meditation. However, he was ceaselessly engaged in housework and fieldwork, in meeting people and writing books. He even took up the book keeping chores of the monastery. So in that way he was continuously engaged in action. Once a disciple asked the Master," You are always engaged in action, doing some work or the other, You never sit in meditation, then how come you are able to see the God?"

Master replied, "I do all my work always remembering the God & offer all my work to God. In this way I am sustaining my life, taking a part in God's world & doing good to the society. God is happy with me as I devote all my work to God. So in this way as I remember God always so therefore I don't need to sit in meditation."

Below are verses of Bhagwat Gita which also say that only:

"niyatam kuru karma tvam
karma jyayo hy akarmanah
satire-satrapy cha tee
an prasiddhyed akarmanah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 8)

"Sri Krishna said: Do You perform your prescribed duty; for doing action is better than not working. One cannot even maintain one’s physical body without work."

"brahmany adhaya karmani
sangam tyaktva karoti yah
lipyate an sa papena
padma-patram ivambhasa" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Five verse 10)

"Sri Krishna said: One who performs his duty offering all actions & surrendering the results unto the God, remains unaffected by sin; same as the lotus leaf is untouched by water."

"ye tu sarvani karmani
mayi sannyasya mat-parah
ananyenaiva yogena
mam dhyayanta upasate"

"tesam aham samuddharta
mrityu-samsara-sagarat
bhavami an cirat partha
mayy avesita-cetasam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Twelve verse 6-7)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, But those depending exclusively on me & those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pritha (Arjuna) — for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death."

"sreyo hi jnanam abhyasaj
jnanad dhyanam visisyate
dhyanat karma-phala-tyagas
tyagac chantir anantaram" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Twelve verse 12)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, If you cannot take to this practice, then engage yourself in the cultivation of knowledge. Better than knowledge, however, is meditation, and better than meditation is renunciation of the fruits of action, for by such renunciation one can attain peace of mind."

So let's do all our work always remembering the God & offer all our work to God. In this way you shall be sustaining your family life & shall be doing good to the society also. God shall be happy with you as you shall devote all of your work & life to God only.

Offering Actions to God

"Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold but so does a hard-boiled egg."

All scriptures tell us that we should do the right action & good action. No action of ours should harm anybody. One way to do action is to lead a normal life by doing your normal duties in which you earn a livelihood for yourself & your family. It is called the normal action. The other way of doing actions as told by Bhagwat Gita is to offer all your actions to God just like you offer the offerings at the feet of God in a temple. Just devote & offer all your actions at the feet of God. By offering all your actions in such a way to God you shall be doing everything for God only & it's outcome shall be good only. God promises to Arjuna that if a person does all his/her actions in this way of offering to God then He shall rescue that person always in life.

Below are the verses from "Bhagwat Gita" in which God is asking his disciple Arjuna to do all his actions / activities for Him only. The below verses are firstly, written in, as it is written in original Sanskrit in Bhagwat Gita & below that is English translation of that verse.

' Ye tu srvani krmani
myi sanyasya mat-para
anany-naiv yogen
maam dhyayant upasate '
' Tesham-aham samud-dharta
mrityu-sansar-saagrat
bhavami na-chirat parth
mayy-avesita-chetsam ' ( Bhagwat Gita: Chapter XII verse 6-7 )

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, Those people, who worship Me by surrendering all their activities unto Me, are always devoted to Me, always meditate upon Me, Having always fixing their minds upon Me, O Parth - to them, I swiftly rescue from the ocean of birth and death."

Through above verse 6 & 7, God is telling 'Parth' (another name of Arjuna, his disciple), that those people who work for God only & offer all their activities & work to Him only, to such a Soul He shows great mercy, always protects him & finally rescues him during & after death.

"mayy eva mana adhatsva
mayi buddhim nivesaya
nivasisyasi mayy eva
ata urdhvam na samsayah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Twelve verse 8)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, Just fix your mind upon Me and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt."

In the above verses, God is making very clear that if a person offers all his work & activities to God, thinking this world to be a creation of God only, then also He shall be happy with that person & shall protect & shall deliver that person from the cycles of birth & death. By working for God, we shall attain peace & shall attain His love & devotion. So Let's all Work for God only.

You, yourself are responsible for your Misdeeds

In this world there are many people who have a perverted thinking & they do not want to be responsible for their actions. Such people go on doing bad things in life, harming themselves & others in society, yet not feeling themselves responsible for their such actions. Either such people do not know at all how & why they are doing wrongful actions/misdeeds or they think that some invisible force is getting done all such sinful actions through them & many of them call such force as Satanic force, Devil force, Evil force etc. etc. In fact such people do not want to be responsible for their misdeeds & just want some excuse to put the blame on somebody else or on some invisible force.

All such thinking of such people is only perverse thinking which does harm only to such people. Sometimes such people even say that God is responsible for their such misdeeds & make God as responsible for their sinful deeds & quote the below words in support of their belief :

"I know what is right, yet I feel no urge for the practice of virtue, I know even that which is unrighteous; yet I am unable to recoil from it. I do as I am prompted to do by some unknown deity installed within my heart."

The above is the view point of bad people in society who do not want to take any blame for their misdeeds/sins due to ignorance & such view point of theirs is altogether worth dismissing.

Now here below is the right perspective with respect to the commission of sins as per "Bhagwat Gita".

In "Bhagwat Gita" Arjuna asks "Lord Krishna" the following question:

"arjuna uvacha
atha kena prayukto ’yam
papam charati purushah
anicchann api varsneya
balad iva niyojitah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 36)

"Arjuna said: O Sri Krishna, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?"

"sri-bhagavan uvacha
kama esa krodha esa
rajo-guna-samudbhavah
mahasano maha-papma
viddhy enam iha vairinam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 37)

"Sri Krishna said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world."

"dhumenavriyate vahnir
yathadarso malena cha
yatholbenavrto garbhas
tatha tenedam avrtam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 38)

"Sri Krishna said: As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, the living entity is similarly covered by different degrees of this lust."

"avrtam jnanam etena
jnanino nitya-vairina
kama-rupena kaunteya
duspurenanalena cha" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 39)

"Sri Krishna said: Thus the wise living entity’s pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire."

"tasmat tvam indriyany adau
niyamya bharatarsabha
papmanam prajahi hy enam
jnana-vijnana-nasanam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 41)

"Sri Krishna said: Therefore, O Arjuna, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin (lust) by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization."

"evam buddheh param buddhva
samstabhyatmanam atmana
jahi satrum maha-baho
kama-rupam durasadam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Three verse 43)

"Sri Krishna said: Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence and thus—by spiritual strength—conquer the lust which is the insatiable enemy."

From the above verses of "Bhagwat Gita" it is very clear that it is the individual's Lust & constant feeding of one's senses that a person commits sinful activities. Due to such involvement in lust, one's intelligence gets covered with ignorance, just like a mirror is covered by the dust & you are not able to see your face properly in it. When one's mind and intelligence becomes covered with the dust of lust & sensual activity, then his/her thinking becomes perverted & that person makes God or some invisible force as responsible for his/her sinful deeds, which is not correct. Let's be very clear that we all are responsible for our own deeds/misdeeds & in no case you can put blame of your deeds/misdeeds on any other person; human, divine or any other invisible force. Let's take responsibility for our own actions & let's not do anything which shall harm others in actions, words or deeds.