The Essentials of Hinduism by Bhaskarananda Swami

Author:Bhaskarananda, Swami [Bhaskarananda, Swami]
Format: epub
Publisher: Viveka Press
Published: 2010-05-11T16:00:00+00:00

BHAKTI YOGA —THE PATH OF DEVOTION

This path enables the emotional person to have a direct vision of Personal God or Īshvara . The emotion love, which is abundantly available in everyone, is skillfully used as a means to attain God-vision. Love in human beings is usually present as “selfish love.” If selfish love can somehow be sublimated and directed towards God, it becomes an effective means of God-realization. Hindu history and legends tell us about many such instances.

In his youth Tulsīdās, a famous Hindu saint of India, was passionately attached to his young wife. He loved her with all his heart and soul and could not stay away from her even for a single day. His wife had not seen her parents for a while and was eager to visit them, but Tulsīdās would not allow her to go.

One day, however, when Tulsīdās left his village on some errand, his wife went to her parents’ home in a nearby village without informing her husband. Tulsīdās came to know this as soon as he returned home and immediately went to his in-laws’ home to find his wife. She felt extremely embarrassed at this, 1 and said to her husband, “Shame on you! You can’t stay away from me even for a day! Had you been as attached to God as you are to me, perhaps you would have seen Him.” This admonition hurt the feelings of Tulsīdās so much that he immediately left his wife and never returned home. He became a monk and a passionate lover of God. In course of time he was blessed with God-vision and became a saint.

Tulsīdās’s life is a beautiful example of how selfish and passionate love can be sublimated and transformed into a means of God-realization. This technique of transforming worldly love into divine love is called Bhakti Yoga .

Bhakti Yoga disciplines consist of maintaining physical and mental purity (shaucha ), prayer (prārthanā ), chanting of God’s holy name (japa ), the singing of devotional songs (gīta ), and the adoration and worship of God (pūjā or upāsanā ).

Worship is of two kinds: (1) external ritualistic worship and (2) mental worship. Mental worship is a kind of meditation and is considered superior to ritualistic worship. It is more suitable for those who have made adequate progress in spiritual life. Ritualistic worship is suitable for beginners. In ritualistic worship, images or holy symbols are used. 2

Chanting the holy name of God, or japa , is done in several ways. When it is done audibly by pronouncing the holy name correctly, it is called vāchika japa . When the chanting is done by moving the tongue and the lips in such a manner that it can be heard only by the chanter and no one else, it is called upāmshu japa . In the third type of chanting the Holy Name is repeated mentally without moving the tongue or the lips. This type of silent chanting is called mānasa japa . Among these the third one is considered superior to the second, and the second superior to the first.

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