Bhakti means intense love for God. Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion.
It reflects the attraction of the soul for God, just like an iron needle
is attracted by a magnet. Bhakti Yoga uses the heart and the natural feeing
of love to reach the highest state of evolution. He who loves God has
neither wants nor sorrows. In the highest stages of Bhakti Yoga the devotee
does not hate any being or object. Everyone and everything is included
in his warm love.
God is immanent and transcendent.
The seer in the Isha Upanishads declares: "In dark night live those
for whom God is immanent only, and darker still for whom he is transcendent
only. But those who know Him as immanent and transcendent cross the sea
of death with the immanent and enter into immortality with the transcendent.”
One can only reach the transcendent through the immanent. Even though
God is pure Consciousness, One without a second, the all-pervading Reality,
these are only abstract concepts and ideas for the mind. Until the transcendent
experience of God is reached, the mind needs something more concrete to
which it can relate. That is the reason why in all religions, there are
representations of God with specific qualities and attributes. Each representation
becomes a channel through which the all-pervading consciousness touches
and nourishes the thirsty soul of the aspirant. It becomes a constant
reference, an ideal like the perfect father or mother, the perfect child,
the perfect beloved. It becomes the supreme refuge to which the aspirant
will turn in difficult times as well as in times of joy – just like a
child, with a loving mother or father. It also becomes a perfect and reliable
recipient for the unbounded, pure love that lies dormant deep in our heart.
The bhaktas, adepts of Bhakti Yoga, relate to God in different ways,
depending on their temperament and capacity: some will develop with God
the relationship of a child with his parents. Some will behave like a
servant, like you will see hereafter in the story of Hanuman with Rama.
Some bhaktas have a sense of equality, like Arjuna with Krishna. Some
look upon God as their own child, like Yasodda with Krishna and Kausalya
with Rama. Then God comes to these devotees as their child. For Sita,
God was the beloved, the husband. The culmination is when the lover
and the beloved become one through the intensity of their love. This was
the case for Radha and Princess Mira.
We are emotional, sentient beings. All through life, most people go
through ups and downs, jumping from unbounded enthusiasm to deep depression
because they live in a world of duality ("I love this, I hate that”).
There higher is the mountain, the deeper is the valley ! They become
the puppets of negative emotions like anger, envy, hatred, jealousy, fear,
desires, and attachments, which constantly disturb the mind and bring
pain and suffering. These lower emotions are transmuted into higher feelings
like compassion, tolerance, love, and inner peace through Bhakti Yoga,
the path of Love and constant remembrance of God. There are nine steps
on the ladder of Bhakti Yoga. The highest one is absolute, unconditional
self-surrender to God.
Extract from Yogi Hari's book "Sampoorna
Yoga"
