In this Kali Yuga Age (it’s the age where we live now) bhakti yoga is the shortest and simplest path to God.
It does not take any special rules or conditions. It does not involve complicated practices, which means there are no mistakes of performing them. The goal of bhakti yoga is just the same as of other yoga types – to reach the union with God. God is Love. With the help of genuine love and bhakti, the person strives for Divine Love.
Whichever path the person chooses in reaching God – karma, jnana, hatha, … – love is vital. A person cannot commit a single act, i.e. karma, without love. Without having a curious mind, willingness to learn and gain spiritual knowledge, that is – without love for this process, the person will not be able to take the jnana yoga way. If you do not do asanas daily, you will not reach perfection in this path. Love is the driving force in all the yoga schools since it is the force and energy of life.
Love and devotion are the key in bkahti yoga.
Bhakti yoga always carries a particular image chosen by the person. It can be a beloved image of God – the one that the person loves dearly, that his soul and heart seek. The point of bhakti yoga is the focus on that beloved image. When a person is focused on the one he loves, he always remembers and contemplates it. Keeping it in his consciousness, he gradually starts to gain the traits of this image. Contemplating God, the Master, a bhakti finally comes to adopt His qualities.
There is a strange insect in the Himalayas, called bhringi, which resembles a bee. The bhringi preys on insects of other kinds and hides them in its nest, where they affected by a sound “bhrin bhrin” produced by the bhringi, themselves turn into bhringis. In short, this insect does not breed in any usual way, but turns other insects into his kind with the help of sound vibrations. This example illustrates what great impact a sound or word makes.
Similarly it goes with people – in the course of time they become the same as others around. They become reflections of their surroundings. Therefore, if we think about bright and spiritual things, we will acquire identical properties.
When inside of a person, love and devotion to God, the Master are awaken, he obtains the divine power. If he does his best to enhance his love every day, he goes down the same road, towards the same goal which is pursued by a yogi who performs most complicated practices. It is always the sole goal, whichever path the person follows – bhakti, karma, radja or ashtanga yoga. And the goal is reaching God and uniting with Him.
For example, if a few people need to get to the city centre, they do not have to take the same route or the same transport. Someone will go there by express train, another will go on foot, the third – by car or bus. However, all of them will meet at the agreed place, no matter how they traveled all this way. It will not matter which transport the person took and it does matter that he has arrived. Similarly, it doesn’t matter what path a person takes to reach God. The goal is the bottom line.
In the modern world it is essential to go the bhakti and karma paths blending them together as both of them are needful. The person should live to make his own living, succeed in all the spheres of life and, beside this, grow spiritually. If the person who devotes himself to God, the Master, quits his job and active life, it will not be fair.
I will tell you one story.
THE STORY ABOUT KARMA YOGA AND BHAKTI YOGA
Once there lived a sadhak. He performed spiritual practices daily. Next door there lived a butcher who sold meat and made his living and supported his family this way. The sadhak used to watch the butcher’s work and instead of contemplating God, he had thoughts what an evil job the butcher has. Eventually the sadhak became attached to these thoughts. The time came when both the sadhak and the butcher died. In the next life the sadhak was born in a butcher’s family and sold meat from childhood years. Gradually he started remembering his previous life when he was a sadhak. Having realized what happened he kept working and never forgot God.
At the same time there lived one disciple with his spiritual Master. His name was Narottam. He saw himself as a very superior sadhak who has gained all spiritual knowledge and he thought he was a really superior yogi. But at the end of his learning time, the Master told him:
– You need to obtain more knowledge. Go to the woman and the butcher who live nearby.
Narottam was astounded by the Master’s words:
– Being such an advanced yogi, what possibly can I learn from a woman and a butcher?
In truth, Narottam was still possessed by supreme arrogance. The Master aware of that sent his disciple to the butcher and the woman so that he overcomes his vanity.
The disciple knew it was important to follow the Master’s instructions, so Narottam set off. At the beginning he traveled to a village where the woman referred by the Master lived. Narottam approached the woman’s house and knocked on the door. She, remaining inside, greeted him and asked to wait.
– I am taking care of my sick husband and I cannot leave him alone.
Narottam felt offended:
– How come that such a great sadhak arrived and he is not welcomed as he deserves?
But he put up with this situation and decided to wait as his Master had instructed to acquire knowledge from this woman. One hour passed, then another, but the woman did not show up. Finally she came out, apologized and explained to Narottam that she could not leave her sick husband alone and he is completely helpless now.
– Taking care of my husband is my duty. You have come to me and I welcome you with my full respect, but still, first I had to fulfill my duty to my husband and later serve you. This is my dharma.
Narottam was surprised:
– How could you possibly have this deep Knowledge being just an ordinary woman? To access this Knowledge one has to perform long and serious spiritual practices.
The woman kept speaking:
– The most essential thing in a person’s life is to perform his duties with love.
Narottam spoke to the woman a long time and gained prem and bhakti yoga knowledge. He realized the woman reached the True Knowledge via devoted service to God. Everyone has God inside him and the wife looking after her husband, saw God in him first of all.
– My Master is such a wise man, – Narottam thought, – it’s so great he addressed me to this woman.
Nowadays it’s so important for people to realize their duty to the family. Spouses have to strive for harmony in their relationships and understand that marriage vows come for all life. People should feel the responsibility for each other and children. As long as people do not learn how to love others, they will find peace and harmony neither in the family nor the world. These days people focus more on looks, physical body, but this type of love passes soon. When the person learns to love the soul, this love will be endless. It will become eternal. The woman I told about sets a great example of true love for her husband. Even when he fell seriously ill and could not leave his bed, she kept loving him as faithfully as before, in the young years, and went on serving him.
So, Narottam after the Master’s lesson with the woman, thanked him in his thoughts and traveled on, to the butcher as the Master had instructed.
When he found the butcher, he was busy with work – chopping meat and selling it. When he saw the sadhak, the butcher apologized politely and told Narotam he was busy and asked to wait. And again, Narottam had to wait several hours. And again, he rather disliked it. Finally the butcher finished his work, approached Narottam and said:
– If I give up this work, my family will be starving. I do this work as karma-yoga and I am forced to do it just because of attachment to my thoughts about this occupation in my previous life. Then I was a sadhak and lived next door to a butcher whose work I watched every day. I was not fond of such a neighbour, judged this seller for his work and became attached to these thoughts this way, which led me to a new birth into this life and the butcher’s work. It gave me a good lesson. Now I have freed myself from this attachment and I contemplate God all the time and repeat his name consistently.
True Love can be aimed at God in any image which the person loves and believes in – Jesus, Krishna or Rama. There is one God and He manifests Himself differently, in different images or forms. It is people who have separated God’s manifestations one from another and even set them against each other. God does not differentiate – He holds all as a whole. No matter which concept of God you will go for. It is essential to reach Him. It is most significant the person feels love for God, learns to love Him, and all the religions and images– just different paths towards Him.
