Bhakti

"The Alvars being devotees of Vishnu had access to the many temples dedicated to the god. During their visits they composed devotional hymns in praise of Vishnu. These hymns promoted devotion and surrender by glorifying the greatness of Vishnu. Although their hymns are replete with the ideas of the Vedas, their uniqueness lie in the great emphasis on devotion and surrender which are rarely found in the Vedic Mantras or in the highly metaphysical pronouncements within the Upanishads."

"Bhakti: Others boast of their love for God. My boast is that I did not love God; it was He who loved me and forced me to belong to him."

"It might be of value here if we dealt with the various "yogas" so as to give to the student a clear concept as to their distinctions and thus cultivate his discrimination. The principal yogas are three in number, the various other so-called "yogas" finding their place in one of these three groups: 1. Raja Yoga...the yoga of the mind or will, 2. Bhakti Yoga... the yoga of the heart or the devotee, 3. Karma Yoga.... the yoga of action."

"Raja Yoga stands by itself and is the king science of them all; it is the summation of all the others... Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of the heart; it is the bringing into submission of all the feelings, desires and emotions, to the one beloved, seen and known in the heart. It is the sublimation of all the lower loves and the bringing captive of all longings and desire, to the one longing to know the God of love and the love of God. It was the "kingly" or crowning science of the last rootrace, the Atlantean, just as the science of Raja Yoga is the great science of our Aryan civilization. Bhakti Yoga made its exponent an arhat or led him to the fourth initiation. Raja Yoga makes him an adept and leads him to the portal of the fifth initiation. Both lead to liberation, for the arhat is released from the cycle of rebirth but Raja Yoga liberates him to complete service and freedom to work as a White Magician. Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of the heart, of the astral body."

"Bharata Natyam is grounded in bhakti. In fact bhakti is at the center of all the arts of India. Our music and dance are two important offerings to God."

"The individual soul is forever a servant of the Supersoul and therefore, his reletionship with the Supersoul is to offer service. That is called Bhakti-Yoga or Bhakti-bhaava."

"One achieves bhakti [love of God] by hearing and chanting about the Supreme Lord's special qualities, even while engaged in the ordinary activities of life in this world."

"... he [Chaitanya] described bhakti as that state of mind in which one abandons all duties through love of Krishna...one cannot reach the path of love without renouncing all thoughts of oneself."

"The bhakti poets use an elaborate, multi-vocal rhetoric, which requires the taking on, not only of personal voices to suit different emotions and genres, but also the voices of some of the dramatis personae of classical Tamil (Cankam) poetry, such as the lovelorn heroine or her solicitous girlfriend."

"From meditation on difference, one proceeds to meditating on “He am I”. Meditation without a sense of difference is regarded as the most purifying...Once concentration develops, one begins with meditation on froms such as Shiva, Vishnu or the Goddess. This is the basis of Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion."

"Bhakti Yoga became progressively more important for me. Its value can be described with a simple metaphor: knowledge (jnana) is the flame and the mind is the wick, but bhakti is the oil. Without bhakti spiritual knowledge burns out the mind, like a flame does a wick without oil. I discovered that the Vedas are primarily books on Bhakti Yoga, quite contrary to a modern scholarly belief that Bhakti Yoga originated from a later Islamic or Christian influence in medieval India."

"Fill your mind with Me, be My devotee, sacrifice unto Me, bow down to Me; thus having made thy heart steadfast in Me, taking Me as the Supreme Goal, thou shalt come to Me."

"Equal to friend and enemy, equal to honour and insult, pleasure and pain, praise and w:Blame:blame, grief and happiness, heat and cold (to all that troubles with opposite affections the normal nature), silent, content and well-satisfied with anything and everything, not attached to person or thing, place or home, firm in mind (because it is constantly seated in the highest self and fixed for ever on the one divine object of his love and adoration), that man is dear to Me."

"In Manipur, dancing is charged with faith, the devotional fervour of bhakthi . To a Manipuri, one whole life is a dance offering."

"It [Kathak] was quintessential theatre, using instrumental and vocal music along with stylized gestures, to enliven the stories. Its form today contains traces of temple and ritual dances, and the influence of the bhakti movement."

"The second school of yoga is that of Shri Krishna, particularly expounded in the great poem the Bhagavad-Gita... This teaches above all else the doctrine of love. The disciple Arjuna, to whom the Guru spoke, was a great lover of mankind; according to the scripture this great soldier sank down upon the floor of his chariot before the battle of Kurukshetra began, full of sorrow because he loved his enemies and could not bear to injure them. The teacher Shri Krishna then explained to him, amid much philosophical teaching, that the greatest thing in life is service, that God himself is the greatest server—for he keeps the wheel of life revolving, not because any benefit can possibly accrue to him in consequence, but for the sake of the world—and that men should follow his example and work for the welfare of mankind. Many Great Ones, he said, had reached perfection by following this path of life, by doing their duty without personal desire. To love without ceasing is the way of the second Ray; in the Gita it is shown how this love should be directed to men and other beings in karma yoga (the yoga by action or work) and to God in bhakti yoga (the yoga by devotion)."

"The sixth school is that of bhakti or devotion...taught to a large extent in the Bhagavad-Gita; indeed, we find it in every religion among those true devotees who put their trust entirely in the Divine— who do not pray for personal favours, but are quite convinced that God is perfect master of his world, that he knows what he is doing, and that therefore all is well; they are therefore more than content, they are thrilled with ecstasy, if they can but have the opportunity and the privilege to serve and obey him in any way."

"The final emancipation called mokhsha for the beings who are bound to the problems of samsara can be attained by intense devotion to the Lord with the true knowledge of HIM."

"Bhakti Yoga, the path of devotion, consists of surrender to the Divine within the heart. The Maharishi considered the most important yoga path after self-enquiry and usually recommended the two together. Surrender [Bhakti] can be done in four ways:To the Supreme Self (Atma-Bhakti);To God or the Cosmic Lord as a formless being (Ishvara-Bhakti);To God in the form of various Gods or Goddesses (Ishta Devata-Bhakti) and ; To God in the form of the Guru (Guru-Bhakti)."

"Complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self-inquiry or through bhakti marga."

"On the path of bhakti there are no restrictions of time or place for meditation. You can meditate anytime, anyplace. There is also no required posture for meditation. The only requirement is that you should be remembering Radha Krishn."

"...devotion is love springing forth from God’s incomparable sweetness (madhurya-pradhana-bhakti) rather than reverence at His incomparable greatness (aishvaraya- pradhana-bhakti)"

"The veneration of sixty-three saints called ‘Nayanar’(Nayanar:saint; plural nayanmar) is an important element of Saiva devotional (bhakti) religion in the Tamil region."

"In their hymns the Nayanars celebrate specific visions they had of specific manifestations of Siva in particular places in the Tamil land, thus revealing the continuity of their conception of the sacred with the pre-bhakthi civilization."

"The Bhagavata Purana teaches nine primary forms of bhakti, as explained by Prahlada as:(1) w:śravaṇa|śravaṇa ("listening" to the scriptural stories of Kṛṣṇa and his companions), (2) kīrtana ("praising," usually refers to ecstatic group singing), (3) smaraṇa ("remembering" or fixing the mind on Viṣṇu), (4) pāda-sevana (rendering service), (5) arcana (worshiping an image), (6) vandana (paying homage), (7) dāsya (servitude), (8) sākhya ([[friendship), and (9) ātma-nivedana (complete surrender of the self)."

"No one can say with finality that God is only 'this' and nothing else. He is formless, and again He has forms. For the bhakta He assumes forms. But He is formless for the jnani, that is, for him who looks on the world as a mere dream. The bhakta feels that he is one entity and the world another. Therefore God, reveals Himself to him as a Person. But the jnani — the Vedantist, for instance — always reasons, applying the process of 'Not this, not this'. Through this discrimination he realizes, by his inner perception, that the ego and the universe are both illusory, like a dream. Then the jnani realizes Brahman in his own consciousness. He cannot describe what Brahman is."

"...bhakti devotion may be sattvic. A devotee who possesses sattvic bhakti, meditates on God in absolute secret, perhaps inside his mosquito net. Others think he is asleep. Since he is late in getting up, they think perhaps he has not slept well during the night. His love for the body goes only as far as appeasing his hunger, and that only by means of rice and simple greens. There is no elaborate arrangements about his meals, no luxury in clothes, and no display of furniture. Besides, such a devotee never flatters anyone for money."

"An aspirant possessed of rAjasic bhakti puts a tilak on his forehead and a necklace of holy rudrAksha beads, interspersed with gold ones, around his neck. At worship he wears a silk cloth."

"A man endowed with tAmasic bhakti has burning faith. Such a devotee literally exhorts boons from God, even as a robber falls upon a man and plunders his money. 'Bind! Beat! Kill!'—that is his way, the way of the dacoits."

"A brAhmin without this love is no longer a brAhmin. And a pariah with the love of God is no longer a pariah. Through bhakti an untouchable becomes pure and elevated."

"A seeker must acquire a true knowledge of the individual self and the Supreme; He must devote himself to meditation, worship and the adoration of the Supreme; This knowledge with discipline leads him to the realization of the Supreme."

"Bhakti is knowledge of Brahman, an unfailing recollection of the supreme Lord, a constant meditation on Him which develops into direct perception of Him....Disinterested performance of obligatory rituals removes the obstacles to knowledge, such actions become the means of attaining the constant memory of God."

"The Sandilya and Narada bhakthi sutras like the Bhagavata are fundamental works of mysticism. Sandilya bhakthi sutras seem to be older on account of its archaic tone and is evidently modeled on the pattern of the great philosophical Sutras. Narada Bhakthi sutra quotes sandilya but the sandilya does not quote Narada."

"Narad Bhakthi sutra surpasses not merely sandilya by its easy eloquence and fervid devotion but it may be even regarded as one of the best specimens of Bhakthi literature that have ever been written. The Sandilya-sutra is more philosophical than Narada-Sutra. It goes into the question of nature of Brahman and Jiva, their inter-relation, the question of creation, and so on."

"The Narad Bhakthi Sutra takes a leap immediately into the doctrine of devotion and analyses its various aspects, and sets a ban against mere philosophical constructions."

"Both the Sandilya and the Narada quote the Bhagavad Gita on the one hand, and later Bhakthi literature on the other."

"This whole sphere, this whole world of Knowledge and the Master and, practicing, and devotion, and participation and all that— This is traditionally in India called the path of devotion, bhakti marg."

"There is no sect [or, indeed, Hindu movement] without some element of bhakti."

"Rigveda is the Veda of knowledge, Yajurveda is the Veda of Karma, Sama Veda is the Veda of Bhakthi and Atharva Veda is Brahma-Veda, an umbrella celebrating the Divine Presence."

"Bhakti is the attitude of the mind, and jnana is the attitude of the intellect, both flow towards the Lord. In life to handle yourself, use your head, but to handle others, use your heart."

"He who renouncing all activities, who is free of all the limitations of time, space and direction, worships his own Atman which is present everywhere, which is the destroyer of heat and cold, which is Bliss-Eternal and stainless, becomes All-knowing and All-pervading and attains thereafter Immortality."

"Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Deva Maheshwara. Guru Sakshath Parambrahma, Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha. Guru is the creator Brahma, Guru is the preserver Vishnu, Guru is the destroyer Shiva. Guru is directly the supreme spirit — I offer my salutations to this Guru."

"Jnana marga is like Ramphal. Bhakthi marga is like Sitaphal (custard apple), easy to deal with and very sweet. The pulp of Ramphal is inside and difficult to get at. Ramphal should ripen on the tree and plucked ripe, If it falls down it is spoilt. So if a Jnani falls, he is ruined. Even for a Jnani there is the danger of a fall, i.e., by a little negligence or carelessness."

"Tulsidas is a devotee of Rama, who is an emblem of moral values and decorum. Quite naturally, a tone of high seriousness marks his devotional poetry. His bhakti has a sound socio-moral base with a rational background."

"The name of the Lord is the mighty force He who takes refuge in Him is never abandoned. The castle of His grace becomes his shelter: They all resort to Him, great and small As with the touch of the mystical store Iron becomes gold."

"From the invocation to the conclusion, the poet Tulsidas seeks the grace of Rama and announces over and over again that the final object of his poetic performance is the attainment of bhakti – complete dedication to Rama. The narrative ends with an elaborate discourse on the supremacy of the devotional sentiment."

"...there were three different ways of approaching God, viz., the ways of action (karma), knowledge (jnana), and devotion (bhakti). Of these, bhakti is the best among them, since it is the only means of salvation and the state of love (prema) and service (seva) which bhakti implies is better than even release."

"The path of spiritual progress that the teachers of the Bengal school recommend is neither yoga nor jnana but bhakti. While the followers of the way of yoga emphasise the subjective aspect and those of the path of jnana both the subjective and objective aspect, the followers of the path of bhakti emphasize the objective aspect of consciousness."

"The one great advantage of Bhakti is that it is the easiest and most natural way to reach the great divine end in view; it's great disadvantage is that in its lower forms it oftentimes degenerates into hideous fanaticism. The fanatical crew in Hinduism, Mohammedanism, or Christianity, have always been almost exclusively recruited from these worshippers [sic] on the lower planes of Bhakti. That singleness of attachment (Nishthâ) to a loved object, without which no genuine love can grow, is very often also the cause of the denunciation of everything else. All the weak and undeveloped minds in every religion or country have only one way of loving their own ideal, i.e., by hating every other ideal. Herein is the explanation of why the same man who is so lovingly attached to his own ideal of God, so devoted to his own ideal of religion, becomes a howling fanatic as soon as he sees or hears anything of any other ideal."

"Never say, "O Lord, I am a miserable sinner." Who will help you? You are the help of the universe. What in this universe can help you? What can prevail over you? You are the God of the universe; where can you seek for help? Never help came from anywhere but from yourself. In your ignorance, every prayer that you made and that was answered, you thought was answered by some Being, but you answered the prayer yourself unknowingly. The help came from yourself, and you fondly imagined that someone was sending help to you. There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of the universe. Like the silkworm, you have built a cocoon around yourself. Who will save you? Burst your own cocoon and come out as a beautiful butterfly, as the free soul. Then alone you will see Truth."