3 BiCAKTI-YOGA BY Prlc# ■k All rights reserved.
Bhakti-Yoga.
Page Definition of Bhakti...i The Philosophy of...7 Spiritual Realisation, the Aim of BhaktuYoga...13 The Need of a Guru...15 Qualifications of the Aspirant and the Teacher...18 The Mantra! Om: Word and Wisdom...28 Worship of Substitutes and Images...31 The Chosen Ideal...34 The Method and the Means...•• 36 Para-Bhakti or Supreme Devotion.
The Preparatory Renunciation...43 The Bhakta's Renunciation Results from Love...46 The Naturalness of Bhakti- Yoga and Its Central Secret. 50 The Forms of Love-manifestation...52 Universal Love and How It leads to Self-surrender...54 The Higher Knowledge and the Higher Love are one to the True Lover...59 The Triangle of Love...60 The God of Love is His own Proof...65 Human Representations of the Divine Ideal of Love...67 BHAKTI-YOGA ?: gwwrw jffFTri *' He is the Soul of the Universe; He is immortal; His is the Ruler- ship; He is the All-Knowing, the All-Pervading, the Protector of the Universe, the Eternal Ruler. None else is there efficient to govern the World eternally. He who at the beginning of creation projected Brahmh {i.e., the universal consciousness), and Who delivered the Vedas unto him — seeking liberation I go for refuge unto that Effulgent One Whose light turns the understand- ing towards the A'tnmn," — S'^vetds'vatara-Upanishad, VI. 17— iH.
Definition of Bhakti.
BHAKTI-YOGA is a genuine, real search after the Lord, a search heginning, continuing and ending in Love. One single moment of the madness of extreme love to God brings us eternal freedom. “ Bhakti” says Narada in his expla- nation of the Bhakti- Aphorisms, “is intense love to God.”— “ When a man gets it he loves all, hates none; he becomes satisfied for ever.” — “ This love cannot be reduced to any earthly benefit,” because as long as worldly desires last that kind of love does not come. “ Bhakti is greater than Karma, greater than yoga, because these are intended for an object in view, while Bhakti is its own fruition, its own means and its own end.”
2 Bhakti has been the one constant theme of our sages. Apart from the special writers on Bhakti^ such as S'andilya or N4rada, the great commentators on the Vydsa- Sutras ^ evidently advocates of Knowledge (Jndna)^ have also something very suggestive to say about Love. Even when the commentator is anxious to ex« plain many, if not all, of the texts so as to make them import a sort of dry knowledge, the svtras^ in the chapter on worship especially, do not lend themselves to be easily manipulated in that fashion.
There is not really so much difference between Knowledge (Jndna) and Love (Bhakti) as people sometimes imagine. We shall see as we go on that in the end they converge and meet at the same point. So also is it with Rdja^yogay which, when pursued as a means to attain liberation, and not (as unfortu- nately it frequently becomes in the hands of charlatans and mystery-mongers) as an instrument to hoodwink the unwary, leads us also to the same goal.
The one great advantage of Bhakti is that it is the easiest, and the most natural way to reach the great divine end in view 5 its great disadvantage is that in its lower forms it oftentimes degenerates into hideous fanaticism. The fanatical crew in Hin- duism, or Mahoraedanism, or Christianity, have always been al- most exclusively recruited from these worshippers on the lower planes of Bhakti. That singleness of attachment (Nishtha) 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 any 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 de- voted to his own ideal of religion, becomes a howling fanatic as soon as he sees or hears any thing of any other ideal. This 3 3 kind of love is somewhat like the canine instinct of guarding the master’s pi’operty from intrusion; only even the dog’s instinct is better than the reason of man, for the dog never mis- takes its master for an enemy in whatever dress he may come before it. Again the fanatic loses all power of judgment. Personal considerations are in his case of such absorbing interest that to him it is no question at all what a man says — whether it is right or wi*ong; but the one thing be is always particularly careful to know is, who says it. The same man who is kind, good, honest, and loving, to people of his own opinion will not hesitate to do the vilest deeds, when they are directed against persons beyond the pale of his own religious brotherhood.
But this danger exists only in that stage of Bhakti which is called the jyreparatory When Bhakti has become ripe and has passed into that form which is called the aup’enie no more is there any fear of these hideous manifestations of fanaticism; that soul which is overpowered by this higher form of Bhakti is too near the God of Love to become an in- strument for the diffusion of hatred.
It is not given to all of us to be harmonious in the building up of our characters in this life: yet we know that that charac- ter is of the noblest type in which all these three — knowledge and love and yoga — are harmoniously fused. Three things are necessary for a bird to fly — the two wings and the tnil as a rudder for steering. Jndna (knowledge) is the one wing, Bhakti (love) is the other, and Yoga is the tail that keeps up tlie balance. For those who cannot pursue all these thi*ee forms of worship together in harmony, and take up, therefore, Bhakti alone as their way, it is necessary always to remember that forms and ceremonials, though absolutely necessary for the t progressive soul, have uo other value thau taking us ou to that state in which we feel the most intense love to God.
There is a little difference in opinion between the teachers of Knowledge and those of Love, though both admit the power of Bhakti. The Jndnins hold Bhahti to be an instrument of liberation, the B/mte look upon it both as the instrument and the thing to be attained. To my mind this is a distinction without much difference. In fact, Bhakti, when used as an instrument, really means a lower form of worship, and the higher form becomes inseparable from the lower form of realisation at a later stage. Bach seems to lay a great stress upon his own peculiar method of worship, forgetting that with perfect love true knowledge is Imund to come even unsought, and that from perfect knowledge true love is inseparable.
Bearing this in mind let ns try to understand what the great Vedantio commentators have to say ou the subject. In explaining the Sutra {Avrittirasakridupackm), Bhagavan S^ankara says Thus jleople say,- ■He is devoted to the kiug,-He is devoted to the GW; they say this of him who follows his and does so, having that following iu) the one end in view. Similarly they say- ‘ The loving wife meditates on her loving husband here also a kind of eager and continuous remembrance is meant.” This is devotiou according to iSniilvaia.
“ Meditation again is a (jonstaiit rouiembrancc (of the thing meditated upon) flowing like an unbroken stream of oil poured out from one vessel to another. When this kind of remember- ing has been attained (in relation to God) all bondages break. Thus it is spoken of in the scriptures regarding constant re- membering as a means U, liberation. This remembering again is of the same form as seeing, because it is of the same meaning, as in the passage, * When He who is far and near is seen the bonds of the heart are broken, all doubts vanish, and all effects of work disappear.’ (He who is near can be seen, but he who is fai* can only be remembered. Nevertheless the scripture says that we have to see Him who is near as well as Him who is far, thereby indicating to us that the above kind of reniem.bering is as good as seeing.) “ This remembrance when exalted assumes the same form as seeing Worship is constant remembering as may be seen from the essential texts of scriptures. Knowing, which is the same as repeated worship, has been described as constant remembering Thus the memory, which has attained to the height of what is us good as direct perception, is spoken of in the Sruti as a means of liberation. ‘ This is not to be reached through various sciences, nor by intellect, nor by much study of the Vedas. Whomsoever this A'truan desires by him is the Atman attained, unto him this Atman discovers himself.’ Here after saying that mere hearing, thinking, and raeditatiug are not the means of attaining this Atmmi^ it is said, ‘ Whom this Atman desires by him the Atman is attained.’ The extremely beloved is desired; by whomsoever this Atman is extremely beloved, be becomes the most beloved of the Atman. So that this beloved may attain the Atman^ the Lord him.self helps. For it has been said by the Lord: ‘ Those who are constantly attached to me and worship me with love— I give that direction to their will by which they come to me.’ Therefore it is said that, to whomsoever ibis remembering, which is of the same form as direct perception, is very dear, because it is dear to the Object of such memory-perception, he is desired by the Supreme Atman., by him the Supreme Atman is attained. This constant remembrance is denoted by the word BliAkti.'^ • 6 6 So says Bhagavan Kamanuja in his commentary on the Sutra — Athato Brahma- Jijndnd, In commenting on the Siitra of Patanjali I'hara-Prani- dhdnddvd—i,e., ‘By the worship of the Supreme Lord,’— Bhoja says, “ Pranidhdna is that sort of Bhakti in which, with- out seeking results, such as sense-enjoyments, etc., all works are dedicated to that Teachei of teachers,” Also Bhagavan Vyasa, when commenting on the same, defines Pranidhdna as “ the form of Bhakti by which the mercy of the Supreme Lord comes to the i/ogin and blesses him by gi’anting him his desires.” According to Sandilya, “ Bhakti is intense Love to God.” The best definition is, however, that given by the king of Bhaktasj Prahlada; Yd pritiravivekdndm vishaijeshvanapdyini I Tvdm annsmaratah sd me hridaydnmdpasarpatn. “ That deathless love which the ignorant have for the fleeting objects of the senses — as I keep meditating on Thee — may not that (sort of intense) love (for Thee) slip away from my heart.” Love! For whom? For the Supreme Lord J'hara. Love for any other being, however great, can not be Bhakti; for, as Ramanuja says in his SV/ Bhdshya (juoting an ancient A'chdrya^ i. e., a great teacher, cl ft “ From Brahma to a clump of grass all things that live in the world are slaves of birth and death caused by Karma; therefore they cannot be helpful as objects of medita- tion, because they are all in ignorance and.subject to change.’’
In commenting on the word cmurakti used by ^&ndilya, the commentator Svapnesvara says that it means (^3) aftev, and rakt% attachment; i.e.^ the attachment which comes after the knowledge of the nature and glory 7 of God; else a blind attachment to any one, e. to wife or obildren would be Bhakti, We plainly see, therefore, that Bhakti is a series or succession of mental efforts at religious re- alisation beginning with ordinary worship and ending in supremely intense love for the thmm.
The philosophy of rs'vara.
Who is I'svam / — ‘‘From whom isthebirtli, continuation and dissolution of the universe,”— He is Israra — “ the Eternal, the Pure, the Ever Free, the Almighty, the All- Knowing, the All -Merc if 111, the Teacher of all tenchors”; and ' above all He the Lord is, of His own nature, inexpressible Love.”
These certainly are the definitions of a personal God. Are there then two Gods? The “ Not this, Not this,” the to- chit-dnanda, the Existence- Knowledge-Bliss, of the philosopher, and this God of Love of the Bhaktci? No, it i.s the same tSa/- chit-dnanda who is also the God of Love, the impersonal and per- sonal in one. It has always to be understood that the personal God worshipped by the Bhahtn is not separate or different from the Brahimn. Allis Bralinian, the One without a second; only the Brahman^ as unity or absolute, is too much of an abstraction to be loved and worshipped; so the Bhakta chooses the relative aspect of Brahman^ that is, tsvara^ the Supreme Ruler. To use a simile: Brahman is as the clay or substance out of which an infinite variety of articles are fashioned. As clay, they are all one; but form or manifestation differentiates them. Before ^ver one of them was made, they all existed potentially in the clay; and, of course, they are identical substantially; but when formed, and so long as the form remains, they are separate and different; the clay-mouse can never become a clay-elephant, 8 8 because, as manifestations, form alone makes them what they are, though as unformed clay they are all one. Tsvara is the high- est manifestation of the absolute reality, or, in other words, the highest possible reading of the absolute by the human mind Creation is eternal, and so also is tham.
In the fourth pdda, of the fourth chapter of his Sutras, after stating the almost infinite power and knowledge which will come to the liberated soal after the attainment of Moksha, Vyasa makes the remark, ia an aphorism, that none, however, will get the power of creating, ruling, and dissolving the universe, because that belongs to God alone. In explaining the Sutra it is eavsy for the dualistic commentators to shew how it is ever impossible for a subordinate soul, Jiva, to have the infinite power and total independence of God. The thorough dualistic commentator Madliwacharya deals with this passage in his usual summary method by quoting a verso from the Var(tha-PHr(h2a.
In explaining this aphorism the commentator, llaraanuja, gays This doubt being raised, whether among the powers of the liberated souls ia included that unique power of the Supreme One, that is, of creation, etc., of the universe and even the Lordship of all, or whether, without that, the glory of the liberated consists only in the direct perception of the Supreme One, we get as an argument the following • It is reasonable that tlie liberated get the Lordship of the universe, because the scriptures say, ‘ He attains extreme sameness with the Pure One’, because, as the scriptures say, he attains to extreme sameness with the Supreme One and all his desires are rea- lized. Now extreme sameness and i‘ealizatioi\ of all desires cannot be attained without the unique power of the Supreme Lord, namely that of governing the universe. Therefore, fc attain the realization of all desires and the extreme same 0 Dess with the Supreme, we must all admit that the liberated get the power of ruling the whole universe. To this we reply that the liberated get all the powers except that of ruling the universe. Ruling the uoiverse is guiding the form and the life and the desires of all the sentient and the non-sen tient beings, excepting the liberated ones from whom all that veils His true nature has been removed, and who enjoy the glory of the unobstructed perception of the Brahman. This is proved from the scriptural text, ‘ bVom whom all these things are born, b}^ whom all that are born live, unto whom they, departing, return; ask about It, That is Brahman,^ If this quality of ruling the universe be a quality common even to the liberated, then this text would not apply as a definition of Brahman^ defining Him through His rulership of the univer.se. The uncommon alone has to be specially defined: therefore,— ‘ My beloved boy, alone, in the beginning, there existed the One without a second. That saw and felt I will give birth to the many. • That pro- jected heat.’— ‘ Brahman^ indeed, alone existed in the begin- ning. That One evolved. That projected a blessed form, th Kshatra. All these gods are Kshatras; Varuna, Soma, Rudra, Parjanya, Yama, Mrityu, Isana.’ — ‘ Atman, indeed, existed alone in the beginning; nothing else vibrated; He, seeing, projected the world; He projected the world after.’ — ‘ Alone Narayana existed; neither Brahma nor Isana, nor the Oyava-Prithvi, nor the stars, nor water, nor fire, nor Soma nor the Sun. He did not take pleasure alone.He afterHis meditation had one daughter, the ten organs, etc.,’— ia texts like these and others as,~‘ Who living in the earth is s(.parate from the earth, who living in the Atman, etc.,’ the speak of the Supreme One as the subject of the work of ruling the universe Nor in these descriptions of the ruling of the universe is there any 10 position of the liberated soqI by which such a soul may have the ruling of the universe asoribed to it. In explaining the next SHtra^ B4m4nuja says, ** If you say it is not so, because there are direct texts in the Vedas in evidence to the contrary, these texts refer to the glory of the liberated in the spheres of the subordinate deities.” This also* is an easy solution of the difficulty. Although the system of R&raanuja admits the unity of the total, within that totality of existence there are, according to him, eternal differences. Therefore, for all prac- tical purposes, this system also being dualistic, it was easy for RAm4nuja to keep up the distinction between the personal soul and the personal Qod very distinct.
We will now try to understand what the great representa- tive of the Adwaiia School has got to say on the point. We shall see how the Adwaita system maintains all the hopes and aspira- tions of the dualist intact, and at the same time propounds its own solution of the problem, in consonance with the high destiny of divine humanity. Those, who aspire to retain their individual mind even after liberation, and to remain distinct will have ample opportunity of realising their aspiration and enjoy the blessing of the qualified Brahman, These are they who have been spoken of in the Bhdgavata Purfina thus “ 0 king, such are the glorious qualities of the Lord that the sages whose only plea- sure is in the Self, and from whom all bondages have fallen off, even they love the Omni-Present with the love that is for love’s sake.’* These are they who are spoken of by the Sdnkkyas as getting merged in nature in this cycle so that, after attaining perfection, they may come out in the next as lords of world- systems. But none of these ever becomes equal to God (Ihara). Those who attain to that state where there is neither creation, nfl(r created, nor creator, wheare there is neither knower, nor il il knowable, nor knowledge, where there is neither J, nor thou^ nor he^ where there is neither subject, nor object, nor relation, “there, who is seen by whom such persons have gone beyond everything, beyond “ where words cannot go nor mind,’* gone to that which the ^mtk declare as Net this, Not this”; but for those who cannot, or will not reach this state, there will inevitably remain the tri-une vision of the one undifferentiated Brahman as nature, soul, and the interpenetrating sustainer of both — Ihara. So, when Prahlada forgot himself, he found neither the universe nor its cause; all was to him one Infinite^ undifferentiated by name and form; but as soon as he remem- bered that he was Prahliida there was the universe before him and with it the Lord of the universe — “ the repository of an infinite number of blessed qualities.” So it was with the blessed Gopk. So long as they had lost sense of their own personal identity and individuality, they were all Krishnas, and when they began again to think of him as the One to be worshipped^ then they were Gopis again, and immediately “ Unto them appeared fCrisfana with smile on bis lotus faoo clad in yellow robes and having garlands on, the embodied conqueror (in beauty) of the god of love.” (Bhdgotata Pur ana).
Now to go back to our AcMrya S'ankara: “ Those”, he- says, “ who by worshipping the qualified Brahman attain con- junction with the Supreme Ruler preserving their own mind— is their glory limited or unlimited? This doubt arising, we get as an argument:~Their glory should be unlimited, because of the scriptural texts ‘ They attain their own kingdom^—* To him all the gods offer worship’—* Their desires are fulfilled in all the worlds.’ As an anewer to this, Vyasa writes * Without the power of ruling the universe.’ Barring the power of creation, etc., of the universe, the other powers such as animd, etc., are acquired by the libemted. As to ruling the universe, that belongs to the eternally perfect Ihara. Why? Because He is the subject of all the scriptural texts as regards creation, etc., and the liberated souls are not mentioned in any connection with creation, etc. The Supreme Lord, indeed, is alone en- gaged in ruling the universe. The texts as to creation, etc., all point to Him. Also there is given the adjective “ ever perfect.” Also the scriptures say that the powers animd, etc., of others are from the search after, and the worship of, God. Therefore they have no place in the ruling of the universe. Again on account of their possessing their own minds it is possible that their wills may differ, and that, whilst one desires creation, another may desire destruction. The only way of avoiding this conflict is to make all wills subordinate to some one will. Therefore the conclusion is that the wills of the liberated are dependent on the will of the Supreme Ruler.”
Bhaktij then, can be directed towards Brahman, only in his personal aspect. The way is more difficult for those, whose mind is attached to the Absolute!'’ Bhahti has to Hoat on smoothly with the current of our nature. True it is that we cannot have any idea of the Brahman which is not anthropomorphic, but is it not equally true of everything we know? The greatest psychologist the world has ever known, Bhagavan Kapila, demonstrated ages ago that human consciousness is one of the elements in the make-up of all the objects of our perception and conception, internal as well as exter- nal. Beginning with our own bodies and going up to Ihara we may see that every object of our perception is this conscious- ness plus a something else, whatever that may be; and this 13 13 unavoidable mixture is what we ordinarily think of as reality. Indeed it is, and ever will be, all of the reality that is possible for the human mind to know. Therefore to say that livara is unreal, because He is anthropomorphic, is sheer nonsense. It sounds very much like the occidental squabble on idealism and realism, which fearful-looking quarrel has for its foundation a mere play on the word real. The idea of Isvara covers all the ground ever denoted and connoted by the word real, and Ihara is as much real as anything else in the universe; and after all the word real means nothing more than what has now been pointed out. Such is our philosophical conception of L'vara, Spiritual Realisation, the Aim of Bhakti-Yoga.
To the Bfiakta these dry details are necessary only to strengthen his will; beyond that they are of no use to him. For he is treading on a path which is fitted very soon to lead him beyond the hazy and turbulent regions of reason, to lead him to the realm of realisation. He, soon, through the mercy of the Lord, reaches a plane where pedantic and powerless reason is left far behind, and the mere intellectual groping through the dark gives place to the daylight of direct percep- tion- He no more reasons and believes, he almost perceives. He no more argues, he senses. And is not this seeing God, and feeling God, and enjoying God, higher than everything else? Nay, Bliaktas have not been wanting who have maintain- ed that it is higher than even MoAjs/wi— liberation. And is it not also the highest utility? There are people — and a good many of them too*““in the world who are convinced that only that is of use and utility which brings to man creature-com- forts. Even Religion, God, Eternity, Soul, none of these is of any use to them, as they do not bring them money or physical 14 14 comfort* To snch all those things, which do not go to gratify the eenses and appease the appetites, are of no utility. In every mind, utility, however, is conditioned by its own peculiar wants. To men, therefore, who never rise higher than eating, drinking, begetting progeny, and dying, the only gain is in sense enjoyments; and they must wait and go through many more births and re-incamations to learn to feel even the faint- est necessity for anything higher. But those to whom the eternal interests of the soul are of much higher value than the fleeting interests of this mundane life, to whom the gratification of the senses is bat like the thoughtless play of the baby, to them God and the love of God form the highest and the only utility of human existence. Thank God there are some snch still living in this world of too much worldliness.
Bhahti-Yoga, we have said, is divided into the {(jaunt) or the preparatory, and the ’TCT (para) or the supreme forms. We shall find, as we go on, how, in the preparatory stage, we unavoidably stand in need of many concrete helps to enable us to get on; and, indeed, the mythological and symbological parts of all religions are natural growths which early environ the aspiring soul and help it Godward. It is also a significant fact that spiritual giants have been produced only in those systems of religion where there is an exuberant growth of rich mythology and ritualism. The dry fanatical forms of religion which attempt to eradicate all that is poetical, all that is beautiful and sublime, all that gives a firm grasp to the infant mind tottering iii its Godward way — the forms which attempt to break down the very ridge poles of the spiritual roof, and in their ignorant and supersitious conceptions of truth try to drive away all that is Kfe-giving^ all that furnishes the formative material to the spiritual s 15 plant growing in the human soul — such forms of religion too soon find that all of what is left to them is but an empty shell, a contentless frame of words and sophistry, with perhaps a little flavour of a kind of social scavengering or the so-called spirit of reform. The vast mass of those whose religion is like this are conscious or unconscious materialists — the end and aim of their lives here and hereafter being enjoyment, which, indeed, is to them the alpha and the omega of h u man life,ttnd which is their (ishtdpurta); work like street-cleaning and scavengering intended for the material comfort of man is, according to them, the “be-all” and “ end-all” of human existence; and the sooner the followers of this curious mixture of ignorance and fanaticism come out in their true colors, and join, as they well deserve to do, the ranks of atheists and materialists, the better will it bo for the world. One ounce of the practice of righteousness and of spiritual self-realisation outweighs tons and tons of frothy talk and nonsensical sentiments. Show us one, but one, gigantic spiritual genius growing out of all this dry dust of ignorance and fanaticism; and if you cannot, close your mouths, open the windows of your hearts to the clear light of truth, and sit like children at the feet of those who know what they are talking about — the sages of India. Let us then listen atten. tively to what they say.
The Need of a Guru.
Every soul is destined to be perfect, and every being, in the end, will attain the state of perfection. Whatever we are now, is the result of our acts and thoughts in the past; and whatever we shall be in the future, will be the result of what we think and do now. But this, our shaping of our own destinies, does not preclude onr receiving help from outside; 16