What is Bhakti Yoga? Sanskrit is the oldest form of the written word in India, or in the world for that matter.
In Sanskrit, the term bhakti translates directly as "devotion" or love.
In this context, it is "Devotion for God".
The term Yoga means simply "Union with God.
" Meditation as defined already on my web page "What is Meditation" is "Concentrated Attention on God" so that we may commune with him.
So the fuller meaning of bhakti yoga meditation is really the science of getting closer to God through developing love for him.
Why is it a science? Because there are definite steps that one can apply, and when applied correctly with the right attitude, communion with the divine becomes possible.
Why is Bhakti Yoga Important? Why is the quality of bhakti yoga or devotion so important? Jesus himself said, that there was no other "commandment" greater than "...
to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength...
" (Matt 22:37-40), not because he demands or "commands" it from us, but because he wishes it for our benefit.
In fact in this very statement of Jesus lies the whole science of bhakti yoga.
It matters not what language we use to describe this devotion for God.
It is spoken of by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras and every Saint who has truly understood and lived Jesus' statement knows about this concept.
Meditation gives us techniques to approach God in a scientific way but devotion - bhakti yoga - or pure love for God opens the door.
Therefore both are important.
Without technique, communion with God becomes very difficult.
Meditation techniques help us still the mind enough to enable us "to love God with all our minds.
" This simply means..
to concentrate on him without it running off here and there.
Why else is bhakti yoga or devotion important? Because the fruit of devotion is Grace.
The online dictionary dictionary.
com defines Grace as the "unmerited favour and love of God".
But do we really understand what this means? Let me give you an example, imagine there are two children and the first child goes to his father and demands for this or that persistently until the father gives in, if for no other reason than to quiet the child.
Now the other child goes to the same parent and in the most loving way repeatedly says "I love you", "I love you" without any demands or requests, what so ever.
Now I tell you, even though both are children of that same father and both are dearly loved by him, which one do you think the father is more likely to grant favours to? Are you getting the picture? Now, how does this relate in the real world? If you live a life of deep meditation and love for God, you will begin to see life very differently.
For your life truly can become a magical experience.
I mean this from a very practical level.
You will begin to see that the invisible hand which upholds the universe guide your life as well.
In my own life, I have had many magical outcomes that were not prayed for or asked for in any way.
As unlikely as the outcomes were to occur, these positive and amazing outcomes were given, I feel, as a demonstration of Gods Love and Grace.
This was a reward for my sincere practice of bhakti yoga.
Positive outcomes are evidence to me as to how close and how aware God is to every circumstance of our daily life, no matter how serious, no matter how trivial.
The more we take the time to cultivate the quality of bhakti yoga or devotion for God, the richer our relationship with Him becomes and the more we endear ourselves to Him.
Thus earning His Grace in our lives, we find Him ready, at every crossroads that we must face, to lend His generous help.
Living our lives with certainty in this way, we bless ourselves with a peace of mind and gladness of heart that is indescribable.
How to Develop Bhakti Yoga Though I would describe myself as having a naturally devotional temperament.
Over the years I have found that cultivating Gratitude or Thankfulness has greatly increased my devotion for God.
Before each meditation, I would open with a prayer of surrender where I'd mentally bow down to God, Jesus, My Guru (Paramahansa Yogananda) and Saints of all religions.
I would then unhurriedly thank him for all my blessings - actually picture times in my life when I had received a special blessing from him and then thank him.
On some days if I was feeling a little dry in heart of devotion or love, I would think about how deeply I was touched with gratitude when a friend or somebody had done something nice for me and immediately then turn and give that feeling to God.
Then continue with my thanks giving, before starting my meditation techniques of stilling the mind for meditation proper.
For me, this way of developing devotion feels right because I feel one should always give thanks for everything that God gives, even our intake of breath.
As my Guru used to say when ever he saw somebody worse off than himself, he would immediately think 'but for the Grace of God there goes myself'.
Each of us, no matter how down cast we feel about our lives, we have more to be thankful for than we realise.
I have been to countries were whole families had built their make shift dwellings (I won't call them homes) over open sewers, yet they seemed happy.
Being grateful in this way really lightens the load, so to speak.
It truly is a wonderful way to live.
If you have two eyes, two arms, two legs, if you have good health then you don't know how lucky you are.
It may be, one day ill health may strike you down and you will not realize how you had taken it for granted.
What a gift it is to simply be able to move in way that enables you to function normally in daily life.
If you have a good job, any job for that matter, people that love you, a roof over your head, etc.
Do you see in how many ways we are blessed? I firmly believe, if everyone gave thanks to God in this way that there would not be this pandemic of depression that exists today.
I know others like to chant or sing devotion songs to get them in the mood for meditation and that works too, but each person must find their own way to stir the heart.
For what we give to God in bhakti yoga meditation we receive back a hundred fold.
However the attitude must be right, "it's best to give give give and don't expect anything back," one saint had said.
Then you will see a different side to life.
Don't give with the expectation to receive or that your love is on condition.
After all, how does God give to us, but unconditionally.
Much of life is a test, is it not? I think trials come and God wants to see if we would still love him.
These days I know a little better and in thinking of the book of Job in the bible I say to God when trails come "You won't scare me off that easily Lord.
I still Love you.
" Another way that I like to develop this quality of bhakti yoga / devotion is by what is called Practising The Presence.
I used to live in a suburb of Sydney called Balmain where many of the homes had been built around the turn of the century.
I really enjoyed living there, the age and style of the homes reminded me of many of the homes in Calcutta in India (I had been there on a pilgrimage in 2003) when it was occupied by the British.
The home of my Master and beloved Guru was such a home.
Each time I'd pass a home like his in Balmain, I would silently bow my head in homage to him, whom I see as a pure reflection of God in Man, in the same way Jesus was.
Fragrant Frangipani trees are grown in abundance in the area.
On my walks through the streets I'd often pick up off the path the fragrant flowers that had fallen and bring them home as an offering to God before a little alter.
Or I would make a fragrant garland for Him all the while lovingly chanting devotions to Him or secretly calling out to Him, "my sweet beloved who else loves me like you.
" In these ways I'd often keep Him before my mind as I'd try to Practice The Presence as my guru would ask that we do.
I don't remember exactly where I came across the following saying.
"You must love God with the combined strength of your own beloved, your children and parents only then will He (God) come (manifest Himself) to you".
One saintly monk I was listening to at one time, reminisced about the last words he heard from the lips of Paramahansa Yogananda on the night before he left his body for the last time.
He said "...
he told us (the other monks that were gathered) 'You have to cultivate the desire for God yourself, no-one else can give it to you, you have to do that much and cultivate it yourself' Then he warned us 'Remember, nothing in this world can satisfy you, only God.
' " The Ingredients of Bhakti Yoga Surrender and Will - in relation to Bhakti Yoga There is another important element in any meditation.
The other side to bhakti yoga that I have not explained yet is Surrender.
In the translation to English we loose this important other meaning to bhakti yoga.
When communion with the Divine is desired Surrender is vital.
But surrender of what? The surrender of ego! This is one of the hardest things to do because we've been hanging on to ego for incarnations.
When we have surrendered to God what happens? It is like we are saying to God "I trust you, I put this now in your hands".
Are you beginning to get the picture? Without surrender of the ego, communion with God is not possible, because the ego acts like a blockage in the channel of communication between us and God.
It is a sad but true fact that the only time most of us have ever come near to surrendering to God is when we are experiencing some sort grief or tragedy and yet still have the presence of mind to call on God for help! Most times we are not even aware that it is at that point that we may have surrendered to Him.
Faith - in relation to Bhakti Yoga If we truly have bhakti yoga, devotion or love of God we automatically have faith in Him.
Can you see that, we cannot love God with all our hearts and mind as Jesus had asked us to without having faith in Him? Will - in relation to Bhakti Yoga Jesus asked us to "love God with all our strength.
" What does that mean exactly? Two things - firstly, loving God with all our strength means "That you really mean business with God.
" I mean when you have made up your mind to pray to Him for something, that desire must be strong enough for you to say to yourself, "Come what may I will not move from this spot until my prayer is answered, this is my resolve.
" Can you see if you have this attitude that you also automatically have faith and love for God? The second meaning is very straight forward.
It simply means attention when sitting to meditate, so that your strength of Will is such that your mind is unwaveringly fixed on God.
Bhakti Yoga Experience in My Own Life Let me give you an example of bhakti yoga from my own life.
I try not to share such experiences, firstly because few would believe me in any case and secondly, because it becomes too easy for the ego to add some importance to this sort of thing.
What have I already said about ego? That it must be surrendered if we hope to commune with God at all.
I share this experiences here because I hope to illustrate the points above.
Some years back when I was single and unhappily so, I had a great desire to be happily married.
This goal had haunted me throughout my life and it even lead to a mismatched marriage that ultimately broke down.
Needless to say as time went by this haunting desire got louder and louder.
After the marriage break down, I started seeing some one else and there were fresh hopes for something more permanent.
However, after a few months an increasing awareness that we would not work well together in a marriage reached it's climax one evening in particular.
We had been out on a date when I fully realized that the relationship was not going to amount to anything more than just the physical.
In utter despair and frustration I drove home.
When I had finally got there it was 12.
00 p.
m.
The years of pent up emotional frustration made it self manifest that night by the following resolute desire.
I had calmly but determinedly made up my mind that I was not going to go to sleep that night until I had it out with God and received a response from his own lips.
It was about 12.
30 a.
m.
when I had sat myself up in meditation posture.
Now please understand that I was still only new to the spiritual path and the longest I had ever meditated before was 2 hours.
Still I was ready for the challenge.
Soon after I begun to meditate however I realized I had made a serious error when establishing myself in meditation posture on my bed.
I had not listened to the advise of my Guru when he suggested that most Westerners should use straight back chairs when meditating because it helped them to keep that erect posture that is so necessary.
Gradually my back began to ache, but it was too late.
I had committed myself to this posture.
Painfully now I recalled one monks experience after being scolded by my Guru for flinching during meditation when he was told, "Is that your love of God, that you love him so little that you move at the slightest little discomfort?" Being reminded of this strengthened my steely resolve to sit still and to do the best I could to ignore the periodic barrage of ever increasing back pain.
Again and again my resolve was severely tested each time with a level of pain greater than before.
Finally dawn had broken.
It was about 5.
30 a.
m.
when sheer exhaustion overcame me and I said to God as I felt myself surrender to Him, "Lord I have given you my best, now I must rest.
" Just as I had said that and as my head hit the pillow, an angel appeared before me at the head of the bed.
Though I could not see her form, none the less her presence was felt.
With only a second or two delay she spoke and sounded extremely happy and jovial as she said to me, "Come with me, let me show you what I do for a living.
" In a scene straight from a Harry Potter movie a whole hand and forearm appeared as if from under a cloak of invisibility.
As I reached out to place my hand in hers I had noticed that it was my ethereal hand and not my physical one that I was about to place in hers.
With that she lifted me up out of my body and into what felt to me as another dimension.
There we conversed a while, the details of which for some reason I was either unable or not allowed to remember.
Then all of a sudden, we were back on the earth plane.
Somehow I understood that everything that I was seeing before me was a true vision, a glimpse of part of my future life.
What I saw was a residence on top of a shop and a stair case leading up to it.
Everything was in great detail.
Inside I was able to perceive the floor plan and finally the bedroom where I was able to see the form of my future wife and child.
Their faces where fuzzy, while everything else was in great clarity.
The bed that they were in, the layout of the bedroom, the two windows that overlooked the street - all were very clear.
I saw everything in greater detail than I normally would have if I had been in my body.
I turned to the angel who was on my right as we hovered in one corner of the room.
I mentally asked her, "will all this really happen?" She nodded "yes.
" Then, with unbelievable speed I was returned back to my body.
I felt my eyelids open suddenly on re-entry with a clear memory of everything that happened.
I sat up with a mixture of excitement and gratitude at this remarkable answer to my nights meditation.
Soon after, as I began looking for a new place to live, I kept in mind the vision of the residence on top of a shop.
I had chosen my desired location and started to look for apartments that matched the one in the vision but found none.
Ultimately, I did find a townhouse which represented too good of a deal to pass up.
So I had decided to take it for the time being but had comforted myself with the surety the angel gave that this woman would soon be in my life.
I had began to date again after the inevitable break up from my last relationship.
Sometime later, I had almost forgotten about the vision when I did meet a rather special person.
At that time, I didn't realize that the lady I was dating was to be my wife.
About a week after we had met, she took me back to her place.
As we pulled up to the back of a shop she pointed up at the place where she lived.
I still recalled nothing...
until we started climbing the stairs.
Then I thought, "This all looks strangely familiar.
" But it was not until she had opened the door and I saw inside that the entire vision came flooding back.
Everything to smallest detail was as I first seen it in the vision that night.
I realized then that the woman before me was going to be my wife.
She on the other knew better, unbeknownst to me she had phoned her parents after our first date to tell them that she had just met the man she was to marry.
One year latter we were married but that child I had foreseen didn't come for another nine years.
Appropriately we named her Grace.
Final Words on My Experience with Bhakti Yoga Now considering everything that I had already mentioned about communion with God and bhakti yoga, it would seem unlikely that I could have been blessed with such an experience.
If we analyze it, I had ignored my Gurus advise about sitting on a chair rather than on my bed.
As a result, my posture for meditation was poor, and where was my attention? For the most part it was not on God but rather my aching back.
There was no way my thoughts were still enough to experience any of the deeper states of meditation let alone a vision of God.
But when I look at it honestly there was! Despite everything I did wrong, I had possessed the key ingredients of Bhakti Yoga.
What were they? Firstly, Faith - the belief or knowing that God would respond if I made the effort.
Secondly, Will - though my mind was not unwaveringly fixed on God, it was however was resolute.
Thirdly, the most important other part of bhakti yoga that is all to often forgotten in translation - yep you guessed it - Surrender.
But even all three ingredients of bhakti yoga, on their own, I don't believe would have been enough.
Now finally what did I say the fruit of devotion was? Grace! The Grace of God had shined upon me at that time because of the very sincere devotion I had for Him.
One could say it was because of bhakti yoga.