Pre-Introduction to Bhakti
What to expect from the study of the Bhakti Sutra? Is this right for me? Am I ready for it?
Let’s first offer our Prayers to Guru and God.
ॐ अज्ञानतिमिरान्धस्य ज्ञानाञ्जनशलाकया ।
चक्षुरुन्मीलितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥
om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
chakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
om–[A prayerful invocation:] ajñāna–of ignorance timira–by the cataract andhasya–blinded jñāna–of knowledge añjana–the eye medicine śalākayā–with the wand chakṣuḥ–eyes unmilitam–opened yena–by whom tasmai–unto him śrī-gurave–the divine master namaḥ–I offer obeisance
I offer obeisance unto Śrī Guru, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the cataract of ignorance, with the medicine of knowledge.
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय |
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Om, I bow down to Lord Shri Krishna, the son of Vasudeva.
This is a bhakti and mukti mantra present in the Srimad Bhagavatam as well as the Vishnu Puran.
We have spent the past two years studying the Bhagavad Gita where we learned about the various types of yoga and the detailed process for spiritual growth leading to enlightenment. After explaining all the yogas, Shri Krishna had proclaimed that Bhakti yoga was superior to all other paths that lead towards Him. In fact, He had said that Bhakti was the only way to realize Him completely and reach His eternal abode.
My job as a teacher of knowledge ended there. Now my job is to help you all understand the process and principles of Bhakti and this is a matter of the heart more than of the intellect. We had to use our intellect to realize that Bhakti is the only way to realize God. Once that has been understood, we keep aside our intellect and focus on the process of bhakti with our hearts.
The word ‘bhakti’ denotes pure love for the divine God or Brahman. Many scriptures have talked about the importance and significance of bhakti in order to find peace and joy. Learned sages, saints and yogis have realized the truth that brahman can never be understood using intellectual reasoning. They have realized that the only way to truly understand Brahman is through unalloyed devotion.
There are two fundamental levels of bhakti. Sadhana bhakti and Siddha bhakti. Sadhana bhakti is the preparatory bhakti that we practice to take our mind towards God and purify our hearts. This is the practice stage that helps prepare the vessel of the heart. And once the heart is ready, Bhagwan, through the medium of a guru, bestows that divine love which is called Siddha bhakti. The moment that divine Siddha bhakti is received, the bonds of maya are broken and no longer have an influence on the devotee. All the accumulated karmas (sanchit karmas) are burned and nullified. And from that moment onwards, the soul is connected directly with Supreme Bhagwan.
There are two very important things to bear in mind before embarking upon this divine journey of bhakti yoga:
- Before diving deep into pure bhakti, we need to understand the importance of bhakti. Also, we need to understand what mukti is and how to achieve it. These are taught in the Bhagavad Gita and that is the reason we recommend that students of Bhakti Sutra first study the Bhagavad Gita to get the required context. Once we understand what is bhakti and what is mukti and how to achieve mukti, we give up our desire for mukti and focus on bhakti. You can start studying the Bhagavad Gita beginning from here.
- Bhakti starts with humility and purity. Sage Narada himself has said that we need to learn to have devotion to guru before we can achieve devotion to God. Devotion to guru basically means having faith in the guru and having the bhava or mindset of service to guru, and not having any ego issues in front of the guru. Which means, thinking what we can do for the guru instead of thinking what the guru can do for us. You can consider this as a practice session required before we can progress on the path of bhakti towards God.
Rishi Ved Vyas, who is the author of Vedanta has written in the Garuda purana:
bhaj ity esa vai dhatu sevayam parikirtitah
tasmat seva budhaih prokta bhakti sadhana-bhuyasi
“The verbal root bhaj is used specifically in the sense of seva, or service. Therefore, when spiritual practices (sadhana) are performed in the consciousness of being a servant, they are called bhakti.”
According to this verse, bhakti first and foremost means service. Service to the supreme bhagwan and His representative on earth, who is the guru.
Does not matter who we consider our guru. We can pick anyone we trust and try to practice bhakti. It becomes easier if we learn to separate the physical aspects of the guru from their role as guru. Just like when a police officer asks you to stop your car, you obey. The officer could be male or female or your neighbor or someone very junior to you, etc. That doesn’t matter. Because we are respecting and obeying the role played by that person, which is that of a police officer, not the individual personality behind that role. Just like that, we can practice bhakti towards the guru, regardless of the physical personality behind that guru. We should not focus on physical aspects of the guru like whether they are male, female, older to you, younger to you, a friend or relative of you, etc. We just have to focus on the role played by that person which is that of a guru and we should respect and bow down to that role.
Even in the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna always treated Shri Krishna as his best friend and he would even address Krishna as his friend or sakha. He kept doing this until the moment he realized that he needed Krishna’s help and wisdom. His entire relationship with Krishna changes once He acknowledges Krishna as His guru. Shri Krishna was still his friend and Krishna himself has said multiple times that Arjuna was very dear to Him. However, during the discourse of the confidential knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna looked up to and treated Shri Krishna as his guru and approached him with humility and purity. That is when Shri Krishna started explaining the confidential knowledge because that is when Arjuna’s heart actually opened up and became ready for Krishna’s teachings.
We just have to make sure that the person is a legitimate guru who we can trust. Once we have identified the guru and once the guru has accepted us as their student, we must practice sadhana bhakti and approach them with a mindset of devotion. That is the first step. Only when we are ready for this should we proceed with the study of bhakti yoga. Otherwise, what we learn will remain just an intellectual pursuit which will not serve its purpose of connecting our souls with the supreme Bhagwan.
I am calling this out repeatedly here because our ability to succeed in sadhana bhakti is an indication of our ability to succeed in siddha bhakti. As explained by Shri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, bhakti is not an intellectual effort. We need the intellect only to understand that Bhakti is the superior path. Once we have understood that, our intellect has served its purpose. We then just have to start practicing sadhana bhakti through selfless service to guru and other devotees in order to prepare our hearts to become ready for siddha bhakti.
Please give this a serious thought before proceeding with the study of bhakti yoga.
You can learn more about bhakti through Swami Vivekananda’s works.
After reading through this Pre-Introduction, if you believe this path is for you, then please proceed to the Introduction to the Narada Bhakti Sutras.
Kṛṣṇadaasa
(Servant of Krishna)
aka Vinayak Raghuvamshi