Gita for Youth - Yoga of Devotion (Bhakti Yoga)

Chapter 12: The Yoga of Supreme Devotion

Arjuna said, “those devotees that worship You wholeheartedly and steadfastly and those who are more inclined towards meditating upon the unmanifest and eternal Supreme Being (rather than worshiping any particular form), of them who are the best in Yoga in Your opinion?”

This is an indirect question. The basic intent behind Arjuna’s question was that who is superior  - one who follows the path of jnana or knowledge of the unmanifest, or one who is devoted to the worship of forms, the follower of the path of bhakti or devotion and dualism. The follower of the path of jnana is often monist or believer in advaita – the undifferentiated unity of God, Nature and Universe. To the jnani, the universe with all its names and forms is only apparent, illusory, being modified through the prism of Maya. Only the Brahman or the Supreme Being is the truth, everything else is a reflection of that Brahman, just as sun reflects in different containers of water.

The Lord said, “Those who are attached to Me and worship Me by being in constant union with Me, with great devotion, are the best, to My mind. However, those who are more inclined towards the unmanifest, the formless aspect, the infinite, all pervading and beyond comprehension, the eternal and imperishable, have to repress all sense organs and look upon everything as same i.e. Brahman. This path is full of hardships and one with body consciousness cannot succeed here because of the trials and tribulations involved.”

The path of jnana is full of sufferings. It is like the razor’s edge, very sharp and almost impassable. One having even slightest affiliation to one’s body cannot succeed here because of the trials needed. If the universe is an illusion, so is the body. To forget the body one has to forfeit all desires as desires make up the body. This is very difficult, so it consists of more trials and tribulations. There is no end to suffering in this path, but in the end, if one is able to remain steadfast, there is supreme bliss.

This path is not for Arjuna. Therefore Sri Krishna tells him, “whosoever dedicates all the actions and fruits upon Me, becomes immersed in My thoughts, constantly meditates upon Me, I very soon become his protector from the vast ocean of life and death – the world. Therefore surrender your mind to Me, put your intelligence (thoughts) in Me. In this manner you will stay in Me, there is no doubt.”

Paths of Devotion

The Lord now provides various options according to the temperament and tendencies of the individual. If one is unable to fix the mind upon the Lord, one needs to constantly practice the concentration. Called “abhyasa yoga”, constant practice enables one to get over evil tendencies through perseverance. Through this constant practice one can wish to realize God. This wish, this desire of achieving the most difficult goal is the motive force behind the “abhyasa”. Unless one is motivated by such an ardent goal, one can never sustain the practice and is bound to give up. But if constant practice is too much for an individual, he or she can take up some service of God, viz. worship, meditation on His form, charities, reading scriptures etc. through these works mind gets purified and a purified mind ultimately leads to realization.

If this is also not possible to achieve Yoga or union, one has to renounce all fruits of actions.

Thus the Lord, by explaining the various paths prescribed for persons of different tendencies, actually illustrates the paths of jnana, abhyasa, karma and bhakti. A true devotee will relinquish all fruits of actions because he/she will surrender himself or herself wholeheartedly to the Lord. Every act that the devotee does is actually the Lord’s work and therefore he/she does not have any right to its fruit. The real test of a devotee lies in complete surrender and therefore a devotee is a true sannyasi.

The last one, bhakti, is thus very superior to others as it calls for a supreme sacrifice, viz. oneself. The devotee forgets his/her identity and becomes the Lord’s instrument.  Sri Krishna says, jnana is superior to abhyasa, dhyana or meditation is superior to jnana, renouncing the fruits of action is even superior because from renunciation one derives supreme peace.

Who is a True Devotee

Now what are the characteristics of a true devotee? The Lord provides us with a vivid description. A true devotee must be devoid of any aversion towards any being, will be friendly and compassionate to all, will be devoid of possessiveness (“I” and “Mine”) and ego, will be merciful, and will treat happiness and sorrow in the same vein.

Why devoid of aversion? A true devotee (uttama bhakta in the language of Sri Ramakrishna) will see the Lord in every being. Therefore whom will he/she love and whom will he/she hate? He/she is therefore friendly and compassionate towards all. He/she knows that all things belong to God and God alone; therefore he/she is devoid of any possessiveness like wealth, wife, children, husband, relatives, friends etc. He/she knows that both happiness and sorrow are gifts of God and therefore treats them equally.

A true devotee will be always a Yogi, i.e. in ever union with God, being immersed in the thoughts of God. He/she is ever satisfied, is steadfast in his/her belief and practices, and has dedicated his /her body, mind and intelligence to the God. Therefore such a devotee is God’s dear one.

He/she is ever satisfied because he/she knows that all the time he/she is under the loving refuge of the Lord Himself. Even sorrows are His blessings as they help in strengthening the devotee’s resolve, faith. They make him/her stronger and better. A devotee belongs to the God in body, mind and spirit. There is nothing of him/her that does not belong to the Lord.

The true devotee is never perturbed by the worldly matters. He/she knows everything to be the part of the divine play. Similarly he/she never becomes a reason of agitation in the world as he/she does not truly belong to the world, but to the God. He/she is thus devoid of all passions like material pleasures, ill feelings, fear and anxiety. One who has surrendered himself/herself wholeheartedly to God does not know what these passions are. Therefore they are dear to the Lord.

A true devotee does not depend on any worldly affair, is pure and efficient, is detached (from worldly matters), is free of sorrows, relinquishes all efforts which are not directed towards devotion or which are not influenced or inspired by any spiritual motive. Such a devotee is very dear to the Lord.

A devotee is pure because he/she has no other thoughts other than that of God or that of welfare of all beings. He/she is efficient because he/she is engaged in doing Lord’s work and therefore does it wholeheartedly, with full concentration and devotion. Since he/she is not concerned with worldly affairs, he/she does not cherish any worldly ambition. His/her whole life is devoted towards the service of God.

A true devotee does not take pleasure (in worldly affairs), nor does he/she hates anybody, nor does he/she grieves, nor desires for anything. He/she renounces all good and bad and is therefore above the pairs of opposites. Therefore he/she, the devoted one, is very dear to the Lord.

A devotee is therefore above good and bad and likewise other pairs of opposites. Thus through supreme devotion one can transcend the Gunas or the qualities of nature.

A true devotee holds a friend and enemy in the same spirit, has no distinction between honor (of self) and dishonor, treats warm and cold in the same light, is devoid of all attachments. He/she is indifferent to either praise or blame, is silent (to the world), is ever contented by getting anything, i.e. has no special desire or demand, does not possess any permanent abode, is composed and tranquil and is full of devotion. Such a devotee is very dear to the God.

Those who with respect and without malice try to follow such principles as illustrated here, such devotees are extremely dear to the Lord, because they try their best to make the God their all in all. Through their devotion God becomes their very own, even their self Thus by supreme devotion they transcend the barriers between bhakti and jnana and in the end realize that the end result of all paths are same – the Supreme Bliss. All paths converge in that Truth just as all rivers coming down from the mountain ultimately meet in the ocean.