27. ekabhaktimadarchitA

[Ravi Mayavaram]

27. ekabhaktimadarchitA

SHE who is worshipped by those who have single minded devotion.
"ekabhakti" can also mean devotion to the indvisible (indivisibilty of
jIva and brahman). Hence the name means that SHE is worshipped by
devotees who have that mental attitude. The word "bhakti" here is
indicative of praise, meditation and salutation. "yanmanasa dhyAyati
tadvAchA vadati tat karamaNa karoti" [nR^isiMhatApinI upaniShad] which
means 'one that is meditated upon by mind, one that is spoken upon by
speech, and one that is acted upon by deed'. According to the above
shruti, all organs act only through the meditation of mind that is
fixed on HER.

"ekabhakti" can also mean the single minded devotion of  those who
comprehend the deity in the form of saguNa brahman. In this world,
bhakti is of 8 kinds(*). SHE is worshipped with bhakti by such
devotees by antaryAga, bahiryAga and mahAyAga.  mahAyAga is the
worship of shrIchakra and the deity with 16 upachAras. It includes
both antaryAga ( kuNDalinI yoga) and bahiryAga (external worship).

AUM ekabhaktimadarchitAyai namaH


Based on a translation of shrI shankara's lalitAtrishatI bhAShyam.


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(*) According to shrImad bhAgAvatam bhakti is of nine kinds.

1) shravaNam (Hearing of God's name)
2) kIrtanam  (Singing God's glories)
3) mananam   (Remembering God's name)
4) pAdasevanam (Resorting to God feet)
5) archana or (pUja (worshipping God )
6) namaskAram (Salutation to God)
7) dAsyam  ( Having a servant attitude towards God like shrI hanumAn)
8) sakhyam ( Having a friendly attitude towards God like arjuna)
9) Atmanivedanam ( Surrendering oneself completely to God)

But some smR^itis quote only 8.

[The book I have gives only the english names, I got the sanskrit
equivalents from shrI Sai  Satcharitra, a biography of shrI shirdi Sai
Baba written by Hemad Pant. Complete text of this book is available on
the WWW. This biography has a lot of vedanta explained  in it]