Bhakti Yoga (fwd)

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hari Narayanan <vhari at giasmd01.vsnl.net.in>
To: Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at BRAINCELLS.COM>
Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 22:00:02 +0530
Subject: Re: Bhakti Yoga

Dear Shri. Vyas

Could you please post this on the list.


I have been reading the discussions on bhakthi yoga . I thought i will
share my viewpoints at this juncture.
  a.. Bhakthi yoga is not a separate sadhana but represents a series of
sadhanas starting from karma yoga & culminates in jnanam (after Jnana
yoga).
  b.. The term Bhakthi in Karma yoga and Jnana yoga means the very
attitude & the very environment respectively in which the sadhana is done.
There is no Jnana yoga without bhakthi becoz, without a love for God,
there wil be no striving to know his real nature & the essential oneness
between the jiva & Iswara.
  c.. Lord Krishna in his BG , chapter 12, has dealt only on this topic
where he divides the the whole sadhana of a spiritual seeker in 5 stages &
titles the steps as Bhakthi Yoga.
  d.. If Jnana yoga does not involve bhakthi, then , Krishna need not have
mentioned in the 7th chapter that a Jnani is his dearest Bhaktha . In the
Jnana Yoga, a seeker does the sravanam, mananam & nidhidhyasanam in the
environment of Iswara. The very shanthi pata in each upanishad is a proof
for this.
  e.. We start with love towards God as someone other than us & culminate
in discovering the oneness & hence god -love transforms into self-love.
  f.. Even after Jnanam, a person may continue to do the same routine
which he or she had been doing before , but there is only a diffrence in
the attitude which is never known physically. Jnanam only removes the
notion of doership that one falsely imbibes on one's self.
  g.. Without Bhakthi , there is no Jnana yoga. In fact, The Bhakthi bhava
is the only thing that survives in the mind of a Jivanmuktha. He or she
becomes an embodiment of love & that is why, we still have acharyas to
guide us. To put in BG language, a sthiraprajna has Attachment with
Detatchment. There is no notion of doership at all for him , coz, other
than Him (as consciousness), everything is Mithya for him.

Roopa Hari Narayanan