Talk:Bhakti and Bhakti-Yoga
Bhakti means loving devotion and service towards the Lord[1]. In the Rigveda and other Vedas, there are thousands of verses in which Rishis express their Bhakti for various Devas like Indra, etc[2][3][4]. The Vedas also clarify that these different Devas derive from a single underlying Supreme Being or are merely different aspects of the same Lord.
The Vedas contain the spontaneous spiritual inspirations of the great Rishis the Seers, who had come face to face with the Divine. Therefore, although the Vedas depict all facets of Bhakti, they do not give a systematic and methodical description of Bhakti or any other path to Moksha as an organized spiritual system. The earliest description of Bhakti as a systematic discipline to reach the Divine ('Bhakti Yoga') is taught in the Bhagavad Gita. The Bhagavad Gita teaches it as its fourth Yoga or spiritual discipline, after Jnāna Yoga, Karma Yoga, and Dhyana Yoga. Its chapters 9-12 deal exclusively with Bhakti and Bhakti Yoga although Bhakti-related concepts are touched upon in earlier and later verses. Krishna says that Bhakti is the crown of one's spiritual journey although it must be combined with other Yogas in various degrees depending on one's inherent nature.
The goal of all four Yogas of the Bhagavad Gita is to reach the Divine. But most modern Hindus prefer the path of Bhakti-Yoga, specifically the way of loving devotion towards a Saguna Brahman. Some Hindus also practice Bhakti Yoga with Nirguna Brahman as the goal. Sikhs focus on Bhakti towards Nirguna Brahman as well, like the latter. It must be emphasized, however, that there is no sharp and complete distinction between Bhakti/Bhakti Yoga towards Saguna and Nirguna Brahman. The difference is simply one of focus. Sant Sürdās, for instance, focuses on Saguna (as Krishna) in hundreds of hymns although a hymn or two of his is in the Nirguna mode. The Sikh Gurus focus on Nirguņa but have numerous hymns in which they celebrate the different Avataras of Vishnu (Saguna Bhakti) and their deeds as narrated in the Bhagavata Purăņa.
After the Bhagavad Gita, the philosophy of Bhakti and Bhakti Yoga is expounded systematically in great detail in the Bhakti Sütras of Sage Närada, and in the Bhakti Sütras of Rishi Shandilya[5][6]. The practice of Bhakti is presented in the Bhagavata Purana, a widely followed Hindu scripture. The Puranas and Agamas, which teach details about worshipping Devi, Vishnu, Shiva, etc., are also vast compendiums of Bhakti and Bhakti Yoga.
Bhakti Yoga is considered one of the easiest paths to reach the Divine among the four Yogas with the fewest prerequisites. It is also the most popular spiritual path that is found in some way or the other in all religions.
References[edit]
- ↑ Miller, Jeanine. Does Bhakti Appear in the Rigveda? Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1996.
- ↑ Miller, Jeanine. Does Bhakti Appear in the Rigveda? Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1996.
- ↑ Sangoram, K. D. Pathway to God in the Vedas. Solapur, Maharashtra: B. R. Kulkarni, 1995.
- ↑ Bose, Abinash Chandra. Hymns from the Vedas. Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1966.
- ↑ Chinmayananda, Swami. Narada Bhakti Sutra. Bombay: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, 1982.
- ↑ Swami Harshananda. Shāṇdilya Bhakti Sūtras with Svapneshvara Bhāṣhya. Bangalore: Ramakrishna Math, 2002.