From Outward to Unquestioning Devotion 

In the following address to the members of the Sathya Sai Organization in Chennai, India, Bhagavan Baba lays out the steps to attain the highest level of devotion for the betterment of the world. His recipe: equal measure of love, patience, forbearance, compassion, and service.

Embodiments of love! You are all brought here today by bonds of love. It is only love that binds one person to another and one thing to an-other. The entire world is filled with love. Life devoid of love can be described as lifelessness.

Love has three levels. The first is the best and highest level. Men with such love have full faith and belief that God, who is the embodiment of eternal bliss, is present in all beings without exception. They believe that Easwara [God] is present everywhere and in every thing in the form of love. Such people see only love in every being and do not differentiate between their kith and kin and strangers.  Persons filled with such supreme love will experience bliss.

Those with the second level of love tend to care only for their own good and the welfare, comfort, and happiness of their own people. Such people can be termed as madhyama, or middle-level persons.

Then, there are those who are not happy when they see that others are happy; in fact, they become jealous of others’ happiness. Such people are always looking for faults in others and criticize them; they cannot tolerate other people being happy. Thus- they ruin the love they have within themselves. Just as a crow feels jealous when a cuckoo sings well, such people feel jealous at others’ attainments. Just as the crow ridicules the swan, these people ridicule other good people. They reflect the lowest level of love.

Although love is present equally in all the three categories of people, they enjoy, experience, and use that love in different ways. In every tree of life, love is present in the form of sweet juice within its fruit. The fruit, however, is covered by a skin called desire. Hence, the sweet juice in the fruit is not visible. Only those who peel away the skin of desire and throw away the seed of bad qualities like anger and jealousy can enjoy the sweet juice of the fruit of divine love—param prema. This is also called rasa swaroopa [the quintessential, blissful form]. The Upanishads [Hindu scriptures] say that this bliss is Brahmam [Divinity].

With a view to experiencing this bliss, they prescribe ten types of devotion (bhakti). Though bhakti is described in common parlance in many ways, the Vedas [the prime Hindu scriptural treatise] say that there are only three types of bhakti: bhoutika, ekanta and ananya bhakti. Various commentaries have been written about them.

Bhoutika bhakti involves activities associated with shravana (listening), manana (ruminating on what was learnt), and nidhidhyasana (practicing what was preached and learnt), all the rituals of a yajna [ritualistic sacrifice], pilgrimage to kshetras [holy sites], and various types of service such as charity and dharma [right action]. Japa [repetition of holy name], tapas [penance] and sandhya [prayers offered at dawn and twilight] etc., are all part of this first type of bhakti.

Other activities including building of temples, consecrating idols, formal worship in temples and all related rituals also come under bhoutika Bhakti. In other words, they belong in the physical realm.

In fact, though one may be immersed in meditation and experiencing visions of such idols, these have to be classified under this first type since all these experiences arise out of the body, mind, and intellect, which are transient. This body has to perish one day, and hence experiences arising out of this body will also disappear with the body. Nevertheless, this type of bhakti is necessary in the initial stage.

The second stage is that of ekanta bhakti [devotion in solitude]. Many people think that ekanta bhakti means dedication to one idol or form, and experiencing mental vision of that one form in privacy. This is not correct. Ekanta bhakti is the experience of one’s self (antaratma) achieved through the control of one’s mind.

Control of the mind does not mean mere steadiness of thought. The ability to cleanse the mind of impure thoughts is the correct meaning of ekanta. This is a sadhana [spiritual discipline] to be practiced in a quiet, solitary place free from noise or disturbance of any kind.

The best time for this practice is from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m., which is called the Brahma-muhurta. After selecting a particular time during this period, one should sit quietly in a solitary place and adjust the rate of inhaling and exhaling of breath. It is important that the pace of inhaling and exhaling must be the same. By gradual practice, the number of breaths per minute must be reduced from eight or ten a minute to one or two. You have to take your own time, proceed gradually in the process of reducing the number of inhalations and exhalations.

Because of the flow of thoughts in the mind the breathing also gets affected and disturbed. To control the breath in this manner and direct it in the proper path, there is a very effective discipline that should be followed. The tip of the tongue must be made gently to touch the rear of the teeth. When it is kept in this specific position, the thoughts in the mind become less, and one is able to concentrate on control of breath. When you control the mind, and you detach yourself from thoughts of the body and things around you, you come to the stage of ekanta bhakti.

All that we do with the body and mind are called bhoutika by Vedanta. In contrast, ekanta bhakti is a state of mind, devoid of thoughts and desires, with the ability to concentrate on God.

In the state of ekanta bhakti, the mind becomes still and then, ceases to exist. While God is present everywhere and in every one, the mind is rid of all impurities and God’s presence alone is experienced in the state of ekanta bhakti.

When you take a small glass with very little water and place it in the sun, you can see the reflection of the sun in the water. Even though the quantity of water is very little, you can clearly see the reflection of the sun because the water is steady and clear. On the other hand, if you try to see the sun in the vast expanse of water in the sea, you can-not see the reflection because the water is constantly moving in the form of tides. Nor can you see the reflection of the sun in a well where the water is muddy. You cannot see the reflection of the sun even in the sacred River Ganges though its water is pure but the surface underneath is muddy.

Similarly, God will not be reflected in a mind full of likes and dislikes, and desires and impure thoughts. If you want to realize the presence of God in all human beings, you must recognize the importance of purity and steadiness of mind. When the mind is pure and steady, divinity will be resplendent.

To experience such divinity, ekanta bhakti alone will help you. In other paths, you may experience visions of different types. But, they are only hallucinations and products of the imagination.

Without good qualities, you cannot control your mind. How can you build a house without brick and mortar? To achieve purity and steadiness of mind, earnest practice is essential. You cannot obtain ekanta bhakti by locking yourself in a room and worshipping an idol with devotion. After all, the idol is only a created object. You should experience and worship only your atma swaroopa [the divine within] and not a created object. You should have vision of the primordial Divinity, whose reflection is in your atma. Yes, worshipping an idol is necessary as a first step. But we can’t devote our entire life only to the first step.

Through continuous training and practice of ekanta bhakti, in due course, you will be able to see the atma [the divine] within yourself. The atma is in us. You can’t see it because there is a cover in the form of impurity, and waves of likes and dislikes hovering around it. When you remove all these impurities, you will see that the mind rests in a clean and pure state. At that stage, if you turn your vision inward, you will have the vision of Divinity. This is ekanta bhakti. What we read in books is not ekanta bhakti. It appears simple. It is not so.

True ekanta bhakti is realized only when you turn your vision inward and experience the pure atma, away from the sensory objects. Ekanta bhakti is inner vision, while bhoutika bhakti is outward vision.

After practicing bhoutika bhakti and ekanta bhakti, ananya bhakti will be easy to attain. We have a feeling that ananya bhakti consists in surrendering to God, saying: “I have no savior other than you.” We think that simply by saying “You are my mother, You are my father, You are my friend, and You are my savior, Oh God of Gods,” we have surrendered and are practicing ananya bhakti. This is only oral ananya bhakti. Real ananya bhakti comes from deep inquiry into the reality of the inner self in the depths of your heart.

When you inquire deeply, you will find that the experiences you have in the waking state, and the things you see in the dream and deep sleep states are illusory and transitory. After such inquiry, the ananya bhakta will come to the conclusion that in all the three states whatever one sees is illusory. He will find that the ‘I’, which is present in all the three states, is only the atma and that there is no difference between this atma [the individual soul] and the Paramatma [the Divine or the Universal soul]. Without the thought of the body, there is no duality. Where there is no thought of a second one, it is ananya. To reach this state of ananya, you have to first go through the stage of ekanta bhakti.

Yesterday, in the play presented by the Bal Vikas children, you saw how a pundit vividly described how Krishna dresses with all His jewelery and flute.  A thief who listened to this was intent on reaping a rich harvest by robbing the boy of His jewels, and asked for His address. The pundit gave him the details of the place on the bank of the River Yamuna [the river that Krishna frequented], with all its scenic beauty. He gave this information only from his bookish knowledge.

The thief, with full be-lief, went to the address, and saw Krishna, accosted Him and took the jewels from Him. The pundit could not see Krishna while the thief could see Him because the pundit had only bookish knowledge and no real belief. The word panda means viveka or discrimination. One who has viveka is punditah or pundit. This viveka is of two types: one is worldly or bhoutika, and the other is spiritual or adhyatma. The former can be understood by experiments and instruments, but in the adhyatmic sphere such viveka does not work. One should have faith and pure love. Without such faith or pure love, whatever arguments you may enter into, or whatever inquiry you do, will not yield results. One with doubts can never achieve success in spite of many births.

Ananya bhakti can be described as unquestioning faith and devotion. King Parikshit [grandson of Arjuna in Mahabharata] had to lay down his life within seven days as a result of a curse incurred for an arrogant act. At this stage, Suka, the great sage, came to teach him about God. He had no attachment to the world. When such a great sage described the devotion of the gopis [milk maidens] as the most sacred form and highest state of bhakti, you can realize how great was the gopikas’ devotion. It was ananya bhakti of the highest order.

Parikshit asked Suka Maharishi how the gopikas got ananya bhakti and experienced divinity while following the worldly path. Suka answered that with a question asking Parikshit whether he thought Krishna was God or an ordinary human being. He added that if Krishna was God, the gopikas were devotees. If Parikshit thought Krishna was a cowherd, then there was no use in teaching him anything. He [Suka] said he would teach Vedanta and Bhagavata [the Hindu scriptures] only to one who had faith and belief in God.

Divinity should be taught only to those who are eager to learn and who have the faith. Individuals, who are earnest to experience divinity have to be taught even if they are a mere handful.

Members of the Sathya Sai Organizations should follow the right path and raise their own spiritual effort to the level of ananya bhakti. The world today is in a very bad state. The situation in the world can improve only through true believers in divinity. Such people should become embodiments of love; and through their sadhana, patience, forbearance, and com-passion, serve the society and make the world better.

God is present in you and is viewing with thousands of eyes what all you do. Even if no one is seeing, God is seeing you and constantly watching your actions. Therefore you should do everything with this awareness in you. It is my hope that all of you will improve your life by fostering love and doing good, seeing good, and being good.

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, March 1982