The Immortal Bhaktas

In His discourse in 1986, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba spoke about the nine forms of devotion that we can practice. He elaborated on them and said that bhakti (devotion to the Lord) is the essence of love.

Among all forms of sadhana (spiritual practices), bhakti is the easiest and holiest. “Bhakti” is derived from the root “bhaj“, with the suffix “the”. It means “seva” (service). It denotes a feeling of friendship coupled with awe.

For one who is a creature of the gunas (attributes), to under­stand what transcends the gunas (satwa, rajas, tamas) an attitude of humility and reverence is re­quired. “Bhaja Sevayam” (“Worship the Divine through seva“). Bhakti calls for utilizing the mind, speech, and body to worship the Lord. It represents total love. Devotion and love are inseparable and interdependent. Bhakti is the means to salvation. Love is the expression of bhakti.

Narada declared that worshipping the Lord with boundless love is shakti (universal energy). Vyasa held that performing worship with love and adoration is bhakti. Garga Rishi declared that serving the Lord with purity of mind, speech, and body is bhakti. Yagnavalkya held that true bhakti consists in controlling the mind, turning it inward, and enjoying the bliss of communion with the Divine. Another view of bhakti is concentration of the mind on God and experiencing oneness with the Divine.

Win love through love

Although many sages have expressed different views about the nature of bhakti, the basic characteristic of devotion is love. Love is present in every human being in however small a measure. The individual (jiva) is an aspect of the Divine, who is the supreme embodiment of love. Man also is an embodiment of Love, but because his love is directed toward worldly objects, it gets tainted and he is unable to get a vision of God in all His beauty.

Ordinarily people regard offering wor­ship to God, reciting His name and me­ditating on Him as constituting bhakti. True devotion really means installing the Divine in the heart and enjoying the bliss of that experience. It is the mystic union of the individual soul and the Universal. When the devotee prays ardently from the depths of the heart and his love gushes forth, bhakti is mani­fested. Winning love through love is the vital aspect of devotion.

Prayer does not mean merely appealing to God for favors. It is a means of conveying to God one’s troubles, desires, and aspirations and offering all one’s merits and the fruits of one’s actions to God. The basic quality of devotion is the yearning for realizing oneness with the Divine.

Two kinds of devotion

Devotion is of two kinds. One is acquiring knowledge about God and transforming oneself thereby. This is a natural process by which one starts with the physical, proceeds to the mental, and ultimately attains the spiritual goal of mergence in the Divine. But in taking to this path of knowledge, only the individual concerned can benefit. In the second type of devotion, the devotee not only benefits himself, but shares his experience with others and benefits them also. Such a devotee not only saves himself but helps others to save themselves.

Love is flowing in an endless stream through humanity all the time. By turn­ing this love toward worldly objects and fleeting pleasures man is missing the opportunity to make life purposeful and to secure enduring bliss. Man should direct this love toward God to attain the true goal of life. Love of the Divine is not developed by secular education or scriptural studies. It springs from the heart. One who is filled with love of the Divine will not be attracted by anything else in the world. Nor will he submit to anything demeaning or unworthy.

Love is selflessness. The devotee filled with love of the Lord welcomes what may appear as punishment as something for his good. Even when the Lord appears to be angry, His compassion is evident. Even in punishment, God’s kindness will be seen. Hence, no one should cherish a grievance that he is being singled out for punishment. Even punishment is a means of leading one to God. The dis­play of anger is for safeguarding the de­votee. The true devotee is one who recognizes this truth and welcomes what­ever happens to him as intended for his good. Eschewing interest in worldly concerns, he should concentrate on means to realize the Divine.

Nine ways of devotion

Nine ways of expressing devotion to God and attaining Him have been des­cribed by the sages. They are: Shravanam (listening to God’s glories), kirtanam (singing the glories of God), Vishnusmaranam (ever remembering the Lord), padasevanam (worshipping the Lord’s feet), archanam (offering daily worship), vandanam (prostration), da­syam(dedicated service), sneham (friendliness), and atmanivedanam (total surrender). Many devotees who have pursued one or other of these methods have been high‑souled persons, some of whom have been great emperors.

Shravanam (listening to God’s glories): King Parikshit, the mom­ent he learnt that he had been cursed by Shringi (the sage) to meet with death in seven days, summoned all the sages to ascertain how best he could utilize every moment of the remaining life span given to him. He felt that waste of time is waste of life. He appealed to the sages to advise him how best he could use the seven days left for him. When the Sage Suka entered the assemblage, the King reques­ted him to redeem his life by converting what was a curse into a blessing. Suka taught the King continuously night and day all about the Supreme Lord and His incarnations and glories. Listening to Suka’s words, Parikshit was immersed in an ocean of bliss. All the sages present there felt equally ecstatic and were lost in con­templation and love of the Lord by en­joying the stories about the Lord. Parikshit was filled with devotion and experi­enced the Lord within him. He exempli­fies how devotion can find the highest expression in merely listening to the glories of the Lord.

Kirtanam (singing the glories of God): Sage Suka taught how by listening to the exploits of the Lord, singing His glories and constantly recit­ing His name, the supreme goal of God-realization can be achieved. Suka expe­rienced the bliss of union with the Brah­man by reveling in singing His glories.

Vishnusmaranam (ever remembering the Lord): Prahlada is the su­preme example of the devotee who always centered his thoughts on Vishnu regardless of whether he was subject to pain or pleasure. “Namo Narayanaya” was his response to every ordeal. He was ceaselessly repeating the names of the Lord without any concern for the tortures to which he was subjected by the de­mons deputed by Hiranyakasipu (his demonic father). He was neither afraid nor distressed. Prahlada was fully conscious that the body com­posed of the five elements was perish­able while the Indweller was eternal. Hence, he did not care what happened to the body. All his thoughts were ever concentrated on God.

Padasevanam (worshipping the Lord’s feet): Not all devotees get the opportunity to worship the feet of the Lord. Even when the opportunity is available most people use it for material purposes. Goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, is the supreme example of one who dedicated herself totally to the worship of the Lord’s feet, regarding these feet as the source of the entire crea­tion, holding them supremely sacred owing to their being washed by Brahma himself, worshipping them as feet that had measured the whole cosmos, and venerating them as all‑pervading.

Archanam (offering daily worship): Emperor Prithu stands out as the exemplar of this type of devotion. In all circumstances, Prithu adhered to the worship of Hari as his primary occupation. He saw the Lord in every­thing in the Universe. Hence, he dedi­cated every thought, word, and deed to the Divine.

Vandanam (prostration): Akrura is an illustrious example of a devotee who sanctified his life by constantly prostrating before the Lord and offering obeisance to Him with humility and purity. “Vandanam” does not mean merely folding the palms together and offering salutations. It means offering to the Lord all that the jnanendriyas and karmendriyas (the sense organs and the organs of action) do in a spirit of total surrender. Akrura wor­shipped the Lord in this spirit of total submission to the Divine will. Hence he could get a vision of Vishnu every­where.

Dasyam (dedicated service): Hanuman is the great exemplar of this type of devotion. Concentrating on the name of Rama and rendering service to Rama were Hanu­man’s sole preoccupation all the time. He was no ordinary being. He was a master of the 64 sciences and arts. Rama desc­ribed him as a hero of peace, who possessed immense strength and wis­dom. In everything he handled, Hanu­man would examine whether it had Rama’s name on it. If it was not there, he would discard even a precious gem as a useless piece of stone. While building the bridge to Lanka, Hanuman hurled rocks into the sea uttering the name of Rama and they rose to the sur­face. The letters “Ra” and “Ma” were written on separate stones and when they were thrown into the sea they joined together on the surface and thus the bridge was formed. Each hair of Hanuman was echoing the name of Rama. He was a devotee who remem­bered Rama at all times, whether in joy or sorrow. He had no sense of ego. He had given up all feeling of “mine” and “thine”. When the rakshasas [demons] asked him in Lanka who he was, he firmly declared: “I am a dasa (servant) of the Lord of Kosala (Rama).” In all situations he des­cribed himself as a servant of Rama.

Those who call themselves devotees these days put on the sacred ash on their foreheads while going to a temple and rub it off on their return. When they are near Swami they behave like devo­tees. But when they go to a place where religion is in disfavor, they explain away their visits to Puttaparthi in a casual manner and declare that they are not devotees of Swami. What value is to be attached to the devotion of such pusillanimous persons? Real devotion consists in courageously stan­ding up for your faith anywhere at any time. Hanuman was such a courageous and steadfast devotee. By his devoted service to the Lord he redeemed his life and became immortal.

Sneham (friendship): The great ex­emplar of this kind of devotion is Arjuna. Arjuna and Krishna lived together closely. Arjuna accompanied Krishna like a sha­dow. He experienced innumerable trou­bles and was subjected to calumny and abuse. But through all these experiences, he did not allow his faith in Krishna to waver. He always prayed: “Krishna! You are my sole hope and refuge. There is none other to protect me.” In this way, looking upon Krishna as friend, kinsman, and alter ego, Arjuna relied on Krishna for everything. Krishna, for His part, was even ready to act as Arjuna’s charioteer in battle. Arjuna made Krishna the charioteer of his life. Krishna thereby acquired the appellation Partha­sarathy—the charioteer of Partha (Arjuna).

Atmanivedanam (or Atmarpanam) (total surrender of the self): Emperor Bali, the grandson of Prahlada, was an exam­ple of a devotee who completely surren­dered to the Lord, offered everything he possessed to the Lord, and thereby san­ctified his life. He was totally dedicated in his devotion to the Lord. He was pre­pared to offer his head to the Lord and go down to the nether‑world. No sacri­fice was too great for him to win the Lord’s grace. When his guru, Shukracharya, advised him to go back on the gift he had promised to Vamana, Bali rejected the advice, declaring that his life, his body, and all that he had be­longed to the Lord.

Many high-souled men and great rulers practiced these different ways of devotion in the past and held them­selves forth as examples to the world.

Devotion and society
Devotion, the sages felt, should not be solely for achieving individual salv­ation. It should find expression in some kind of collective action. Offering wor­ship or prayer in seclusion and for one’s own sake savors of some kind of selfish­ness. The ancients felt that the Divine cannot be attained by one who is self-centered. Even among Christians and Muslims, there is the practice of someone reading passages from the scriptures that are repeated by the congregation that is present. The Indian sages val­ued community prayers for the welfare of the world as good for the individual and the world.

In the year 1459 A.D., Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru, started the practice of community singing or bhajans. This practice gathered momentum over the years and in 1798, the great South Indian saint‑composer Thyagaraja invested bha­jans with raga and tala (musical form and rhythm). Since then, bhajans have acquired national vogue in all parts of the country.

Bhajans (devotional singing)

Bhajans should not be treated as one way of spending time. They are inten­ded to harmonize the feelings, the singing, and the rhythmic beats of the participants so that they experience in unison the oneness of the Divine. Such bhajans are considered spiritually effi­cacious. Bhakti (devotion) should be given pride of place in bhajans. They should be surcharged with love. When bhajans were first introduced in villages, Thyagaraja began with the song: “Come, all ye blessed ones, come, and let us join in singing the glory of Sri Rama.” He also said that when they have Kodan­dapani (Rama with the Kodanda bow) on their side, they need not fear Danda­pani (Yama, the Lord of Death). It was in this spirit of intense love for the Lord and pure devotion that bhajans were started in the past. But in bhajans to­day this spirit of holiness is absent. More importance is given to raga and tala (the tune and the rhythm) than to bhava (the feeling) and raga. The attempt is more to please the hearers by sweet singing than to pro­mote in them finer feelings of devotion. The feelings expressed in the bhajans should melt the hearts of the participants and move them to their depths.

The essence of bhakti is Love and not formal exercises in japa (repetition of the Lord’s name) or worship of various kinds. Worship should be offered to the Divine who resides in all beings. Love is God: live in love. Love is the means of realizing the bliss of the Self, which is centered in ourselves. It need not be sought elsewhere. It can be found within oneself when all thoughts are controlled, and the mind is turned inward. Dedicate all actions to the Lord. This is the highest knowledge. It is the summum bonum of existence. Love should become a way of life. That alone is true devotion.”

Bhagavan concluded His discourse with the singing of “Hari Bhajan bina sukha santhi nahi” (Without singing to the Lord there is no happiness or peace) in which the entire audience fervently joined in full‑throated rapture.

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Nov. 1986