Introducing the concept
श्रीभगवानुवाच |
मय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते |
श्रद्धया परयोपेतास्ते मे युक्ततमा मता:
śhrī-bhagavān uvācha
mayy āveśhya mano ye māṁ nitya-yuktā upāsate
śhraddhayā parayopetās te me yuktatamā matāḥ
The Lord said:
Those who fix theirs minds on Me,
and always engage in devotion to Me with steadfast faith,
I consider them to be the best yogis.
The word Yoga, in its truer sense, indicates union with the Absolute. All spiritual practices are thus nothing but Yoga in various forms, as attempts to approach the unchanging Reality. We generally divide the entirety of spiritual practice into four categories or paradigms, one of which is Bhakti Yoga, or the Path of Devotion, in which we pour out our love and devotion to the Absolute personified as Isvara in many manifestations.
For most of us, Bhakti is the most powerful and passionate form of spiritual practice. In many ways, Bhakti or the love for God has been the driving force of humanity. It has inspired the greatest art, music, architecture, literature. It has brought down empires and powered the creation of civilizations. It has given billions of people, all through history, the strength to stay firm amidst the most challenging of circumstances.
But how does Bhakti fit into the Advaita Vedanta framework of spirituality? Often people, having obtained a certain amount of understanding about Advaita, wonder if Bhakti is incompatible - or at least inessential - to the spiritual journey in Advaita Vedanta. Not at all. A fuller understanding of the Highest Truth in Advaita Vedanta brings with it a deep appreciation of Bhakti. Let us simply look at the lives of the saints, avataras, and jivanmuktas - such as Sri Ramakrishna in the modern era, or even Adi Shankaracharya himself - they were firmly immersed in the Nirguna Absolute while also being Bhaktas.
The highest Jnani and the highest Bhakti are often indistinguishable. Jnana merges into Bhakti. How so? Let us understand not just how Bhakti is an important - even essential - aspect of the spiritual journey in Advaita Vedanta, but a natural state of being once the Advaitic Knowledge dawns.
Going a little deeper
The fundamental idea of Sadhana or spiritual practice in Advaita Vedanta is that anything that purifies one’s mind and heart (anything that increases chitta shudhi), and anything that reduces the ego, will take one closer to the spiritual goal. All the paradigms of spirituality - all the four Yogas - result in chitta shuddhi. You can learn about this idea in more detail in our pages on the topic Sadhana.
In Bhakti Yoga the sadhaka dedicates all their actions, indeed their entire life, to the Lord. They worship Isvara with single-minded focus. Whatever actions they perform in the world - not just explicitly religious actions but all actions at work or at home - are done as offerings to Isvara; every emotion they feel is poured toward Isvara.
The Bhakta aspires for nothing more - and nothing less - than to surrender one’s limited self at the feet of Bhagavan.
In the framework that we just laid out, Bhakti Yoga is a powerful way of attaining chitta shudhi. By channeling every thought and action toward God, the Bhakta is strengthening the mind; by discarding anything that takes one’s mind away from the Lord, the Bhakta is purifying the heart; by seeing themselves as servants and devotees of Isvara, the Bhakta is gradually chipping away at the ego. All of this makes it more likely that their understanding of the Advaitic Truth will ripen into full realization. Bhakti, in this framework, is a very powerful companion in the journey towards Jnana.
‘The monkey of my heart is extremely fickle,’ prays Adi Shankaracharya to Lord Shiva in the Sivanandalahari, ‘Bind the mind strongly with the cord of Bhakti… and keep it under your control.’
Note that Bhakti means love for love’s sake alone; you love and worship and serve Isvara without expecting anything in return. Worship done with a transactional interest in mind is not Bhakti; such worship will further entrench your identification with the ego, it will further tie you down to the material world.
All of us seekers are stiving on the path, we are working to cleanse our minds. But who determines at what exact point the veil of Maya drops? It is by the grace of Isvara that one gets the ultimate Advaitic realization.
Isvara is the highest manifestation of Brahman in the phenomenal world. We might understand the Advaitic knowledge, but we are - right here and right now - still considering ourselves, in many ways, as individuals with a body-mind-ego; while we do so, Bhagavan is very real, and we must surrender ourselves to him. That is the best way - and most magnificent way - of moving along the path of spiritual progress. It is only the Jivan Mukta who can claim to transcend Isvara.
Tying the threads together
What then, about the Jivanmukta, the one who has not just understood but realized the Truth, the one who is stabilized in the Highest Knowledge? We can see from so many examples that many Jivanmuktas continue to remain devotees. In fact, their Bhakti will now be purer, more spontaneous; it will flow like a limitless river.
This is because they see their Ishta Devata - the God most dear to them - as a personification of the Nirguna Brahman. It says in the Bhagavada Puranam[1] -
‘It is true that sages who are absorbed in the Atman are free from all bondages. But they are endowed with spontaneous devotion, motivated by no self-centered desire. Such is the inherent attractiveness of Sri Hari that even such contemplatives steeped in Atman-consciousness, are drawn to Him.’
After all, one who has understood the Advaitic Truth knows that the World does not have an independent reality of its own. The World somehow, like a magic show, appears to us. We can never understand why this show is appearing to us, but we can surrender to the Magician, to the Lord of Maya, to set us free, to make us see Consciousness - our own very Self - in every inch of this magic show.
From a practical perspective, we can walk on the path of Bhakti Yoga by beginning every action we perform with a dedication to Isvara, by keeping Isvara in our mind - or on our lips - at various points throughout the day. It is not just at the shrine that we can be Bhaktas; we can be devotees at work, in school, in our homes. As it says in the popular bhajan - ‘हाथो से करो घर का काम, मुख से बोलो सीताराम’ - ‘With your hands, do the work of the house; but on your lips, let it always be “Sita Ram”.[2]’
Reflect on this
Bhakti can be seen as our attempt to approach the epitome or ‘ideal’ in any field, in all our pursuits in life. For example, a young cricketer might have Virat Kohli as his idol - he finds perfection in Kohli; he considers Kohli to be the personification of the ideal batsman. Don’t we very often use the term ‘God’ for some sportsmen and artists? We don’t literally mean it, but we use the word because - in our eyes - these sportsmen and artists have reached the very top in their fields; they are the exemplars for us to emulate, they represent the goal that we would like to move towards.
That young cricketer has Virat Kohli as his goal, and he works hard at getting there. He practices with focus and discipline, he stays on the path come what may, he makes the pursuit of excellence in cricket his number one priority. He might one day reach his goal, and become a champion cricketer at the highest level. But regardless of where he ends up, he will progress on the path every day - ‘bhakti’ towards his conception of the ideal cricketer, and a strong desire to get closer to that ideal, keeps him moving forward on the path, getting stronger and better everyday.
Seen in this perspective, you will find that many who claim to not have Bhakti do indeed have the inclination for it; they just do not recognize it. It is indeed the spirit of Bhakti that is driving them forward in all their pursuits. It is just that their Bhakti is directed towards emulating an individual or accomplishing a particular objective in material life, after achieving which the Bhakti - the one-pointed devotion - shifts to another goal. At some point, they might step back, just a little bit, from their pursuits and seek a higher ideal, a timeless goal.
When one realizes that everything in the world is temporary, one might seek the permanent Witness of all these temporary phenomena. At that point one might begin to see Isvara as the highest manifestation of this Absolute ideal, and they will begin to direct all their efforts towards approaching Isvara. This is when the seed of devotion in us flowers into true Bhakti.