The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Bhakti-Yoga/Definition of Bhakti
CHAPTER I
PRAYER
स तन्मयो ह्यमृत ईशसंस्थो ज्ञः सर्वगो भुवनस्यास्य गोप्ता।
य ईशेऽस्य जगतो नित्यमेव नान्यो हेतुर्विद्यत ईशनाय॥
यो ब्रह्माणं विदधाति पूर्व यो वै वेदांश्च प्रहिणोति तस्मै।
तं ह देवं आत्मबुध्दिप्रकाशं मुमुक्षुर्वै शरणमहं प्रपद्ये॥
"He is the Soul of the Universe; He is Immortal; His is the Rulership; He is the All-knowing, the All-pervading, the Protector of the Universe, the Eternal Ruler. None else is there efficient to govern the world eternally. He who at the beginning of creation projected Brahmâ (i.e. the universal consciousness), and who delivered the Vedas unto him — seeking liberation I go for refuge unto that effulgent One, whose light turns the understanding towards the Âtman."
DEFINITION OF BHAKTI
Bhakti-Yoga is a real, genuine search after the Lord, a search beginning,
continuing, and ending in love. One single moment of the madness of extreme
love to God brings us eternal freedom. "Bhakti", says Nârada in his
explanation of the Bhakti-aphorisms, "is intense love to God"; "When a man
gets it, he loves all, hates none; he becomes satisfied for ever"; "This
love cannot be reduced to any earthly benefit", because so long as worldly
desires last, that kind of love does not come; "Bhakti is greater than
karma, greater than Yoga, because these are intended for an object in view,
while Bhakti is its own fruition, its own means and its own end."
Bhakti has been the one constant theme of our sages. Apart from the special
writers on Bhakti, such as Shândilya or Narada, the great commentators on
the Vyâsa-Sutras, evidently advocates of knowledge (Jnâna), have also
something very suggestive to say about love. Even when the commentator is
anxious to explain many, if not all, of the texts so as to make them import
a sort of dry knowledge, the Sutras, in the chapter on worship especially,
do not lend themselves to be easily manipulated in that fashion.
There is not really so much difference between knowledge (Jnana) and love
(Bhakti) as people sometimes imagine. We shall see, as we go on, that in the
end they converge and meet at the same point. So also is it with Râja-Yoga,
which when pursued as a means to attain liberation, and not (as
unfortunately it frequently becomes in the hands of charlatans and
mystery-mongers) as an instrument to hoodwink the unwary, leads us also to
the same goal.
The one great advantage of Bhakti is that it is the easiest and the most
natural way to reach the great divine end in view; its great disadvantage is
that in its lower forms it oftentimes degenerates into hideous fanaticism.
The fanatical crew in Hinduism, or Mohammedanism, or Christianity, have
always been almost exclusively recruited from these worshippers on the lower
planes of Bhakti. That singleness of attachment (Nishthâ) to a loved object,
without which no genuine love can grow, is very often also the cause of the
denunciation of everything else. All the weak and undeveloped minds in every
religion or country have only one way of loving their own ideal, i.e. by
hating every other ideal. Herein is the explanation of why the same man who
is so lovingly attached to his own ideal of God, so devoted to his own ideal
of religion, becomes a howling fanatic as soon as he sees or hears anything
of any other ideal. This kind of love is somewhat like the canine instinct
of guarding the master's property from intrusion; only, the instinct of the
dog is better than the reason of man, for the dog never mistakes its master
for an enemy in whatever dress he may come before it. Again, the fanatic
loses all power of judgment. Personal considerations are in his case of such
absorbing interest that to him it is no question at all what a man says —
whether it is right or wrong; but the one thing he is always particularly
careful to know is who says it. The same man who is kind, good, honest, and
loving to people of his own opinion, will not hesitate to do the vilest
deeds when they are directed against persons beyond the pale of his own
religious brotherhood.
But this danger exists only in that stage of Bhakti which is called the
preparatory (Gauni). When Bhakti has become ripe and has passed into that form which is called the supreme (Parâ), no more is there any fear of these hideous manifestations of fanaticism; that soul which is overpowered by this higher form of Bhakti is too near the God of Love to become an instrument for the diffusion of hatred.
It is not given to all of us to be harmonious in the building up of our
characters in this life: yet we know that that character is of the noblest
type in which all these three — knowledge and love and Yoga — are
harmoniously fused. Three things are necessary for a bird to fly — the two
wings and the tail as a rudder for steering. Jnana (Knowledge) is the one
wing, Bhakti (Love) is the other, and Yoga is the tail that keeps up the
balance. For those who cannot pursue all these three forms of worship
together in harmony and take up, therefore, Bhakti alone as their way, it is
necessary always to remember that forms and ceremonials, though absolutely
necessary for the progressive soul, have no other value than taking us on to
that state in which we feel the most intense love to God.
There is a little difference in opinion between the teachers of knowledge
and those of love, though both admit the power of Bhakti. The Jnanis hold
Bhakti to be an instrument of liberation, the Bhaktas look upon it both as
the instrument and the thing to be attained. To my mind this is a
distinction without much difference. In fact, Bhakti, when used as an
instrument, really means a lower form of worship, and the higher form
becomes inseparable from the lower form of realisation at a later stage.
Each seems to lay a great stress upon his own peculiar method of worship,
forgetting that with perfect love true knowledge is bound to come even
unsought, and that from perfect knowledge true love is inseparable.
Bearing this in mind let us try to understand what the great Vedantic
commentators have to say on the subject. In explaining the Sutra
Âvrittirasakridupadeshât [1], Bhagavân Shankara says, "Thus people say, 'He is devoted to the
king, he is devoted to the Guru'; they say this of him who follows his Guru,
and does so, having that following as the one end in view. Similarly they
say, 'The loving wife meditates on her loving husband'; here also a kind of
eager and continuous remembrance is meant." This is devotion according to
Shankara.
"Meditation again is a constant remembrance (of the thing meditated upon)
flowing like an unbroken stream of oil poured out from one vessel to
another. When this kind of remembering has been attained (in relation to
God) all bondages break. Thus it is spoken of in the scriptures regarding
constant remembering as a means to liberation. This remembering again is of
the same form as seeing, because it is of the same meaning as in the
passage, 'When He who is far and near is seen, the bonds of the heart are
broken, all doubts vanish, and all effects of work disappear' He who is near
can be seen, but he who is far can only be remembered. Nevertheless the
scripture says that he have to see Him who is near as well as Him who, is
far, thereby indicating to us that the above kind of remembering is as good
as seeing. This remembrance when exalted assumes the same form as seeing. .
. . Worship is constant remembering as may be seen from the essential texts
of scriptures. Knowing, which is the same as repeated worship, has been
described as constant remembering. . . . Thus the memory, which has attained
to the height of what is as good as direct perception, is spoken of in the
Shruti as a means of liberation. 'This Atman is not to be reached through
various sciences, nor by intellect, nor by much study of the Vedas.
Whomsoever this Atman desires, by him is the Atman attained, unto him this
Atman discovers Himself.' Here, after saying that mere hearing, thinking and
meditating are not the means of attaining this Atman, it is said, 'Whom this
Atman desires, by him the Atman is attained.' The extremely beloved is
desired; by whomsoever this Atman is extremely beloved, he becomes the most
beloved of the Atman. So that this beloved may attain the Atman, the Lord
Himself helps. For it has been said by the Lord: 'Those who are constantly
attached to Me and worship Me with love — I give that direction to their
will by which they come to Me.' Therefore it is said that, to whomsoever
this remembering, which is of the same form as direct perception, is very
dear, because it is dear to the Object of such memory perception, he is
desired by the Supreme Atman, by him the Supreme Atman is attained. This
constant remembrance is denoted by the word Bhakti." So says Bhagavân
Râmânuja in his commentary on the Sutra Athâto Brahma-jijnâsâ [2].
In commenting on the Sutra of Patanjali, Ishvara pranidhânâdvâ, i.e. "Or by
the worship of the Supreme Lord" — Bhoja says, "Pranidhâna is that sort of
Bhakti in which, without seeking results, such as sense-enjoyments etc., all
works are dedicated to that Teacher of teachers." Bhagavan Vyâsa also, when
commenting on the same, defines Pranidhana as "the form of Bhakti by which
the mercy of the Supreme Lord comes to the Yogi, and blesses him by granting
him his desires". According to Shândilya, "Bhakti is intense love to God."
The best definition is, however, that given by the king of Bhaktas,
Prahlâda:
"That deathless love which the ignorant have for the fleeting objects of the senses — as I keep meditating on Thee — may not that love slip away from my heart!" Love! For whom? For the Supreme Lord Ishvara. Love for any other being, however great cannot be Bhakti; for, as Ramanuja says in his Shri Bhâshya, quoting an ancient Âchârya, i.e. a great teacher:
आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्ताः जगदन्तर्व्यवस्थिताः। प्राणिनः कर्मजनितसंसारवशवर्तिनः॥यतस्ततो न ते ध्याने ध्यानिनामुपकारकाः। अविद्यान्तर्गतास्सर्वे ते हि संसारगोचराः॥
"From Brahmâ to a clump of grass, all things that live in the world are slaves of birth and death caused by Karma; therefore they cannot be helpful as objects of meditation, because they are all in ignorance and subject to change." In commenting on the word Anurakti used by Shandilya, the commentator Svapneshvara says that it means Anu, after, and Rakti, attachment; i.e. the attachment which comes after the knowledge of the nature and glory of God; else a blind attachment to any one, e.g. to wife or children, would be Bhakti. We plainly see, therefore, that Bhakti is a series or succession of mental efforts at religious realisation beginning with ordinary worship and ending in a supreme intensity of love for Ishvara.
- Notes