Lastly, through samadhi the quality of nirliptatva, or detachment, and thereafter mukti (liberation) is attained. Samadhi considered as a process is intense mental concentration, with freedom from all samkalpa, and attachment to the world, and all sense of “mineness,†or self-interest (mamata). Considered as the result of such process it is the union of Jiva […]
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.â€â€”“When a man gets it, he loves […]
Who is Ishwara ? —“From Whom is the birth, continuation, and dissolution of the universeâ€â€”He is Ishwara—“the Eternal, the Pure, the Ever-Free: the Almighty, the All- Knowing, the All-Merciful, the Teacher of all teachers;†and above all, —“He the Lord is, of His own nature, inexpressible love.” These certainly are the definitions of a Personal […]
To the Bhakta these dry details are necessary only to strengthen his will; beyond that they are of no use to him. For he is treading on a path which is fitted very soon to lead him beyond the hazy and turbulent regions of reason, to lead him to the realm of realisation. He, soon, […]
Every soul is destined to be perfect and every being, in the end, will attain the state of perfection. Whatever we are now is the result of our acts and thoughts in the past; and whatever we shall be in the future will be the result of what we think and do now. But this […]
How are we to know a teacher then? The sun requires no torch to make him visible; we need not light a candle in order to see him. When the sun rises, we instinctively become aware of the fact, and when a teacher of men comes to help us; the soul will instinctively know that […]
Wherever His name is spoken, that very place is holy. How much more so is the man who of speaks His name, and with what veneration ought are we to approach that man out of whom comes to us spiritual truth! Such great teachers of a spiritual truth are indeed very few in number as […]
But we are now considering not these Mahâ-purushas, the great Incarnations, but only the Siddha-Gurus (teachers who have attained the goal); they, as a rule, have to convey the germs of spiritual wisdom to the disciple by means of words (Mantra) to be meditated upon. What are these Mantras? The whole of this universe has, […]
The next points to be considered are the worship of Pratikas or of things more or less satisfactory as substitutes for God, and the worship of Pratimas or images. What is the worship of God through a Pratika? It is – “Joining the mind with devotion to that which is not Brahman, taking it to […]
The next thing to be considered is what we know as Ishta-Nishthâ. One who aspires to be a Bhakta must know that “so many opinions are so many ways.†He must know that all the various sects of the various religions are the various manifestations of the glory of the same Lord. “They call You […]