The Yoga of Devotion
Bhakti-Yoga is the path of pure unconditional love, devotion and self-surrender. In the practice of Bhakti-yoga, the bhakta cultivates a relationship with the supreme Self and offers all of their thoughts, words and actions to the Divine. The universality of yoga allows each individual to approach the Divine as it suits their own temperament. Through the eyes of yoga, the Supreme is limitless, therefore the ways to approach the Supreme are also limitless.
Although the experience of love is within each one of us, we tend to limit our love in moments of impatience and reactivity. The love that we offer others is often conditioned with expectations. If our expectations are not met or if we feel that we have been hurt we tend to withhold or withdraw our love. But the love that Bhakti-yoga is attempting to cultivate is one which transcends our ego and our likes and dislikes.
“We do not love another for the sake of their wealth, personality or beauty — but for the sake of the transcendental Self (atman), which is the same in all of us.”
The Pure Hearted One
Some of you will be familiar with the following story, but it is an excellent example of how pervasive our expectations are. As the sage Narada travelled through the forest on his way to see Lord Siva, he came across a yogi who was meditating. It was clear to Narada that the yogi had been in his meditation for a long time because an ant hill had grown up around him!
Nonetheless, the yogi sensed the sage’s presence and asked Narada where he was off to. When he heard that Narada was going to see Lord Siva, he asked Narada to enquire for him how long he would have to meditate until he reached enlightenment. Narada assured the yogi he would return with a response. A little further along the way, Narada came across a bhakta who was chanting and dancing and he too asked for Narada to enquire how long it would take for his liberation to come.
Upon Narada’s return, the meditating yogi learned that Lord Siva said that he would attain liberation after four more lifetimes. The yogi lost his temper and was very put out as he felt that was much too long. Narada then told the bhakta that Lord Siva said that it would take him as many lifetimes as there were leaves on the tree that they were standing in front of.
Despite the fact that the tree was big and filled with many leaves, the bhakta said, “well at least that is a finite amount of time,” and with that, a chariot from Lord Siva appeared for his assent into the heavens. The devotee was confused because Narada had just told him that he had many lifetimes to go. But because his devotion was so pure and not disrupted by his ego’s reactivity, the bhakta was granted liberation.
Modes of Bhakti Yoga
Shravana, or the listening of the names or stories of the Divine, is the first of the nine modes of Bhakti-yoga found within the ninth-century Bhagavata-Purana. The other modes are chanting, remembrance, service, ritual, prostration, devotion, cultivating the feeling of friendship and self-offering all to the Divine. Each of these modes are practices which help thin out our ego and channel our emotions into a single point of focus which helps to steady them.
Applying Bhakti-Yoga to our daily lives means that we pay attention to when we restrict our love. It is paying attention to our impatience, our curt remarks, our moments of defensive reactivity and when we are untruthful. We usually display these types of behaviors with our more intimate relationships, our partners, children and close friends, but we certainly can show plenty of lovelessness to strangers as well.
Paying attention to our speech and behavior is the starting point, but we have to put our intention to love unconditionally into action which requires a strategy or technique and that is where Bhakti-yoga comes in. We choose an aspect of the Divine or pure consciousness which resonates with our heart and begin to develop a relationship with it through the various modes of Bhakti. When we create a formal routine to remember the Divine such as with mantra repetition, it becomes easier to recall our intention to share love with the world around us especially when we are caught in moments of short sighted reactivity.
As much as Bhakti-yoga is the path of the heart, it does also require higher discrimination, selfless action and the willingness to let go therefore, Bhakti-yoga is also the practice of Jnana-yoga (the path of discriminative wisdom), Karma-yoga (the path of self-transcending action) and Samnyasa-yoga (the path of renucnciation). If these other aspects of the practice are not included, individuals can be manipulated, become fanatical or ungrounded. Bhakti-yoga, like all other forms of yoga, is a practice of self-discipline seeking unification with the Divine.
The Exemplary Bhakti-Yogi
Perhaps there is no greater example of a Bhakti-yogi than Lord Hanuman, the Hindu monkey-God. As a child, Hanuman was quite mischievous. It is said that he was conceived from the seed of Siva and dropped by the wind God, Lord Vayu, into the hands of the devotee Anjana who prayed for a child. Therefore, Hanuman was born with tremendous strength.
As a youth, Hanuman would cause a great deal of havoc as he played innocently. This became quite concerning to those who witnessed and had to deal with the aftermath of the destruction he caused. Hanuman eventually was cursed by a group of rishis to only remember his powers when he was reminded of them by someone other than himself. Many years later and in a critical moment, Hanuman was reminded of his Divine powers which allowed him to infamously leap across the ocean to the island of Lanka.
We, like Hanuman, posses infinite power within ourselves and yet we remain ignorant of it most of our lives. Our power is love and love is infectious. However, there is no guarantee that love will be returned to us and this fear can prevent us from sharing it with others in the first place. Thus the practice of Bhakti-yoga builds a surplus of love within us so it readily flows out of us into the world.
Hanuman is the symbol of single-pointed devotion and the courage that selfless love cultivates. When our love transcends our ego, our love transcends all fears and shines its light on the Divine essence within all creatures. Through the love, devotion and self-discipline of Bhakti-yoga, like Hanuman, we can soar to heights we never thought possible.