BHAKTI

 FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

 BHAKTI (DEVOTION TO GOD)

As I perceive!

Bhakti or devotion towards God is inherent in all irrespective of different religious affiliations and beliefs. The ways people practice and/or let it out are however different. Hinduism doesn’t prescribe any hard and/or rigid rules for practicing devotion to God. It doesn’t even compel anyone to toe a particular line. Hinduism gives many options to choose one or more from.

 

The term ‘Bhakti’ has its root in the Sanskrit word ‘Bhaj’ and is accepted, adopted, and widely used in all Indian languages. The term means realization, attachment, devotion to, fondness for, homage, faith or love, worship, piety, etc. with a loving heart towards the SUPREME BEING called GOD. It seeks to serve unconditionally. Bhakti connotes an exceptionally emotional enunciation of extraordinary but not easily explainable divine devotion and love towards the Supreme Being. Just like creation supposes a creator, we are all the ones created by Him. It is invigorated by one's personal conviction, and strengthened and exalted by righteous actions of high values towards all living beings. When it blossoms, one realizes the fundamental oneness of reality. It is universal and transcends all perceivable barriers.

Hinduism - supposedly the most ancient of all religions - cannot be traced and fixed to any particular period as its origin. Hinduism is more a bouquet of ways of life with righteousness being the core and kernel value rather than a religion per se.  It had existed from times immemorial and represents a host of time-tested ways of leading life with many regional traditions, customs, practices, etc. pointing to ONE GOD manifest in diffident forms. Despite divergences - as it may appear on the face of it to a mundane onlooker - there is only convergence. In the strictest sense of the term, it is not a religion simpliciter and doesn’t impose anything on you. Contrarily, it recommends a slew of virtuous, moral, and ethical values with which a human being has to live in society. There are no blanket bans and/or restrictions. Many things are optional, not part of a water-tight compartment and not to be confined to a narrow compass.

 

Our ancestors have given a set of basic concepts and broader options for one’s connection with THE DIVINE SUPREME BEING as detailed below:

 

SHRAVANAM - Hearing the names and glories of the Lord.

KEERTANAM - Chanting the glories of God

SMARANAM – Remembering the Lord

PADASEVANAM – Serving the Lord’s Feet

ARCHANAM – Worshipping the Lord

VANDANAM – Offering obeisance unto the Lord

DAASYAM – Serving the Lord as his Servant

SAKHYAM – Developing friendship with God

AATMA NIVEDNAM – Total surrender of oneself to the Lord

 

The above, however, is not an exhaustive list; you can design, improvise or have your own ways of showing your Bhakti toward GOD. After all, a devotee can transmute his/her emotions into devotion to manifest as he/she may deem fit.

 

For a layman, there are no codified dictums, maxims, mandates, etc. to do one thing or the other, one set of things or another, or one after another.

 

The cult of worshiping Saintly persons who were/are the spiritual and philosophical guides and who had the Divine and Occult Powers to be a bridge between the Lord Almighty and the common people in their lifetimes has always been in practice for centuries, a few examples being Shri Adhi Shankara, Shri Ramanuja, Shri Raghavendra, Shri Satya Sai Baba, and Thiru Arut Prakasa Vallalar, besides ALWARS and NAAYANMAARS, who took the Bhakti movement to higher yet simpler levels. Here, GURU BHAKTI assumes importance.

 

In ancient times, there was neither much mobility nor migration of people from one place to another. People lived confining themselves to their own familiar territories, zones, etc. Just like ancestral properties, people had Ancestral God/Family Deities in their places. And, visiting temples and worshipping God - mostly on a daily basis - were the norm. With the progress and advancement of the economy and the explosion of urban centres, mobility and migration were forced on people in pursuit of trade, business, employment, etc. Although they migrated to urban centres, they still maintained connections with their respective ancestral villages at least for offering worship to the Ancestral God - whether they had ancestral property at their native place or not. The practice still continues.

In temples, the simplest of the practices can be said to be Archana which form of worship is to beseech Divine Blessings. This is done after the traditional Abhishek (Divine bath) and Alankar (offering ornaments and adornments), the traditional norm being SHODASHOPACHARA or sixteen-fold rites. The deity is invoked, offered a seat, given a ceremonial bath, dressed up, applied sandalwood paste, and presented various things like sanctified water, flowers, incense, lighted lamp, food, betel leaves, unbroken rice, etc. before worship. In contrast, internal worship is done mentally, without the use of any material object, and is addressed to a representation of God or to the Absolute Being, without attributes.

 

Organizing and/or participating in Bhajans or chorus singing of devotional numbers, and listening to religious and philosophical discourses are other forms of Bhakti. Meditation on God by chanting hymns not loudly but within one's inner mind is another type of worship.

 

Hinduism’s basic literature is contained in the eons-old Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, the great epics RAMAYANA and MAHABHARAT ((including BHAGAVAD GITA), etc. Reading/reciting portions thereof (either the original versions or translated/transliteratef ones) is another form of worship.

The Sanctum Sanctorum, in particular, is full of cosmic energy. Visits to places of worship give us general peace of mind, positive vibes, and solace in distress.

Swami Vivekananda said, "You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul." On the oneness of all religions, he added, "The various religions that exist in the world, although they differ in the form of worship they take, are really one."

To quote Swami Chinmayananda, "BHAKTI is the attitude of the mind, and GNANA is the attitude of the intellect; both flow towards the LORD.". Added he, "A TEMPLE OF GOD is not so glorious as the HOUSE OF HIS DEVOTEE. For in the latter He lives while in the former He only waits!"

To conclude, "God has a reason for allowing things to happen in the ways they do. We may never understand His Wisdom, but we simply have to trust His Will."

 

(R.SAMPATH)

30/1/2023