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Bhakti Means Krishna

Writer's picture: Red WillowRed Willow

"Bhakti" written in ancient Sanskrit
"Bhakti" written in ancient Sanskrit

Bhakti Yoga has become a widely used term in the yoga community. But what exactly does the term refer to?


Bhakti Yoga means linking everything we are and everything we possess–all of our potentiality–with the Supreme Absolute Truth through loving service. Bhakti Yoga means to nurture and uncover our forgotten relationship with Krishna, or God. 'Bhakti' is not a term that can apply to just anyone or anything one has attraction for. Bhakti is clearly defined by Krishna Himself in the Bhagavad Gita, therefore, 'bhakti' is reserved exclusively for Krishna, for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krishna sings this truth: "Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend."–Bg 18.65.


Krishna explains very lucidly that this entire yoga system culminates in Bhakti Yoga, and the conclusion of Bhakti Yoga is to simply surrender to Him: "Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear." (Bg 18.66)


Srila Prabhupada provides further clarification in case it was not already clear enough, "One cannot render bhakti to any demigod. Bhakti can be rendered only to Visnu (sravanam kirtanam visnoh [SB 7.5.23]). Thinking the Absolute Truth to be without form, the Mayavadis say that the word bhakti can apply to any form of worship. If this were the case, a devotee could imagine any demigod or any godly form and worship it. This, however, is not the real fact. The real fact is that bhakti can be applied only to Lord Visnu and His expansions. Therefore bhakti-lata is drdha-vrata, the great vow, for when the mind is completely engaged in devotional service, the mind does not fall down. If one tries to advance by other means -- by karma-yoga or jnana-yoga -- one will fall down, but if one is fixed in bhakti, he never falls down." (SB 4.28.32, Purport)Only by bhakti can we stay high forever. In all other systems of yoga, unless one is fixed in devotional service to Krishna, they are incredibly vulnerable to fall down from their position.


"The very word yoga means connecting link with the supreme being. We accept Krishna as the supreme being, and nobody is equal to him or greater than him. How he is supreme is lucidly explained in the Bhagavad-gita, and we try to revive our eternal relationship with him. In the Bhagavad-gita itself there are different processes of yoga systems, karma yoga, jnana yoga, dhayana yoga, hatha yoga, bhakti yoga and so many patterns of yoga. Others may practice different patterns of yoga, and we can understand that everyone is trying to pass on the path of yoga, but bhakti yoga is the ultimate goal, and if anyone is actually interested to understand God as he is, he has to come to the platform of bhakti yoga." (Srila Prabhupada's Letter to: Sri Krishna C. Batra  --  Vrindaban 8 December, 1975)


One has to use her mind and all her sense faculties to link with Krishna. Just as she thinks of her lover in his absence–in the same sense she must always be thinking of Krishna... "where is He, what is He doing now, what is He wearing, how can I serve Him better? How lovely He is, how funny He is, how kind and compassionate He is, how beautiful He is, His eyes are like this, His hair is like this, etc..


"The basic principle of bhakti-yoga is to think of the Supreme Lord always. The Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (18.65), man-mana bhava mad-bhaktah: "Always think of Me." It doesn't matter which way one thinks; the very thought of the Personality of Godhead is the basic principle of bhakti-yoga." (SB 3.16.31, Purport)One has to use her body to link with Krishna. Maybe by painting His enigmatic pastimes, by dancing in kirtan, by cleaning the temple, or by cooking nice food for Krishna. There are so many ways to utilize one's body in the process of Bhakti Yoga. “A person acting in the service of Krsna with his body, mind and words is a liberated person, even within the material world.” (Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.187)


One has to use her sense of hearing to hear from the bonafide Spiritual Master, and to hear Krishna Katha–glorification of Krishna–or kirtan. One must dovetail her sense of sight to look upon the beautiful form of the deity of the Lord in the temple, or anywhere one may be–to look upon everything as coming from Krishna. One must use her sense of smell to inhale the incense and flowers offered to the Lord, one should engage the tongue in tasting the food offered to the Lord as prasadam, and in constantly chanting the holy names, "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare...""Everyone is part and parcel of Krsna (mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah), and therefore everyone’s senses are also Krsna’s. When we use the senses for Krsna’s service, we attain the perfection of life. Therefore, hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate: when by our senses (hrsikena) we serve Hrsikesa, the real master of the senses, that service is called bhakti. This is a very simple definition of bhakti. Hrsikesa-sevanam, not hrsika-sevanam – service to the supreme master of the senses, not to the senses themselves. When we use our senses for sense gratification, we are in maya, illusion, but when we use our senses for the gratification of the master of the senses, that service is called bhakti." (Teachings of Queen Kunti, 6 – Master of the Senses, Purport)


If one has proper intelligence, she takes to Bhakti Yoga knowing very well that her life is short lived, and full of inconveniences, miseries, and distractions... disease, old age, death. "From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again." (Bg 8.16) There is no time to waste–one who is privy to waste precious time is the most unintelligent–for time is Krishna Himself. When we love someone, we don't want to waste their energy for nothing.


"The culmination of all kinds of yoga practices lies in bhakti yoga. All other yogas are but means to come to the point of bhakti in bhakti-yoga. Yoga actually means bhakti-yoga; all other yogas are progressions toward the destination of bhakti-yoga. From the beginning of karma-yoga to the end of bhakti-yoga is a long way to self-realization. Karma-yoga, without fruitive results, is the beginning of this path. When karma-yoga increases in knowledge and renunciation, the stage is called jnana-yoga. When jnana-yoga increases in meditation on the Supersoul by different physical processes, and the mind is on Him, it is called astanga-yoga. And when one surpasses the astanga-yoga and comes to the point of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna, it is called bhakti yoga, the culmination. Factually, bhakti-yoga is the ultimate goal, but to analyze bhakti-yoga minutely one has to understand these other yogas. The yogi who is progressive is therefore on the true path of eternal good fortune. One who sticks to a particular point and does not make further progress is called by that particular name: karma-yogi, jnana-yogi or dhyana-yogi, raja-yogi, hatha-yogi, etc. If one is fortunate enough to come to the point of bhakti-yoga, it is to be understood that he has surpassed all other yogas." (Bg 6.47, Purport)


So, for those of you who are highly intelligent, immediately take up this Bhakti Yoga, and test it out for yourself. See it's practicality, universality, see it's simplicity...and experience firsthand the bliss of Bhakti Yoga.


Srila Prabhupada thus affirms, "Bhakti-yoga is the sunlike illumination for delivering the conditioned souls, whose general condition is described here. They have no eyes to see their own interests. They do not know that the goal of life is not to increase the material necessities of existence, because the body will not exist more than a few years. The living beings are eternal, and they have their eternal need. If one engages only in caring for the necessities of the body, not caring for the eternal necessities of life, then he is part of a civilization whose advancement puts the living entities in the darkest region of ignorance. Sleeping in that darkest region, one does not get any refreshment, but, rather, gradually becomes fatigued. He invents many processes to adjust this fatigued condition, but he fails and thus remains confused. The only path for mitigating his fatigue in the struggle for existence is the path of devotional service, or the path of Krsna consciousness." (SB 3.29.5, Purport)

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