The Devotee, Devotion and the Lord - भक्त भक्ति अौर भगवान

March 18, 2011

In the 10th chapter of the Gita, Śri Kṛṣṇa describes a devotee,

मच्चित्ता मद्गतप्राणा बोधयन्तः परस्परम् |
कथयन्तश्च मां नित्यं तुष्यन्ति च रमन्ति च || १०-९
machchittaa madgatapraaNaa bodhayantaH parasparam.h .
kathayantashcha maa.n nitya.n tushhyanti cha ramanti cha .. 10-9..

With their minds wholly resting in Me, with their senses absorbed in Me, enlightening one another, and ever speaking of Me, they are satisfied and delighted.

A significant portion of the Geeta is devoted to discussing Bhakti, devotion, the nature of the Lord (Bhagavān) and of course, the nature of the Bhakta, the devotee. For anyone, who wants to understand this topic in its entirety, I recommend a wonderful CD set Bhakta, Bhakti aura Bhagavān that I acquired recently.

This is a set of talks in Hindi that Pujya Swami Tejomayanandaji gave at the Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in 2009. Titled, भक्ति अौर भगवान, the Devotee, Devotion and The Lord, in his introduction, Pujya Guruji gets down to the essence of the topic immediately. Here is a link to the audio - it is only seven minutes, so do take time to listen to it fully. I have given below a free translation, any errors are completely mine.

The word Bhakti comes from 'bhaja', the Saṁskṛtam root or dhātu. The meaning of 'bhaja' means 'to love, worship, serve, gain, share'.

Whom does the Bhakta love? Who or what is the object of these actions? Who will the Bhakta serve? What does he or she want to gain? The answer is - the Lord, Bhagavan.
The Bhakta loves Bhagavān, worships Bhagavān, serves Bhagavān, wants to gain Bhagavān and tries always to share the love and knowledge of Bhagavān. He wishes to invoke the love of Bhagavān in every individual. How does he gain Bhagavān? Through Bhakti. Bhakti is the means to gain Bhagavān.

One interesting thing here. Generally, in order to gain something, we use some tool - when we gain the object desired, we drop the tool. For instance, we cross the river in a boat and when we reach the other side, we leave the boat. When we're ill, we take medicine and when we're well, we stop taking it. Nobody says, 'I like this antibiotic and I want to keep taking it!' We go to school to gain a degree and then leave the school after gaining the degree. No one continues to attend classes after gaining the degree.

While Bhakti maybe a tool to gain Bhagavān but when the Bhakta gains Bhagavān, the Bhakta continues the practice of Bhakti. In fact, his joy in Bhakti grows after gaining Bhagavān. His is a joy that defies description. This is the nature of Bhakti. Bhakti becomes the life of the Bhakta - this is the wonder of Bhakti.

Someone asked a Bhakta - "Don't you get bored of Bhakti?" The Bhakta responded, "Ask the fish, don't you get bored of being in the water day and night? Don't you want a change?" No, because the water is the life of the fish. Likewise for the Bhakta.

Inspired? Get the CD set today.

Hari Om and Namaskaar till the next post.

Geeta Dhyānaṁ 2 - Vyāsā's Vast Intellect

January 7, 2013 Previously on Geeta Jayanti, I had posted on the eternal debt of gratitude to Mother Geeta that is the basis of Geeta Dhyānaṁ. I love Param Pujya Gurudev 's commentary on the Geeta Dhyānaṁ. Pujya Gurudev's commentary is after the introduction to the Bhagavad Geeta in the commentary on Chapters 1 & 2 published by the the Chinmaya Mission. I personally believe it should be a book by itself. After invoking Mother Geeta, we now pay tribute to the wise Vyāsa Rishi - the Guru whose Jayanti marks Guru Pūrnima every year. Pujya Gurudev starts His tribute to Veda Vyāsā in his commentary on the 1st verse of the Dhyānaṁ. Vyāsa, the father of the Vedās, who, first collected, edited and published the Veda texts and who thereafter, gave us the dialectics of Vedānta in his Brahma Sūtra, himself a great man of realization, was indeed well fitted for the job. The ancient seer had both the mastery of the theoretical science of religion - Hinduism and also the practical expe...

In every field, let Dharma flourish - क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रे धर्म कुरु

August 9, 2012 Swamini Vimalanandaji has done a series of talks at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) called "406 SMS – Sure Mantras for Success from Bhagwad Geeta" (item 406 at this AMA link ). In this she has a very interesting take on the 1st line of the Bhagavad Geeta. धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे १-१ dharmakShetre kurukShetre 1-1 <i> on the holy plain of Kurukshetra... </i> Swamini turns that slightly and says, क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रे धर्म कुरु - kShetre kShetre dharma kuru. Swamini goes on to establish that we can use this mantra to make that: "In every aspect of society, must be pervaded by Dharma" Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

Geeta in Literature - IF by Rudyard Kipling

September 12, 2011 I came across a nice YouTube video that is an animation of Rudyard Kipling reading his famous poem IF . The full text sourced from wikisource is below: If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same: If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And los...

Everyday Geeta

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