The Way of Bhakti or

Devotion Session 6
Trilochan Sastry
IIM Bangalore
 Introduction
• The Upanishads largely point to the Jnana Marga or Way of
Knowledge. Not appealing to most people
• The Bhakti Marga or the path of devotion points to way of Love.
Prevalent in nearly all religions
• Devotion for what or whom?
• Devotion for what purpose?
 Worship of What?
• Formless God with attributes. God is Love, merciful, kind, protects us,
is full of power and energy, full of peace, joy. – some aspects of
Sufism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism
• God with form and attributes – the innumerable Gods and Goddesses
of Hinduism. Different humans beings are attracted to Rama Krishna,
Mother Goddess (Kali, Saraswati, Parvati, Lakshmi,… )
• Worship of sages, saints, Prophets and Incarnations – practically all
religions including some aspects of Buddhism and Jainism
 Purpose of Devotion
• “Worldly benefits” – health, wealth, protection, realization of various
desires and ambitions, for one’s family, friends,…
• For other benefits – heaven, gaining punya (religious merit)
• For gaining so called occult powers – read minds, influence events, do
some kind of ‘miracles’…
• For spiritual enlightenment.
• Beyond that – Love of God for its own sake, seeking nothing (called
bhava, prema, raga bhakti…). E.g., Prahlada, Hanuman, Narada,
Chaitanya, Meera, Tulsidas,…
• For the welfare of mankind?
 Bhakti or Devotion from the
Upanishads
He is the Soul of the Universe; He is immortal ;
His is the Rulership; He is the All-knowing,
The All-pervading the Protector of the Universe, the Eternal Ruler.
None else is there efficient to govern the world eternally.
He who at the beginning of creation projected Brahma
and who delivered the Vedas unto him—
seeking liberation I go for refuge unto that Effulgent One,
whose light turns the understanding towards the Âtman.” —Shwetâshwatara-
Upanishad, VI 17, 18.
 Two types the books refer to
• Vaidhi bhakti. For an aspirant – lays down rules to follow in daily life,
rituals, worship, singing sacred songs, serving others
• Raganuraga Bhakti – those who have gone beyond the rules, the
advanced devotees or the enlightened Ones
 The End Goal of Devotion
• Depends on what the seeker wants. God is the wish fulfilling tree and
gives what you seek if it is good for you
• Higher goal: Immersion in the Love of God. Gives joy and peace.
• Comment: they say the Jnani who follows the path of knowledge
wants to know the Impersonal Brahman and become liberated
• The devotee or Bhakta wants to enjoy bliss (of God) and does not
bother about liberation
• It is said, that through devotion, the aspirant can even gain the
ultimate knowledge of Brahman and become liberated or free.
 Bhakti from the Puranas
• Brahma, Vayu, Brahmavaivarta, Brahmanda, Padma, Agni,Bhavishya,
• The Vashinavaite Puranas: Vishnu, Naradiya, Bhagavata (popularly
called Bhagvat Puran in North India), Varaha, Kurma, Matsya,
Vamana, Garuda. They worship Vishnu, the Immanent aspect of
Brahman – He who resides in everything
• The Saivaite Puranas: Markandeya, Skanda, Linga. They worship Siva,
the Transcendent aspect of Brahman – That is formless, attribute-less
• Other important ones are Devibhagavat, about worship of the Divine
Mother, who personifies the Shakti or (Spiritual) Energy of the
Universe
 Narada Bhakti Sutras
• Narada was a great Sage who was a devotee of Vishnu
• “Bhakti,” says Nârada in his explanation of the Bhakti-aphorisms, “is
intense love to God.”
• “When a man gets it, he loves all, hates none; he becomes satisfied
for ever.”
• “This love cannot be reduced to any earthly benefit,” because so long
as worldly desires last, that kind of love does not come.
 Narada Bhakti Sutras
1. Atha tho Bhakthim vyakyasyama- Now I will explain in detail what is
meant by devotion to God(Bhakthi).
2. Saa tasmin Parama prema roopa - Devotion to God is personification
of intense(highest) love towards Him.
3. Amrutha swaroopa cha - It also is deathless or as sweet as nectar
4. Yallabhathva puman siddho bhavathi, amrutho bhavathi, truptho
bhavathi One who gets it becomes perfect, immortal and contended.
5. Yath prapya kinchid vanchadhi , na sochathi, na dweshati, na ramathe
na uthsahi bhavathi - One who gets it desires not, worries not, hates
not, enjoys not, and does not get excited.
• 6.Yat gnathwa matho bhavathi, sthabhdho bhavathi, athmaramo
bhavathi. One who attains it becomes intoxicated (be in stupor), still
and drunk with self(soul)
• 7.Saa na kamaya mana , nirodha roopathwad
• It is not desire generating as it is by nature a form of renunciation.
• 8.Nirodasthu loka veda vyapara nyasa
• Giving away the social and Vedic customs including religious activities
is termed as a form of this renunciation.
 Bhakti from various traditions
• The stories of Bhakta Kannappa and Nandanar
• In general, bhakti or devotion is to God with attributes – the kind, merciful
attributes, who cares for His (or Her) devotees
• From the Vedic age down to modern times, the Bhakti tradition has an unbroken
connection of sages and saints
• Narada, Prahlada, Meera, Tulsidas, Surdas, Tukaram, Namdev, Eknath, Tyagaraja,
Shyama Sastri, Ramdas, Chokhamela, Ramanujacharya, Chaitanya, Madhvacharya,
Ramakrishna, Bulle Shah, Nimbarka, Vallabhacharya, Ramananda, Raidas, Narasimha
Mehta, Arunagirinatha, Akka Mahadevi, Andal, Kanakadasa, Purandaradasa,
Ramprasad, Kamalakanta, Kanappa, Nandanar, … all are said to be Bhakti saints
• There were 63 Nayanars or Saivaite saints and 13 Alwars or Vashnavaite saints in
South India
ठाकुर तुम शरणाई आया | Thakur Tum
sharanai aya-Translation
• Thakur, Tum sharanai aya ||
Utara gayo mere mana ka sansa, jab te darshan paya ||
Anabolat meri birtha jani, Apna nam japaya ||
Dukha nathe sukh sahaj samaye, ananda ananda gun gaya ||
Bah pakad kar leene apne griha andha kupa te maya ||
Kahu Nanak, Guru bandhan kate, Bichharat aan milaya ||
• O God, I seek refuge in Thee. On seeing Thee, all my doubts have disappeared.
Without my mentioning it, Thou hast known my trouble. Thou hast made me
remember Thee. My misery is gone and I am all happiness. Joyfully do I sing
Thy praise. Thou hast taken me by the arm and pulled me safe out of the dark
well of maya. Nanak says: The Lord has removed my bondage and brought
me back though I had strayed away. – By MAHATMA GANDHI 6-9-1930
 Aspects of Bhakti: Formless God
with attributes
• Music:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw2i3sY3tYE
• ठाकुर तुम शरणाई आया ॥
उतर गयो मेरे मन का संसा, जब ते दर्शन पाया ॥
अनबोलत मेरी बिरथा जानी, अपना नाम जपाया ॥
दुख नाठे सुख सहज समाए, आनंद आनंद गुण गाया ॥
बाह पकड कर लीने अपने ग्रिह अंध कूप ते माया ॥
कहु नानक, गुरु बंधन काटे, बिछरत आन मिलाया ॥

• Sung by MS Subbulakakshmi one of the two Bharat Ratnas given for

classical music
 India’s other classical music Bharat
Ratna
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aVVC3jDcLY&index=10&list=P
LA1F33613DDD17209&t=0s

• Sada enna hridayadalli vasamado Sri hari

• Ever stay in my Heart, Sri Hari
• Hari is another name for Vishnu or God
 Gandhi and Bhakti Songs
• Narsing Mehta’s bhajan (devotional song), a favourite of GaNDHI JI
• Sung by Lata Mangeshkar
• Pay attention to the lyrics – English translation is given
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzKkyUBx7jI
 Some aspects of “recent” Bhakti
trends
• Music: the entire Karnatic Music is based on Bhakti or Devotion
• All the songs (ow more than 90%) are ‘bhajans’ or songs composed in
devotion to various Gods
• The most well known are composed by Bhakti saints.
• These songs are usually called kritis, kirtanas
• By recent we mean thousands of years after the Vedas and Puranas,
but a few centuries before now
A small whiff of Impersonal Devotion
• साहिब मेरा एक है, दुजः कहा न जाए
दुजः साहिब जो कहूं, साहिब खड़ा रसाई
• Saahib mera ek hai, duja kaha na jaaye,
Duja Saahib jo kahun, saahib khada rachaaye.
•My Lord is One, without a second. Even if I say there is another Lord,
it is the (same) Lord’s play or creation.
•Kabir was a seeker of the Formless God. However most of the saints
were devoted to a Personal God.
 Devotion to a Personal God

• सांसो की माला पे सिमरूं मैं पि का नाम

•Saanson Ki Mala Pe Simero Main Pee Ka Naam
•In the garland of my breaths, I will remember my Lord’s name. Again she says (sort
of) addressing the world:
•अब किस्मत के हाथ है इस बंधन की लाज; मैंने तो मन लिख दिया
साँवरिया के नाम
•Ab kismaq ke haath hai is bandhan ki laaj; maine to man likh diya sanwariya ke
naam.
•Now the honour (or good name) of this bond (relationship between Krishna and me)
is in fate’s hands. I have written in my mind my Beloved (Lord’s) name.
•The blind saint Surdas has a personal relation with Krishna.
Addressing him he says:
•हाथ छुड़ावत जात हो निर्बल जानके मोहे; हिरदय
में से जाओ तब मैं जानु तोहे
•Haath chhudavat jaat ho nirbal janke mohe; hriday mein se
jao tab janu tohe.
 Devotion in other languages
•I drink no ordinary wine, but Wine of Everlasting Bliss, As I repeat my
Mother Kali's name; (Bengali, Ramprasad)
•Meera challenges Krishna, Ramprasad challenges his Divine Mother:
•“Mother, am I Thine eight-months child? Thy red eyes cannot frighten
me! My riches are Thy Lotus Feet, which Shiva holds upon His breast;
Yet, when I seek my heritage, I meet with excuses and delays. A deed of
gift I hold in my heart, attested by Thy Husband Shiva; I shall sue Thee,
if I must, and with a single point shall win.”
- Translation by Elizabeth U Harding
 Other languages
•Tyagaraja was a devotee of Rama and composed in Telugu. He wrote
several hundreds of songs that are sung in classical music concerts
today. In one his songs expressing the rapture of devotion to Rama:
•What greater joy can there be, O Rama? – and ends by saying –
“Chanting your name makes the worlds effulgent”
•In Kannada, “Sada enna hridaya dalli”. (O Lord!), reside always in my
heart, or “Krishna nee begana baaro” Krishna you come quickly
•All languages have similar devotional songs and poetry
 Important aspect of Bhakti – the
Avatar
• Avatar in Sanskrit means descent of the Divine on to Earth
• Christianity accepts the Divine descent. Christ clearly says “my Father and I are
One”. Christian theology says God has only one Son- Jesus Christ
• Moses, Mohammed, other Old Testament prophets, Guru Nanak, Mahavir
(Founder of the Jain religion) did not claim they were God
• Buddha says it is a state and anyone can reach that. The Buddha is not the name of
a person.
• This is perhaps unique to Hinduism – the idea that God descends on Earth again
and again.
• The Advaita (non-dual philosophy that all is ONE) does not really accept the idea of
an Avatar. But Sankaracharya, the great Advaita philosopher, wrote the standard
commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, in which Krishna says “I am God”.
 What is the concept of Avatar?
• There is a popular concept which comes from the Puranas – the idea that
there were 10 Avatars:
• Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Kalki
• There are some differences on the 10th Avatar. Some say it was Balaram, the elder
brother of Krishna, others say it was Buddha
• Some see a theory of evolution in this where Matsya is Fish, Kurma is
Tortoise, Varaha is boar (there is a temple in Tirupati), Narasimha is half-
Man-Half Lion.
• These Avatars came at different times to uphold the Universe, to uphold
Dharma, to save mankind. Kalki Avatar is yet to come.
• Some Puranas refer to many other Avatars as well.
 Other concepts of the Avatar
The most famous concept of Avatar is in the Bhagavad Gita:
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्- ॥४-७॥
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्- ।
धर्मसंस्था- पनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ॥४-८॥
"Though I am unborn, of changeless nature, and Lord of beings, yet subjugating
My Prakriti, I come into being by My own Mâyâ. Whenever virtue subsides and
immorality prevails, then I body Myself forth. For the protection of the good,
for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of Dharma, I come
into being, in every age."
— Bhagavad Gita 4.7–8 (translation here by Vivekananda)
 Other aspects
• Higher and nobler are the Avatâras of Ishvara. They are the Teachers of all
teachers, the highest manifestations of God through man.
• They can transmit spirituality with a touch, even with a mere wish. Q: Do we
have evidence that this is so?
• The lowest and the most degraded characters become saints at their command.
• “None can know the Father except through the Son”
• Swami Vivekananda has defined the avatar as a kapala-mocana: “One who can
alter the doom of people is the Lord. No sadhu, however advanced, can claim
this unique position.” … Only God or an incarnation of God can wipe off the
effects of past karma. This is the meaning of Christ’s “forgiving the sins” of
others. An avatar is the redeemer of the fallen.
 Vivekananda on Krishna, Buddha
and Christ
• “Five thousand years have passed and he has influenced millions and
millions” referring to Krishna
• Christ: “the three years of his ministry were like one compressed,
concentrated age, which it has taken nineteen hundred years to unfold,
…”
• “…mark this giant that came; centuries and ages pass, yet the energy
that he left upon the world is not yet stretched, nor yet expended to its
full.”
• Had I lived in Palestine, in the days of Jesus of Nazareth, I would have
washed his feet, not with my tears, but with my heart's blood! (CWSN 1:
189). – Complete Works of Vivekananda Vol 1.
 Vivekananda on Christ and Buddha
• On Buddha: He had the brain, the power, and the heart -- a heart as
infinite as the broad sky.
• “I have more veneration for that character than for any other -- that
boldness, that fearlessness, and that tremendous love!”
• … the life of Buddha shows that even a man who does not believe in
God, has no metaphysics, belongs to no sect, and does not go to any
church, or temple, and is a confessed materialist, even he can attain
to the highest.
• Our salutations to prophets of the past, present and those yet to
come – a famous quote
 Philosophical Concept of the Avatar

•The redeemer.
•The door to the infinite.
•Shock-absorber and evolutionary catalyst of the age.
• A new focus.
•The great lover. Above all, the avatar is a great lover of mankind.
 Some Aspects of the Avatar
•The redeemer. Swami Vivekananda has defined the avatar as a
kapala-mocana: “One who can alter the doom of people is the Lord.
No sadhu, however advanced, can claim this unique position.” An
ordinary illumined soul may be able to guide a few people or even
awaken their spiritual consciousness, but an ordinary soul cannot
alter the karmaphala of anybody. Only God or an incarnation of God
can wipe off the effects of past karma. This is the meaning of Christ’s
“forgiving the sins” of others. An avatar is the redeemer of the fallen.
•Some great Sages can also do this – story of Ramana Maharshi
and the sinner
 Aspects of the Avatar - continued

•The door to the infinite. The personality of an incarnation appears to be limited,

but it is ever in contact with the infinite. Sri Ramakrishna used to compare the
ego of the incarnation to a big hole in a wall through which one could see vast
stretches of land on the other side. This means that the avatar acts as a door to
the Infinite. He acts as a connecting link between the individual consciousness of
the aspirant and the infinite consciousness of God. This connection lies hidden
deep in our consciousness. The avatar has the capacity to manifest himself as
the Inner Controller (antaryamin). Seated in the heart, He first of all awakens the
individual consciousness of the aspirant; then He reveals himself in all his divine
splendour; and finally through his consciousness, the individual consciousness
of the aspirant becomes united with the infinite consciousness of Brahman.
 Aspects of the Avatar - continued

•The great lover. Above all, the avatar is a great lover of mankind.
Ordinary people can love only a few people sincerely, the rest of
human love is all mere show. But so vast and deep is the love of
the avatar that it cannot be satisfied even by the love of
thousands of people. It is this pure and eternal love of the
incarnation that draws millions of people to him.
• Religion is, after all, realization, and we must make the sharpest
distinction between talk; and intuitive experience. What we
experience in the depths of our souls is realization.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-NHJffUIIo&list=RDwH7oapnrLnI&index=10 Purusha
Suktam

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjcVbd1O7KQ Ancient Vedic Chants (Sanskrit) That

Enlighten - "Pancha Suktham"

• http://media.belurmath.org/vedic-chanting-sw-stavapriyananda-others-video-250

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DZucWxjqdU&feature=youtu.be Belur Math Vedic chants

rtam vadishyami, satyam vadishyami

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYknilkXm1g&feature=youtu.be Belur Math Nasadiya

Suktam
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtP_hT0X_vY&feature=youtu.be Holy Mother birthday
vedic chants

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgcWbrWHXFA&feature=youtu.be Sri Ramakrishna

birthday

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IffFOo-wm48 Chicago centre chanting

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS7PUIZfu_w Eighty odd Shukla Yajur Veda pundits

gathered in Kanchipuram to begin a Veda Saptaham, a week long of Vedic chanting. They are
chanting the Shukla Yajur Veda in the Krama format. It is so energising to hear their voiced
rise in unison with the powerful words of the Veda.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCQCSN38KYY Rig Veda chanting
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8mJePb7-34 fire yajna
•
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjduAAvCD8E fire yagna
•
•
• http://hinduonline.co/AudioLibrary/VedaMantras.html
• https://archive.org/details/AghamarshanaSuktam
• Now Tapas (austerity, meditation), Dāna (charity, alms-giving), Arjava
(sincerity, uprightness and non-hypocrisy), Ahimsa (non-violence,
don't harm others) and Satya-vacanam (telling truth), these are the
Dakshina (gifts, payment to others) he gives [in life].
— Chandogya Upanishad 3.17.4