Thus Spake the Divine - Why Bhakti?

Thus Spake the Divine

Why Bhakti?

Every action has a reaction. Every reaction has an impact. This world has been functioning in perfect precision around this cause-effect theory. Only with the existence of Supreme Brain does this world functions within the rules of nature. The same cause and effect theory also applies to human beings. All their actions have their own reactions. If we do good deeds, we get rewarded with good returns. If we do evil deeds, the returns will be bad. This is how the Universe is administered effectively by the “Benefactor”, whom we call as God or Ishvara.

The main objective of Bhakti for most of us is to pray to God seeking relief from all our sorrows. So long as the mind exists, it will keep on wandering over thousands of thoughts. It will keep thinking of both good and bad deeds. It will also keep doing both good and bad deeds and God will keep reprimanding for the bad deeds.

Generally, people pray only to relieve themselves of their sorrows. They consider that this is what Bhakti is all about. If God is graceful towards us, He may even exempt us from undergoing the trauma of our sins. But we don’t have any merit to force God to alleviate our sorrows as He is the one who has filled us with these sorrows. Therefore, it is better we pray to God for His grace seeking resilience and strength to pray to Him even amidst our sorrows.

But even this prayer is not real Bhakti. This is because if we share our sorrows with God, it appears as though God is not aware of our sorrows and we have to remind Him of our needs. By this, we demean the omnipotence of God. A prayer of this sort, which brings disgrace to the wisdom and compassion of God, is not true Bhakti. However, by sharing our sorrows with Him, we feel temporary relief from our mental stress. It will be far better if we shed our ego and surrender to Him. God might fulfil our prayers despite the impact of our Karma still remaining. But we must never forget that sorrows are inevitable in this worldly life and it is Bhakti or prayer that can alleviate our sorrows with God’s grace.

Bhakti in real sense is surrendering in totality. If you don’t hold anything as your own responsibility and leave everything to God, then all impurities of the mind will be cleansed and you will reach the state of absolute bliss. A wife can surrender to her husband; a disciple can surrender to his guru. However, it is not worthy to surrender to a person who is filled with flaws and deficiencies.

May be, if we can identify a guru who is flawless, then there is not even the necessity of God Himself. But, in reality, it is only God, who is the epitome of benevolence and compassion, to whom we can surrender and attain peace at least to some extent.

A life without love and compassion does not bring any happiness to the self. Thus, we love someone or something despite knowing that we might part from that person or that person may part from us at sometime. At the time of parting either way, the very feeling of love transforms into tears. Hence, it is best to possess love for the eternal Brahmam, who will never disown us and constantly pour His love and compassion on us. This is another reason for extending Bhakti to God.

There are many more reasons for Bhakti to God. With Bhakti, we can free ourselves from worldly sorrows; else we can reach a stage of absolute resilience to withstand our sorrows. We can cleanse our mind and thoughts; we can control the wavering mind; we can absorb the virtues possessed by Ishvar; we can experience the everlasting blissfulness. Above all this, only if we surrender to the Benefactor of our Karmas will He liberate us from the bindings of samsara, which is bound by our own Karmas. He will also grant us the wisdom of Advaita that we and He are identical. These are all Bhaktis of transactional nature. But there is another kind of Bhakti, which is for no reasons and has no expectations at all! Let us know about that Bhakti in the next chapter.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.