Extreme love and devotion to God is called Bhakthi! The
devotee is never divorced from God. He
lives in God, sleeps with God and eats with God! The best examples of pure and
astonishing devotees who lived for God are the Azwars and Nayanmars of south
India and the sants and saints of the North, According to the Bhagavatha
purana, there are nine kinds of devotion. The devotee can get his fulfillment
by following any one of the nine ways.
The nine kinds of devotion are 1 Sravanam –hearing the stories of the glory of
the Lord 2 Keertanam—singing His glory 3 smaranam—remembering his name 4
padasevanam—serving his lotus feet 5 archanam—worshipping
Him 6 Vandanam – bowing down to Him 7 dasyam – servant-master relationship 8
Sakhyam--- as a friend and finally 9 atma nivedanam—total , utter surrender.
According to
Sri Ramakrishna, love or bhakthi is of three varieties. Unselfish or Samartha, mutual
or samanjasa and sadhrana or the
ordinary. The best and the highest is unselfish love. The lover is more
concerned about the well being of his beloved rather than his own suffering. In
mutual love the lover is particular
about the happiness of his beloved but has an eye on his own happiness. In the
third, selfish love, the person cares
only for his personal happiness
regardless of the welfare of his beloved. Selfish love is the worst and
the lowest! According to the three gunas or qualities, sathva, rajas and thamas, bhakthi differs in its practice. Humility is
the stamp of sathva bhakti’. Ostentation characterizes rajas and brute force is
the quality of tamas. The satwic devotee is simple, secret in devotion, eats
plain food and is not luxurious The rajasic bhaktha has distinctive sectarian marks on his
body and beads round his neck
interspersed with some golden ones .He is particular of outward
observances, wears silk and celebrates worship with pomp and splendor. Fiery
faith is the distinctive quality of the thamasic devotee.“ He applies force to God like a
robber seizing things by force.”
In violent
form of devotion, the devotee dances like a madman with raised hands and
shouting the name of God. In this age, the violent form seems to be suitable.”The
citadel of God must be taken by storm” says Sri Ramakrishna! In Vaidhi bhakthi
the devotee practices scriptural mandates like japa, fasting, pilgrimages and
other observances. Practice of this for a longer period elevates the bhaktha to
the higher level of Raga Bhakthi. One should be free from all worldly
attachments to realize Him. It is impossible to attain God without Raga bhakthi
Another type of devotion is Prema or Para Bhakthi or Ecstatic Love after
realizing God! This prema is like a string in the hands of the bhaktha holding
the Lord under his control! While ‘ bhava’—speechless absorption in God is
similar to an unripe mango, ecstatic Love or Prema is like the ripe fruit! The
bhaktha considers God as his ‘ dearest and nearest relative.’ it is like the
love of the Gopis to Lord Krishna! They considered Krishna as the Lord of the
Gopis , not as the Lord of the universe!
The
distinctive qualities of Prema Bhakthi are total oblivion of the external world
and forgetfulness of one’s own body! There is a quality of supreme
possessiveness,like ‘ I am the devotee and my God is wholly mine’ Yasoda
felt that none could look after her
Gopala better! She was averse to consider her Gopala as the Lord of the
Universe. It is the fortune of a very few to attain ecstatic Love. They are
endued with extraordinary powers entrusted with ‘divine commission.’ Ecstatic
Love is present in a few naturally even from their childhood as in the case of
Prahlada. Such people weep and long for God even from their childhood! They are
called ‘ nithya siddhas’ or perfect men from their very birth! The love of
divine incarnations does not follow the scriptural rules. It is a spring
emanating from the soul. They reach the Absolute in their Samadhi and come down
from that height retaining their self
and loving the lord.
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