Bhakti Yoga
What is Bhakti Yoga?
Humans are the top species on this planet a fact that perhaps everyone will agree upon. According to all of Vedic literature the one Truth that is accepted as infallible is that only in this rare birth as a human, which is the highest life form known, and a rare event in a soul’s spiritual evolution, one has the highest chance of reaching the pinnacle of existence — freedom from this endless cycle of Birth - Death - Old age - Disease. That is the final state of Freedom or Mukti or Moksha or Nirvana as described in Vedic culture. And the prescribed Vedic technique to achieve this is God realization through Yoga.
Now who better as a teacher of Yoga other than the perfect Yogi, the Yogeshwar Sri Krishna who through his Divine Song The Bhagavad Gita taught us about Yoga that:
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Yoga is Evenness of Mind (समत्वं योग उच्यते BG 2.48)
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Yoga is Efficiency in Action (योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् BG 2.50)
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Perfection of Yoga is Bhakti Yoga (सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज BG 18.66)
Bhakti Yoga or Yoga of devotion being defined as the surrender to the Lord out of spontaneous Love.
The surrender here is the surrender of ones ego, the surrender of ones desires for ones own sense gratification, the surrender of ones attachment to the results of ones actions. Rather ones duty is simply to satisfy the Lord to the best of ones abilities through their karma (thoughts words actions) and be glad in being given the opportunity by Him to do so. To achieve this mindset one must sincerely study and practice the Lords injunctions in Bhagavad Gita and realize that He alone is the ultimate origin, doer, enjoyer and destroyer while the individual, is merely the instrument of action at Sri Krishna’s disposal ( निमित्तमात्रं भव सव्यसाचिन् .. Just Be an Instrument of My cosmic manifestation Arjuna .. BG 11.33)
Why Surrender?
Well for one, the Lords promise is very clear that for those who surrender to Him and serve Him in Love, He personally takes care of them -- protects what they have and provides what they lack. Furthermore their deliverance is personally guaranteed by Him. And there can be nothing higher than that for a devotee to ask when the Supreme Lord of the Universe Himself gives them a personal promise. Its a matter of faith; rather it is a matter of strength of their faith.
ये तु धर्मामृतमिदं यथोक्तं पर्युपासते ।
श्रद्दधाना मत्परमा भक्तास्तेऽतीव मे प्रिया: ॥12.20 ॥
Those who follow path of Bhakti yoga with devotion and sincerity are very dear to Me
अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जना: पर्युपासते ।
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् ॥ 9.20 ॥
Those who with fixed mind serve Me in devotion, for their own Yoga development I personally protect what they have and provide what they lack
मन्मना भव मद्भक्तो मद्याजी मां नमस्कुरु ।
मामेवैष्यसि युक्त्वैवमात्मानं मत्परायण: ॥ 9.34 ॥
Remember Me, Surrender to Me, Pray to Me, Salute Me. Being thus fixed in your devotion to Me, to Me you will surely come.
दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया ।
मामेव ये प्रपद्यन्ते मायामेतां तरन्ति ते ॥ १४ ॥
This divine illusory energy of Mine called Maya is very difficult to overcome. But those who surrender to Me cross over this Maya.
Knowing the above as Truth because it is the word of God is real knowledge. And this real knowledge is the one that delivers one from the illusion of material world. So in other words, if the freedom from the entrapment of Maya -- the endless cycle of Birth Death Old-age Disease is desired then surrendering in devotional service to the Lord is the answer.
Role of a Spiritual Master:
Sri Krishna is there, Bhagavad Gita is there, the individual is there. So can anyone pickup Bhagavad Gita and study it and become a perfect devotee having a direct relationship with God?
While its true that Krishna is the Supreme father of all and anyone can pray to Him but even He advises that a serious spiritual seeker should approach a spiritual master in submissive respectful attitude, serve the spiritual master to attain his mercy and then put forward sincere spiritual enquiries in order to progress in the spiritual path
तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया ।
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिनः ॥ 4.34 ॥
So the answer to above question is that a spiritual master is required for a serious spiritual progress. However, one has to ensure that spiritual master is bonafide. This authenticity comes from the disciplic succession meaning that ones spiritual master is himself a sincere disciple of another spiritual master and this chain continues all the way to the top upto to the Lord himself. The prime symptom of one who has become a spiritual master in disciplic succession is that he is one hundred percent fixed in Bhakti-Yoga.
When a bona fide student thus approaches a bona fide spiritual master, he submissively prays to the spiritual master, “My dear lord, kindly accept me as your student and train me in such a way that I will be able to give up all other processes of self-realization and simply engage in Krishna consciousness, devotional service.”
And then the disciple has to serve the spiritual master selflessly as the true representative of the Lord, one who can help him become progressively better in the discipline of Bhakti Yoga as described above.
