భక్తి అంటే ఏమిటి ? భగవంతుడు ఎవరు ?
What is Bhakti?
Love for God is called Bhakti.
Complete and unconditional Bhakti is called surrender (Saranagati).
If we want to love someone, we need to know them and we have to really like them. In a similar way if we have to love God, we need to understand God and we have to know him. Then only we can love him.
Do we have Bhakti or not? This is the question we need to ask ourselves. If we say that we do, are we capable of surrendering to God. Baba always gave importance to Shradda (Faith). What is Shradda? It is nothing but unwavering faith towards what you believe in. If we do not have this, then we will remain as normal devotees. We always want worldly things from our God. We do some kind of business with Guru or God. But Guru is so merciful that he fulfills all our needs and wants. Baba used to say that, all my devotees come to me first with these desires. Once I bring them to me, I will try to make them realize the importance of spiritual path. But in this process, they stray and run after more desires. They drop out lacking Shradda like the pollen of Mango tree. They do not show the patience that is Sabhuri. They will fall as unripe fruits. Those who can follow me to the end are real Bhaktas. I will take them to the Moksha. These words he reiterated to Damu Anna at one time. Surrender to God does not signify any physical act. It is the mental attitude resulting from our understanding of our limitation to liberate ourselves from the clutches of the Illusion. When we know God is the master of Illusion, we practice Bhakti Yoga, which is to love god completely. Lord Krishna calls this as surrender to God. In life, we strive to achieve various objects of desire like name, fame, money and such. Whenever we are successful, we assume that the success is due to our hard work, perseverance and such positive qualities. The real reason for our success is God's grace.
When we cannot even adopt Shradda, when can we learn to be Patient with Sabhuri. Why is all this happening? Why we cannot be pious in our attempts towards loving God.
Importance of Bhakti (Devotion):
Once upon a time, the great Veda Vyasa was so despondent and had a feeling, which he could not describe. Some thing was empty even after categorization of Vedas, writing Brahma sutras, Mahabharat (panchama Veda) with Bhagavadgita (the gist of Upanishads). Then Narada Maharshi happened to come there. Then Vyasa asked him about his condition and to show some kind of resolution. Then Narada acknowledges his situation and advises him to write Mahabhagavatam describing avataras (Incarnations) and leelas of supreme God Vishnu. You wrote everything except praising God’s qualities. Humans need Bhakti in their lives to advance in the spiritual realm. Without devotion towards God they cannot get rid of Ahamkara (Ego). So please compile all the avatars (incarnations) of God and his supreme qualities. Then you will attain that mental peace that you are asking for. This will become popular as Mahabhagavat. This will lead human beings to Bhakti marga (path).
Bhagavat means knowing God, adopting the ways of Bhakati, and surrendering to God. In this devotion whenever humans forget themselves in this ecstasy, then they are at the last chapter of Moksha. We can lose our ego (Ahamkara) in this process easily, rather than by any other path. We worship and love our demi gods (devatas) according to our family traditions. This love could be of various degrees. But we might not know much about our own family God. Here we fall in to the clutches of Maya (illusion). The worldly objects are pulling us in different directions and we tend to thrive more in these objects. This is where we fall in to these clutches of Maya. We feel like we cannot live without these objects. This kind of thinking leads us to the destructive path. That’s why Baba made some of his devotees read Bhagavat especially 11thScanda. This scanda explains the importance of Bhakti where Krishna gives Uddava Gita.
Choosing God over other objects:
In Mahabharat, once Arjuna and Duryodhana came to see Krishna Paramatma prior to war. When Krishna wanted them to choose either him or his army, Arjuna chooses Krishna, and Duryodhana wanted the whole army. He was afraid that Arjuna will choose the entire army because Krishna said that he is not going to participate in the real war. He was happy when Arjuna chose Krishna. Duryodhana goes back to his palace and tells everyone that Arjuna was foolish. In reality Arjuna chose God but not the objects made by him.
When we have God in our lives, we do not need anything. The whole universe is in him. If you have God, you have everything. Our job is always to choose only God but not the objects made by him. Because these objects are not permanent, and we do not take anything with us when we die. The only thing we take with us is our karmas and devotion that we had towards God. We should never make God as a machine that grants our boons. The day we really learn this truth and we combine this Jnana (Knowledge) with Bhakti, we will succeed in our quest for Mukthi (salvation). We will start loving God unconditionally.
Love Sai like Mhalsapati:
Mhalsapati faced so many worldly difficulties with extreme poverty. He did not have any food to feed his family lot of times. His family fasted without food on several occasions. He never yielded to this pressure. Baba offered to give him some money but he refused to take and used to say “Sai I just need your blessings not monetary benefits from you. He was goldsmith by profession but a poor village like Shirdi could not give him any business to survive. His lands were barren. He was worshipping his Khandoba (Lord Shiva) in the form of Sai all the time. Even at the height of his poverty, he showed Ananyabhakti (unconditional devotion). His greatness and unconditional worship (shradda) was evident when he did not ask or say anything about his son’s death. He could have asked Baba to get his son back like all other devotees but he did not. Because he knows what he needs to get from a great Guru like Sai? Can we learn this kind of Shradda and love our Sai to the extent that Bhakta Mhalsapati did. This could be our golden standard for spiritual development in loving Sai.
Understanding God:
When our kids ask us about God, do we have a correct answer?
Are we trying to understand God ourselves?
Once Nana Chandorkar asked Baba the following questions:
(1) Who is God?
(2) What is He like?
(3) Where is He?
(4) How are we to see Him?
Baba: I will tell you later on.
Baba: Baddhas, (the very worldly) do not know or observe the difference between right and wrong or what God is. They have no moral tendencies. Ever immersed in the world, (and impure in heart), having no faith in Scriptures or saints, they do not get to God-but go to Hell.
The Mumukshus, disgusted with the baddha state, begin vichara and viveka and thirst for the sight of God. They are devoted to God and observe the Moral Law. They become sadhakas, by adopting sadhanas e.g., repetition of God’s name (Japa) and (Dhyana) meditation on god, in solitude, withdrawing their minds from objects of senses. They love to move with Saints. These, when perfect are called Siddhas. At that stage, God becomes the same as man; praise, the same as blame etc., they have no desires. They are past the notion that the body is their home or their self. They feel their self to be identical with God. “I am Brahman” is their feeling.
To know God, see how God is viewed by each of these, at each stage. Then ultimately, God is seen as manifested in all forms – moveable and immovable.
God is everywhere. There is no place from which he is absent. But behold the power of Maya that does not allow Eswara to be seen and recognized (in all). I, you and the entire world are one Amsa i.e., parts of the Lord. Therefore let none hate others, forget not that God is in every place. Thereby Love (Non-hatred) is there, of itself. When that springs up, everything is achieved.
This was amazing answer one can give and here Baba makes it very simple. For the ages, people have been teaching us about this truth, why is that we cannot understand this reality. This truth is not able to penetrate in to our intellect. We are not able to experience this truth that easily despite our renewed interest in the spiritual world. So what is the solution?
Baba blessed us with a practical solution and that is Shradda and Sabhuri. Unconditional devotion towards God is sufficient to reach God. Baba demonstrated this by saying, “Allah Malik” all the time. He wanted us to show utmost faith towards him and he can take us to the end. For example, when we were in school, teachers made us learn most difficult things by repetition. We became perfect after we practiced what was deficient. You become perfect by learning about the topic more intensively. In a similar way we can do God’s Smarana (Repeating his name and thinking about him) all the time. Our shastras (scriptures) say that in this age of Kaliyuga, humans can reach God by Bhakti alone. Baba also told us that we can travel this path with a guide so that we do not lose our path and direction.
Omnipresence of God:
Baba revealed the omnipresence (Sarva Vyapakatvam) so that we can understand this principle. He appeared as different Gods, came as human forms and as animal also. He tried to convince us that there is only one God; he is everywhere and in every organism in this universe. Baba always wants us to understand this truth and he will continue to guide us along this path. Whatever Lord Krishna taught us in Bhagavadgita through Vibhudhi Yoga, Baba demonstrated this practically by appearing in different forms. He never had to travel anywhere but he was all over. So Parama Gurus like Shirdi Sai can only make us experience this truth. So Sai Bandhus cultivate unconditional love towards Sai, and he will help you to achieve life’s goal that is Self-realization.
OM SAI RAM!
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