Chapter Xxxvii. On Bhakti Yoga
Chapter Xxxvii
On Bhakti Yoga
1. The Himlays said:--"O Mother! Now describe your Bhaki Yoga, by which ordinary men who have no dispassion get the knowledge of Brahma easily.
2-10. The Dev said:--"O Chief of Mountains! There are three paths, widely known, leading to the final liberation (Moksa). These are Karma Yoga, Jna Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Of these three, Bhakti Yoga is the easiest in all respects; people can do it very well without incurring any suffering to the body, and bringing the mind to a perfect concentration. This Bhakti (devotion) again is of three kinds as the Gunas are three. His Bhakti is Tmas who worships Me, to pain others, being filled with vanity and jealousy and anger. That Bhakti is Rjsic, when one worships Me for one's own welfare and does not intend to do harm to others. He has got some desire or end in view, some fame or to attain some objects of enjoyments and ignorantly, and thinking himself different from Me, worships Me with greatest devotion. Again that Bhakti is Sttvik when anybody worships Me to purify his sins, and offers to Me the result of all his Karmas, thinking that Jva and s'vara are separate and knoxing that this action of his is authorized in the Vedas and therefore must be observed. This Sttvik Bhakti is different from the Supreme Bhakti as the worshippers
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think Me separate; but it leads to the Supreme Bhakti. The other two Bhaktis do not lead to Par Bhakti (the Supreme Bhakti or the Highest unselfish Love.)
11-20. Now hear attentively about the Par Bhakti that I am now describing to you. He who hears always My Glories and recites My Name and whose mind dwells always, like the incessant flow of oil, in Me Who is the receptacle of all auspicious qualities and Gunas. But he has not the least trace of any desire to get the fruits of his Karma; yea he does not want Smpya, Srsti, Syujya, and Slokya and other forms of liberations! He becomes filled with devotion for Me alone, worships Me only; knows nothing higher than to serve Me and he does not want final liberation even. He does not like to forsake this idea of Sevya (to he served) and Sevaka (servant who serves). He always meditates on Me with constant vigilance and actuated by a feeling of Supreme Devotion; he does not think himself separate from Me but rather thinks himself "that I am the Bhagavat." He considers all the Jvas as Myself and loves Me as he loves himself. He does not make any difference between the Jvas and myself as he finds the same Chaitanya everywhere and mainfested in all. He does not quarrel with anybody as he has abandoned all ideas about separateness; he bows down, and worships the Chndlas and all the Jvas. He who becomes filled with devotion to Me whenever he sees My place, My devotees, and hears the Sstras, describing My deeds, and whenever he meditates on My Mantras, he becomes filled with the highest love and his hairs stand on their ends out of love to Me and tears of love flow incessantly from both his eyes; he recites My name and My deeds in a voice, choked with feelings of love for Me. ["N. B."--The Par Prema Bhakti is like the maddening rush of a river to the Ocean; thence in the shape of vapour to the highest; Himlayn Mountain peaks to be congealed into snow where various plays of bright colours take place.]
21-30. O Lord of the mountains! He worships Me with intense feeling as the Mothee of this Universe and the Cause of all causes. He performs the daily and occasional duties and all My vows and sacrifices without showing any miserly feeling in his expenditure of money. He naturally longs to perform My festivities and to visit places where My Utsabs are held. He sings My name loudly and dances, being intoxicated with My love, and has no idea of egoism and is devoid of his body-idea, thinking that the body is not his. He thinks that whatever is Prrabdha (done in his previoas lives) must come to pass and therefore does not become agitated as to the preservation of his body and soul. This sort of Bhakti is called the Par Bhakti or the Highest Devotion. Here the
p. 730
predominent idea is the idea of the Dev and no other idea takes its place. O Mountain! He gets immediately dissolved in My Nature of Consciousness whose heart is really filled with such Par Bhakti or All Love. The sages call the limiting stage of this devotion and dispassion as Jna (knowledge). When this Jna arises, Bhakti and dispassion get their ends satisfied. Yea! He goes then to the Mani Dvpa, when his Ahamkra does not crop up by his Prrabdba Karma, though he did not fail to give up his life in devotion. O Mountain! That man enjoys there all the objects of enjoymerits, though unwilling and at the end of the period, gets the knowledge of My Consciousness. By that he attains the Final Liberation for ever. Withqut this Jna, the Final Liberation is impossible.
31-33. He realises Para Brahma who gets in this body of his the above Jna of the Pratyak tm in his heart; when his Prna leaves his body, he does not get re-birth. The S'ruti says:--"He, who knows Brahma, becomes Brahma." In the logic of Kantha, Chmkara, (gold on the neck) the ignorance vanishes. When this ignorance is destroyed by knowledge, he attains all his knowledge the object to be attained, when he recoginises the gold on his neck.
34-37. O Best of Mountains! This My consciousness is different from the perceived pots, etc., and unperceived My. The image of this Paramtm is seen in bodies other than the tm as the image falls in a mirror; as the image falls in water, so this Paramtm is seen in the Pitrilokas. As the shadow and light are quite distinct, so in My Manidvpa, the knowledge of oneness without a second arises. That man resides in the Brahma Loka for the period of a Kalpa who leaves his body without attaining Jna, though he had his Vargyam. Then he takes his birth in the family of a pure prosperous family and practising again his Yoya habits, gets My Consciousness.
38-45. O King of Mountains! This Jna arises after many births it does not come in one birth; so one should try one's best to get this Jna. If, attaining this rare human birth, one does not attain this Jna, know that a great calamity has befallen to him. For this human birth is very hard to attain; and then the birth in a Brhmin family is rarer; moreover amongst the Brhmins, the knowledge of the Veda (the Consciousness is exceedingly rare.) The attaining of the six qualities (which are considered as six wealth), restraint of passions, etc.; the success in Yoga and the acquisition of a pure real Guru, all these are very hard to be attained in this life. O Mountain! The maturity and the activities of the organs of the senses, and the purification of the body according to the Vedic rites are all very difficult to attain. Know this again that to get a desire for final liberation is acquired by the merits acquired in many births. That man's birth is entirely futile, who attaining all the above qualifications does not try his best to attain this Jna, So one should
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try one's best to acquire the Jna. Then, at every moment, he gets the fruits of the As'vamedha sacrifice. There is no doubt in this. As "ghee" (clarified batter) resides potentially in milk, so the Vijna Brahma resides in every body. So make the mind the churning rod and always churn with it. Then, by slow degrees, the knowledge of Brahma will be attained.
Man attains blessedness when he gets this Jna; so the Vednta says: Thus I have described to you in brief, O King of Mountains! all that you wanted to hear. Now what more do you want?
Here ends the Thirty-seventh Chapter of the Seventh Book on the glories of Bhakti in the Mah Purnaman, S'ri Mad Dev Bhgavatam, of 18,000 Verses, by Maharsi Veda Vysa.
On Bhakti Yoga
1. The Himlays said:--"O Mother! Now describe your Bhaki Yoga, by which ordinary men who have no dispassion get the knowledge of Brahma easily.
2-10. The Dev said:--"O Chief of Mountains! There are three paths, widely known, leading to the final liberation (Moksa). These are Karma Yoga, Jna Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Of these three, Bhakti Yoga is the easiest in all respects; people can do it very well without incurring any suffering to the body, and bringing the mind to a perfect concentration. This Bhakti (devotion) again is of three kinds as the Gunas are three. His Bhakti is Tmas who worships Me, to pain others, being filled with vanity and jealousy and anger. That Bhakti is Rjsic, when one worships Me for one's own welfare and does not intend to do harm to others. He has got some desire or end in view, some fame or to attain some objects of enjoyments and ignorantly, and thinking himself different from Me, worships Me with greatest devotion. Again that Bhakti is Sttvik when anybody worships Me to purify his sins, and offers to Me the result of all his Karmas, thinking that Jva and s'vara are separate and knoxing that this action of his is authorized in the Vedas and therefore must be observed. This Sttvik Bhakti is different from the Supreme Bhakti as the worshippers
p. 729
think Me separate; but it leads to the Supreme Bhakti. The other two Bhaktis do not lead to Par Bhakti (the Supreme Bhakti or the Highest unselfish Love.)
11-20. Now hear attentively about the Par Bhakti that I am now describing to you. He who hears always My Glories and recites My Name and whose mind dwells always, like the incessant flow of oil, in Me Who is the receptacle of all auspicious qualities and Gunas. But he has not the least trace of any desire to get the fruits of his Karma; yea he does not want Smpya, Srsti, Syujya, and Slokya and other forms of liberations! He becomes filled with devotion for Me alone, worships Me only; knows nothing higher than to serve Me and he does not want final liberation even. He does not like to forsake this idea of Sevya (to he served) and Sevaka (servant who serves). He always meditates on Me with constant vigilance and actuated by a feeling of Supreme Devotion; he does not think himself separate from Me but rather thinks himself "that I am the Bhagavat." He considers all the Jvas as Myself and loves Me as he loves himself. He does not make any difference between the Jvas and myself as he finds the same Chaitanya everywhere and mainfested in all. He does not quarrel with anybody as he has abandoned all ideas about separateness; he bows down, and worships the Chndlas and all the Jvas. He who becomes filled with devotion to Me whenever he sees My place, My devotees, and hears the Sstras, describing My deeds, and whenever he meditates on My Mantras, he becomes filled with the highest love and his hairs stand on their ends out of love to Me and tears of love flow incessantly from both his eyes; he recites My name and My deeds in a voice, choked with feelings of love for Me. ["N. B."--The Par Prema Bhakti is like the maddening rush of a river to the Ocean; thence in the shape of vapour to the highest; Himlayn Mountain peaks to be congealed into snow where various plays of bright colours take place.]
21-30. O Lord of the mountains! He worships Me with intense feeling as the Mothee of this Universe and the Cause of all causes. He performs the daily and occasional duties and all My vows and sacrifices without showing any miserly feeling in his expenditure of money. He naturally longs to perform My festivities and to visit places where My Utsabs are held. He sings My name loudly and dances, being intoxicated with My love, and has no idea of egoism and is devoid of his body-idea, thinking that the body is not his. He thinks that whatever is Prrabdha (done in his previoas lives) must come to pass and therefore does not become agitated as to the preservation of his body and soul. This sort of Bhakti is called the Par Bhakti or the Highest Devotion. Here the
p. 730
predominent idea is the idea of the Dev and no other idea takes its place. O Mountain! He gets immediately dissolved in My Nature of Consciousness whose heart is really filled with such Par Bhakti or All Love. The sages call the limiting stage of this devotion and dispassion as Jna (knowledge). When this Jna arises, Bhakti and dispassion get their ends satisfied. Yea! He goes then to the Mani Dvpa, when his Ahamkra does not crop up by his Prrabdba Karma, though he did not fail to give up his life in devotion. O Mountain! That man enjoys there all the objects of enjoymerits, though unwilling and at the end of the period, gets the knowledge of My Consciousness. By that he attains the Final Liberation for ever. Withqut this Jna, the Final Liberation is impossible.
31-33. He realises Para Brahma who gets in this body of his the above Jna of the Pratyak tm in his heart; when his Prna leaves his body, he does not get re-birth. The S'ruti says:--"He, who knows Brahma, becomes Brahma." In the logic of Kantha, Chmkara, (gold on the neck) the ignorance vanishes. When this ignorance is destroyed by knowledge, he attains all his knowledge the object to be attained, when he recoginises the gold on his neck.
34-37. O Best of Mountains! This My consciousness is different from the perceived pots, etc., and unperceived My. The image of this Paramtm is seen in bodies other than the tm as the image falls in a mirror; as the image falls in water, so this Paramtm is seen in the Pitrilokas. As the shadow and light are quite distinct, so in My Manidvpa, the knowledge of oneness without a second arises. That man resides in the Brahma Loka for the period of a Kalpa who leaves his body without attaining Jna, though he had his Vargyam. Then he takes his birth in the family of a pure prosperous family and practising again his Yoya habits, gets My Consciousness.
38-45. O King of Mountains! This Jna arises after many births it does not come in one birth; so one should try one's best to get this Jna. If, attaining this rare human birth, one does not attain this Jna, know that a great calamity has befallen to him. For this human birth is very hard to attain; and then the birth in a Brhmin family is rarer; moreover amongst the Brhmins, the knowledge of the Veda (the Consciousness is exceedingly rare.) The attaining of the six qualities (which are considered as six wealth), restraint of passions, etc.; the success in Yoga and the acquisition of a pure real Guru, all these are very hard to be attained in this life. O Mountain! The maturity and the activities of the organs of the senses, and the purification of the body according to the Vedic rites are all very difficult to attain. Know this again that to get a desire for final liberation is acquired by the merits acquired in many births. That man's birth is entirely futile, who attaining all the above qualifications does not try his best to attain this Jna, So one should
p. 711
try one's best to acquire the Jna. Then, at every moment, he gets the fruits of the As'vamedha sacrifice. There is no doubt in this. As "ghee" (clarified batter) resides potentially in milk, so the Vijna Brahma resides in every body. So make the mind the churning rod and always churn with it. Then, by slow degrees, the knowledge of Brahma will be attained.
Man attains blessedness when he gets this Jna; so the Vednta says: Thus I have described to you in brief, O King of Mountains! all that you wanted to hear. Now what more do you want?
Here ends the Thirty-seventh Chapter of the Seventh Book on the glories of Bhakti in the Mah Purnaman, S'ri Mad Dev Bhgavatam, of 18,000 Verses, by Maharsi Veda Vysa.
