PARAKUNNATH SREE VETTAKKORUMAKAN PAYYAN KSHETHRAM (TEMPLE), AROLI, KANNUR, KERALA: In the Srimad Bhagavatam, nine forms of Bhakti are described. A devotee can practise any method of Bhakti which suits him best. Through that he will attain Divine illumination.

Tuesday, 18 July 2017

In the Srimad Bhagavatam, nine forms of Bhakti are described. A devotee can practise any method of Bhakti which suits him best. Through that he will attain Divine illumination.

1. SHRAVANA is hearing of Lord's Lilas. Sravana includes hearing of God's virtues, glories, sports and stories connected with His divine Name and Form. The devotee gets absorbed in the hearing of divine stories and his mind merges in the thought of Divinity. The company of the wise, even for a moment, becomes the boat to cross the ocean of life." Without Satsanga, Sadhana does not become perfect and strong.

2. KIRTANA is singing of Lord's glories. The devotee loses himself in the love of God. The devotee is ever engaged in Japa of the Lord's Name and describing His glories to one and all.
This is the easiest of all modes of approach to God. In the Kali Yuga, Kirtana alone is the best Yoga. This is the prescribed method of devotion for this age.

3. SMARAN is remembrance of the Lord at all times. The mind is ever engrossed in thinking of the glorious Lord alone. The mind meditates on what is heard about the glories of God and His virtues, and forgets everything. Even Japa is only remembrance of God and comes under this category of Bhakti. Remembrance of God alone can destroy all worldly sins. Remembrance is equal to concentration or meditation.

4. PADASEVAN is serving the Lord's feet. It is possible to serve the image of God in idols, visiting temples and engage in service there, and better still, taking the whole humanity as God. service of the sick. Padasevana is service of the poor. Padasevana is service of the whole humanity at large.

5. ARCHANA is worship of the Lord. "Those who perform the worship of God in this world, attain the immortal and blissful state of Moksha." Thus says the Vishnu-Rahasya. The purpose of worship is to please the Lord, to purify the heart through surrender of the ego and love of God.

6. VANDANA is prayer and prostration. Humble prostration touching the earth with the eight limbs of the body (Sashtanga-Namaskara), with faith and reverence, before a form of God, and getting absorbed in the Divine Love of the Lord is termed prostration to God. The Bhagavata says: "The sky, air, fire, water, earth, stars, planets, the cardinal points (directions), trees, rivers, seas and all living beings constitute the body of Lord. The devotee should bow before everything in absolute devotion, thinking that he is bowing before God Himself."

7. DASYA Bhakti is the love of God through servant-sentiment. To serve God and carry out His wishes, realising His virtues, nature, mystery and glory, considering oneself as a slave of God, the Supreme Master is Dasya-Bhakti. Serving and worshipping in temples, sweeping the temples, meditating on God, and mentally serving Him like a slave, is included in Dasya-Bhakti.

8. SAKHYA-Bhava is cultivation of friend-sentiment with God. Arjuna cultivated this kind of Bhakti. To be always with the Lord, to treat Him as one's own relative or a friend, belonging to one's own family, to be in His company at all times, to love Him as one's own Self, is Sakhya-Bhava of Bhakti-Marga.

9. Atma-Nivedana is self-surrender. In the Vishnu-Sahasranama it is said: "The heart of one who has taken refuge in Vasudeva, who is wholly devoted to Vasudeva, gets entirely purified, and he attains Brahman, the Eternal."The devotee offers everything to God, including his body, mind and soul. He keeps nothing for himself. He has become part and parcel of God. God takes care of him and God treats him as Himself. Grief and sorrow, pleasure and pain, the devotee treats as gifts sent by God and does not attach himself to them. He considers himself as a puppet of God and an instrument in the hands of God.