Devotion means supreme love! Bhakti Yoga 2

The Lord explains beautifully, Shrii bhagavaanuvaaca

श्रीभगवानुवाच |

मय्यावेश्य मनो ये मां नित्ययुक्ता उपासते |

श्रद्धया परयोपेताः ते मे युक्ततमा मताः ||

Mayyaaveshya manO ye maaM nityayukthaa upaasate
Shraddhayaa parayopetaaH te me yuktatamaa mataaH

Word meanings:

mayi - in memanaH – mind :aaveshya – fixing : nityayuktaaH – those who are steadfast : parayaa sraddhayaa - with absolute faith : upetaaH – endowed with : ye – who :
maaM upaasate - worship Me : te – They : yuktatamaaH - most perfect in yoga : me mataaH – I consider.

The Lord said. “I consider those people whose minds are constantly thinking of me with utmost love and who worship me with absolute faith as being the most perfect in yoga”

This sloka begins with the words bhagavaan uvaacha” If literally translated. it will only mean “the Lord said” or the “lord replied” This literal translation does not convey the full meaning behind these words. If there is a girl called “meenakshi” and we call her “fishy eyed”, it is no doubt a translation – because “meena – means fish” and “akshi” means “eyes”. However, not only will Meenakshi come to hit you, but also “fishy eyed” does not convey the beauty of the word “meenakshi”. This is not translation, but killing the meaning It is not enough to simply or literally translate something, but we should get the underlying beauty behind a statement.

The true meaning and impact behind the term- “bhagavaan uvaacha” should be understood. Bhagavaan is not one who is subject to restrictions of time, space, place or object. His words are permanent in their relevance. Otherwise one might say, “Bhagavaan uvaacha” is simply what the Lord told Arjuna and what is it to me?” What the Lord said 5000 years ago is still valid, There is no corruption or reduction in its value or validity. Just as He is permanent. His knowledge and the joy derived from it are also permanent and valid even today.

The Lord says, “ye maaM nityayuktaaH upaasate, te yuktatamaaH” – “Those who practice this faith with supreme devotion” The first and most important word is Practice.” Once a person asked a Swaamiji, “Suppose I know Brahman. Then, what next?”. Swaamiji replied. “1f you know, you won’t ask!!”

The problem with us is, we don’t pray, call His name or worship Him and yet wan’t to ask, “If I practice, then what will happen?”. First a person has to pray, then ask if there is any use!”.

The Lord says “mayyaveshya mano ye maam” –those whose minds are in me and how, “nityayuktaaH upaasate” – they are constantly thinking of Me. He does not specify particular timings. He does not say, “Those whose minds are on Me, between 6.00 to 6.08. All other times, you can forget me” – No! The second important word is “constantly”

The third important word is “parayaa shraddhayaa – with supreme faith”. So a devotee must first practice, this practice must be constant and this constant practice must be with supreme faith and devotion. Such a devotee is called ‘ yukta tamaH” – the most perfect in yogA.

Greatest faith is of utmost importance, in order to think about the Lord. The Lord begins his reply in the second sloka of this chapter and in this He talks about “Shraddha” and in the last sloka of this chapter also He says “Shraddhadhaana mat paramaa”. Therefore the first step is greatest faith and whosoever has this is the greatest devotee.

In the katopanishad. it is said: “Once there was a saint called vaajashravas. He did a yaGYa to sacrifice all that he had. Such a person had a son called nachiketa, who was about 9 or 10 years old. In this YaGYa, vaajashravas was offering cows to brahmins as a sacrifice. But what state were the cows in? They looked so old and sick and almost about to die, that it seemed as though, the moment they were offered to the Brahmins, they would collapse and die. At that time, Nachiketa had his shraddha awakened and he started thinking,”

Thought is Shraddha. Our actions will be result of the faith that we have. Suppose we have complete faith in our Guru and believe that he will never do anything that is bad to us. Suppose this Guru insults us in front of everyone. As we have complete faith in him, our reaction will be positive, We will think. -Our Guru is so good. He has helped to remove the ego in my heart by insulting me in this manner!”. How else will I know, my ego’..

However. when a person has no faith in his Guru then he will be insulted. Such a person is filled with ego and that person who cannot tolerate his Guru’s insult cannot stand against the world. He will say. ‘What does this Guru think of Himself? I have seen many like Him. Let me go for Guru shopping and go to the next Ashram”. Like jail birds. Ashram birds flying from one Ashram to the next. These are people who want the Guru to listen to them and such people cannot progress spiritually.

As long as faith is there, thoughts will be constructive. otherwise they will be destructive. In the 4th chapter the Lord has said. “shraddhaavaan labhate GYaanaM” – knowledge can be attained only by one who has supreme faith.

Secondly, many people think. “Faith is OK. but you should not have “blind” faith”. This is 100% wrong. The true fact is. ‘ Faith is always blind”. When we are ignorant and accept that the Guru is knowledgeable, at that stage we have no idea what knowledge is. It is only on the basis of our ignorance, that we accept that the Guru is going to teach us this knowledge. This is faith”. After getting the knowledge, faith is not as relevant since knowledge is already attained. So faith is always blind, As long as we are ignorant, faith is required to attain knowledge. There are many instances in our lives where we display blind faith.

Suppose one is going to a barber. Suppose this barber had been bribed and told to slit one’s neck. As we are not aware of this, we simply offer ourselves. We assume. last time he cut me only a few times, hopefully this time also it will be the same”. Once a barber opened his shop early in the morning and a customer came in. His son was in training and he asked his father, “Dad, can I experiment?” The barber said, “OK, after all you have to try, in order to learn, But be careful. Don’t hurt yourself’!!

Even trivial things require blind faith, whether it is going to the barber, or when we eat food, requires blind faith – that the food will not be poisoned. Then why question blind when it comes to religion?

The Lord says “Mayyaveshya mano ye maaM” – one whose minds I have entered. This must not be taken literally. One should not think. “like a needle injected into a vein. the lord is injected into a person’s mind”. What is the Mind? It encompasses all our desires. likes and dislikes, Our mind thinks. -Should I should go to the Satsangh or not”. Then another part of the mind says, “Why should I go’? So far I have never been there and have not lost anything” Then again another thought comes. “Some people say that we must go at least once. So I will probably try and go, but not now, next week”. All these dilemmas put together is called our mind!! Mayyaveshya mano ye maam therefore means that. if our mind which is constantly full of dilemmas is cleaned of those by the constant remembrance of God, then every thought that we have, is centered around God. When God is the subject and object of every sentence that occurs in our mind. then we can say. that we are constantly thinking of the Lord, Such a mind is one where the Lord has entered and resides and refers to as “mayyaaveshya mano ye maam

Now;. as intelligent people we will ask. “How is this possible.” How can I constantly think of the Lord”.”. The first objective is, “In 24 hours of the day, we must think of the Lord for atleast 24 hours!!’. How do we reach this objective’. First start with 5 minutes a day, . then slowly increase it to ten minutes a day and build this up. When we wake up in the morning, our first words should be “Hari Om” or Bhagavan or Narayana or Krishna. Take the Lord’s name first thing in the morning. That is 1 second in the thought of the Lord. When we then get up from the bed and put our foot on the ground. again call the Lord’s name, Then. for each step that we take, call the Lord’s name, When we brush our teeth – don’t call loudly. think of the God’s name in the mind. If we practice this in every simple act that we do, as we go about our day, we will ourselves find so many ways that we can think of Him. When we think of the Lord. then the world does not enter our minds. This is the most easy method and all the time we would be in thought of the Lord.

Once there was a gentleman who used to be called “Hariom” uncle. Nobody knew his real name and he was always called “Hariom” uncle because he used to say “Hariom” for everything. For eg.. If one day, the sabji was very tasty, he used to say. “Today the sabji is ekdam Hariom”. Another day. if the Sabji was not nice. he used to say.. “What happened today, this sabji is Hariom?”. If an unwanted visitor came to his house, he used to remark. “How, do I escape’? Hariom has come”. If he saw a cute baby-. he used to say. “He is really Hariom”. This is a beautiful way that we can easily adopt. This gentleman had made Hariom as almost part of his breathing and we can all learn a lot from him. However, we think that that when we call the Lord, our faces must be contracted like “Bhaingan Bharthaa”. This is not required. We should always be pleasant. have a smiling face and think of the Lord at all times. As only the Lord is permanent in this world, only His name refers to something permanent. Gold can be called Gold necklace (without neck. so neck less), We call it ear ring, wedding ring, divorce ring etc. Gold being called Gold is the only truth. Everything else is false. God is the only truth and only His name can make us be constantly in thought of Him. Such a person who is constantly in thought of God and who has the greatest faith and blind and total faith is the highest yogi, that person who has complete knowledge.

Just as food is required for the body to function and air is required for breathing, so too, God’s name and remembrance is required for us to function. It does not matter if He is thought of with or without form, what is more important is that the thought of the Lord must always be there.

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