Love is the gift of Oneself - Bhakti Yoga 20
ये तु धर्म्यामृतमिदं यथोक्तं पर्युपासते ।
श्रद्दधाना मत्परमा भक्तास्तेऽतीव मे प्रियाः ॥१२- २०॥
ye tu dharmyaamR^itamidaM yatokthaM paryupaasate
shraddhadhaana matparama bhaktaaH atiivamepriyaaH
ye tu idaM– Indeed this : dharmyaamR^itam – nectar of dharma
yatokthaM – that has been said : parama shraddhadhaana – with supreme faith : mat – towards Me : paryupaasate – who follow : bhaktaaH – those devotees : atiiva – extremely : mepriyaaH – dear to Me
In each of the slokas from 14 to19, the Lord says, “such a devotee is dear to Me”. Now he describes who is extremely dear. This nectar of “dharma” refers to all that was taught in these verses such as “adveshhTa sarva bhuutaanaaM” etc. Paryupaasate – that devotee who tries to absorb and is intent at all times and more over “parama shraddha dhaana” who has supreme faith on the Lord’s words - The Lord says unequivocally that such a devotee is dearest to Me.
In the beginning of this chapter, the lord said that as long as we are conscious of our body, we think of the lord as “saguNa saakaara” and worship Him in various names and forms. As we keep doing this, our devotion increases slowly and ultimately it starts manifesting itself through us, in the form of the qualities of the Lord Himself, such as “adveshhTa sarva bhuutaanaaM”
In the BhagavataM, Yuddhistra once asks the Lord, “Shishupaala scolded the Lord so many times and yet when he was killed, his soul became one with the Lord. How was this possible?” This is because, by definition, the Lord cannot hate anyone even if he wants to. Just as the waves are not different from the ocean, the lord is manifest within each one of us”. When the Lord is within us, we also get his qualities such as love and devotion. The truer this love and devotion that we have towards everyone, the greater the happiness that we get in our lives.
Lastly, in this world, no one comes to us for knowledge, they come to us only for love and love is not something to take, but something to give! Swami Chinmayaananda used to say, “Don’t sprinkle the world with love, hose pipe the world with love”. Give so much love as to drown the world with it. The more love we give to the world, the more it multiplies.
The poet Khalil Gibran says about Love - “To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.”
To conclude this wonderful chapter, in essence, “to love life and the entire creation” is the underlying principle of devotion.
ॐ तत्सदिति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषत्सु ब्रह्मविद्यायां योगशास्त्रे ।
श्रीकृष्णार्जुनसंवादे भक्तियोगो नाम द्वादशोऽध्यायः ॥
