Bhakthy

: Contemplation of one’s own Self is bhakthy. We go to temple to develop a bhava.. Bhakthy in its true sense is advaitha bhava. This bhava cannot be established without vedanta vichara. Vedanta vichara , advaitha bhava and bhakthy do not have a clash. In the course of development of advaitha bhava, one contemplates Iswara as his Master (dasya bhava), as his child (vatsalya bhava), as his lover (kantha bhava), as his friend (sakya bhava) as a source of delight, as a source of sweetness, as a source of peace etc. The ultimate realisation is adwaitha bhava.
Self is overshadowed by the sense of individuality (jeeva) wherein all the experience takes place.as per one’s swabhava. In the advaitha bhava , individuality is turned into universality, separateness into oneness , multiplicity into unity, aham bhava turns into akanda bhava.and swabhava changes into swaroopa.
In dasya bhava, kantha bhava etc., the servants or the lovers mind is merged with the Master and the Lover, and thus one outlives individuality. A saying of Bhaktha Hanuman “when I consider my body I am your servant, when I consider my mind I am part of you, when I consider my Atma you and I are one”,is worth remembering.. Here, the first one is Dwaitha, the second one is visishtadwaida and the third one is adwaitha, all based on vedanta.
One should be clear in his mind about the lakshyam (aim) and that aim is realisation of that Oneness with th Truth (Sat) Awareness (chit) and Fullness (anantham) – “satyam, gnanam, anandam Brahma”.In the MandukyaUpanishads this is described as shantam, sivam, adwaitham.Jeeva has to attain Atma sakshatkaram and the atma sakshatkaram has to attain Brahma sakshatkaram .
We are always engaged in acitivity – mentally, physically and intellectually and ofcourse in the dream stage, physical and intellectual functioning takes place in the mind itself and in the deep sleep, all these activities are at rest for the time being. These above mentioned three stages can be together termed as the “Doing Stage”, and ignorance (agnanam) is the cause for it. This doing stage has a substratum (athishtanam) and base (adharam). The doing stage (known as abhasam) exist on the athishtanam and athishtanam in turn has its existence in adharam (otherwise known as mooladharam). In order to achieve the lakshyam , one has to outlive the doing stage and enter first in the athishtanam (substratum)This stage is known as sakshy (witness stage). This sakshy is personified as Iswara.
Let us analyse the doing stage first. When karma is done as karmayoga as described in Geetha, it is believed that karmahethu is backed up by jeeva sankalpa and karmaphalahethu is backed up by Iswara sankalpa. The purport of this is that without being anxious over the result, perform action as dictated by Nature. Iswara is the bestower of result and this thought gives us comfort when the result is not to our expectation.and we are grateful to Iswara when our wishes are fulfilled. Here also our faith towards Iswara is termed as bakthy. Egoistic men however claim themselves to be the doer and do not think of Iswara so long as they get favourable results for their actions. When unanticipated events happen they put the blame on fate. Such persons in due course wake up from the ego dream as in the case of a dream person suddenly comes to waking as a result of a terrifying dream such as a lion pouncing on him. Bhakthy in the doing stage is based on dwaitha bhava.
Thus an egoistic person faces turmoil,and a karma yogi gets comfort in the thought of Iswara as the bestower of result. Now let us examine the next stage – sakshi stage:
Only an individual who has outlived likes and dislikes and the ego sense, can uplift himself to the witness stage. He considers himself as part of Iswara and his actions are viewd as Iswara prasadam. He wont bring in any new vasanas and his prarabdha is let out as Iswara prasadam. This bhakthy is based on visishtadwaitha. There is no more jeeva sankalpam and only Iswara sankalpam functions.
Self in each one of us is the projection of Iswara with the only difference that we are candle lights in that sun light and we are individual waves in that vast Ocean. As already mentioined above, self is overshadowewd by the sense of individuality and this shadow has to be removed by developing adwaita bhava through vedanta vichara and worship of Iswara in different bhavas. Once we attain the witness stage, we can observe all our doings as if a witness, least affected by likes and dislikes and ego sense. This mental attitude is similar to the position of a drama actor . In the real life it is not that easy to attain the witnessing state of mind,which is described as samatvam i.e. equanimity which has to be cultivated by constant rememberance of our relationship with Iswara. This bhakthy has a higher status . We consider ourselves as part of Iswara and we saturate our mind with Iswara-thought. A name such as Rama or Krishna could help in this respect. By continuous repetition of a name (Rama or Krishna) the mind is saturated with it and no other thought arises. At that stage it is Rama or Krishna only repeating the name.Rama sits, stands, walks, eats or drinks , speaks or remains silent. The individual (jeevahood) vanishes ultimately,and all the three Rama,(symbolic of Iswara), the individual (individual consciousness)and the Supreme Reality (Brahmam) merge into one.Till such time this adwaitha bhava is achieved, the individual retains the semblance of separation of Iswara, considering himself as a part of Iswara and also a sakshy to the doings of the anthakarana..
Being which is the supreme Reality is beyond “I”. While “I” is the expression of that Reality as Iswara, “Iam” is the atma chaitanya (individual consciousness) i.e. Reality reflected in the microcosmic state. “Iam” with name and form and with the feeling of mine relates to anthakarana which gains its life power (jeevahood) from kudastha through chidabasa.
Chidabasa has two levels of action one attaching itself with anthakarana and remaining in the doing stage and another joining its source kudastha. In the former stage it remains bound and in the latter it gets freedom by merging with the source. The difference between individual consciousness i.e.,Atma or kudastha on the one hand, and Iswaraon the other is that the former is vyashti chaitanyam and the latter is samashti chaitanyam and both are reflections of that Brahmam i.e., the supreme reality. Body-consciousness continues to exist in vyashti chaitanyam and the individual at the same time is contemplatively conscious as a part of Iswara like spark and fire.
Not everyone can do such kind of tatwa vichara and cultivate a bhava that way. Common man prefers nama sankeerthanam, nama japa and listening to the life stories of bhakthas through which also one can cultivate a bhava or bhakthy considering Iswara as Supreme Master and himself as a humble devotee .As said in Baja Govindam, satsangam helps nissangatva which in turn brings in nirmohatwa and nirmohatwa pruduces nichhala chittam and the individual becomes a jeevanmuktha. In this connection, along with the above practice of namasankeerethanam and japa and worship, Yama and Niyama the first two angas of Patanjali Yoga also have to be practised. Yama consists of abstaining from violence, abstaining from falsehood, anstaining from theft, abstaining from sexual immorality and abstaining from avarice (ahimsa, satyam, astheyam, brahmacharyam, aparigraham). Niyama is the cultivation of purity, serenity, austerity, vedanta vichara and worship of God. In Narada Bhakthy sutram, bhakthy has been defined as smarana bhakthy, dasya bhakthy, vatsalya bhakthy, kantha bhakthi, parama vihara bhakthy etc. Bhaktha Prahalada has categorised bhakthy into nine, such as sravana, keerthana, smarana, archana, vandana. Chaitanya Prabhu has defined bhakthy as santham dasyam, sakhyam, vatsalyam and madhuram. According to Kapila, bhakthy falls under three categories as per gunas satwa, rajo and thamo gunas. Bhakthy is also categorised as kamya bhakthi and nishkamya bhakthy. Regarding worship , it is said in Srimad Bhagavada ‘I, the Supreme Lord dwell in all beings as their very atman. Ignoring this, mortal men go through the mockery of my worship in idols. They, who out of pride, strongly hate others, looking them as separate from themselves, hate me who dwells in all bodies alike. Hence they can never attain peace and tranquility of mind.’
Next is Being which is not a stage, This is beyond words. In the upanishad this is described as “That which does not cognise either internal objects, or external objects which is not a mass of cognition, which is neither cognitive nor non-cognitive, that which cannot be seen, which cannot be described, which cannot be grasped, which has no distinctive marks, which cannot be thought of, which cannot be designated , that of which the essence is the knowledge of the oneness of the Self, that in which the world ceases to exist , the peaceful, the benign, the non-dual”.This Being cannot be thought of by ordinary men. A very few yogis attain that which is otherwise known as nirvikalpa samadhy.In this , body-consciousness is no more there.