Gnani Yoga – by Yogi Ramacharaka
The Yogi Philosophy may be divided into several great branches, or fields. What is known as “Hatha Yoga” deals with the physical body and its control; its welfare; its health; its preservation; its laws, etc. What is known as “Raja Yoga” deals with the Mind; its control; its development; its unfoldment, etc. What is known as “Bhakti Yoga” deals with the Love of the Absolute–God. What is known as “Gnani Yoga” deals with the scientific and intellectual knowing of the great questions regarding Life and what lies back of Life–the Riddle of the Universe. Read more
Nirliptatva Samadhi
Lastly, through samadhi the quality of nirliptatva, or detachment, and thereafter mukti (liberation) is attained. Samadhi considered as a process is intense mental concentration, with freedom from all samkalpa, and attachment to the world, and all sense of “mineness,” or self-interest (mamata). Considered as the result of such process it is the union of Jiva with the Paramatrna.(1) Read more
Swami Vivekananda – Bhakti Yoga
Definition of Bhakti
BHAKTI-YOGA is a real, genuine search after the Lord, a search beginning, continuing, and ending in Love. One single moment of the madness of extreme love to God brings us eternal freedom. “Bhakti,” says Nârada in his explanation of the Bhakti-aphorisms, “is intense love to God.”—“When a man gets it, he loves all, hates none; he becomes satisfied for ever.”—“This love cannot be reduced to any earthly benefit,” because so long as worldly desires last, that kind of love does not come. “Bhakti is greater than Karma, greater than Yoga, because these are intended for an object in view, while Bhakti is its own fruition, its own means, and its own end.” Read more
The Philosophy of Ishwara
Who is Ishwara ? —“From Whom is the birth, continuation, and dissolution of the universe”—He is Ishwara—“the Eternal, the Pure, the Ever-Free: the Almighty, the All- Knowing, the All-Merciful, the Teacher of all teachers;” and above all, —“He the Lord is, of His own nature, inexpressible love.” These certainly are the definitions of a Personal God. Are there then two Gods? The “Not this, Not this,” the Sat-chit-ânanda, the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss, of the philosopher, and this God of Love of the Bhakta? Read more
Spiritual Realisation – the Aim of Bhakti Yoga
To the Bhakta these dry details are necessary only to strengthen his will; beyond that they are of no use to him. For he is treading on a path which is fitted very soon to lead him beyond the hazy and turbulent regions of reason, to lead him to the realm of realisation. Read more
The Need of a Guru
Every soul is destined to be perfect and every being, in the end, will attain the state of perfection. Whatever we are now is the result of our acts and thoughts in the past; and whatever we shall be in the future will be the result of what we think and do now. But this shaping of our own destinies, does not preclude our receiving help from outside; nay, in the vast majority of cases such help is absolutely necessary. When it comes, the higher powers and. possibilities of the soul are quickened. Spiritual life is awakened, growth is animated, and man becomes holy and perfect in the end. Read more
Qualifications of the Aspirant and the Teacher
How are we to know a teacher then? The sun requires no torch to make him visible; we need not light a candle in order to see him. When the sun rises, we instinctively become aware of the fact, and when a teacher of men comes to help us; the soul will instinctively know that truth has already begun to shine upon it. Truth stands on its own evidence, it does not require any other testimony to prove it true, it is self-effulgent. Read more
Incarnate Teachers and Incarnation
Wherever His name is spoken, that very place is holy. How much more so is the man who of speaks His name, and with what veneration ought are we to approach that man out of whom comes to us spiritual truth! Such great teachers of a spiritual truth are indeed very few in number as in this world, but the world is never altogether without them. They are always the fairest as flowers of human life—“the ocean of mercy without any motive.” —“Know the Guru to be Me,” says Shri Krishna in the Bhâgavata. The moment the world is absolutely bereft of these, it becomes a hideous hell and hastens on to its destruction. Read more
The Mantra OM Word and Wisdom
But we are now considering not these Mahâ-purushas, the great Incarnations, but only the Siddha-Gurus (teachers who have attained the goal); they, as a rule, have to convey the germs of spiritual wisdom to the disciple by means of words (Mantra) to be meditated upon. Read more
Worship of Substitutes and Images
The next points to be considered are the worship of Pratikas or of things more or less satisfactory as substitutes for God, and the worship of Pratimas or images. What is the worship of God through a Pratika? It is – “Joining the mind with devotion to that which is not Brahman, taking it to be Brahman,” says Bhagavan Râmânuja. “Worship the mind as Brahman—this is internal; and the Âkâsha is Brahman—this is with regard to the Devas,” says Shankara. The mind is an internal Pratika, the Âkâsha is an external one; and both have to be worshipped as substitutes of God. Read more
The Chosen Ideal
The next thing to be considered is what we know as Ishta-Nishthâ. One who aspires to be a Bhakta must know that “so many opinions are so many ways.” He must know that all the various sects of the various religions are the various manifestations of the glory of the same Lord. “They call You by so many names; they divide You, as it were, by different names, yet in each one of these is to be found Your omnipotence. You reach the worshipper through all of these; neither is there any special time so long as the soul has intense love for You. You are so easy of approach; it is my misfortune that I cannot love You.” Read more
The Method and the Means
In regard to the method and the means of Bhakti-Yoga we read in the commentary of Bhagavan Râmânuja on the Vedânta-Sutras: “The attaining of That comes through discrimination, controlling the passions, practice, sacri ficial work, purity, strength, and suppression of excessive joy.” Viveka or discrimination is, according to Râmânuja, discriminating, among other things, the pure food from the impure. Read more
The Preparatory Renunciation
We have now finished the consideration of what may be called the preparatory Bhakti, and are entering on the study of the Para-Bhakti, or supreme devotion. We have to speak of a preparation to the practice of this Para-Bhakti. All such preparations are intended only for the purification of the soul. Read more
The Bhakta’s Renunciation results from Love
We see love everywhere in nature. Whatever in society is good and great and sublime is the working out of that love; whatever in society is very bad, nay diabolical, is also the ill-directed working out of the same emotion of love. It is this same emotion that gives us the pure and holy conjugal love between husband and wife, as well as the sort of love which goes to satisfy the lowest forms of animal passion. The emotion is the same, but its manifestation is different in different cases. Read more
The Naturalness of Bhakti Yoga and its Central Secret
“Those who with constant attention always worship You, and those who worship the Undifferentiated, the Absolute— of these who are the greater Yogis?”—Arjuna asked of Shri Krishna. The answer was: “Those who concentrating their minds on Me worship Me with eternal constancy, and are endowed with the highest faith—they are My best worshippers, they are the greatest Yogis. Read more
The Forms of Love Manifestation
Here are some of the forms in which love manifests itself. First there is reverence. Why do people show reverence to temples and holy places? Because He is worshipped there, and His presence is associated with all such places. Read more
Universal Love and how it leads to Self-surrender
How can we love the Vyashti, the particular, without first loving the Samashti, the universal? God is the Samashti, the generalised and the abstract universal whole; and the universe that we see is the Vyashti, the particularised thing. To love the whole universe is possible only by way of loving the Samashti—the universal—which is, as it were, the one unity in which are to be found millions and millions of smaller unities. Read more
The Higher Knowledge and the Higher Love are One to the True Lover
The Upanishads distinguish between a higher knowledge and a lower knowledge; and to the Bhakta there is really no difference between this higher knowledge and his higher love (Parâ-Bhakti). Read more
The Triangle of Love
We may represent love as a triangle, each of the angles of which corresponds to one of its inseparable characteristics. There can be no triangle without all its three angles; and there can be no true love without its three following characteristics. Read more
The God of Love is His Own Proof
What is the ideal of the lover who has quite passed beyond the idea of selfishness, of bartering and bargaining, and who knows no fear? Even to the great God such a man will say, “I will give You my all, and I do not want anything from You; indeed there is nothing that I can call my own.” When a man has acquired this conviction, his ideal becomes one of perfect love, one of perfect fearlessness of love. Read more
Human Representations of the Divine Ideal of Love
It is impossible to express the nature of this supreme and absolute ideal of love in human language. Even the highest flight of human imagination is incapable of comprehending it in all its infinite perfection and beauty. Nevertheless, the followers of the religion of love, in its higher as well as its lower forms, in all countries, have all along had to use the inadequate human language to comprehend and to define their own ideal of love. Nay more; human love itself, in all its varied forms, has been made to typify this inexpressible divine love. Read more
Conclusion of Bhakti Yoga
When this highest ideal of love is reached, philosophy is thrown away; who will then care for it? Freedom, salvation, Nirvâna—all are thrown away; who cares to become free while in the enjoyment of divine love? Read more
