Bhakti in Jnana Marga - Part 12 of 15

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Sometimes He makes them cry in despair, He scolds them to the extreme and among all this crying and faulting, He showers His nectar of Love through His divine play!

Just to hear stories and songs of such LeelAs of His towards these devotees – that itself gives a great bliss, to all others, of companionship with Him.

Even to all of them He keeps pouring His Grace, rather subtly, but certainly in a way that imprints itself in their minds and reminds them of His proximity to them.
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Bhakti in Jnana Marga - Part 11 of 15

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On the other hand with a saguNa-mUrti it is possible to direct our bhakti through a relationship with Him in several ways as the Lord, as a Son, as a Mother, as a Friend, as a Husband.

And that attitude shows up in multifarious actions like dancing, singing, bhajans, sankirtana, pilgrimage, festivities, discourses etc.

The lifeline of this path is to do bhakti and so all this is done very consciously.

As the crowning glory of it all, the recipient of this bhakti, namely, the Lord Himself, does react to it.

Maybe He does not do it to all devotees.

But to those who have reached some peaks of excellence, He gives darshan, He performs varied miracles and reciprocates with a Relationship of divine love towards them that is million times richer than their own bhakti towards Him.
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Bhakti in Jnana Marga - Part 10 of 15

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It is a bhakti which imparts to him an extreme renunciation, and is itself a renunciate!

On the other hand what about saguNa-bhakti?

There is a tremendous scope in it for branching off into new and newer types of tastes and methods of exhibitions according to the attitudes that spring up towards the saguNa-mUrti who keeps performing ever-new miracles and leelAs.

Over and above all, it is here that the relationship of love shows its exhuberance.

A relationship of Love of the JIva with the nirguNa brahman is like setting up a rapport with one who is in the samAdhi-nishhTA, who is unaware of even the strike of lightning on him!

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Bhakti in Jnana Marga - Part 9 of 15

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The saguNa Ishvara who administers the activities of the entire universe is the one who admires his bhakti and causes him to mature to higher and higher levels of perfection.

The Lord’s intention however is not to direct him to a saguNa (worship) and so He does whatever He does, only implicitly.

Thus the bhakti is taking place in a one-sided way, even without that ‘one side’ knowing it!.

This is the true bhakti that dissolves the ego.

Even then it does not show up!

In addition to its function of dissolving the JIva, this bhakti dissolves itself without itself being visible to external perception!

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Bhakti in Jnana Marga - Part 8 of 15

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Whatever new is done is the action of the mind.

But this individual is set towards the goal of the extinction of the mind. He has already disciplined it by shama and dama.

As far as he is concerned, to know about it (activity of the mind) is an undesirable matter that comes under ‘ego consciousness’.
Therefore he himself would not recognise the bhakti aspect in all its brightness.

Why talk of outsiders? They will have no idea of his bhakti!

The thing towards which bhakti is being directed -- does it at least do anything to cause an explicit showing up of the bhakti?

No! Not at all! How can the nirguNa-brahman react?
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Bhakti in Jnana Marga - Part 7 of 15

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The swaras ‘sa’ and ‘ri’ alone however much they are emphasized, will not be palatable to the ears, until all the seven svaras show up.

Barring the silent samAdhi that takes place after the mind fully rests, the various dispositions of even little little activities of the mind will not show up unless they take new and newer forms.

‘Not showing up’ does not mean they are not visible to outsiders; even to the individual himself they will not be felt in his consciousness.

Bhakti in the NirguNa implies an anguish of the individual soul to dissolve in the Universal Soul. That one-pointed anguish is like extending a single svara.

There is no scope for new and newer colours in it.

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Bhakti in Jnana Marga - Part 6 of 15

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It is with these thoughts, perhaps, the Acharya decided to explicitly proclaim loudly : *mokSha-kAraNa-sAmagryAM bhaktireva garIyasI*

(Among the instruments of moksha, bhakti is the most important).

I said bhakti is the union with the universal Source by the dissolution of the ego through Love.

Generally it is understood that to do exactly that with the saguNa form of that Universal Source is bhakti and that such bhakti is different from the bhakti path of the jnAna-finder.

Whence came this understanding?

An attitude or a disposition does not show up in all its brightness so long as it remains the same way only as an attitude, like a nail pinned to the wall.

Only when that disposition shoots forth new and newer branches and manifests in action through the JIva, does it brighten up.
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