When all the love within converges on one beloved, who is Bhagavan, then one becomes the bhakta and the relationship between the two is one of bhakti. There is no external commodity used in this type of love, as when one uses wood to make a chair, table or an idol of Shiva or Ganesha. Devotion is a sweet subject, but a difficult one to grasp. Love is difficult and devotion is equally difficult. As long as ‘me, me’ and ‘I, I’ goes on, devotion will never develop. This ‘me, me, my, my’ is like the bleating of a goat. God’s devotion is a love affair. Everyone has said this. Devotees have said it. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Mirabai and the great Sufi and Christian saints have said it.
Devotion means fusion of the various aspects and attitudes of love, the totality of emotion, in a focused manner. Devotion is not only an emotion; it is the merging of every emotion into a homogeneous idea. In classical Indian philosophy, bhakti is supposed to be the quickest means for sensory withdrawal. Bhakti is devotion, not emotion, and sensory withdrawal takes place through devotion, not through emotion. Emotions always disturb the mental structure and as a result withdrawal of the senses becomes difficult.
Therefore, in practising devotion the emotional attitudes must be properly channelled, and then they are called bhakti or devotion. When bhakti is practised, withdrawal of the senses takes place automatically. According to the Indian way of thinking, attachment to things which are not eternal is emotion, and attachment to things which are eternal is devotion.
Bhakti implies that one feels devotion. From this comes effacement of ego and from this comes expanded awareness. Usually love and devotion are associated with and dependent on reciprocation; one loves and expects love in return. This is ego-centred love, not bhakti. Bhakti is love that expects no return. Bhakti means not taking, but giving. As one treads the path of bhakti yoga, self-interest automatically starts to fade. There is a transformation into giving and more giving. Devotion increases as the awareness of the bhakta increases, as he recognizes and progressively removes his limitations and imperfections. The feeling of bhakti is intensified and the level of awareness is correspondingly intensified. The greater the level of bhakti, the less the ego.
As one evolves one becomes aware of higher forms of emotions and learns to seek their fulfilment. At a certain stage, one is aware of brotherly, platonic, paternal and marital love. For the fulfilment of these needs, different people come into one’s life – mother, father, brother, sister, friend, lover, son and daughter. However, there comes a point in life when not emotion but devotion wakes up in a person. Devotion is a refined state of emotional love. The word devotion is preferable to the word love. Emotion, when sublimated and transformed, attains a state of metamorphosis which is called devotion.
The ultimate point in life is God-consciousness. One may have everything – intellect, money, power, beauty, but without devotion life is barren. Devotion to God is the ultimate sadhana. Yoga is not the ultimate sadhana; yoga prepares the road. Just as a road roller prepares smooth roads for cars to drive on, yoga prepares inroads for the mind. Devotion is not going to a temple or a church to pray. Devotion is love and romance with God. The mind is dancing with God. He is my lover, my beloved. I am female, He is male; He is my husband; He is everything to me. That attitude must come. When all the passions are transformed, there will be no passion for anything except Him.
In the course of evolution, when devotion becomes full one goes in search of someone to whom one can give that devotion. When one is five or six, one runs after friends. At fifteen or sixteen, one develops a certain type of emotional yearning and goes in search of a boyfriend or girlfriend to fulfil it. The search is the same with other forms of fulfilment in life, but the awareness of one’s need is different. If that need is not fulfilled, there is a type of panic in the personality. With the evolution of human consciousness, the emotions go through a state of metamorphosis and transformation, until they reach a stage when something else is needed to fulfil them. At that time the guru becomes a need in one’s life, as much as a boy or girl was a need when a teenager, or a friend was a need when a child.
Devotion is the concentrated form of all shades of emotion. Emotion is one force, but it has many channels. Some flow towards other people, objects, ambitions and affairs in life. When emotions attain the sublime they unite to form one force, just as many small streams converge to form a large river.
Devotion is all the different channels of emotion fused into one, and that is why devotion is said to be an all-consuming force. Once devotion is developed, all forms of emotion are consumed. It is said that guru is father, husband, wife, mother, brother, friend and teacher, for in him the totality of emotions is consumed.
When devotion awakens, the universe appears to be infinite and vast and one finds that one is all alone. One does not know where one came from or where one is going. This is a psychic experience in one’s life. However, devotion to guru does not arise due to insecurity or loneliness, but when one realizes the limitations of all other forms of fulfilment in life. Other fulfilments are subject to certain conditions related to time, space and object. They have a beginning and an end; they are ever-changing and often end in frustration and disgust. Before they are fulfilled, there is a lot of excitement, passion, restlessness and anxiety. After the moments of enjoyment, they leave behind a lot of guilt. This is what man becomes aware of in the course of time. The relationship between guru and disciple is of a higher kind and until one becomes aware of that need in one’s life, the relationship with guru cannot be on the level of devotion.
Devotion and divine love are the same. When one loves anything of this world with passion, one’s total being is directed towards the attainment of that aim, whether it is money, power, men, women or any other object. Often one completely forgets oneself for the achievement of that aim; everything else becomes secondary and insignificant. Running after worldly objects is delusion of the mind. When the mind is directed to guru with devotion, the consciousness is completely saturated and totally overpowered by the consciousness of guru or God, and then there comes a moment in one’s life when this duality of consciousness leaves, and there is a state of non-duality of consciousness. This unity of awareness is the ultimate aim to be achieved by the guru-disciple relationship.