continues....
No doubt we are well of worshipping Our Lord who seems to be other than ourselves. But our own Bhagavan, the supreme
embodiment of Him whom we worship, told us it is possible to go even deeper than this dualistic worship -- if we are capable
of doing so. I admit to getting confused between the two paths at times, but when calmness prevails, I feel a natural inclination
to abide as close as possible to pure awareness, transferring the utmost reverence to the cause as if I am in the presence of
Lord Himself.
Any thoughts that Jnana overrides Bhakti and that Bhakti is an inferior path, should be dispelled even when confronted with
the statement that Jnana is the highest path. God is Love. The Self is Love. Devotion is pure Love. Sri Bhagavan loved
devotion and He encouraged it. How could it be otherwise since He is so adorable, so fit to be worshipped? He was totally
devoted to Arunachala and He declared it directly and through His poems of devotion. We should never be misled into
believing that He discouraged devotion. An idea I have come across only recently through several recent articles in Mountain
Path is that devotion and love soften the heart and that softening is a prerequisite to Self Realization, according to Sri
Bhagavan. (See Swami Sadasivananda, Practical Sadhana, Part II, Mountain Path, July-Sept. 2008.)
It may therefore be concluded that bhakti is a building block or stepping stone to Jnana, and I am convinced that bhakti never
disappears in the Jnani, and the bhakta attains the same indescribable non dual transcendence in the state of union with his
Beloved Lord.
According to Sri Ramakrishna, Hanuman said: 'O Rama, sometimes I think that you are the Whole and I am a part, and
sometimes that you are the Master and I am Your servant. But when I have the knowledge of Reality., I see that You are
I and I am You.' (The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna Math, - The Master in Various Moods.)
Shirdi Sai Baba said, 'Meditate on me as pure Anand Nirakara but if you cannot do this, then meditate on this Sai Body
exactly as you see it.' He also said, 'I am the bond slave of my devotee. I love devotion. He who withdraws his heart
from the world and loves me is my true lover and her merges in Me like a river in the sea. (Mani Sahukar, Sai Baba;
The Saint of Shirdi.)
When in the mood of devotion, I cannot look for Him in pictures and images, though they help to concentrate and focus
the mind., (Who would believe it seeing all the images surrounding me?). Inevitably I seek Him within and pray to Him
to reveal Himself, knowing by faith that the only lasting revelation He can give me will be as my own Self.
contd.,
Arunachala Siva.