The Sanskrit word bhakti has various translations, based on context, historical periods, and other nuances. Often we hear it translated to mean 'love' or 'devotion', and these would not be untrue or inaccurate. In the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna expounds to Arjuna the different pathways to reach union with Him, of which are the four main yogas: bhakti, raja, karma, and jnana. Please remember that our intention is always to keep these discussions as practical and grounded as possible, so as to give all a real understanding of what we mean. With that being said, it is useful to point out that there are metaphysical implications to what we are talking about. What exactly do we mean by 'union with Him'? Who is/was Krishna and Arjuna?
Recall that another Sanskrit to English translation here is the one that is commonly used: "yoga just means union." To layer further into this conception, and in the context of scripture, we have Krishna and Arjuna as characters which represent a universal drama that is captured in the scripture known as the Bhagavad Gita. It is our presumption that this drama unfolds within every individual's consciousness, which makes it universal. This is also one of the many reasons for the utility of scripture - we have various literary masterpieces that help the individual navigate the spiritual realm. This so-called 'spiritual realm' is simply our personal quest for understanding life, why we are here, where we came from, and the variety of other questions about our universe that arise when we reflect on them. It is spiritual in the very nature that these questions can only be answered from within. No amount of measuring, quantifying, labeling, or categorizing the 'outer world' will give us the ultimate satisfaction we are searching for.
That leads us to the paths of yoga, which, as we mentioned above, "yoga just means union". We refer to union as the state of existence where our limited mind and default mode of perception achieves a unified or "State of Oneness" with whatever it is that we are after. It is the merge of the duality of existence into the One; a nondual state of awareness where subject and object are no longer distinct entities but rather part of the very same fabric from which existence arises. This state of consciousness exists as a potential within every human being; we have many instances of humans who have gone here before us and shown us the Way. We often refer to these individuals as Ascended Masters, sages, saints, enlightened ones. There are numerous examples and truly, they have all incarnated to remind us of our own innate potential. If, indeed, there is just One Awareness, from which the natural world arises and you and me are fragmented pieces of this Whole, then all teachings and all spiritual wisdom exists to point us back to that One Unified State.
We know the truth of these concepts because deep down, perhaps at the genetic level, their resonates a memory of this Oneness. We have subconscious memories of bliss consciousness and our natural state of existing, free from the duality of nature and the limitations of the mind. The usual operations of our mind convince us that we exist as separate entities, distinct from the world, and this mental operation is often referred to as ego. Ego is simply a contraction of the cosmic mind, an activity that is learned when we come into our body as infants and crystallized over time in order for us to actually navigate the worldly plane of existence. Without an ego, without an actual mechanism to convince us that we are separate and must take care of ourselves as an individual, we would never graduate past the age of two. To illustrate this point, there are real examples of saints who have completely dismantled the mechanism of the ego whilst still living in their bodies, and they need to be tended to as if they were an actual infant in an adult body. As mentioned, the ego is an activity of the mind, of consciousness, that allows the cosmic mind to contract around a single, limited identity. It is like a focal point, or a reference point for subject/object distinction. To further understand this, consider the fact that a one year old baby has little to no understanding that it is separate from the world, which this innocent helplessness is actually what makes it so perfect and beautiful to us. It reminds us of our nature and where we come from.
This memory still exists! It is deeply rooted into our biology. Yet, the conflict is that our ego mechanism is also deeply rooted in the same biological system. At BTGY, we talk a lot about the re-wiring of our neurobiology and the re-patterning of the nervous system. We discuss this in scientific terms because it is important for every spiritual seeker to understand that their quest for Truth and the development of each person's individual relationship to God is a literal and scientific process of going inside and rewriting the default biological scripts that are running the show. God just represents our ideal. In Biblical scripture, we hear that "we are created in God's image." The scientific understanding of this, is that we become what we think about habitually, as thoughts create neural groves in our brain and nervous system and thus our body begins to act out these groves accordingly. Our body is basically eavesdropping on our mental processes, and has no choice but to follow suit. So, then, God is that image that we maintain in our mind's eye about who or what we want to be, and when our focus on this ideal slips, we default back to what has been pre-programmed. This pre-programming is the consequence of the world around us imposing its will upon us. When we are born, we are like a soft lump of clay, and the world, society, our friends and families, are shaping this clay. By the time we reach adulthood, the 'who' we think we are is actually what we've been told is us. The spiritual journey is one every individual must take in order to reclaim their power, to reclaim the true embodiment of who we actually are, irrespective of what anyone or anything has told us. To re-member.
Thus, this leads us to our final segment of the discussion in full circle back to bhakti. Our favorite translation of this word is 'to participate'. When we talk about bhakti yoga, we are talking about participation as the pathway to God or 'union with Him', as it were (please use any words/concepts/language that resonate, discard those that do not). When one finds themselves in a tricky situation in life, a circumstance that is deeply triggering or challenging, what happens when we turn around and invite ourselves to actually participate in the fray? To fully embody whatever is in front of us, to face life with an open heart and courage to stay rooted in our feet? This is devotion. This is service. This is love.
The reality is that, life is going to challenge us. We will be presented with difficult and trying times. Such is the nature of our existence here - to temper the soul and prepare it for the final journey at the end of this lifetime. We have to be willing to let go and engage fully, whole-heartedly in what is here. Ultimately, we come to find out that there is no 'there'. Because we are only ever here! Yoga, then, is the process in which we re-member this truth, where we relax the activities of the mind that take us out of the moment and convince us that heaven is somewhere far off at the end of a rainbow, a long journey, or a spiritual destination. Yoga, or union, is the direct realization that God IS here, right now, in everything and everyone, and life is happening exactly as it is supposed to be happening. This is pre-conceptual, pre-cognitive, and there is no place for intellectualizing or pretending. My union with 'you' is dependent on the actual embodiment in my system of knowing that I am no separate or distinct from the world, or the Universe as a whole. As soon as I relax the activity of the 'I - maker' itself, known as ahamkara in Sanskrit, and the 'I' dissolves, what's left? When there is no longer a preference towards good or bad, pleasure or pain, what becomes of life?
Some might call this bliss, others nirvana; words such as enlightenment, moksha, liberation are used.... I just call it Love (capital L). Surrendering into the ocean that surrounds me, and being received into the arms of that very 'thing' that I've been looking for all along. Lover and beloved becoming One, in the eternal love affair that summarizes every being's quest in life. To see and be seen. To love and be loved. To re-member that you are the One you are looking for. To participate in your very own Love story, this is bhakti yoga.
May all sincere seekers awaken to the truth of their own being. OM, Namaste <3
~ Grant Ifflander
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