02-24-2008, 12:00 AM
To know the nature of worship I suggest the indian Bhakti Sutras of Narada Muni.
According to Narada devotion is a growing love for God and surrendering (our little personality) to him.
Those unfamiliar with this may easily grow in devotion by doing some devotional mantras.
In this yogic path (bhakti) there is a point when the mind becomes one-pointed and focused on loving God and the sadhaka (practitioner) becomes one with his object of worship (in this case God).
According to the yogic seers the samadhi out-of-bhakti is of similar nature of the samadhi out of gnostic inquiry (jnana yoga) or mind control (raja yoga).
But these are root paths... a modern yogi should know them and practice them all at once.
PS: Loving God is the easiest of paths (and also, the least dangerous of all). When you really love God, you only want him. Power can't seduce you, because you only want to love him more and more.
The only posible danger is thinking at some point that you are an unique devotee, better than everyone.
But that only happens if our sadhana is not deep enough.
An example of this (not good, but valid) is the Hare Krishna Movement. The devotees repeat hundreds of times the maha mantra and enter in a shallow state of inner bliss.
It's shallow because most of them don't deeply surrender their personalities. As they grow in love, they begin to "give in". Those who do will enter in samadhi and after extensive practice (I'am talking of years of sadhana with purity, right devotion and discrimination) achieve liberation.
A nice modern example of devotion was the late Swami Yogananda, the famous and great kriya yoga acharya (master).
He loved God with all his heart and did only his will.
According to Narada devotion is a growing love for God and surrendering (our little personality) to him.
Those unfamiliar with this may easily grow in devotion by doing some devotional mantras.
In this yogic path (bhakti) there is a point when the mind becomes one-pointed and focused on loving God and the sadhaka (practitioner) becomes one with his object of worship (in this case God).
According to the yogic seers the samadhi out-of-bhakti is of similar nature of the samadhi out of gnostic inquiry (jnana yoga) or mind control (raja yoga).
But these are root paths... a modern yogi should know them and practice them all at once.
PS: Loving God is the easiest of paths (and also, the least dangerous of all). When you really love God, you only want him. Power can't seduce you, because you only want to love him more and more.
The only posible danger is thinking at some point that you are an unique devotee, better than everyone.
But that only happens if our sadhana is not deep enough.
An example of this (not good, but valid) is the Hare Krishna Movement. The devotees repeat hundreds of times the maha mantra and enter in a shallow state of inner bliss.
It's shallow because most of them don't deeply surrender their personalities. As they grow in love, they begin to "give in". Those who do will enter in samadhi and after extensive practice (I'am talking of years of sadhana with purity, right devotion and discrimination) achieve liberation.
A nice modern example of devotion was the late Swami Yogananda, the famous and great kriya yoga acharya (master).
He loved God with all his heart and did only his will.