When we left off before the holidays, we’d learned that Bhakti Yogis get right to the point: theirs is entirely a devotional practice. They:
- Hear about God
- Sing about God
- Remember God
- Serve God
- Worship God
- Glorify God
- Devote themselves to God
- Befriend God
- Surrender to God completely
No need to endure the rigors of the path to realization that we stubborn “generic” yogis slog through – frustratingly, only to arrive at the same place: singing some version of
HALLELUIAH!!
But the intuitive truth about getting there the hard way is – it sticks. It changes you. When you “get” the whole other-dimension thing about your consciousness, it’s a game-changer.
SERVICE
We’re up to the fourth of the nine devotional practices of Bhakti Yoga, serving God.
Not sure what the usual reaction to truly realizing of the existence of God is – let alone that part of the Divine resides in YOU! – but an educated guess is that – after recovering – you’re moved to express gratitude for your own life by helping others, because once you realize the whole Father-Son-Ghost relationship includes YOU personally, you no longer need anything. <3
Not sure if he’s still speaking to me given my defensive posturing with respect to the source of my own devotion – Patanjali 😉 – but here’s a quote from Edwin’s latest tome on the source of his:
From Edwin F. Bryant’s “BHAKTI YOGA Tales and Teachings from the Bhagavata Purana”:
“Most definitions of bhakti scattered in various [classical ancient] texts featured the ideal of service, which we noted is synonymous with love. While the word “service” sometimes carries a negative connotation associated with servitude, we can understand from our own human relationships that the more we deeply love another person, the more we try to please him or her with service.”
In other words, love thy neighbor! Tap into YOUR inner power; meditate!
#BringBackPatanjali
RAJA YOGA – originated in India; seated meditation; like trying to touch the Divine within YOU!
QIGONG (medical) – originated in China; moving meditation; like trying to dance with the Divine within YOU!! [classes coming in 2018]
