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| Home > Bhakti Yoga > Means & method of practising
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| | Means & method of practising Bhakti Ypga
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A Bhakta can practise Bhakti yoga only when he can discriminate, control his passions, practice this yoga with purity, sacrificial work, strength and also by suppressing his excessive joy but at the same time remaining cheerful as well. The meaning of discrimination or Viveka is, discriminating the pure food from the impure one, since amongst the other things the question of food has always been one of the most vital one with the Bhaktas. There are many materials in the human body, and for a healthy spiritual body, it is required for the materials to enter the body properly. The materials, received through the food into the body structure, determine the spiritual and mental constitution in the human systems; hence the food is of great importance.
However, the Discrimination of food is of secondary importance. Since, the very same concept is explained by Shankara in his Bhashya on the Upanishads in a different way, by giving an entirely different meaning to the word Ahara, translated generally as food. According to him, the knowledge of the sensations, such as sound etc., is gathered in for the enjoyment of the enjoyer; the purification of the knowledge, which gathers in the perception of the senses, is the purifying of the food. Purification of food refers to the acquiring of the knowledge of sensations untouched by the defects of attachment, aversion, and delusion; such is the meaning.
These two explanations are apparently conflicting, yet both are true and necessary. The manipulating and controlling of the mind are higher in their functions than the human body. But the control of the body is absolutely necessary to enable one to arrive at the control of the mind. The beginner, therefore, must pay particular attention to all such dietetic rules as instructed by his teachers; hence the discrimination in the choice of food is necessary for the attainment of a higher state of mental composition, which cannot be easily obtained otherwise.
After the food, it is very important for the individual to control his Passions. It is necessary for the religious culture to restrain the organs from going towards the objects of the senses, to control them and bring them under the guidance of the will. Then comes the practice of self-restraint and self-denial. Such all the immense possibilities of divine realisation in the soul cannot get actualized without struggle and without such practice on the part of the aspiring devotee. It is required for the mind to always think of the Lord. Though it might be a very difficult target to achieve in the beginning, but with every new effort, the power to do will surely grow stronger within a Bhakta and he will be compelled to achieve this aim.
For the Sacrificial Work, it is understood that the five great sacrifices have to be performed as usual. Purity is absolutely the basic work, the base upon which the whole Bhakti-building rests. Cleansing the external body and discriminating the food are both easy, but without internal cleanliness and purity, these external observances are of no value whatsoever. For all the gods, sages, manes, guests and all creatures, there are a few qualities that are conducive to purity, like truthfulness, sincerity, performing good deeds, not injuring others by thought, word, or deed, not craving over others` goods, not thinking vain thoughts, and not brooding over injuries received from another. Out of all these qualities, the striking one is Ahimsa. The test of Ahimsa is absence of jealousy, since the real lover of mankind is not jealous of any one. The man whose heart always thinks good for others and who never injures anyone with his words or deeds is the real Bhakta, the Yogi, and he is the Guru of all. Therefore one must always remember that the external practices have the value only as they help to develop internal purity. It is better to have internal purity alone, when minute attention to external observances is not practicable.
The next means to the attainment of Bhakti-Yoga is Strength. He who wants to become a Bhakta must be strong and healthy. Not those people who are physically and mentally weak, but those who are strong and hardy can attain this yoga since those alone can bear the shock of reaction resulting from the attempt to control the organs. It is only for the hail and hearty people that can achieve the success in the yoga, since the frail and the feeble ones will not be able to manage the pressure and can breakdown, whenever the mysterious forces of the body and mind are even slightly awakened by the practice of any of the Yogas. They are also likely to get some incurable illness, or they can weaken their minds by practising the same. Voluntarily weakening the body is really no prescription for spiritual enlightenment. Thus, this shows the importance of the Physical Strength.
The mentally weak also cannot succeed in attaining the Atman. The person who aspires to be a Bhakta must be Cheerful. Those people who always have a gloomy face and are always serious in life are not necessarily yogis. Infact, a bhakta always has to remain cheerful externally and also have a cheerful mind that is persevering, since a strong and a happy mind can end thousand difficulties. To remain cheerful always, is the power of the mind and it requires enormous will to get oneself out of all the worldly bonds and tensions and have a cheerful and happy mind throughout.
However, at the same time Excessive Joy should also be avoided. Excessive entertainment makes a bhakta unfit for serious thought. This is mostly the reason that deviates the power and the energies of the mind from its aim and lets it squander away in nonsense thoughts. Hence, it is important for the mind to be stronger and stop itself from being swayed in emotions.
Thus, from it is very important for a bhakta to keep his mind in such a mind that it would not be into the path of either excessive sadness or excessive hilarity. It is required for the mind to strike a balance between both the two since religious realisations are possible only when the mind is in a steady, peaceful condition of harmonious equilibrium and this would be the beginning of the phase to learn how to love the Lord.
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