There is a difference between actual bhakti, and mere adoption of the apparent forms of bhakti, e.g. chanting mantras and honoring deities seemingly very devotionally. This is the world of appearances after all - we are easily impressed by appearances, by outer images, by form over substance, by appearance over actual character. If we are looking to understand and develop bhakti, we must know actually what bhakti is and who is actually practicing ... as distinct from those who are merely pretending to do so for their own purposes, like politicians who are willing to adopt whatever external positions best serve their own motives. Bhakti is not a process to fulfill our own purposes. It means those activities performed for the pleasure of the Lord Himself. Devotion is not determined in terms of attention to the mere forms of bhakti, such as chanting mantras and worshipping deities and remembering such pastimes as the Ramayana... but in terms of our motivation for doing such. For whose pleasure and purposes do we chant mantras and worship deities? If, behind whatever the externals of our practices may be, our actual intention is for our own enlightenment or liberation or experience of bliss ... if we think of the mantras and the forms of our practices as being mere symbols, representatives of something that is ultimately beyond Name and Form and Personality ... then we have no connection with bhakti at all, we are not devotees of Rama, for example, merely by virtue of any seeming external attachment to chanting His names and reading the stories about His pastimes with Sita and Hanuman and Laxman and Ravana. Bhakti means that His interest, His pleasure, His service ... is the purpose of our practices, of our very existence. If, when all is said and done, our own sense of self-interests are at the center of our lives and practices, whereby we think that the practices of bhakti, such as chanting His Names and remembering His lilas, are but tools to help us fulfill our own purposes, then we are in fact entirely opposed to the actual nature of bhakti. He is my Lord, I am His servant, His instrument. For what purpose? Simply to serve. To engage in service for the sake of achieving something else ... is not bhakti. Therefore one time when Srila Prabhupada was asked what was the purpose of chanting, he answered - chanting! na dhanam na janam na sundarim, kavitam va jagadisha kamaye mama janmani janmanishvare, bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi O Lord of the universe, I do not desire wealth, followers such as wife, sons, friends and relatives, or mundane knowledge expressed in poetic language. My only desire, O Lord, is that in birth after birth I may have unmotivated devotion unto Your lotus feet. Here Lord Caitanya is teaching us what is bhakti. And if someone is engaged in the externals, but with an underlying mood that they are doing so for their own sense of self-interest, that they actually dont care about bringing pleasure to Bhagavan Himself, indeed, they dont actually believe that God is ultimately a Person anyway ... then the very last thing they can do for us is actually inspire our bhakti. Rather, they will subtly pollute it with their own aparadhas ...
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 08:42:26 +0000
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