CHENNAI: What is Bakthi? Bakthi is not just about having faith in the existence of God and going to a temple in our hour of need. Asking God before a crucial exam, ‘Let them not ask questions from the seventh chapter alone. I had no time to read it,’ can be called belief, not Bakthi. Though better than atheism, it is a weak foundation for the exalted Divine life that the Gita puts forward.
What is true Bakthi then? Sri Aurobindo defines it this way, ‘Bakthi is not an experience, it is a state of the heart and soul. The nature of Bakthi is adoration, worship, (and) self-offering to what is greater than oneself.’ ‘(The) delight of the heart in God is the whole essence of true Bakthi,’ he adds.
Well then, here I am, with some faith in my heart about the existence of God. My belief is strong enough to say, ‘Even though the examiner seemed a great lover of the seventh chapter and asked virtually nothing outside it, I still somehow trust in God.’ How do I make such a vague belief, Bakthi? How can my heart develop a ‘delight in God’?
Well, we develop a delight in God by getting to know him and nurturing a relationship with him. We develop a taste for mangoes by eating mangoes.
But that gives rise to the questions, ‘Where do we get our mangoes? How can we get a taste of the Divine who is by definition beyond our mind’s grasp?’
It is for this purpose the Spiritual Masters turned up on earth. Just as aspiring painters study master painters, aspiring yogis should study the great yogis and gurus of the past.
The lives of those great beings are live demonstrations of how one would live when one has surrendered to the Divine and let that take over one’s being. A self-realised master’s life is the kiss of Eternal Love on earth. He is the philosopher’s stone capable of alchemizing us into gold. It is such God-realised men the Lord in the Gita talks about when he says:
Time after time I come to the world for my devotees
To establish dharma. 4.8
Fully absorbed in me, taking refuge in me…
Many have attained my being. 4.10
So, start by getting to know a self-realised person who lived among us in our times. There are records of the daily lives, beautiful biographies and poignant works of every spiritual master. Set aside a separate time of the day for this work. This is the most important work we can do ever in our life, even if at first we don’t realise its significance.
‘Absorb yourselves in me. Take refuge in me,’ our Big Boss said. Gradually, through exposing our being more and more to his influence, we will see that we develop a total openness and an attitude of surrender to him. Truth has that power.
After all, the connection with our spiritual roots is already there in our hearts. It simply has to be awakened and brought to our conscious awareness. We will with time recognise this was what our little ego was frantically searching for all along. We are regaining the connection to our origin. We will, with time, willingly get ourselves rooted in Bakthi.
The book is a heart-warming journey through god’s instruction manual for life