Bhakti… What is bhakti? It is the backbone of all living beings. It is a strong belief in an Infinite power or energy that one strongly believes, deep inside their being, though unnoticed by sometimes. Bhakti is a way of enjoying God’s presence and feeling His love. It is actually an easy way of realizing God. Bhakti is very different from rituals such as puja etc. Practically speaking, bhaktas use these rituals as spending time with God. They see their God everywhere and all around them at all times. They feel one with their beloved. Bhakti opens many ways of relating ourselves with God such as father, mother, brother, sister, soulmate, husband etc. One gets the energy to establish relationship with the infinite only when one is in love with that identity. Otherwise, there is a hint of fear when the term "God" is thought. Hence, when one is in bhakti, he never is lonely. Bhakti does all that Jnana does, but in a very soft ,safe and subtle way. When a human is in love with anybody they put the loved one ahead of themselves. If a human being loves God intensely as Meera Bai etc , what happens is, they forget themselves means their ego is pushed to a corner first and then it loses its grip on the person and ultimately the bhakta becomes Divine. Bhakti explains that God is not a bank from where we keep on withdrawing blessings and use him as a magic wand to fulfill desires. It is well seen in the lives of Great Devotees , that suffering always existed ! Then what is there that they longed to have in-spite of the absurd circumstances. Only when a human gets something higher in value ,he starts discarding the stuff already in his possession , that seems to be less important and valuable . Hence in bhakti , great devotees are achieving something VERY VALUABLE that they do not care for anything around them say…. pain, hunger, poverty, torture etc . Ramakrishna Paramahamsa… was suffering from throat cancer , he could not eat at all towards the end. We cannot imagine the exact magnitude of pain in that condition , but he was always happy. Ramana Maharishi…….Cancerous lump on his arm but never cared for it. When does human doesn’t care? Only when it is not bothering him right! So bhakti ( Love for God) is that valuable thing ! Darshan of some of the great devotees... 1.Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Mother Kali. 2.Meera Bai and Sri Krishna 3.Ramadasa and Sri Rama. 4.Tulasidas and Sri Rama 5. Tukaram and Vithoba *********--------------**********--------*********
@Goodgod Thank you so much for this wonderful initiative and giving us 5 darshans in one go. Feeling blessed PS : Loved the way you changed the colors to make it interesting. Yet another masterstroke.
There was a devotee named Basavudu in Karnataka. He was a real devotee of Lord Siva. One man who was also a devotee of Lord Siva, went to see how great Basavudu was! He met him and asked ''Who is the greatest devotee of Lord Siva?'' Basavudu replied...." I am the only devotee". Questioner (surprised) .. again asked ..." Is there no other , what about me?" Basavudu... " All living are my Siva to me , so only devotee is me." Questioner (stunned) at his answer and could experience the depth of his love for Lord Siva .He then saluted Basavudu and left . -----------------------------------------------------------------------
