Bhakti yoga

“ Bhakti Yoga is concentration on the Deity through Devotion, the best and highest form of Yoga, higher than all the other forms, as Krishna Himself has said in the Bhagavat Gita Devotion is the full fruition of spiritual concentration. A true devotee is the highest Yogi, for he is filled with humility, and sincere, abject humility is the expression of the sublimest spiritual nature ”

“ Surrendering Self to Me they wish for nothing else but Myself. Brahmâ, Śiva, Sankarshana, Lakshmî and My own form are not so dear to Me, O Uddhava, as thou art to Me. I always seek my Bhaktas. It is they only that know what bliss they enjoy, Bhakti consumes all impurities, even as fire consumes the fuel. Yoga, Sânkhya, Dharma, study of the scriptures, asceticism, or relinquishment nothing wins me so much as powerful Bhakti does. I am attained only by faithful Devotion. Bhakti purifies the Bhaktas, even though they be Chandâlas by birth. ”

“ Only adequate enlargement by yoga practice and devotional bhakti can prepare the mind to absorb the liberating shock of omnipresence. It comes with a natural inevitability to the sincere devotee. His intense craving begins to pull at God with an irresistible force. ”

“ Devotion causes Dispassion and makes easy the path of Yoga. By indifference to the Guna transformations of Prakriti, by wisdom fostered by Dispassion, by Yoga and by Bhakti (devotion) offered to Me, the Jiva attains Me even while in this body."
"When the Indriyas (the senses and the mind) , that manifest the objects of external and internal perception, become trained by the performance of Vedic Karma, their spontaneous Vritti (or function) in a man of concentrated mind is in Satva which is the same as Vishnu. This Vritti which is void of all selfishness is Bhakti in Bhagavân. ”

“ And he who wishes to grow into a union with the One Life by the influence of Love, he follows the path of "Bhakti Yoga."
But it must not be supposed that the student must ally himself to only a single one of these paths to power. In fact, very few do. The majority prefer to gain a rounded knowledge, and acquaint themselves with the principles of the several branches, learning something of each, giving preference of course to those branches that appeal to them more strongly, this attraction being the indication of need, or requirement, and, therefore, being the hand pointing out the path. ”

“ This world may be said to be divided between persons of demoniacal nature who think the care-taking of the body to be the be-all and the end-all of existence, and persons of godly nature who realise that the body is simply a means to an end, an instrument intended for the culture of the soul. The devil can and indeed does cite the scriptures for his own purpose; and thus the way of knowledge appears to offer justification to what the bad man does, as much as it offers inducements to what the good man does. This is the great danger in Jnana-Yoga. But Bhakti-Yoga is natural, sweet, and gentle ”

“ Prakriti surrounds the whole circle.
WHAT MEN ARE TO DO AND WHAT THEY ARE NOT TO DO. SKANDHA II. CHAP. 3.
This was the second part of Parikshit's question, and to this general question, the answer is also general. Those that want divine glory worship Brahmâ. Those that want their Indriyas to be powerful worship Indra and so on. But those that are desirous of Moksha must practise Bhakti Yoga towards the supreme Purusha. Of all Upasakas, this is the only means of attaining supreme bliss, unswerving Bhakti or devotion to Bhagavân and the company of Bhâgavatas. ”

“ Upâsâna in the form of Bhakti is everywhere supreme, and Bhakti is more easily attained than Jnâna. The latter requires favourable circumstances and strenuous practice. Yoga cannot be properly practiced unless a man is physically very healthy and free from all worldly attachments. But Bhakti can be more easily practiced by persons in every condition of life. Shândilya Rishi, who wrote about Bhakti, says that extreme love for God is Bhakti. Prahlâda speaks to the same effect. If a man does not get food one day, he is troubled; if his son dies, how agonising it is to him! ”

“ They will break to pieces whenever the mysterious forces of the body and mind are even slightly awakened by the practice of any of the Yogas. It is "the young, the healthy, the strong" that can score success. Physical strength, therefore, is absolutely necessary. It is the strong body alone that can bear the shock of reaction resulting from the attempt to control the organs. He who wants to become a Bhakta must be strong, must be healthy. When the miserably weak attempt any of the Yogas, they are likely to get some incurable malady, or they weaken their minds. ”

“ It is well that each one should know something of "Raja Yoga," that he may understand the training and control of the mind, and the use of the Will. It is well that every one should learn the wisdom of "Gnani Yoga," that he may realize the wonderful truths underlying life—the science of Being. And, most assuredly every one should know something of Bhakti Yogi, that he may understand the great teachings regarding the Love underlying all life. ”

“ The one great advantage of Bhakti is that it is the easiest and the most natural way to reach the great divine end in view; its great disadvantage is that in its lower forms it oftentimes degenerates into hideous fanaticism. The fanatical crew in Hinduism, or Mohammedanism, or Christianity, have always been almost exclusively recruited from these worshippers on the lower planes of Bhakti. That singleness of attachment (Nishthâ) to a loved object, without which no genuine love can grow, is very often also the cause of the denunciation of everything else. ”

“ This is the Eightfold Path of Yoga {FN24-6} which leads one to the final goal of KAIVALYA (Absoluteness) , a term which might be more comprehensibly put as "realization of the Truth beyond all intellectual apprehension."
"Which is greater," one may ask, "a swami or a yogi?" If and when final oneness with God is achieved, the distinctions of the various paths disappear. The BHAGAVAD GITA, however, points out that the methods of yoga are all-embracive. Its techniques are not meant only for certain types and temperaments, such as those few who incline toward the monastic life ”

“ There are a number of great souls, living in American or European or other non-Hindu bodies today who, though they may never have heard the words YOGI and SWAMI, are yet true exemplars of those terms. Through their disinterested service to mankind, or through their mastery over passions and thoughts, or through their single hearted love of God, or through their great powers of concentration, they are, in a sense, yogis; they have set themselves the goal of yoga-self-control. ”

“ A swami may conceivably follow only the path of dry reasoning, of cold renunciation; but a yogi engages himself in a definite, step-by-step procedure by which the body and mind are disciplined, and the soul liberated. Taking nothing for granted on emotional grounds, or by faith, a yogi practices a thoroughly tested series of exercises which were first mapped out by the early rishis. Yoga has produced, in every age of India, men who became truly free, truly Yogi-Christs. ”

“ For the final aim of man is here represented as the absolute isolation (kaivalya) of the soul from matter, just as in the Sānkhya system, and not union with or absorption in God. Nor are the individual souls here derived from the “special soul” or God, but are like the latter without a beginning.
The really distinctive part of the system is the establishment of the views prevailing in Patanjali’s time with regard to asceticism and the mysterious powers to be acquired by its practice. Yoga, or “yoking” the mind, means mental concentration on a particular object. ”

“ All the special phenomena of nature are explained as being due to unknown cause (ad@r@s@takâritam) and no explanation is given as to the nature of this unknown (ad@r@s@ta) . It is however said that with the absence of ad@r@s@ta there is no contact of body with soul, and thus there is no rebirth, and therefore mok@sa (salvation) ; pleasure and pain are due to contact of the self, manas, senses and objects. Yoga is that in which the mind is in contact with the self alone, by which the former becomes steady and there is no pain in the body. Time, space, âkâs'a are regarded as inactive. ”

“ Burn to ashes all the books on mathematics, the logically-minded will always rediscover such truths; destroy all the sacred books on yoga, its fundamental laws will come out whenever there appears a true yogi who comprises within himself pure devotion and consequently pure knowledge.”
Just as Babaji is among the greatest of avatars, a Mahavatar, and Sri Yukteswar a Jnanavatar or Incarnation of Wisdom, so Lahiri Mahasaya may justly be called Yogavatar, or Incarnation of Yoga. By the standards of both qualitative and quantitative good, he elevated the spiritual level of society. ”

“ No nation that can produce ten men, great in the eyes of the Unbribable Judge, shall know extinction. Heeding such persuasions, India has proved herself not witless against the thousand cunnings of time. Self-realized masters in every century have hallowed her soil; modern Christlike sages, like Lahiri Mahasaya and his disciple Sri Yukteswar, rise up to proclaim that the science of yoga is more vital than any material advances to man’s happiness and to a nation’s longevity. ”

“ Many of the later Upanishads are largely concerned with the Yoga doctrine. The lawbook of Manu in Book VI. refers to various details of Yoga practice. Indeed, it seems likely, owing to the theistic point of view of that work, that its Sānkhya notions were derived from the Yoga system. The Mahābhārata treats of Yoga in considerable detail, especially in Book XII. It is particularly prominent in the Bhagavadgītā, which is even designated a yoga-çāstra. Belief in the efficacy of Yoga still prevails in India, and its practice survives. ”

“ The Hindu will tell you that you cannot demonstrate God by any argument or reasoning; He is above and beyond reasoning, and although the reason may guide you on the way, it will not prove to demonstration that God is. The only way you can know Him is by diving into yourself. There you will find Him, and know that He is without as well as within you; and Yoga is a system that enables you to get rid of everything from consciousness that is not God, save that one veil of the nirvanic atom, and so to know that God is, with an unshakable certainty of conviction. ”

“ Another word in India which is synonymous with large power and merit is Yoga. It is inculcated in the Yoga philosophy and is supposed to stand for a high mental discipline which speedily qualifies one for absorption into the Deity. It is manifested in the form of abstract meditation and austerity—an austerity embodied in asceticism and self-mortification. From early times this method has been held high in honour, and today is universally esteemed as the most powerful and speedy boat wherewith to cross the sullen stream of human existence. ”

“ One cannot find what the Soul is by seeking in the East, the South, the West, the North, or in the subsidiary directions or horizontally. Very rarely can it be found in him who regardeth this body to be the Self. Beyond the conception of even the Vedas, the man of Yoga-meditation only can behold the Supreme. Completely restraining all thy senses and thy mind also seek thou that Brahman which is known to reside in thy own Soul. He is not a Muni who practiseth only Yoga-meditation ”

“ Yoga enables the devotee to switch off or on, at will, life current from the five sense telephones of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Attaining this power of sense-disconnection, the yogi finds it simple to unite his mind at will with divine realms or with the world of matter. No longer is he unwillingly brought back by the life force to the mundane sphere of rowdy sensations and restless thoughts. Master of his body and mind, the KRIYA YOGI ultimately achieves victory over the "last enemy," death. ”

“ He that is desirous of attaining to high prosperity should become pure in mind, and betaking himself to austere practices in respect of the body and the senses, should devote himself to yoga without desire of fruits. The universe is pervaded by yoga power secretly circulating through every part of it and illumining it brightly. ”

“ The belief that fasting and other penances produce supernatural powers goes back to remote prehistoric times, and still prevails among savage races. Bodily asceticism of this kind is known to the Vedas under the name of tapas. From this, with the advance of intellectual life in India, was developed the practice of mental asceticism called yoga, which must have been known and practised several centuries before Patanjali’s time. For recent investigations have shown that Buddhism started not only from the theoretical Sānkhya but from the practical Yoga doctrine ”

“ Dissociated from all attachments, abstemious in diet, and subduing all the senses, one should fix one's mind on the Soul, during the first and the last part of the night, after having, O king of Mithila, suspended the functions of the senses, quieted the mind by the understanding, and assumed a posture as motionless as that of a block of stone. When men of knowledge, conversant with the rules of Yoga, become as fixed as a stake of wood, and as immovable as a mountain, then are they said to be in Yoga. When one does not hear, and smell, and taste, and see; when one is not conscious of any touch ”