Bhagavadgita -Radhakrishnan 44

The Bhagavadgita -S. Radhakrishnan

11. The Way of Devotion: Bhakti-margaa

The Way of Devotion: Bhakti-marga Bhakti or devotion is a relationship of trust and love to a personal God worship of the unmanifested (avyaktopasana) is difficult for ordinary human beings, though there are instances of great advaitins (non-dualists) who have given to the Impersonal Reality a warm emotional content.[1] Worship of the Personal God is recommended as the easier way open to all, the weak and the lowly, the illiterate and the ignorant.[2]The sacrifice of love is not so difficult as the tuning of the will to the Divine purpose or ascetic discipline or the strenuous effort of thinking.The origin of the way of devotion is hidden in the mists of long ago. The praises and prayers of the Rg. Veda, the upasanas of the Upanisads and the ardent piety of the Bhagavata religion influenced the author of the Gatti. He struggles to develop an order of ideas belonging to the religious side of the Upanisads to which they were not able to give free and unambiguous utterance. The Supreme is not a God who sleeps in serene abstraction while hearts heavy laden cry out for help, but a saving God of love believed and experienced as such by the devotee. He bestows salvation on those who believe in Him. He declares :"This is my word of promise, that He who loveth me shall not perish.[3]


References and Context

  1. The devotees dismiss the Advaita emphasis on knowledge as a damnable heresy or a soul-killing error, though recognizes the value of devotion as a preparation for gradual release.
  2. IX, 32; see also XI, 53-4, XII, 1-5. "What were the good practices of Vyadha ? What was the age of Dhruva? What was the learning of Gajendra? What was the prowess of Ugrasena? What was the beauty of Kubja ? What was the wealth of Sudama ? The Lord, who is the lover of devotion, is pleased with devotion and does not bother about (other) qualities."vyadhasyacaranam, dhruvasya ca vayo, vidya galendrasya ha,ka jatir vadurasya, yadavapater ugrasya kiln paurusam,kubyayah kamaniyarupamadhikam kiln tat sudamno dhanambhaktya tusyati kevalam na to gunah bhakti priyo madhavah.A verse attributed to reads : "Let the state of birth be that of a man or an angel or of a beast of the hill and the forest, of a mosquito, of the cattle, of an insect, of a bird or such others, if the heart longs to revel incessantly in this life in the contemplation of Thy lotus feet, that flood of supreme bliss, how does the embodiment matter?"naratvam naratvam nagavanamrgatvam masakata pasutvam naratvam bhavatu vihagatvadh jananam sada tvatpadabyasmaranaparamanandalaharivihclrasaktarn cedhrdayam z ha ksm tena vapusa.This is rather an exaggerated way of emphasizing the Importance of bhakti.
  3. IX, 31