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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1734 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 12 2015 : 1:55:44 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by dv2014
And although bhakti starts out as desire, it becomes surrender at some point? ...
In my experience, bhakti has always had a lot of surrender in it. It's the ultimate 'I accept whatever you give me (or not give me)' type of love.
It ends up disappearing in unity, where there is no boundary/distinction between the lover and the loved anymore.
"Love went on and on
Until it found an open door
Then love itself was gone."
Some of you would have guesses - Yes, it is Leonard Cohen (again). This bit of poem did not make any sense to me for many years before it became obvious. |
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dv2014
USA
93 Posts |
Posted - Aug 12 2015 : 8:11:26 PM
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Thank you all for chiming in  I can see that you guys are pouring out genuinely from the heart - true bhaktas. I guess until I experience that it will remain alien to me - for example Leonard Cohen's lines don't make any sense to me, sadly so 
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Radharani
USA
843 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2015 : 04:32:23 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by dv2014
Radharani
@Charliedog - yes it feels like a warm family
On bhakti again, I wonder how and where it factors in the inner silence+energy equation. It seems it can clean up a lot and thereby enhance the energetic movement perhaps? But bhakti being a stand-alone practice (in some traditions), can it bring up inner silence as well?
(I am so sold on this inner silence - ecstatic conductivity model that I try to fit in everything in there  )
And although bhakti starts out as desire, it becomes surrender at some point? ...
Regarding bhakti as a standalone practice (in certain traditions) and inner silence, that is a really good question.
When I was hanging out with the Hare Krishnas in college, on my first visit I arrived early and sat in lotus meditating on their porch while waiting for the satsang to begin. When they saw me, the leaders frowned and said, "We don't approve of meditation in this dark age, the Kali Yuga! Humanity has fallen too far. Now only chanting the Names and doing service for the Lord can save us." They don't approve of any "advanced yoga practices."
I can tell you absolutely, yes, chanting the Divine Names can bring me back to inner silence in an instant. And on a really bad/hectic day, with illness or whatever, sometimes that's all I can manage. Just saying it silently one time, even, can bring breathlessness, an end to time and space, utter blissful Oneness, as everything sinks into the heart. As Yogani says, "a single devotional thought..."
But, when I began studying and practicing bhakti yoga I had already been doing kriya yoga and deep meditation for 4 years, so the system was already "primed" and accustomed to inner silence. Would the bhakti practice alone have been sufficient to produce inner silence, without the prior pranayama and meditation? I don't know. Maybe it does for some people? |
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1734 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2015 : 04:42:44 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by dv2014
for example Leonard Cohen's lines don't make any sense to me, sadly so
I shouldn't worry about that. He is talking about non-duality. My mistake - I shouldn't have jumped ahead like that.
You are doing yoga practices, so there must be bhakti there. It will grow with practices.
In my experience bhakti fuels kundalini. I think meditation is really important so that inner silence can grow. I would not recommend using bhakti alone. |
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Charliedog
1625 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2015 : 05:16:37 AM
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All forms and names of yoga and meditation bring you to more freedom and enlightenment ( steady practice), it is a personal choice which way to choose, and the road may change during the journey... my two cents. |
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dv2014
USA
93 Posts |
Posted - Aug 13 2015 : 7:34:04 PM
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Blue, Radharani, Charledog - 
@Blue - not your mistake, I was just saying Cohen was a little abstract for me
Yes, for normal human beings Bhakti alone might not be enough.
@Radharani - As you said you have been practicing meditation and also some people might be born near-ripe. Chanting and bhakti is a major part of the culture I grew up, but I doubt if that alone has helped the masses, but then there are great bhaktas like Mira Bai in the history, who perhaps didn't need any meditation to develop inner silence ...
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cultivating bhakti
