February 10, 2017 at 9:47 pm

True love can happen only between God and his Bhakta. The bhakti or divine love of Lord Hanuman to Lord Rama, Meera who devoted every second of her life to Krishna is the biggest example of Bhakti-Yoga. Parvati loved Shiva from the day she was born. Mandevi, wife of the king of Himalayas, devotee of Shiva, wanted a daughter who would grow up to be wife of Shiva. She performed tapasya, pleased Gauri promised to be born as her daughter. Parvati was then born, the first word that she uttered was “Shiva”. 

Later she undertook strict penance to win Shiva. This is true love, rare these days. This is bhakti yoga, pure spiritual devotion of love for God. Everything is but a manifestation of the divine and all else is meaningless, including the Ego. When the devotee is blessed by divine grace, he feels an undivided union and for him “Love is God and God is Love”. The bhakta longs to meet God. Nothing else attracts him. This is true love which can happen only between God and his devotee. Everything else in this world is materialistic. No friendship, no love is without hidden agenda.

• This topic was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by  Krishna Kumar.

February 12, 2017 at 1:12 am

Religion teaches us many things which if and when inculcated makes us achieve the level where we are in a position to reach or interact with our Lord or Guru as the case may be. There is a case of total surrender and having an unconditional faith in the Lord at whose feet we place ourselves. We are too lazy to understand this process and many a time we give up easily as we do not get the desired results for the purpose for which the act is being carried out.

But remember if we do something to get something out of a process with the divine, it means that there is a selfish angle or motive attached which is not desirable. We do not have to ask anything as He is already aware of the situation which we are in, He just wants to relate ourselves to Him as water of a river merges into the seas or the oceans. For the river to do such a thing there is no selfish need and it is a unconditional merger with the sea or ocean.

This process is nothing but unconditional surrender and He will be very pleased with devotees or humans who have such thinking and qualities and implement the same and practice it with with all genuineness. He will shower his blessing on such devotees of His unconditionally too, as that is how He loves them.

February 12, 2017 at 3:59 pm

There are many ways to establish a direct relationship with God. There is Bhakti Marg, Jnana path ,Yoga path, Vibhuti yoga and many other things. One can attain salvation by choosing any Path appropriate or suitable to him. There are learned and highly educated people, there are semi-educated and uneducated.

The learned and educated by virtue of their education can understand how to please God or what pleases God. They know how to chant Vedic mantras and Suktas. They know which mantra should be chanted for which, God.  They can please God by following the procedure meant for each ritual.  Hence, they are sure to please God and attain salvation.

But, what about the Semi-educated and uneducated.  How can an illiterate perform prayers duly following the procedures in rituals? Who will tell him? It does not mean that he has no love for God But, he does not know how to express it. But, God has to listen to him also and give him salvation. He will do it. A dumb person can not worship God with prayers and mantras. But God has to accept him also as his true follower.

But, how? Here comes the concept of Bhakti. Their Bhakti or devotion is unlimited for the Almighty.  Sabari tasted the fruits before offering them to Lord Rama. Just because she wanted to offer him only sweet fruits.

Bhakta Kannappa was not having any knowledge of Mantras and devotional prayers. But, Lord shiva showed gave him salvation. He could not see the water from an eye  of Phallus and so removed his eye to offer it to Lord Shiva. He accepted his offer and pleased by his love and gave him Moksha.

FINALLY, WE SHOULD UNDER UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS ONLY  THE FEELING IN THE HEART THAT MATTERS HIM ULTIMATELY.

February 12, 2017 at 5:08 pm

A great treasure trove of information regarding the different the different approaches one adopt to reach or establish link with God depending on each individuals intelligence, knowledge, wisdom. As mentioned above the river is one and the ways to reach the river are many depending on the capacity of each individual who is pursuing the goal of reaching Him in the process of living his life. Now a days we do not find the kind of people who were there and used to follow regimented procedures just a century back.

As times are fast changing and life is becoming too fast paced and people are pursuing different fields in which they tend to specialize for a living. And one more important thing is there was a subject called moral science which was a different when I was a child. Now that has been stopped and computers and general knowledge has replaced it. This happening from childhood leads people away from spirituality so the simplest methods are the one which are being followed by the present generation in their spiritual pursuits. As long as they find spiritual solace it is very good for them. Thank you for adding the information to the article.