Post By: Vishwanath Iyer Published on: December 16, 2016 Reading time: 7 minutes
Bhakti–yoga is the technique of transferring the sense of identity (asmitā) from ourselves to an external object such as a personal deity (iṣṭadeva), Guru/ master or teacher.
The conceptual drivers of bhakti–yoga are,
In fact, bhakti can also denote transference of identity to a concept such as a county. When this occurs, the individual’s sense of identity gets subsumed into that of the object or deity.
As a result, there is conscious and unconscious merger of the personality of the practitioner into that of the deity, or Yoga.
What is important here is that we must personify the deity with values that are ideal to us. This allows easy surrender and our own evolution into that vision. It is critical that we do not get swayed or allow another person’s interpretation to cloud our vision. The reason for this is, our vision comes from within ourselves and this will make it easier to merge with the deity. Interpretation of other’s will act as interference or impedance and slow down our ability to release our self-esteem (asmitā).
In society, this is used extensively – nations use flags, companies use brands and logos. However, the transference of such identities is nominal, to the extent of building and retaining a bond for a specific purpose. Bhakti-yoga requires diffusion of identity that is deeply sublime.
In society, this can mean any service rendered to a cause which is not intended to increase one’s sense of identity; this will include all religions, communism, nations, cults and causes.
Leaders and dictators around the world often use this technique to become larger than life – Hitler was called fuehrer, Mao Zedong was actively quoted through his little red book, the Kim family of North Korea have entered the consciousness of every North Korean etc.
Bhakti-yoga an intrinsic part of the gurukula form of teaching in Oriental societies. Here, the yogi or student stays with the teacher and slowly imbibes verbal as well as non-verbal teaching during the residency through service. So, when the student leaves the gurukula, he or she has subsumed his or her psyche below that of the guru or teacher.
There is a famous story in the 1950’s regarding the 2 famous Quality Guru’s Deming and Juran when they were invited to Japan for training the Japanese on Quality. Many of the delegates were found trying to mimic Deming and Juran in their walk, talk and eating styles. Their intent was to imbibe the character of these masters completely, to the extent of their personality.
All major religions subscibe to mysticism and mystic experiences, where the practitioner sees no difference between the self and the deity.
There are many examples of bhakti-yoga in India such as Meerabai, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu etc.
Sufism, a branch of Islam is very similar to bhakti-yoga, prescribing – dhikr or remembering God, sema which is a form of devotional music and dance like a combination of srachana and smarana, muraqaba or meditation which is akin to vandana with the aim of experiencing ecstatic states (hal), purification of the heart (qalb), overcoming the lower self (nafs), extinction of the individual personality (fana), communion with God (haqiqa), and higher knowledge (mrifat).
Other religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Sikhism and Judaism also proscribe to mystic, with techniques similar to bhakti-yoga.
It is important to remember that the direction of bhakti can be to a deity, person, an entity such as country or even a concept such as environmental protection, wildlife conservation or even archaeology.
Unfortunately, there are some negatives as well, for when the influence of the master overwhelms the aspirant, it can result in the formation of a cult or a society dominated by a master.
Internal Tags: Dharma (conditioning), Stress and Situational Awareness, Stress and prana, Awareness measures, Hatha Yoga Pradeepika, Patanjali Yoga Sutra, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga.
External Tags: Consciousness, Bhakti Movement in India
The epitome of Bhakti – Hanuman