Bhakti Yoga: The Path of Love

Love is not an expression of the intellect; it is not an expression of emotion; it is not an expression of proper relationship. It is an expression of man's deep rooted divinity.

- Paramhansa Satyananda Saraswati
There are different paths within the Yoga tradition, but they are all pathways to God. Karma Yoga is the path of selfless service, Raja Yoga is the path of meditation, Jnana (Gyan) Yoga is the path of self-inquiry and Kriya Yoga is the path of awakening the inner energy of self-evolution. Bhakti Yoga is the path of love and devotion. It is the path of transcendent emotion. Although there are different cultural forms of religious devotion, Bhakti itself cannot be learned or practiced. It must awaken spontaneously in the heart. All of the ritualistic forms of devotion that we know are empty gestures without the true awakening of devotion within.

Bhakti, however, is the fuel, the force behind our spiritual evolution. Without love, philosophy is just endless pages of ink, semantic trickery. Without faith it is nearly impossible to stick to the practice of meditation. When we perform our work out of an attitude (bhava) of devotion it is transformed from drudgery to inspired service. Once Bhakti is awakened within us the mystical path of union becomes an open freeway. God is love and God resides within our hearts so there is really nothing but love. Love and faith are deeper than mind and intellect.

Thought is always dualistic. Its nature is to divide, fragment, analyze, distinguish and dissect. Relying exclusively on thought, we inevitably become lonely and isolated. Physicist David Bohm realized this as he investigated deeper into both relativity and quantum physics. He posited that our universe of apparent diversity and separation is actually based in a holographic unity. Behind the world of appearances is a deeper unified order. Bhakti Yoga tells us that it is love not wisdom which actually connects us with this deeper hidden unified field.

There are three aspects of Bhakti Yoga: Prem (love), Bhava (mood or attitude) and Bhakti (total surrender.) Just as we might begin a Hatha Yoga class and struggle painfully at first until we learn to flow ecstatically with the energy of the asanas, so Bhakti Yoga begins, perhaps, with an effort to focus feeling on the Divine. It is a process of transference. We might begin with the feelings of love and attachment we have towards family, friends, pets, money and possessions, etc. Knowing that these are all transitory objects we endeavor to turn our attachment towards that which is eternal. Thus Bhakti can be channeled by wisdom. However, the feeling, the emotion must be powerful and genuine to succeed. Too many of us have closed up our hearts because we have lost faith.

On the path of love and devotion we understand that the ego is constructed out of this lack of faith. We hold onto our narrow, neurotic and painful self-concept as a defense against our fear of self-annihilation. We are afraid to love because we can’t risk losing our self-control. This is a problem in all of our relationships. The need to be in control is a huge obstacle. So is the need to be approved of by and to feel superior to others. Perhaps we have been hurt, manipulated, rejected or abandoned by the love-objects we have sought in the world. Perhaps we have driven them away out of arrogance and self-centeredness. This is all a learning process on the path of love.

The mystics tell us that God is the only true object of love, and God is the true source of love. Within mystical union lover and beloved become One. The Divine Being lives within each of us, not as object but as subject. Once we can go beyond form or appearances, we can intuit the formless essence within. It is the same Self shining within the diversity of sacred forms. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad states:

Those who realize the Self enter into the peace that
brings complete self-control and perfect patience.
They see themselves in everyone and everyone in
themselves. Evil cannot overcome them because they
overcome all evil. Sin cannot consume them because
they consume all sin. Free from evil, free from sin and
doubt, they live in the Kingdom of Brahman (God.)
This kingdom is yours!
The Upanishads (Classic of Indian Spirituality)

Or as a famous mystical teacher told us, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” It is the Kingdom of Bhakti.