Commentary by Siddha Yoga Meditation Teacher Laura Dickinson
Devotion connotes the qualities of deep reverence and divine worship, of inner faith and outer practice.1 In Sanskrit, the word for devotion is bhakti, and the eminent Vedic sage Narada dedicated an entire scripture, the Narada Bhakti Sutra, to the topic. Narada defines bhakti as “the highest form of love,” by which he means love for God.2 This kind of pure love unfolds naturally and spontaneously as you progress on the spiritual path.
Every seeker of the Truth has the innate ability to encounter the reservoir of bhakti within themself, because the very desire to perform spiritual practices is itself bhakti. As you engage in the spiritual practices, bhakti manifests as a feeling that may take on many flavors and forms: a state of profound peace that arises within; a nectarean sweetness that suffuses every fiber of your being; a blissful energy that bursts forth from your heart.
Bhakti is also a practice in itself. A commentary on Shri Bhagavad Gita by the thirteenth-century philosopher and sage Jnaneshvar Maharaj unlocks the mystery of devotional practice with poetic precision, opening a pathway for the seeker who wants to nurture bhakti.
Within the temple of the bliss of the Self, [the seeker] installs the image of his Guru and pours over it the nectar of meditation. When the sun of the awareness of Brahman dawns, he fills the basket of his intelligence with pure feeling and offers the flowers of his feeling to Shankar in the form of his Guru.3
In this account, the seeker rests in the perception of his heart as a temple and meditates, visualizing his Guru. The inner image he calls forth evokes an attitude of devotion. As that devotional love builds, he treats it as a sacred gift that he offers back to the Guru. He holds the awareness that the Guru is Shankar, a name for the Lord. As the seeker paints this inner scene, bhakti awakens within him.
You can also practice devotion by inwardly focusing your attention on an aspect of God’s creation. For example, you might summon up an image of nature, such as a stately mountain, a majestic tree, or a serene lake. By turning your attention to these forms with the awareness of their intrinsic divinity, love for God can emerge in the intimate space of your own heart.
Gurumayi explains the great power of bhakti in her book The Yoga of Discipline. She says:
Devotion to God is much more than a feeling. Through your devotion, God comes alive for you. Through your devotion, you also invite the one you worship into your body, into your mind, into your life. The formless takes on a form that you can relate to.4
As you bring the object of worship into yourself, an inner alchemy takes place. Kundalini Shakti, the spiritual power or energy, builds within you, and you begin to acquire the very qualities of that which you are worshiping. By acknowledging the blossoming of devotion within you, you nourish a deep feeling of love for God, and in the process, God comes to life for you.
1The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Fifth Edition (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2002). 2Bhakti Sutra, 2; William K. Mahony, Exquisite Love: Reflections on the spiritual life based on Narada’s Bhakti Sutra (Davidson, NC: Sarvabhava Press, 2014), p. 37. 3Jnaneshvari, 13.386–87; Swami Muktananda, The Perfect Relationship: The Guru and the Disciple (South Fallsburg, NY: SYDA Foundation, 1980), p. 164. 4Swami Chidvilasananda, The Yoga of Discipline (South Fallsburg, NY: SYDA Foundation, 1996), p. 26.
Today I set aside time to view the virtue Devotion and to read the commentary about it. This intention alone brought me joy, and all day I repeated to myself, “I feel so great, so happy!” without having any apparent reason.
When I read the commentary, I realized that some aspects of devotion were already inside me. I experienced the truth of Gurumayi’s words: “Devotion to God is much more than a feeling. Through your devotion, God comes alive for you.”
Today I feel God deeply within and without!
San Giorgio a Cremano, Italy
As I read Gurumayi’s words quoted in the commentary, I realized that the love I increasingly feel for everything around me—the trees, the insects, the bird sounds, my possessions, my strengths, my challenges—is a form of devotion and is a way of experiencing God.
Gurumayi says, “The formless takes on a form that you can relate to.” And this is exactly what I am experiencing. I perceive God in all these forms in my outer life, and I simultaneously experience God in the form of all the parts of me, such as my virtues, my foibles, and my striving.
California, United States
I experience bhakti as longing for all that is God—life itself, virtues, beauty in all its manifestations. When I come across beauty, my heart becomes soft; it is touched deeply and tears come to my eyes. I experience beauty and devotion when I think about, listen to, or read Gurumayi’s teachings. Walking the Siddha Yoga path has been an incredibly enriching experience for me in teaching me to recognize beauty and celebrate it.
California, United States
Devotion for the Guru gives meaning and joy to my life. Everything in my daily experience is worthwhile because of this love.
I often experience devotion as a conversation with my Beloved. I try to connect, and I perceive that I am being heard by my Beloved—and always with so much benevolence. This true love makes me love my life.
New York, United States
As I read this beautiful commentary, I recalled the many fleeting moments of devotion I’ve experienced since following the Siddha Yoga path. But this morning I was in a different state of mind, feeling a contraction and a niggling worry in my heart. So I read the commentary three times over.
Gradually I began to feel every word, with tears of love welling up for my Guru. I felt as if Gurumayi were telling me that I had already installed in my heart the image of God in the form of my Guru, so why am I forgetting this?
I began to let go. My breath eased, untying the knot in my heart. Once again I felt the space within me open up, and the image of love in the form of my devotion to my Guru arose.
Nairobi, Kenya
One day, very early in my sadhana, I found myself contemplating a photograph of Baba Muktananda. I was looking at his picture and describing to myself what I was seeing: such a high and noble forehead, such a steady gaze, and other qualities, which I was perceiving with my eyes, and which were gradually waking up my heart.
After a few minutes, my heart was suddenly filled with the awareness that I was looking at God and God was looking at me. In that moment, Baba Muktananda became alive for me! I was amazed. Reverently and silently I said to him: “Baba, you really are divine!” This was the birth of the practice of bhakti for me.
London, United Kingdom
Reading this commentary took me back to the darkroom where I once developed photographs, and the magical moment when the image revealed itself to me.
In the same way, in the darkness of my meditation, through the inner alchemy of devotion, I feel the presence of God being revealed to me. And what image appears on my inner canvas? The Guru, the splendor of the heart, the pure manifestation of the divine.
Rodez, France
My favorite Siddha Yoga practices are chanting and mantra repetition. When I chant, an inexplicable feeling fills me and tears start rolling down my cheeks. I couldn’t put a word to that feeling. When I read in the commentary that bhakti may manifest as “a nectarean sweetness that suffuses every fiber of your being,” I felt, “Ah! Yes, this is it!”
Recently, without any effort on my part, I was blessed with a profound experience when chanting, or even when I only thought about chanting. Immediately an image of Gurumayi chanting blissfully would flash in my mind. In those moments, time stood still. This would also happen spontaneously sometimes, when I wasn’t thinking of chanting but was immersed in my daily duties.
So when I read Gurumayi’s words in the commentary from her book The Yoga of Discipline: “Through your devotion you also invite the one you worship into your body, into your mind, into your life,” I felt that those inexplicable experiences were Gurumayi’s blessings and an acknowledgment of my love of God.
Hosur, India
Every day I watch for the virtue of the day, and read the commentary on it. Today I was so impressed by the commentary on devotion, and how beautifully it describes and explains this virtue. After I had read it all, I could understand devotion better, and I felt that I had been sitting in satsang and interacting with the teacher. It helped me understand that the Lord is inside me, and that when I offer my practices to him, that is a form of devotion. I am looking forward to rereading and contemplating this commentary on devotion.
Surat, India
What a beautiful and penetrating commentary on devotion, on bhakti. Many years ago, I read Gurumayi’s words, “With great respect and love, I welcome you all with all my heart.” Reading these words, I was filled with intense love and devotion. When I learned what bhakti meant, I recognized that bhakti was my path.
The commentary reminded me of the exquisite practice of placing the Guru’s image in the temple of one’s own heart. I also appreciated the lovely instruction to bring aspects of nature into one’s self. It dawned on me that it is the Guru that I see in all of nature’s beauty. Then I sit spellbound, filled with bhakti, filled with the ecstasy of love and devotion.
Nevada, United States
This commentary has unveiled for me a deeper understanding of what bhakti is. I had thought that it would only be considered bhakti if it spoke to a rapturous, complete immersion in the object of worship, an experience that is rare for me. Now I recognize this devotion already resides in my being. Just by reading these words, I feel that inner peace and sense of completion that I have longed for.
Pennsylvania, United States
Yesterday I was chanting Om Namo Bhagavate Muktanandaya in the Bhakti raga. As I became immersed in the chant, I experienced nectarean sweetness and divine blissful energy in every fiber of my body, just the way it is explained in this commentary.
Tears of love for my beloved Gurumayi were flowing from my eyes—and I was laughing as well! I became intoxicated with devotion and love for Gurumayi, and in Gurumayi’s love for me. I felt her presence right in my body, in my mind. I was wondering how to hold my heart—it was overflowing with love. There was infinite love and bliss!
