Saturday, May 4, 2013

Bhakti Yoga

(Lecture given by DN Persaud and aired on radio 10th October, 1961)


Bhakti Yoga

Friends,
In my last talk broadcast from this station on the 26th September, I dealt briefly with the teaching of Karma Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita.

It was pointed out that no one could avoid doing action in this world, and therefore we should use our actions as the means of obtaining joy and happiness.

We should start by using whatever talents and natural gifts we may have by doing good for the benefit of others. We should do all the work without selfish interest and without thinking of the reward, and we should also do it whole-heartedly with love, with bhavana.

We need not change whatever work we were engaged in, or for which we were specially qualified or trained. The secret was the attitude of mind to be adopted in doing the work.

As long as this attitude was changed from a selfish to a selfless one, we would soon reach that happiness or joy which we all seek.

Today we shall proceed a little further along this road.

We had reached the stage where we are doing good work without any thought of the fruit. In this we should not even expect anyone to say thanks for what you have done. Even this should not be looked forward. In this way we would be able to do whatever we undertake to do more properly and efficiently than if we expected anything.
But the Universal Law of God says that whatever a man sows he shall reap, therefore , although we do not seek or expect any reward for our work, the reward nevertheless comes.

So the Gita says, we should surrender the fruits or reward for our work to the Lord.

In this way all work will be done in a spirit of sacrifice to the Lord, and work done as a sacrifice does not bind us to the wheel of births and deaths. We would find joy and happiness in serving God by serving His creation. We would gradually begin to see that the Lord which dwells in us also dwells in all beings.
We would see Him not only in the saint but also in the sinner. We would see Him not in only in man but in all living things.
In this way our love for God will expand to include all. It would be impossible to regard anyone as an enemy. It would be impossible to hate anyone or hurt anyone through thought, word or deed, even if any one should do you the worst injury.

In this way we would fulfil the purpose of our lives, and at the same time, we would carry out the wishes of the Lord, and so reach Him who is the boundless ocean of all joy and happiness.


In the 55th Verse of the 11th Chapter of Bhagavad Gita, he says




“He who does work for me, he who looks upon me as his goal, he worships me, free from attachment, who is free from enmity to all creatures, he goes to Me, O Pandava.

When we reache this state , life becomes full of joy, because we realise we are working for the Lord, and that we are serving Him best by serving His creation, for truly He dwells in all beings.

We would have as our constant friend and support, the Lord Himself. We would become fearless for what can you be afraid of when the Lord is always with you.

When we become free from fear, we get Peace of Mind and Peace of Mind is the foundation of true happiness, true joy.
So far we made the decision as to what we should do , but we surrendered the fruits to the Lord. Now we would go a step further, we would no longer decide what should be done.
We should surrender our Will to the Lord, we should say Lord not my Will but Thy will be done.
Then we would become the instrument of the Lord., the channel through which He would do His work.
We would be like the flute which Lord Krishna blows . It is made from a dry piece of bamboo, of no value whatever. It is even hollow inside, with nothing in it.

If we were to burn it , it could not give enough heat to warm a tablespoonful of water.

Yet this useless and worthless piece of bamboo, fashioned by the Lord into a flute and placed on his lips gives forth such enchanting music that the whole world is charmed.

Just so if we humble ourselves before the Lord, empty our hearts of all pride and selfishness and surrender our very will to Him and become His instrument. We too can become like that dry piece of bamboo and lowly and valueless as we are, from us too can come such enchanting music by which the world maybe charmed.

So we too , should make ourselves hollow, by emptying from ourselves all selfishness and pride, by surrendering our body, soul, intellect and will to the Lord and become His instrument with which he would do His will and not ours.
Then we too can in His hands become like the flute and from us lowly and humble as we are will come that enchanting music which charms the whole world.

What higher honour,
What greater joy,
what higher happiness can anyone want than this.
This road to happiness is open to all. No one should feel that it is beyond him to try.

Everyone, no matter, what a great sinner, he or she might be, can make an effort, as long as that effort is sincere.

All that is needed is take the first step, and to do this in all sincerity for the Lord Himself has given the pledge that once you place your hands in His, he never lets you go. He will be your guide and support for ever more.

Sayeth the Lord..
“Even if a man of the most vile conduct worships me with undistracted devotion, he must be reckoned as righteous for he has rightly resolved. Swiftly does he become a soul of righteousness and obtain lasting peace. O son of Kunti, know thou for certain that My devotee perishes never.

As we close let these immortal words ring forever in our ears :


O son of Kunti, know thou for certain that My devotee perishes never.




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