Practicing Bhakti Yoga
To be precise: “Direct Krishna consciousness is bhakti-yoga. . .Krishna consciousness means to work in full knowledge of one’s relationship with the Supreme Absolute, and the perfection of this consciousness is full knowledge of Krishna, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
As conscious souls, we do such activities, which give us happiness and show our love to someone, but, sadly, both are unavailable in the earthly relationships. Day to day we can observe it, but due to our ignorance that there is someone Supreme who can be loved unconditionally and who reciprocates spontaneously, we are thinking the earthly relationships to be all in all.
That Supreme is Krishna – the all attractive Lord, sarva kāraṇa kāraṇam, the cause of all causes and the benefactor of all living entities. Awakening pure love for Lord Sri Krishna is perfection. Human life is a boon for us to reestablish that relationship. Those activities we do to serve our loved ones, if done for Kṛṣṇa, give us multiplied results and open, the closed gates for liberation. That endeavor should be the focus of our lives. Pure love for God is called pure devotional service, or Bhakti. The ways to awaken Bhakti are the substance of the practice of Bhakti yoga.
Loving service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Bhakti Yoga or pure devotional service.
Any service is done using our senses, mind, intelligence and ego. If these are all used for serving the Supreme Lord Ṣrī Hari, then all the senses become transcendental: Divyam or Adhyatmik. King Ambarisha is a perfect example for behavior of a Bhakti Yogi.
Śrīmad Bhāgavataṃ 9.4.18-21: Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord’s temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṇa or about Kṛṣṇa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s temples and Kṛṣṇa’s places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord’s devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord’s prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires. In performing his prescribed duties as king, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always offered the results of his royal activities to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who is the enjoyer of everything and is beyond the perception of material senses.
From the example of King Ambarisha, it is clear how and what a Bhakti Yogi has to do. But nowadays, the intelligence of Human Beings has been brought down so badly that mere physical practices and breathing exercises are considered Yoga. These were the preliminary stage practices for the sages to bring senses and mind under control. As explained in Bhagavad Gītā, the Lawbook for Humanity: karma-yoga (the practice of conscious action), jnana-yoga (philosophical study and contemplation), and hatha-yoga (the practice of yoga-asanas and breathing exercises) are the different types of yogas.
But: “Bhakti-yoga, or Krishna consciousness, is the ultimate perfection of all yogas. . .”
Engaging 24 hrs in the service of Lord, would involve our time, energy, senses, mind, intelligence, resources etc, everything in the service of Lord by which all are purified. The path of bhakti-yoga is developed through a variety of activities. These include the chanting of the names of God. The chanting is done either individually on beads (japa) or in community by chanting mantras accompanied by music (sankīrtan). The study of sacred texts such as the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, associating with like-minded spiritual aspirants (vaishnava association), eating prasādam (sanctified vegetarian food), and living in a way that upholds the principles of truthfulness, mercy, austerity, and cleanliness, are all core practices for a life of follower of bhakti.
Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gītā that:
“One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.”
(Bhagavad-gita, 18.55)
“A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.”
All these practices might seem quite difficult and uninteresting due to the influence of Kali Yuga upon us and we are all considered mandabhāgyās, unfortunate people.. But Krishna’s mercy knows no bounds and hence he invests all his potencies in his Holy Name:
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) 12.3.51
kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann
asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ
kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet
My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.
