Om bhaktigamyaya namaha:, Salutations to the One who is easily attained through devotion
Glossary
Hindi bhakti Sanskrit bhakti Hin., San. f. single-minded pure devotion for one’s chosen God, ‘like the young calf pining for its mother’. Ideally, bhakti combines steady love, loyalty, respect and motiveless devotion without any desire for return in material terms or even liberation and is considered by the devotee to be superior to liberation itself.
gamya: (-myaḥ-myā-myaṃ) Attainable, accessible.
gamya: To be gone, to be gone to.
gamya: Perceptible.
gamya: Desirable, suitable, fit.
gamyatā: Accessibility.
gamyatā: Perceptibility.
gamyatā: Being capable of attainment.
gamyate one can attain Bg 5.5
To attain anything in this world, two things are required: personal sacrifice and concentration.
The mind is outgoing in nature and perceives the world of illusion, formed by ideation, thoughts. One only has to watch a child crawling around on all fours and grasping everything in sight to learn this simple lesson. Parents are perpetually rescuing children from danger (children swallowing button batteries is a growing problem and not always evident), and teaching children ownership of property and selflessness. Older children, teens and adults all learn these lessons over time, and the principal lesson is personal sacrifice. Detachment from the outgoing mind brings the best results, just as delayed gratification aids achievement of desired goals.
Personal sacrifice of selfishness, desires and possessiveness is necessary for devotion to flourish. Devotion cannot co-exist with other desires, an over-active mind, nor a grasping mind. Devotion is giving personal time, talents and resources to the Divine: this is personal sacrifice, this is tapasya, this is penance. This is stilling the mind and giving over both the mind and heart to the Divine, a self-emptying out that one might be filled with the divine.
Concentration – single pointedness brings success to any activity. Concentration in meditation brings success, concentration in devotion brings the Lord near and dear, concentration in sadhana brings divine grace, concentration and attention in satsang also brings divine grace.
Let us look at this word grace. In Sanskrit, we get anugraha, anu being the smallest of the small, graha being to take, to grasp. When there is attention and giving of time, talents and resources, we empty ourselves out so that the inner space within might be filled; we become the smallest of the small, and allow the divine to grasp us, to grasp the Atman and raise its self-effulgence, its luminosity, its brilliance. The result is Divine Favour; conferring benefits, promoting good, and preventing ill.
Nonetheless, one does not bargain with the Divine. If I do this, you do that! Are you deaf, I have given you these prayers, this puja over so many days for this result I want. If I cut off my hair and offer it to you, you will bring me success in examinations! Neti, neti, neti, devotion is not like this. Devotion is freely given, freely offered, with love for the Divine, that one may know the Divine as love itself.
Om bhaktigamyaya namaha:, Salutations to the One who is easily attained through devotion
Download 108 Names of Chandra, The Moon
