“For one who worships Me, giving up all his activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, who has fixed his mind upon Me, O son of Pritha, for him I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 12.6-7)

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ये तु सर्वाणि कर्माणि
मयि सन्न्यस्य मत्-पराः
अनन्येनैव योगेन
मां ध्यायन्त उपासते
तेषाम् अहं समुद्धर्ता
मृत्यु-संसार-सागरात्
भवामि न चिरात् पार्थ
मय्य् आवेशित-चेतसाम्

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate
teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām

1. The implementation is easy

With Vedantists, monists, impersonalists, scholars of high repute within the Vedic tradition – insert your preferred term – there tends to be a common outlook when casting an analytical glance towards those who worship in devotion. The belief is that the devotees, the ones following bhakti-yoga, either explicitly through instruction offered by a guru or aligning with the practices steeply rooted in the heritage of the family, are less intelligent. For sure, there is appreciation for what they do. After all they are working their way up to a higher level of thinking. Once they practice enough, in worshiping a specific form, in seeing the Divine with features, they will eventually leave the practice behind. The saguna is helping them to realize the nirguna.

As evidence for their outlook, the people passing judgment point to the demographics of the typical population of devotees. Women and children. All respect to them, but they are not known to be intellectually inclined. Put the big football match on television in the afternoon and the men will be discussing the particulars of the strategy, the statistical comparisons, and the temperament of the coaches. The women, meanwhile, will focus on the color of the uniforms and what the wives sitting in the stands are wearing.

And just what exactly are the worshipers doing? They are singing songs. They are repeating mantras, such as: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. They are arranging flowers into a garland, to be offered to the deity, which might be a statue or a painting. At a personal level, they dress nicely, they apply sacred markings known as tilaka on various parts of the body, and they partake of sanctified food known as prasadam.

Weighed on the scales of difficulty, with the strict requirements of sannyasa [renunciation] and study [jnana] on the other side, it becomes obvious that there is no comparison. The path of jnana is much more difficult. The same for yoga, in the sense of mysticism. Krishna Himself describes the ideal conditions for success in mystic yoga. The recipient of those words, Arjuna, did not end up following through on that path.

शुचौ देशे प्रतिष्ठाप्य
स्थिरम् आसनम् आत्मनः
नात्य्-उच्छ्रितं नाति-नीचं
चैलाजिन-कुशोत्तरम्
तत्रैकाग्रं मनः कृत्वा
यत-चित्तेन्द्रिय-क्रियः
उपविश्यासने युञ्ज्याद्
योगम् आत्म-विशुद्धये

śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya
sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ
nāty-ucchritaṁ nāti-nīcaṁ
cailājina-kuśottaram
tatraikāgraṁ manaḥ kṛtvā
yata-cittendriya-kriyaḥ
upaviśyāsane yuñjyād
yogam ātma-viśuddhaye

“To practice yoga, one should go to a secluded place and should lay kusha-grass on the ground and then cover it with a deerskin and a soft cloth. The seat should neither be too high nor too low and should be situated in a sacred place. The yogi should then sit on it very firmly and should practice yoga by controlling the mind and the senses, purifying the heart and fixing the mind on one point.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 6.11-12)

Even karma-yoga appears to be more difficult. You have to go to work. You have to endure the difficulties. You have to work hard to produce results, which are known as phalam, or fruits. You then have to renounce interest in those very results that you worked so hard to produce. Sitting down and chanting seems much easier than following any of these other paths. In spite of the relative ease, at least there is something available for the common man. In this sense, bhakti-yoga is like mercy extended from the Divine. Lending a helping hand to those who are not equipped for the rigors of the higher practices.

2. The decision is difficult

At the same time, some of the most renounced people ever to grace this earth are known to follow bhakti-yoga. Someone like Shukadeva Gosvami literally took birth as a renounced person. He had no interest in material life. Women of the community were not ashamed to accidentally expose themselves in front of him, for they understood that he took no interest in such affairs. Someone like Vyasadeva is intelligent enough to compile massive amounts of literature. If we took the sum collection of Sanskrit sound attributed to him and fed it into a language learning model, the machine would likely crash. There would be justification for spinning up a separate, dedicated building, with cooling features and all. Just to ask a question researching into the work of Vyasadeva would consume considerable amounts of heating and cooling resources.

Someone like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu recommends that everyone follow bhakti-yoga. He can explain the principles behind the decision. He reveals to the world the timeless truth of achintya-bhedabheda-tattva. The living beings are like God. They are the same as Him. They are also different from Him. This simultaneous oneness and distinction is impossible for the mind to conceive. Bhakti-yoga is the way of life that results from that relationship. This means that bhakti-yoga is life itself, in the purified form.

While the implementation appears to be easy, the decision is anything but. The decision requires relinquishing the fight. I will not be able to break my way into a house of enlightenment. I will not be able to mechanically work my way towards the highest state of being. I am capable, but I am also dependent. I have choice, but there is also interference. I cannot put the weight of the world on my shoulders. I cannot replicate what Krishna did in lifting Govardhana Hill to protect the innocent people of Vrindavana.

वर्षतीन्द्रे व्रज: कोपाद्भग्नमानेऽतिविह्वल:
गोत्रलीलातपत्रेण त्रातो भद्रानुगृह्णता

varṣatīndre vrajaḥ kopād
bhagnamāne ’tivihvalaḥ
gotra-līlātapatreṇa
trāto bhadrānugṛhṇatā

“O sober Vidura, King Indra, his honor having been insulted, poured water incessantly on Vrindavana, and thus the inhabitants of Vraja, the land of cows, were greatly distressed. But the compassionate Lord Krishna saved them from danger with His pastime umbrella, the Govardhana Hill.” (Uddhava, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.2.33)

The decision is difficult because I have grown accustomed to challenging, to working for my own interest in trying to reach the position of Almighty through personal effort. The devotees may appear to be simple in their behavior, but just see how intelligent they are in the decision they have made. They believe the promises from Bhagavad-gita. They are prepared to reach for the hand of rescue kindly offered to them, to finally bring relief from the ocean of suffering that is a material existence.

In Closing:

From ocean of suffering and grief,
Helping hand of relief.

From Krishna Himself extended,
For too long His role pretended.

Simple or less intelligent considered,
But actually most fortunate delivered.

Since never into Vaikuntha can break,
Only when properly qualified to make.

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Tags: bhakti, dailyprompt, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, yoga