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Chapter 12
SAGUNA AND NIRGUNA BHAKTI
61. Saguna Is Easy And Safe
10. Nirguna devotee is dedicated to the good of all. This is no ordinary thing; it is easier said than done. One who is absorbed in thinking about the good of the whole world can do nothing else. Hence nirguna sadhana is difficult. Saguna worship, on the other hand, can be done by anybody according to his capacity. To serve the small village we are born in or to look after our parents is a form of saguna worship. Such service should, of course, not go against the interests of the world. No matter how small your service is, it will have the character of bhakti if it does not go against the good of others. Otherwise it will be a sort of attachment. The saguna worship consists of serving parents, friends, distressed people and saints, considering them as forms of the Lord, and is content therein. It is easy. Hence, although both saguna and nirguna bhakti are essentially the same, saguna is preferable on the ground of relative easiness. 11. Apart from the point of easiness, there is one more point. Nirguna worship is fraught with some risk. Nirguna is all knowledge (Jnana). But saguna is full of love and tenderness and the warmth of feelings. A devotee is more secure therein. There was a time when I relied much on knowledge, but experience has taught me that knowledge alone is not enough. It does burn down gross impurities in the mind, but is powerless to wash away subtler impurities. Selfreliance, enquiry (into the nature of the Self), discrimination (between the Self and the not-Self), abhyasa (constant practice), vairagya (detachment and dispassion)—all these means taken together are of little avail here. Subtle impurities can be washed away only by the waters of bhakti. Only bhakti has the efficacy to do it. You may call it dependence; but it is dependence on nobody else but the Lord. The mind cannot be completely cleansed without His help. |
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