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Chapter 15
THE INTEGRAL YOGA: SEEING THE LORD EVERYWHERE
83. Bhakti Makes The Effort Easier
7.Even though this is true, it does not mean that bhakti has no special merit of its own. If bhakti enters into any work, that work appears easy. Not that it ceases to involve toil, but that toil does not then appear to be toil; it becomes a labour of love. To say that the way of bhakti is easy means that work does not appear burdensome because of bhakti. Work loses its strenuousness. No matter how much work we do, we feel as if we have done nothing. Jesus Christ has said that when you fast, your face should appear cheerful: “But thou, when thou fasteth, anoint thine head and wash thy face: that thou appear not unto men to fast.” In short, we should be so full of bhakti that we do not feel any hardship. We talk of patriots walking smilingly to the gallows. Sudhanwa was smiling in the cauldron of boiling oil, chanting God’s name. It means that such persons did not feel even the most terrible pain because of bhakti. It is not difficult to row a boat in a river, but how difficult it would be to drag it over rocky land! The boat of our life should also have the water of bhakti beneath it, so that we could sail happily. If there is rocky and uneven terrain, then it would be extremely difficult to drag the boat of life. Bhakti, like water, makes easy the voyage of our life. Bhakti makes sadhana easy. But without Self-knowledge, there is no hope of going beyond the three gunas permanently. How could then one have Selfknowledge? The only means is the way of bhakti which involves doing sattvik actions continuously, assimilating sattva thereby, and overcoming pride for it and attachment to its fruit. Only by continuing efforts on these lines unremittingly one can reach the goal of Self-realisation. Till then, efforts should never be given up. This is a matter for the greatest endeavour. It is not a child’s play. It is not something that can be taken casually. Spiritual quest demands that one does not allow despair to creep in and slacken the efforts even for a single moment. There is no other alternative. The seeker does sometimes get exhausted and exclaims wearily, ‘तुमकारन तप संयम किरीया, कहो कहां लौ कीजे !’ ‘O God! How long should I continue to be engaged in penance and self-control for you!’ But such utterances should not be given much importance. Penance and self-restraint should become so ingrained that they become our very nature. To ask, “How long am I to continue sadhana?” is unbecoming in the path of bhakti. Bhakti will never allow impatience and despair to arise. This Chapter has put forth an extremely noble thought in order that one does not get tired and experiences ever-increasing joy and enthusiasm in bhakti. |
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