YOGA OF DEVOTION – BHAKTI YOGA

By

Dr. R. J. Kalpana Ph.D

Visvaayudha September 2025

vasudevasutaḿ devaḿ kaḿsa-cāṇūra-mardanam

devakī-paramānandaḿ kṛṣṇaḿ vande jagadgurum

I bow down to Sri Krishna, who is the Master of the Universe, beloved son of Vasudeva, who vanquished Kamsa and Chanura, who brings immense joy to his mother, Devaki.

Pranams from Dr. R J Kalpana, Welcome to the study of The Bhagavad Gita.

In the previous chapter – Virat rupa darshana yoga, we studied the view of the Cosmic Form where Shri Krishna states towards the end in the last sloka that the divine form of the four-armed Vishnu is bestowed upon those with devotion.

Arjuna then naturally asks the question, of the two types of devotees who adore you with form and as formless, who is the best knowers of Yoga?

Shri Bhagvan reveals beautifully a great spiritual secret. The best of Yogis are those who with faith and devotion and in constant remembrance of the Divine and single mindedly meditate upon Him. Those who can master their senses and have a balanced equanimity, in service to humanity and who view the Self as Eternal will also be able to reach Him.

After discussing the attainment of the Absolute, Shri Bhagvan declares that to meditate upon the Unmanifested Reality is more difficult for merger with the Unmanifest is difficult to attain for those who are body-centric.

Yet, those who depend exclusively on the Divine and surrender all actions to Him, remain in constant remembrance of Him and worship Him with single minded devotion, those devotees are delivered from this cycle of birth and death since their mind is fixed on the Divine constantly.

Therefore, the spiritual secret of attaining the Divine is to remain in constant remembrance of the Divine.

If constant remembrance is difficult then do so through the yoga of repeated practice. If you cannot do repeated practice, then perform all actions for His sake; meaning dedicate all actions to Him and Him alone.

If even this of subduing the mind and intellect and repeated practice or even dedicating all actions to Him alone is difficult then relinquish the results of all actions to the Divine.

For knowledge is better than practice without any discerning attribute. Meditation on the Divine is superior to knowledge. Renunciation of the results of actions is superior to even meditation.

That devotee is dear to the Divine who is free from malice, compassionate to all, balanced in both joy and sorrow, forgiving by nature, contented, mastered the senses and remains ever in constant remembrance of the Divine.

That devotee should be free from delight or envy, expects nothing, is pure both internally and externally and who is wise and impartial, who renounces doership in all actions, treats both friend and enemy alike and remains the same in honor and dishonor and accepts both praise and criticism with equanimity and is stable of mind and who listen carefully to all of the above and practice them sincerely with faith and devotion are extremely dear to the Divine.

In truth, what Shri Bhagvan has described in the above slokas contains all the signs of a God-realized soul.

yogeśaṁ(m) saccidānandaṁ(v̐), vāsudevaṁ(v̐) vrajapriyam,

dharmasaṁsthāpakaṁ(v̐) vīraṁ(ṅ), kṛṣṇaṁ(v̐) vande jagadgurum

I bow to the Master of Yoga, who is the beloved son of Vasudeva, the brave warrior who established Dharma, the spiritual guru of the world.

                                             OM ŚRĪKṚṢṆĀRPAṆAMASTU

Note: The talks can be accessed on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@kalpanarj3101