The Bhavs of Devotional Practice

Over the years, we have all learned from Swamiji that God alone is our eternal and selfless relative, and that the ultimate goal or purpose of our life is to attain God-realization through exclusive, constant, and selfless service for His pleasure. Even though this journey spans across lifetimes, it is never too late to start to learn ways to intensify devotional love for God/Guru. 

Novice spiritual aspirants may find it very difficult to cultivate devotional bhav if they either worship the formless aspect of God or are not tuned to the concept of developing a loving relationship with God. When we worship God with Aishwarya bhav, it is difficult to develop a loving relationship because the heart is filled with awe and reverence for God. Then, the mind focuses on propriety of conduct, which creates a mental distance from God rather than developing an intimate relationship with Him. How can we develop an intimate relationship with God?

When we listen to God’s sweet leelas or pastimes with faith, meditate on them with wonderment, and repeatedly practice the sentiments of gratitude for His graces, we can grow in devotional love. The bottom line is to nurture the bhav that “God alone is mine and I am His alone.” This type of bhav will help to attach the mind to God/Guru while detaching it from the material world.

What does Bhav Mean? 

Swamiji says, “Bhav is the richness of the sentiment we possess.” Our devotion is defined by the quality of our bhav. There is no limit to the extent to which we can keep increasing the devotional sentiments. When a soul develops a deep yearning to be close to God with the intent of serving Him with the body, mind and soul, the devotional sentiments that awaken, are referred to as bhav. When we develop positive thoughts toward God, His saints (including the Guru) and his devotees, souls become more capable of developing devotional bhavs. 

In Bhakti Shatak (Verse 70), Jagadguruttam Shree Kripalu ji Maharaj noted:

Sabai sarasa rasa dwārikā, mathurā aru braja māhiñ
madhura, madhuratara, madhuratama, rasa brajarasa sama nāhiñ

“The divine bliss of God is immensely sweet in all his forms. Yet, there is a gradation in it—the bliss of his Dwaraka pastimes is sweet, the bliss of his Mathura pastimes is sweeter, and the bliss of his Braj pastimes is the sweetest.”

What is the Importance of Bhav in Devotion?

The pastimes of Braj are founded on devotional sentiments where the devotee feels an intimate and personal relationship with God. The mind contemplates on devotional thoughts like: “That Shree Krishna who tends the cows, is mine and I am His. That Shree Krishna who pulled Arjun out from a state of dejection into enlightenment, will also be there for me when I need His guidance. That Shree Krishna who filled the hearts of the dry Gyanis with devotional love, will help me to develop the bhav that He is mine and I am His.” There are several such scripts to fill the mind with devotional sentiments in Golden Rules for Living Your Best Life (p. 77). 

Swamiji teaches us that there are five bhavs of devotional practice. They are the pathways to enable us to attach our mind to God. For example, Uddhav ji, the cowherd boys, Nand-Yashoda, and the gopis of Braj loved Krishna in different bhavs. Such bhavs are characteristic of an intimate personal relationship with God. They are infinitely sweeter and more beneficial for increasing our love and devotion for God. 

What are the Bhavs of Devotional Practice?

The most important part of sadhana (see the Best Way to Practice Sadhana in the August 2022 issue of Samarpan) is to remember God with love in any of the bhavs that captures the mind (very briefly shown below). The Shant Bhav is not desirable if the goal is to develop an intimate and loving relationship with God. All other bhavs will help to increase the longing to meet and serve God with love and devotion.

 

How do We Develop the Bhavs of Devotion?

Stories or kathas are always a source of inspiration because we can relate to the characters in some way or the other. We present four stories to illustrate the four types of bhavs that constitute a loving relationship with God.

Dasya Bhav Story – The Hallmark of Surrender

Everyone has heard of the stories of Hanuman ji’s attitude of servitude toward Lord Ram. He was always eager to serve Lord Ram whether it involved something as simple as waving the chamar (yak-tail fan) or as unattainable as jumping over an ocean, burning a city down to ashes or lifting a mountain; there was nothing Hanuman ji would not do for his Lord. However, there is one very sweet story that represents the extent of the deep desire to serve Lord Ram that surpasses the norm of servitude. 

Lord Ram smiled and asked Hanuman ji of how he thought the five material elements should be utilized. Hanuman ji replied:

पंचत्वं तनुरेति भूत निवाहाः स्वांशे विशन्तु स्फुटम्,
धातारं प्रणिपत्य हन्त शिरसा तत्रापि याचे वरम्।
तद्वापीषु पयस्तदीय मुकुरे ज्योतिस्तदीयाङ्गन
व्योम्निव्योम तदीय वर्त्मनि धरा तत्तालवृन्तेऽनिलः ॥    

pancatvaṃ tanureti bhūta nivāhāḥ svāṃśe viśantu sphuṭam,
dhātāraṃ praṇipatya hanta śirasā tatrāpi yāce varam।
tadvāpīṣu payastadīya mukure jyotistadīyāṅgana
vyomnivyoma tadīya vartmani dharā tattālavṛnte'nilaḥ ॥

“When my soul departs from this body, may all of the five gross elements of my body be merged in nature in accordance with my desire.”

Lord Ram asked him to state his desire. Hanuman ji profoundly said:

“May all of the earth elements of my body merge into those parts of Mother Earth where You walk every day; may all of the water elements merge with the water in the lake in which You bathe; may all of the fire elements that illumine my body, merge into the light of the mirror that You use to see Your face every day; may all the elements of air merge with the air that cools You down in the hot summer months when Your servants wave the chamar; and may all the space elements of my body merge with the space in the environment where You play or perform Your leelas. This is my desire because I do not want any of the gross elements of my body to be deprived of Your devotional service.” 

Such was the incredible seva-bhav of Hanuman ji! He was able to reach that stage of total and complete surrender to Lord Ram due to life-long contemplation and repeated practice of devotional sentiments in complete service of the Lord. Hanuman ji’s mind was fully absorbed in the loving service of Lord Ram at all times until these sentiments became his second nature. It is such type of loving devotion of Hanuman ji that made Lord Ram feel indebted to Him, to the point that the Lord was willing to give up His life for the sake of such a true devotee. 

Sakhya Bhav Story – Not an ordinary Friendship

The friendship between Shree Krishna and Arjun is legendary. It exemplifies sakhya bhav. This story shows us that sakhya bhav is not devoid of devotion and love for God. 

One time Shree Krishna and Arjun were traveling together to Dwarka. Arjun was the charioteer for the entire journey, so when they reached their destination, he was quite exhausted. He chose to retire to his quarters and as soon as he lay down to rest, he fell asleep, completely unaware of anything else in Shree Krishna’s palace.

When dinner was ready, Rukmini went to Shree Krishna and requested him to come to eat. Shree Krishna told her that he had a guest at home and he would eat only when the guest was awake and ready for dinner. With curiosity, Rukmini asked about the name of the guest for whom Shree Krishna was willing to wait. Upon finding out that it was Arjun, she decided to go to his quarters, wake him up and ask him to come for dinner. 

Eventually Shree Krishna himself decided to go and wake up Arjun. When He reached there and saw all of them in a state of divine ecstasy, His heart overflowed with love.  Shree Krishna sat down on the other end of the bed and started pressing Arjun’s feet. The divine contact woke Arjun up and with a startle he cried out, “My Lord, what are you doing?” With love-filled eyes and choked voice, Shree Krishna said, “You love me with each and every pore of your body that is why you are so dear to me!” Then Krishna lovingly embraced Arjun!

Vatsalya bhav – Love Transforms a Handful of Grains into Jewels

As little Krishna grew to be a toddler, stories of his divine leelas spread far and wide. Everyone wanted to have his darshan. A lady fruit seller heard the villagers recount their experiences of how after having seen Krishna just once, they could not get his image out of their mind. Her desire to meet Krishna became very intense. After packing a basketful of delicious fruits, she went to Vrindavan daydreaming about his darshan. 

When she got close to Krishna’s home, in the hope of attracting his attention, she shouted out loudly, “Juicy fruits for sale! Who wants mangoes, bananas and sweet guavas?” However, her mind was so engrossed in Krishna that after some time, she started saying, “Govind, Damodar, Madhaveti!” She kept calling out to Krishna for a couple of days but did not have His darshan. By the third day, her desperation had increased and she longed to see Krishna so much that she made up her mind that she would not leave until she had His darshan. 

Then finally on the third day, when she called out, “Govind, Damodar,” Shree Krishna, who was playing on his mother’s lap, jumped off and ran to grab some grain in his little hands. He knew that the fruit seller would want something in exchange for the fruits so he ran toward her. While running, most of the grains fell out of his hands. By the time he got to the lady, there was hardly any left. He gave the grains to the lady and told her to give him the fruits in exchange. 

After some time, she got up to go home but when she lifted her basket, it felt much heavier. She peeked into the basket and to her amazement, she saw that it was filled with jewels. She started crying once again while visualizing Krishna sitting in her lap calling her “mother” as she experienced the bliss of maternal love. All the jewels in the basket meant nothing when compared to the grace of God.

Madhurya Bhav Story – The Selfless Love of the Gopis

One time the 16,000+ queens of Shree Krishna were whining about why He loved Radha Rani and the Gopis more than them, and why He went into a state of samadhi each time He heard their name. The all-knowing Lord Krishna decided to perform a leela to make the queens understand the meaning of selfless love and devotion that the Gopis possessed. As part of his leela, Shree Krishna told Rukmini that he had a very severe headache and preferred to be left alone in his chambers. 

Hearing these words, Narad ji thought that all the queens of Shree Krishna were great devotees so they would offer their foot-dust immediately for the Lord’s relief. He went to where the queens were gathered and approached Rukmini first. He asked her to give her foot-dust to cure Shree Krishna’s headache. Rukmini was appalled. She said, “If I give my foot-dust to my beloved Lord, it will be a violation of my patni-dharma and I will surely go to hell. How can I let that happen?” Hearing her words, all the queens also declined to give their foot-dust out of fear of committing a grave sin. One of them said to Narad ji, “O wise sage, you are an ardent devotee of the Lord, why don’t you offer your foot-dust?” He said that in the past, he had been duped by Shree Krishna’s leela where his face became like a monkey's, so he was not going to take a chance again.”

When Narad ji returned to Dwarka with the foot-dust of all the Gopis, all the queens understood why He loved them so much. The lesson is that to tread on the path of divine love, we must be willing to gladly give up all our personal desires in the selfless service of God, just like the gopis. Then God too will become bhakta-vashya (under the power of the love of the devotee) and keep us in His heart. 

Concluding Message

Like Hanuman ji, Arjun, the fruit seller lady and the Gopis, if devotees sincerely want nothing more than to connect their consciousness with Shree Krishna through selfless, constant, and exclusive devotion and love, then the ever-compassionate Lord will bestow His grace. As Swamiji suggests, we must first prepare the vessel by engaging in sadhan bhakti to become worthy of receiving siddha bhakti through the grace of God. Therefore, let us internalize the bhavs of devotional practice to purify our mind, intellect and soul under the Guru’s expert guidance and mentorship. Additionally, develop the habit of speaking with God to express your gratitude and to be aware of His presence (Golden Rules for Living Your Best Life, p. 89).