Bhakti is extremely difficult to attain
In Bhakti Rasamrit Sindhu, Roop Goswami wrote
साघनौघैरनासंगैरलभ्या सुचिरादपि ।
हरिणा चाश्वदेयेति द्विधा सा अयात्सुदुर्लभा ॥ भक्तिरसामृतसिन्धु 1.1.35
sāghanaughairanāsaṁgairalabhyā sucirādapi ।
hariṇā cāśvadēyēti dvidhā sā ayātsudurlabhā ॥ bhaktirasāmr̥tasindhu 1.1.35
“Bhakti cannot be attained by performing religious rituals even if one were to do them continuously for a long duration. Also, God hesitates to bestow Bhakti. Thus, bhakti is inaccessible for two reasons.”
It might shock you to know that Bhakti is inaccessible by any and all means. You might counter that by saying, “but so many people have attained it?” Yes it is unattainable by every means and yet countless souls have attained it. So is it accessible or inaccessible? How does one reconcile these seemingly contradictory statements?
What makes bhakti inaccessible?
Before we answer that question, let us have a quick recap.
There are 18 levels of bliss[1]. Out of these the top most level is unattainable by jeev as it is a reserved seat of Shri Radha-Krishna. That leaves the rest of the 17 levels of bliss. Out of these, the bottom 11 are material bliss and Vedas state the Vedic karma to attain each of them.
There are no means to attain any of the levels above that. One has to engage the mind in remembrance of God, i.e do sadhana bhakti. We have explained in our previous articles that to attain any bliss of the divine realm one has to engage the mind to do bhakti. Each jeev has to do Sadhana for oneself. Saints, Guru or God cannot do this on our behalf or grant it to us. One can do 2 kinds of bhakti -
- Anasang bhakti - Mind is focusing on worldly things and performing bhakti activities with karmendriyan, the physical sense organs.
- Sasang bhakti - Mind is focusing on God, karmendriyan and gyanendriyan may or may not be engaged in devotional activities.
There are 3 increasingly higher levels of bhakti -
- Sadhana Bhakti - This is the preparatory bhakti where one practices to focus one’s mind on God.
- Bhav bhakti - This is the fruit of sadhana bhakti. One's mind can easily focus on God upon reaching this state.
- Siddha Bhakti - When bhav bhakti is perfected, the mind becomes 100% purified. Then Guru transforms the material mind into a divine mind and bestows the divine gift of bhakti in that divine mind. This Bhakti is a power of God.
Order of Appearance of Bhakti
The natural order for the appearance of BhaktiThe natural order for the appearance of bhakti is -
आदौ श्रद्धा ततः साधु-सङ्गोऽथ भजन-क्रिया ।
ततोऽनर्थ-निवृत्तिः स्यात् ततो निष्ठा रुचिस् ततः ॥१.४.१५॥
अथासक्तिस् ततो भावस् ततः प्रेमाभ्युदञ्चति ।
साधकानाम् अयं प्रेम्नः प्रादुर्भावे भवेत् क्रमः ॥१.४.१६॥
ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgō'tha bhajana-kriyā ।
tatō'nartha-nivr̥ttiḥ syāt tatō niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ ॥1.4.15॥
athāsaktis tatō bhāvas tataḥ prēmābhyudañcati ।
sādhakānām ayaṁ prēmnaḥ prādurbhāvē bhavēt kramaḥ ॥1.4.16॥
It is a natural sequence that leads to attachment and eventually divine love. [2]
- Faith - Shraddha (श्रद्धा) - complete faith in the words of Guru [3].
- Association of Saint - Sadhu-sang (साधु-सङ्गो) - gaining tattvagyan by staying in association of the Guru.
- Listening & Chanting - Bhajan-Kriya (भजन-क्रिया) - sadhana-bhakti starts with Shravan (listening), Keertan (singing glories).
- Composure - Anarth-nivritti (अनर्थ-निवृत्तिः) - as tattvagyan increases jeev gets increasingly less perturbed by the worldly gains, losses, adverse events. [4][5][6][7][8]
- Profound Respect - Nishtha (निष्ठा) - loving respect.
- Fond Remembrance - Ruchi (रुचि) - spontaneous interest in remembering God (Smaran).
- Deep attachment - Asakti (आसक्ति) - deep attachment, where without the beloved, each passing moment appears like a yug.
- Love - Bhav (भाव) - the seed of love takes root.
The steps 1-7 are done in the stage of sadhana bhakti. When asakti reaches its acme, Vidya Maya ends Avidya Maya. Up until this point, a sadhak is making efforts to develop love for God. However, till here, it is actually Anasang Bhakti which is barren, or devoid of divine love.After this the state of bhav bhakti starts. This is when the seed of love starts sprouting. Bhav Bhakti, does not upsurge by doing anasang (अनासंग) bhakti. To reach the state of bhav bhakti one has to do Sasang Bhakti, which means the mind has to be engaged in doing devotion. Bhav bhakti means the mind can easily focus on His names, form, pastimes, qualities, abode and His saints. When bhav bhakti reaches its acme the mind becomes totally attached to God's lotus feet. It does not think of anything else. It is then that Guru uses Swaroop shakti to end Vidya Maya and transforms the mind to become divine. In that divine mind Guru pours the divine love also called Prema Bhakti. This Bhakti is a propensity of Swaroop Shakti of Shri Krishna. This Bhakti is inaccessible by all means. It is attained by grace and grace alone.
The reason this Bhakti is inaccessible is because God does not easily confer this Bhakti upon anyone. One has to do keertan along with roopdhyan to acquire the ability to do the following 3 things successfully -
अन्याभिलाशिता-शून्यम ज्ञान-कर्मादि-अनावृतम आनुकूल्येन कृष्णानु-शीलनम भक्तिर उत्तमा।
भक्तिरसामृतसिन्धु १.१.११
anyābhilāśitā-śūnyama jñāna-karmādi-anāvr̥tama ānukūlyēna kr̥ṣṇānu-śīlanama bhaktira uttamā।
bhaktirasāmr̥tasindhu 1.1.11
“Having no worldly aspiration, doing bhakti without assistance from gyan, karma or other means, worshiping Shri Krishna with one of the 4 bhavs”. Bhakti instigates itself thereafter. The length of time one takes in attaining this level of competence is the length of time one has to wait to attain Bhakti.
The other reason for its inaccessibility is that God is reluctant to give it to everyone. This is so because He has to serve those devotees forever like a bonded slave. He promptly offers Bhukti and Mukti. Accepting bhukti and mukti means the aspirant does not aspire for exclusive devotion. If the aspirant accepts any of those, then He does not offer Bhakti.
The same is validated in Tanttra Samhita as well -
ज्ञानतः सुलभा मुक्ति भुक्तिर्यज्ञादि पुण्यतः ।
सेयं साधन साहस्रै र्हरि भक्तिः सुदुर्लभा ॥ तंत्र सं।
jñānataḥ sulabhā mukti bhuktiryajñādi puṇyataḥ ।
sēyaṁ sādhana sāhasrai rhari bhaktiḥ sudurlabhā ॥ taṁtra saṁ।
“It is easier to attain liberation by gyan and material gratification by karma. But despite behemoth efforts, Bhakti cannot be attained”. Mind you, attaining liberation by gyan marg is not easy - it takes a jeev millions of lifetimes of practice to attain it.
If Bhakti is so very difficult to attain, then should I give up? Also, then how did so many saints get this Bhakti?
No, don't give up. Others have gotten it. You can get it too by following the steps listed below.
Doing this makes Bhakti attainable
Bhakti (inner potency of God) is not attainable by karma, gyan, yoga and all other means that could be practiced. Yet, IF one were to do the following things
गुरु की प्रपत्ति अरु गोविंद राधे।
सेवा और सत्संग भक्ति दिला दे।। 4046
guru kī prapatti aru gōviṁda rādhē।
sēvā aura satsaṁga bhakti dilā dē।। 4046
- One accepts a bonafide rasik saint as one’s Guru
- Sincerely serves the Guru and submit to his will,
- Follow his words to the letter
Doing so makes bhakti accessible.
If one is callous or defiant and does not fulfill these three criteria then Bhakti has been unattainable and will remain that way.