Cover Story

The Bhakta of the Gita-Swami Atmapranananda

Prelude

The Bhagavad Gita is the most popular scripture of the Hindus and by its non-sectarian approach, it has gained an esteemed place among the world-scriptures. The name literally means ‘Sung by the Lord’. It is an adjective in feminine gender since the word it qualifies is in feminine gender. The word it qualifies is ‘Upanishad’. It is an Upanishad sung by the Lord.

The word ‘Upanishad’ means the knowledge which, when approached by an eligible seeker and deliberated upon with steadiness and certainty, destroys ignorance. Books pertaining to this knowledge are also called Upanishads in a secondary sense.

According to Swami Vivekananda, the Bhagavad Gita is an interpretation of the Upanishads by the Lord Himself, who is the inspirer of the Upanishads. As such, it contains the essence of the Upanishadic teachings. But the special feature of the Gita is the emphasis it lays on the path of Bhakti or love of God and dedication of actions to Him as one of the means of realizing the Divine. Though these ideas are found in the Upanishads, they are there in a seed form. In the Gita, we find them having grown into a full tree, bearing fruits and providing shelter.

The Bhagavad Gita gives us a description of what Bhakti means. It is explained by describing the characteristics of a bhakta. Though these characteristics are natural to a bhakta, they serve as means for other aspirants to develop Bhakti. By consciously cultivating these, one develops love of God.

Freedom from Light Emotions

A bhakta of the Gita is free from many of the emotions and drives which affect mortals. These emotions affect our hearts and in turn make us dance to their tune. The Gita speaks of many of them, from which a true bhakta is free and which the aspirant should be careful about. These are: dvesha—hatred, harsha—exhilaration, amarsha—jealousy, bhaya—fear, udvega—anxiety, apeksha––expectations, vyatha––misery, vaira—enimity, and dvandvamoha—delusion arising out of dualities like pleasure and pain.

On account of these emotions, the worldly-minded burn a lot of energy. These emotions are counter-productive to the progress of the individual and society and hence are inimical to the individual who harbours them. Bhaktas are free from these. They nurture in their heart such lofty emotions as friendliness, compassion, contentment and purity.

Equipoise

True bhaktas are neutrally disposed to different and contrary situations and experiences of life like: sukha and duhkha—happiness and misery, shatru and mitra—enemy and friend, mana and avamana—honor and dishonor, and shita and ushna—cold and heat. In other words, they maintain equipoise in various situations of life. They are free from prejudices and preferences, likes and dislikes.

These two sets of virtues, namely, equipoise and freedom from emotional disturbances, give the bhaktas the mindset that is necessary for cultivation of positive, noble and divine qualities, which are mentioned below.

God-oriented Life

The idea propounded very often in the Gita is that a bhakta is matparamah, matparayanah, madvyapashrayah. It means that for the bhaktas, God is the only goal of their life. Not only that, their solace, recreation, amusement, source of strength and succor, and their refuge are also in the Lord. Just as the worldly-minded feel happy at the thought of their wealth and rely and count on their wealth in times of crisis, so do bhaktas about their Lord. Their lives are not only God-oriented but also God-centered.

God is impartial, but He is impartial like fire. Just as fire gives warmth to anyone who comes near it without discrimination, so is the Lord. The bhakta, whose life is God-centered and God-oriented, is therefore dearest to the Lord.

Steadfastness

A Bhakta’s devotion to the Lord is not emotional effervescence, which fuzzes for a moment and then dies out. He is dridhavratah and dridhanishchayah—one who is firm in his/her vow and resolutions. Bhaktas are firmly resolved about the goal of their life, and resolute in pursuing the means of attaining that goal. They are not people who give up if failures meet them in initial attempts. Nor do they give up at the slightest opposition from external factors. They have the perseverance that is necessary for any great achievement.

Remembrance of God

Another quality of the bhaktas as mentioned in the Gita is that they constantly remember the Lord. This remembrance is loving, single-minded and continuous. The Lord also proclaims that the bhaktas who rejoice by recollecting and recounting His glories to each other are blessed by buddhiyoga—the wisdom by which they attain Him.

Dedication of Actions to God

The most important quality of bhaktas that appears in the Bhagavad Gita is that they are matkarmakrit, those who dedicate all their actions to the Lord. What kind of actions can be dedicated to the Lord? The Lord Himself delineates them for us in the words, ‘Whatever you do, or eat, or sacrifice, or give, whatever austerity you perform, offer it unto me’ (9.27). This is a quality, which is easy to cultivate. This does not require anyone to spend any extra time, or money. Whatever one is doing, one can do it as an offering to the Lord. This dedication gradually purifies one’s heart, making it fit for the Lord to manifest.

The Promise of God

In the Bhagavad Gita we find such encouraging and comforting promises by the Lord as: ‘My devotee never meets destruction’ (9.31), ‘My devotee will surely attain me’ (18.65), ‘I will save you from all sins’ (18.66), etc. These promises by the Lord Himself are a source of great strength and solace to the devotees. In the religious history of the world, we find that these promises of the Lord are not empty. He, the almighty and compassionate has lived up to His promises times without number.

Conclusion

A bhakta is referred to as an emotional person in common parlance. The description of a bhakta that we find in the Bhagavad Gita is different. A true bhakta is one who, far from being emotional, is equipoised in situations in which the so called ‘intellectuals’ lose their composure. He/She is ever engaged in actions that are dedicated to the Lord and constantly remembers Him.

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