By Dhirasanta dasa
As Hindus, we regulate our daily lives in order to be able to remember and serve God throughout the day. For us, our devotion to Him is a lifestyle rather than just a religion, and our goal is to come to the stage of a loving relationship with Him, through continuous service. To come to love Him above all else and remember Him always, this is called Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti is the only system of yoga in which consciousness is allowed to act through the mind and senses.
If a child is misbehaving, there are two ways to control him. The first is to order him to sit down and be still and quiet. This may succeed for some time, but eventually he will return to his mischievous activities. A superior solution is to engage the child in a positive action. Bhakti Yoga involves a similar process of withdrawing the mind and senses from material activities by engaging them in transcendental activities.
We begin our day by rising early in the morning and offer worship and prayer. To do this the Vedic scriptures recommend that the most conducive time for concentration is between 4 and 8 o’clock in the morning; this also sets the mood or the pace for the rest of the day.
We begin by chanting on prayer beads a prescribed number of rounds of Gods holy name. Although God has many names, for us Vishnu, Rama and Krishna are the most common. We understand that the name of God is non-different from Him. For example, we would not expect to quench our thirst by chanting, "Water, water, water…," because the name and the substance, water, are different. However God and His name being one and the same allow the devotee to associate with their worshipful object in a very personal way. Thus ones mind becomes peaceful, one feels satisfaction from within, and worldly hankering becomes greatly reduced.
Worship of the deity within the temple or in one's home is another morning practise and again another opportunity to develop personal association with the Lord. He is everywhere, but how do you offer a flower everywhere. So through His deity form He makes Himself easily available to everyone. Being present before us as the Supreme person we naturally desire to please Him by offering some service. We ourselves wake up, take bath, put on clean clothes, drink and eat, so similarly these same activities can also be offered to the deity form during the morning worship. After bathing the Lord we would then offer scented oil, incense, water, flowers and different kinds of fruit, nuts, sweets and savouries.
We realise that He does not need the things we offer, being self-sufficient and satisfied. However, according to the degree of love, devotion and faith we may offer, this pleases Him and He will naturally reciprocate. Thus the quality of service is more important than the quantity. When we cook for His pleasure and offer food in a mood of loving service, it’s the spice of love and devotion which supersedes all other ingredients in the preparation. To this degree the food then becomes sanctified or spiritually surcharged. Thus when eating sanctified food we not only nourish our body, but also feel great satisfaction within our hearts. Whatever little we do to please Him, He seems to reciprocate many times over.
During the day we would then carry out our domestic and professional work in the same spirit of devotion. We have seen that by making this extra effort to include God throughout our daily lives, the dualities of this world become that much easier to deal with. Just like when watering the roots of a tree the branches, leaves and flowers are automatically satisfied. So in the same way by satisfying God we become automatically satisfied.
The essence of our faith therefore is to live constantly in an exchange of love and affectionate dealings between the Lord and ourselves, to the point where there is a competition as to who will satisfy the other the most.
As Hindus, we regulate our daily lives in order to be able to remember and serve God throughout the day. For us, our devotion to Him is a lifestyle rather than just a religion, and our goal is to come to the stage of a loving relationship with Him, through continuous service. To come to love Him above all else and remember Him always, this is called Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti is the only system of yoga in which consciousness is allowed to act through the mind and senses.
If a child is misbehaving, there are two ways to control him. The first is to order him to sit down and be still and quiet. This may succeed for some time, but eventually he will return to his mischievous activities. A superior solution is to engage the child in a positive action. Bhakti Yoga involves a similar process of withdrawing the mind and senses from material activities by engaging them in transcendental activities.
We begin our day by rising early in the morning and offer worship and prayer. To do this the Vedic scriptures recommend that the most conducive time for concentration is between 4 and 8 o’clock in the morning; this also sets the mood or the pace for the rest of the day.
We begin by chanting on prayer beads a prescribed number of rounds of Gods holy name. Although God has many names, for us Vishnu, Rama and Krishna are the most common. We understand that the name of God is non-different from Him. For example, we would not expect to quench our thirst by chanting, "Water, water, water…," because the name and the substance, water, are different. However God and His name being one and the same allow the devotee to associate with their worshipful object in a very personal way. Thus ones mind becomes peaceful, one feels satisfaction from within, and worldly hankering becomes greatly reduced.
Worship of the deity within the temple or in one's home is another morning practise and again another opportunity to develop personal association with the Lord. He is everywhere, but how do you offer a flower everywhere. So through His deity form He makes Himself easily available to everyone. Being present before us as the Supreme person we naturally desire to please Him by offering some service. We ourselves wake up, take bath, put on clean clothes, drink and eat, so similarly these same activities can also be offered to the deity form during the morning worship. After bathing the Lord we would then offer scented oil, incense, water, flowers and different kinds of fruit, nuts, sweets and savouries.
We realise that He does not need the things we offer, being self-sufficient and satisfied. However, according to the degree of love, devotion and faith we may offer, this pleases Him and He will naturally reciprocate. Thus the quality of service is more important than the quantity. When we cook for His pleasure and offer food in a mood of loving service, it’s the spice of love and devotion which supersedes all other ingredients in the preparation. To this degree the food then becomes sanctified or spiritually surcharged. Thus when eating sanctified food we not only nourish our body, but also feel great satisfaction within our hearts. Whatever little we do to please Him, He seems to reciprocate many times over.
During the day we would then carry out our domestic and professional work in the same spirit of devotion. We have seen that by making this extra effort to include God throughout our daily lives, the dualities of this world become that much easier to deal with. Just like when watering the roots of a tree the branches, leaves and flowers are automatically satisfied. So in the same way by satisfying God we become automatically satisfied.
The essence of our faith therefore is to live constantly in an exchange of love and affectionate dealings between the Lord and ourselves, to the point where there is a competition as to who will satisfy the other the most.
