Month: January 2023

Love and relation

Bhakti-yoga means union with God (yog) sustained through devotional service (bhakti). 

This union is one of miraculous experiences of our practice. For what does it mean to have a relationship with God? The words are easily said, but difficult to measure. To have a relationship with the divine is not to admire it from a distance, to venerate the beauty, the power, the perfection of God. It’s not enough to simply follow the rules and rituals of recognised practice. It’s not enough to obey the commands of a celestial dictator. It’s not an intellectual relation created by reading books or studying verses. 

None of these paths will do because the union of bhakti-yoga is one of love. Bhakti is the practice of devotional service, service to God in and through love. It’s not blind devotion or one-sided adulation. Bhakti-yoga is a true relation with the divine: in its purest expression it takes the form of a divine love affair. Its model is the conjugal love affair of the Rādhā and Mohan. This loving relation is the model not only for the love of God but for the love between all loving, living beings. 

Continue reading →

Bhagavad-gītā: What is prema?

Prabhupād’s ‘Introduction’ to his translation and commentary of Bhagavad-gītā, first published in 1972, is a quiet introduction to Bhakti, to the theory and practice of loving devotion. 

Bhagavad-gītā is widely understood both as a masterpiece of Vedic culture and a handbook for Vaishnavism. This has been made clear by countless commentators. But Prabhupād’s ‘Introduction’ and commentary reveals it as much more. In Prabhupād’s reading, Bhagavad-gītā unfolds as an introduction to the eternal truths of Gaudia Vaishanvism, as a pre-history to the life of Caitanya Mahaprabhu who appeared in 1486, and as a key to the understanding of God as prema, as the embodiment of divine loving devotion, in the eternal form of Rādhāmohan.  

Continue reading →

Bhagavad-gītā: An introduction to devotion

Bhagavad-gītā is a conversation between Bhagavān—God in the form of a loving personality—and Arjuna, a noble prince who finds himself in despair. In the course of an exchange that stretches over 18 chapters the seed of friendship in Arjuna’s heart evolves to love for Kṛṣṇa, then beyond, to sweet surrender, a self-less devotion toward God. Despite its title (Song of God), Bhagavad-gītā is not a song about God, but rather about the liberation of the soul through loving devotion.  

A devotee is someone in a mood of devotion to another. Devotion is a special kind of relationship, one we don’t find in our everyday lives. It’s a kind of relationship that is not recognised or valued in modern social relations. In the modern view we would be foolish to look for devotion in public institutions or business practices. And yet if we peel back the false sophistication and pretences of modern life, we will find it there: inspiring, animating, motivating, generating hope, creating trust.   

Continue reading →