Place of Bhakti in Advaita — The Reply to the Question
[The Question posed by an Advaita Teacher in the USA on the “Place of Bhakti in Advaita” was posted by me on the 14th of July here.
I commented in the Discussions section therein that it looked to me that the Question was not about Bhakti as a ‘sadhana’ per se in a general sense. The focus of the question is directed more, IMO, towards the role Bhakti has in the post shravana-manana phase of the seeker who can be said to be a ‘Brahmavit’ — i.e. one who has understood ‘aham brahmasmi’ without an iota of doubt.
My response to him touched on many aspects. Some of the salient issues covered by me are described in this Post — ramesam.]
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“Bhakti” in common parlance is generally taken to mean a sort of Master – slave relationship of a seeker towards a superior Guru/Master/Lord/God, an attitude that in a way does reinforce duality.
But we do find in India excellent Vedic Pundits and highly knowledgeable Advaitic Scholars steadfastly worshipping Gods and performing elaborate rituals (we have a variety of them in India). One of the well read Advaita teachers known to me observes very devoutly the Worship of Gods. I asked him once why he practiced veneration of various deities though he taught Advaita. His reply was:
1. He has to perform the rituals/observe worship so that the youngsters in the family follow the tradition.
2. Sages too advised that the “acts of dharma” pertaining to his life-status (ashram) should be continued.
3. Perhaps some ‘fear’ of the unknown consequences of not performing worship lingers in him.
One may say that the above position indicates that the Advaita Pundit is not fully realized.
But then Nisargadatta Maharaj used to observe the “Arati” (lighting a lamp while chanting mantras or singing devotionals) before the pictures of Gods.
The fact that Nisargadatta did so was explained on the basis that the Arati was the ‘advertising technique’ he was instructed to follow by his Guru to draw people to him.
Many of the Saints considered to have realized, did and do observe the devotional Bhakti in their Ashrams (hermitages). This gives them something “to do” before the large audience that gather around them. People who visit the saints after all do expect action (!) – something to witness and take back home with them as a memory/ a pleasant feeling of accomplishment.
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Historically speaking, Bhakti as a cult took root in India after the Muslim invasions. The Abrahamic monotheistic religions with their proselytizing spirit attracted the masses offering the promises of a personal God who would fulfill their wants. Perhaps to counter this, indigenous Bhakti cults developed and continue to do so today. Only historians and sociologists can tell us if it is really so after conducting necessary research studies.
People like J. Krishanmurti, U.G. Krishnamurhty did not worship any gods.
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Coming to the scriptures and Bhagavad-Gita talking about Bhakti:
The Advaita scriptural texts, strictly speaking, do say that devotional approach to a personal deity is an inferior path for Enlightenment. Further, some of them explicitly state that the devotee has to be a “Shiva” himself in order to worship Shiva. Yogavaasishta says a Vishnu only can truly worship a Vishnu. The implication in these statements is that the devotee should lose the sense of being a separate individual from what is being worshiped – it insists on a total identity, Oneness, of the subject-object.
But the question still remains why the Acharyas like even Sankara who promoted Advaita so much, not only worshiped but also wrote excellent hymns in praise of different gods. Gita also did talk of Bhakti.
The general explanation given is that those teachings were addressed to the common folk who may neither be ready to receive the final wisdom (because their primary concern at the moment being the grant of necessary remedial measures for the immediate difficulties faced by them) nor have a gripping interest in Self-inquiry (which would lead them towards attributeless (nirguNa), formless (nirAkAra) Brahman). It will be easier for those people to identify themselves with a form initially and then develop progressively a sense of surrender. Such a gradual approach helps them in the long run to give up their sense of having a separate self (ego) confined within their body-mind.
Sankara in his monograph titled Vivekachudamani (The Crest Jewel of Discrimination) clearly stated that action-oriented processes like worship etc. help in the purification of mind (towards the development of a tenuous mind) and will not deliver the final Truth. Moreover, he defines Bhakti in this tome to be an inquiry into one’s own Self (the essential nature or the truth of one’s Self).
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I feel that the techniques like meditation, Bhakti, rituals, pilgrimages etc. are useful at two levels to a seeker.
In the very preliminary stages, when the seeker is still unable to concentrate and control his wayward mind, Bhakti etc. will work as a sort of aid to train the mind in its ability to stay focused (instead of wavering) and unbiased (being aware of one’s own hidden prejudices). These two aspects sharpen the mind and make it ready to take up Self-inquiry on one’s own. That is why, IMHO, educated and reasonably intelligent people need not spend time on such preliminaries and should launch themselves straight into the investigation of the ultimate Truth. After all their schooling and academic background should have already imparted certain discipline and analytical ability to their minds.
Bhakti and other such techniques are useful once again at a later stage after the Advaitic message is completely ingested without any doubt but a seeker experiences some difficulty to abide constantly in Brahman. The mind out of its sheer old habit pulls him/her back to the lures of the world from unceasing abidance as Brahman. Using Bhakti and other such things as little crutches, it will be easy for the seeker then to come back to rest as Awareness instead of being driven by the vagaries of the mind.
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I add here two small stories that came to my mind in the context of Non-duality and devotional practices. They teach uncannily what devotion is in Non-duality. The first story shows the Absolute Oneness of the indivisible Brahman. The second story highlights the bedrock of Non-duality – the dispassion and detachment (vairagya) of a Liberated individual.
Saint Visoba (around 1310 CE):
Mr. Namdev went in search of a proper Guru to the temple of Aundha Nagnath. Namdev found the Saint Visoba lying down in the main section of temple with his feet resting on the sacred Shiva linga, the venerated symbol of God Shiva. Namdev reproached him for having insulted Shiva. Visoba then asked Namdev to lift and place his (Visoba’s) feet elsewhere. Wherever Namdev placed Visoba’s feet, a Linga sprang up. Thus Visoba filled the whole temple with Shiva-lingas and taught Namdev the omnipresence of Brahman, the Oneness that permeates and pervades everywhere and everything.
A Zen story: Using the Buddha Statue as heating fuel:
During the Teng Dynasty, Dharma Master Dan Xia became a Buddhist Monk. On a cold winter night, a big snow storm hit the city and the temple where Dan Xia served as a Monk got snowed in. Cut off from outside traffic, the coal delivery man could not get to the Zen Monastery. Soon it ran out of heating fuel after a few days and everybody was shivering in the cold. The monks could not even cook their meals.
Dan Xia began to remove the wooden Buddha Statues which they had been so far worshipping and put them into the fireplace.
“What are you doing?” the monks were shocked to see that the holy Buddha Statues were being burnt inside the fire place.
“You are burning our holy religious artifacts! You are insulting the Buddha!”
“Are these statues alive and do they have any Buddha nature?” asked Master Dan Xia.
“Of course not,” replied the monks. “They are made of wood. They cannot have Buddha Nature.”
“OK. Then they are just pieces of firewood and therefore can be used as heating fuel,” said Master Dan Xia. “Can you pass me another piece of firewood please? I need some warmth.”
The next day, the snow storm had gone and Dan Xia went into town and brought back some replacement Buddha Statues. After putting them on the displays, he began to kneel down and burn incense sticks to them.
“Are you worshiping firewood?” asked the monks who were confused at what he was doing.
“No. I am treating these statues as holy artifacts and am honoring the Buddha” replied Dan Xia.
