![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/bs715xe.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Rishabh Verma: The Bhakti tradition is quite different to other traditions of the world. While most other traditions long after peace and happiness, the Bhakti tradition strives after the satisfaction of our eternal master, Lord Krsna. <\/p>\n
While one is performing devotional service, one may indeed experience peace and happiness, however, that is not the goal of the practice of Bhakti. In fact, as a part of Bhakti, one may experience sorrow and pain too. <\/p>\n
In the Siksastakam (Verse 8), Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu describes the prayojana (end goal) of Bhakti:<\/p>\n
ashlishya va pada-ratam pinashtu mam<\/p>\n
adarshanan marma-hatam karotu va<\/p>\n
yatha tatha va vidadhatu lampato<\/p>\n
mat-prana-nathas tu sa eva naparah<\/p>\n
I know no one but Krsna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me broken hearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord, unconditionally.<\/em><\/p>\n Here, the devotee becomes completely subservient to the will of the Lord. He is willing to be accepted, rejected or neglected for eternity! He will however not abandon his service to the Lord despite the Lord\u2019s attitude towards him. This is a platform that cannot be understood by common men. In a practical sense, a serious devotee of the Lord will keep on serving the Lord despite happiness, sorrow or even neglect from the Lord. When Krsna sees a devotee dedicated to his service despite all of this, he naturally becomes obliged to accept that devotee and elevates him to the highest status. There are many devotees who exemplified this teaching from various Bhakti traditions of the World. <\/p>\n The prime example is Mother Sita from Ramayana. In her prayers at the Ashoka Vatika at Lanka, she believes Rama has abandoned her. She states the following:<\/p>\n \u2018When I come to think of the fact that Rama, who loved me so greatly and has stood between me and everything unpleasant, has now clean forgotten me, I decide that it is due to faults within myself\u2019<\/em> <\/p>\n – Valmiki Ramayana: Sundarkanda Chapter 26<\/p>\n She was separated from Rama for over a year, however she remained completely chaste in her devotion towards Lord Rama. She gave up eating, drinking and bathing and was constantly engrossed in remembrance of Rama. She did not give into any temptations of Ravana. After a year, when Rama eventually frees her, instead of accepting, he rejects her. This is quite an intriguing episode as even Rama knows that she was fully chaste for her whole life. Despite this apparent act of rejection, she does not give up her devotion towards him. Hence, Rama glorified Sita\u2019s purity in the entire universe. <\/p>\n In his prayers to Krsna, Kulashekhar alwar states the following: <\/p>\n My mind cannot turn from Sri Krsna’s lotus feet, even for a moment. So let my dear ones and other relatives criticize me, my superiors accept or reject me as they like, the common people spread evil gossip about me, and my family’s reputation be sullied. For a madman like me, it is honor enough to feel this flood of love of Godhead, which brings such sweet emotions of attraction for my Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n – Mukunda Mala Stotra 42<\/em><\/p>\n In the commentary to this verse, the disciples of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada write: \u2018This kind of indifference is the effect of advancement in chanting of the holy names \u2026<\/em>\u2019 <\/p>\n This confirms that the end goal of Bhakti is to be situated in Bhakti despite any external disturbance. <\/p>\n The final example comes from the life of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 16, there is a conversation between Jesus and his disciples. <\/p>\n He states that in the due time he will have to suffer many things: Be rejected by the elders, scribes, chief priests and be killed. <\/p>\n Out of compassion for his spiritual master, Peter did not wish for such things to happen to Jesus. <\/p>\n Instead of Jesus appreciating this compassion of Peter, he angrily states: \u2018You are an offence unto me; for you rejoice not in the things of God, but in those of men\u2019. <\/p>\n He states it is a blessing to suffer for the cause of the Lord. <\/p>\n This is quite an interesting point because for common people, suffering is not to be rejoiced. However, for the devotee who sees the Lord\u2019s plan behind everything in his life, this suffering is a source of satisfaction and something to be relished. <\/p>\n From these examples, it is shown that when the devotee fully surrenders to Krsna, he may use that devotee to execute his will. This does not happen with those who have not fully surrendered to him. In this process, the Lord glorifies the process of Bhakti over any other process, for a devotee is willing to sacrifice even his own peace and happiness for the pleasure of the Lord. The satisfaction a devotee gets in the troubles of service to the Lord is unmatched by even the greatest pleasures in this material world. Krsna demonstrates this principle of Bhakti through his devotees. <\/p>\n Hence, the pure devotee of Krsna relishes his plans and enthusiastically serves him despite happiness, sorrow or neglect on the part of the Lord. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![](\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/UQw5CMm.jpg\")
Rishabh Verma: The Bhakti tradition is quite different to other traditions of the world. While most other traditions long after peace and happiness, the Bhakti tradition strives after the satisfaction of our eternal master, Lord Krsna.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79356,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79354\/revisions\/79356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}