Several alternative paths of devotion

Several alternative paths of devotion

Krishna gives as many as five different paths of devotion to follow – in the Bhagwad Gita’s 12th chapter – giving seekers the option to choose from any one of them. The wide spectrum of choice is given keeping in mind the differences in preferences of people and their disposition.

First is the Path of Meditation on formless Consciousness. Also called Brahmn, consciousness is omnipresent, formless, and is the same as satchitanand Atman. It is because of the presence of formless consciousness that all objects of nature exist. Seeing Brahmn in Self is the best form of meditation, called nirguna upasana.

This path, by Krishna’s own admission, is difficult for people who have not renounced everything, and who still live in body-consciousness. So he suggests four other paths of devotion. Next comes the path of seeing god in every aspect of creation. God is present in pure consciousness in all created objects. There is nothing in the world that is not of divine origin. With this perspective, there would be love, kindness to all and no conflict. To see entire creation and all beings as divine is the second best meditation.

Another option is to meditate on any particular form of Brahmn – sculpture, picture or word, for example. One can see god’s presence in a particular form. That form can be chosen by us based on our own sanskara or preference. Since entire creation is divine, worshipping god in any form is fine. That explains the 330 million devatas in Hindu tradition. Virtually every single form is divine. This kind of meditation on a form is called saguna upasana. This method is very popular.

Some people are so action-oriented that they cannot do any meditation – neither saguna nor nirguna. For them, there are the fourth and fifth options.

The fourth option is to dedicate all actions to god, performed only in divine service of god or in service of the world, abandoning desire for selfish gains. Some people devote their life to temples; others, to certain social organisations. Any selfless service is devotional in nature.

If this is also difficult to do, the fifth and the last option of karma yoga is given. One can continue to do what one is doing but the fruits of karma can be dedicated to god and accepted as prasad only to take care of our needs, not greed. If we accept salary or profit as prasad, we can’t consume it entirely. Prasad has to be shared. So we must share our gains with those in need. Also, karma has to be performed with greatest efficiency, since we are offering it to god; we should have no ego in performing it or in achieving some good results out of it. The credit for any superior output should go to god, so we can be humble. Karma performed with this attitude is karma yoga. The short definition of karma yoga can be this. It is performance of one’s chosen duty without carelessness, without selfishness and without ego.

These are the five different paths of devotion given by Krishna in the Gita. The choice of path is left to us. We can choose what appeals to us most. Any one path will gradually lead to the next better path and eventually to lasting happiness and peace.