Stabilizing the Mind in God -8. Swami Krishnananda.

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12/02/2020.
The Twelfth Chapter of the Bhagavadgita.
(Spoken on June 26, 1983)
Post-8.
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1.

Archanam : is daily worship as you do in the temples : With shodasa upachara, the sixteen methods of ritualistic performance, you adore God Almighty as present here in His archa avataram, in His images, in His murtis, in His idols, as we have in the temples or places of holy worship.
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2.

Vandanam : is offering prayer: “O Lord of mercy and love…” as you pray. You may pray, “Father, Thou art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name,” and so on, or you may have your own prayers where you open up your heart before the only thing that is before you. It is a confession that you are making before the Holy Father, the Ultimate Being. “My Lord, You know what I am. If I have sinned, pardon me. I shall not commit this mistake again. Ignorant child that I am, I might have gone wrong in many a way. It is the benignant of the Almighty that Thou art to excuse me for my faults. I promise that in future I shall try my best not to commit this mistake. Thou art all.” Thus is prayer, vandanam.
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3.

Dasyam :  is utter surrender : comparable to the attitude of Hanuman to Sri Rama, where you are a servant of God. This aspect of the servant hood of the devotee in respect of God the Almighty is emphasized very much in Vaishnava schools, especially in the School of Madhva. Also in Sri Vaishnava parlance they say, “I am only an appendage, an attribute, a quality, something that I attach to Him, and He is almighty. He is the original. He is the organism, and I am that which is appended to Him. So dasyam is the feeling of utter dependence on Him, as there is no other alternative.
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4.

Sakhyam : is a novel attitude of devotion which places the devotee on an equal footing with God : as exemplified in Bhakti Shastras in the life of Arjuna and his companionship with Sri Krishna. He is your friend and philosopher and guide. He is always with you, and He is at your beck and call because He is your friend. You can call upon Him at any moment for His succor. Just now He is there to assist you, help you, take care of you and do anything for you. That is the meaning of a friend. A friend in need is a friend indeed, and He is a friend in need; therefore, He is a friend indeed. God is a friend, and nobody else can be regarded as a real friend in this world. Every friend will leave you one day or the other for some reason or the other. Here is a friend who will not leave you. He will be with you till your doom and till the end of your consecrated salvation.
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5.

The final way is Atma-nivedanam :  That is the highest form of devotion, where realizing the greatness, grandeur, magnificence, power, sweetness, compassion and mercy of God, you feel that you are no more. You have gone into utter extinction before the mighty radiance of these universal solar rays. These are the nine ways of bhakti, and Madhusudana Saraswati says that though these are not mentioned in detail in the Bhagavadgita, we have to read between the lines and understand that the indication is for devotion to God, and as these are the principal accepted ways of devotion, we may consider that this is the prescription here.
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To be continued ...


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