| Essence Of Hinduism |
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HINDU THEISM |
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| The internal means
of bhakti are said to be (1) Vairagya or renunciation, (2) Jnana or knowledge, (3) Upasana
or inner worship and (4) the practice of Yoga. The, first two do not require much
explanation. If bhakti or devotion is to result in the supreme happiness, which the
devotee feels when he lives in grace in the sight of his Lord, he has to pay a heavy price
for it. God demands the highest sacrifice that a devotee can offer. Though it is not necessary that a devotee should formally renounce the world, his internal renunciation should be real and final. He should become thoroughly dead to the world before he can be fully alive to God. In other words, the highest bhakti demands complete renunciation. But, as a matter of fact, bhakti itself helps one in renouncing all earthly pleasures. The Gita says: - "The objects of sense fall away from the soul in the body when it ceases to feed on them, but the taste for them is left behind. Even the taste falls away when the Supreme is seen." In fact, love of God and the renunciation of the world act and react upon each other. Moreover, it is not so much our renouncing worldly things that matter as our despising them in our hearts. We have to eat and drink and move amidst the objects of the world as long as we are in the flesh. Only we should not indulge in these things or pay more attention to them than what is required. |
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| About Hindu Theism |
