VED AND VEDANTA in these at all, there would be no divine hope for ! to their nature, as they approach him, he accepts their Bhakti and answers to it with the reply of divine love and compassion. These forms are after all a certain kind of manifestation through which the imperfect human intelligence can touch him, these desires are first means by which our souls turn towards him; nor is any devotion worthless or ineffective, whatever its limitations. It has the one ‡ˆ devotee with faith desires to worship, I make that ! ‰
the individual soul through an inner renunciation of its separate living. All will, all action, all result become that of the Godhead, work divinely through the purified and illumined nature and no longer belong to the limited personal ego. The finite nature thus surrendered becomes a free channel of / 5 ! ! ! out of the ignorance and the limitation, returns to its oneness with the Eternal. The Divine Eternal is 5  !  ! supporter of all creatures. He is the enemy of none and he is the partial lover of none; none has he cast out, none has he eternally condemned, none has he By the force of that faith in his cult and worship he favoured by any despotism of arbitrary caprice; all gets his desire and the spiritual realization for which  ! ! < the ignorance. But it is only this perfect adoration from the Divine, he shall come in the end to seek in that can make this in dwelling of God in man and the Divine all his good. By depending for his joys man in God a conscious thing and an engrossing Â&#x201A; Â&#x201A; and perfect union. Love of the Highest and a total his joy. By knowing the Divine in his forms and self-surrender are the straight and swift ways to this  ! < } divine oneness. the Transcendent who is the source of all things.
ABSOLUTE SELF-SURRENDER This absolute self-giving, this one-minded surrender is the devotion which the Gita makes the crown of its synthesis. All action and effort are by this devotion turned in to an offering to the supreme and universal Godhead. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whatever thou doest, ! ~ ! whatever thou givest, whatever energy of Tapasya, of the soulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will or effort thou puttest forth, make ! Â&#x2030; Here the least, the slightest circumstance of life, the most insignificant gift out of oneself or what one has, the smallest action assumes a divine to the Godhead who makes it a means for his possession of the soul and life of the God-lover. The distinctions made by desire and ego then disappear. As there is no straining after the good result of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s action, no shunning of unhappy result, but all action and result are given up to the Supreme to whom all work and fruit in the world belong for ever, there is no farther bondage. For by an absolute self-giving all egoistgic desire disappears from the heart and there is a perfect union between the Divine and
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HUMAN REPRESENTATION OF THE DIVINE IDEAL OF LOVE The teachers of the doctrine of Bhakti have tried to ! } / But that is unavoidable, it being the only means possible. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The whole universe is to us a writing / ! Â&#x2030; forms of love are graded as follows according to the intensity of the personal affection involved. 1.
Santa: Devotion that has risen above ceremonialism and is constant and philosophically oriented but is without that madness of intensely active love, is called Santa. Such Bhakti is calm, peaceful and gentle.
2.
Servantship: This comes when the devotee develops the feeling that he is a faithful and eternal servant of God and has attachment to Him appropriate to this relationship.
3.
Sakhya or friendshipÂ&#x160; } Â ! with the Lord, confidence, and a lack of
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