You have heard of hatha yoga. You have heard of raja yoga. You have heard of different yogas, but possibly never heard of Guru Bhakti Yoga. Let me inform you that this is one of the most important yogas in existence today. This yoga was propagated by our grandfather, Swami Sivanandaji; this yoga was propagated by our father, Swami Satyanandaji; and this yoga has become the tradition of Ganga Darshan Vishwa Yogapeeth.
Let us first understand the concept of Guru. Guru is not a person; Guru is not an enlightened being; Guru is not an individual. Guru is the luminosity of the soul, the luminosity of the spirit and the luminosity of God.
What is the role of Guru? To inspire one to walk the path from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death towards immortality. The inspiration which guides and motivates us to walk the luminous path is known as the Guru element. Just as electricity is in the bulb and is the power behind the light, the Guru element is the power behind the luminosity of life. He whose life is totally illumined by this shakti, is known as Guru. Guru in reality is the luminous element of the Divine. That luminous element is experienced by the individual when they walk the spiritual path.
Bhakti is not only devotion, but also identification. People think of bhakti as devotion, I think of bhakti as identification. If I identify with the spirit of my Guru, I am a devotee. If I identify with the body of my Guru, I am a follower. People confuse devotion with following. People believe that if they follow a person, they are a devotee. I believe that if I can identify with the luminosity of the person, I am a devotee. Therefore, it is the identification with the higher, the luminous element of the Divine, which is known as bhakti, not follower. Every follower is not a devotee. Even a lion follows a deer, yet that does not make the lion a devotee of the deer.
When we identify with that concept and idea, the combination of Guru and bhakti, then it becomes a yoga. This yoga means walking the luminous path, walking the spiritual path. There are only two paths that we follow in life – the material and the spiritual. One cannot experience the spiritual in the material. You can have glimpses of the spiritual in material life, yet you cannot experience the spiritual life in the material life, in completeness, in totality. To experience spiritual life in totality, you have to immerse yourself in the spiritual path, just as you are immersed in the material path. You go through all the experiences of the material life – the struggle, anxiety, ambition, aspiration, hate, anger, jealousy. These are the products of your engagement, involvement and identification with material life.
In the same manner, compassion, kindness and sympathy, all the good, positive qualities are manifestations of spiritual life. To follow the spiritual life is not easy, for we have to change the pattern of your lifestyle and mind. Guru Bhakti Yoga means identifying with that aspect of our nature which is luminous, positive, constructive and creative, and to build strength, energy and luminosity within ourselves. That is the actual meaning of the Guru Bhakti Yoga.
Today we all take a sankalpa, a resolve, an affirmation to walk the luminous path, not the dark path of the material life, but the luminous path of spiritual life.
In the dark path of material life, we confront the negatives of our nature and mind. In the luminous path of spiritual life, we experience the positive, the creative and the benevolent qualities of our life.
5 May 2023, Ganga Darshan, Munger