Page 93 - Hinduism

kriya, kalyāna, anavasada ai anuddharsa. Briefly explained, they consist taking sattvic food, giving up desires for objects of the senses, practice of the presence God, performance of the duties as ordained vara, practice of virtues like truth and hospitality and freedom from the extreme feelings of elation and depression. The bhakta is initiated by the guru into upāsana or meditation on Brahman as Śriyahpati or Lord and Śrī in the light of the mūlamantras. Bhakti then becomes intense as paramabhakti and it becomes a thirst for divine union as in the case of Nammālvar. The bhakta may be a servant of God or dāsa like Hanumān, a friend of God like Arjuna; he may cherish motherly love as Yaśoda or Periālvār did for the divine child Kṛṣṇa, or may yearn for love like a nāyaki for her Lord as Āndāl did.
Bhakti yoga is Love lit by jñāna and a rigorous path which only the twice-born can follow. An easier method is adopted by Śrī Vaiṣṇavism and it is called prapatti. Bhagavan is Śriyahpati, the Lord of redemptive grace. He has incarnated as Rāma and Kṛṣṇa and is sarvalokaśaranya, the redeemer of all Jīvas. He is rakṣaka or śaranya as taught in the classic text of prapatti “Renounce all dharmas and take refuge at My feet. I will release you from all sins." Six conditions are laid down for prapattiyoga. The yoga consists on the whole in deathless faith in the saving grace of God and absolute surrender to Him in a spirit of contrition and humility and inner purity. Grace is said to be got by him whom God
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