Page 163 - Wisdom Unfurled

remembrance is in fact a natural development of meditational practice and it acquires efficiency when the abhyasi has become devoted to the object of meditation or constant remembrance’.
Devotion in the Patanjali sutras and the Gita
The Master has stated that Lord Krishna introduced love and devotion in the path of Rajayoga. There is ample evidence of it in the Gita and we will just make only a passing reference to the same not only for the sake of continuity but also because the ideas presented therein make us appreciate very much the Master’s teachings on the subject. There is a foundation laid for devotion in the Patanjali sutras as in Isvara pranidhanadva (I.23) (the cessation of mental vrittis can be brought about) through love in which, without seeking results such as sense enjoyments all works are dedicated to the teacher of teachers, Isvara, as interpreted by Bhoja. Revered.KCV interprets pranidhana as utter giving up of oneself or surrender to the Guru of caliber and through him to the Lord. The Lord reveals the supreme or kingly knowledge and the supreme secret in the Ninth Chapter wherein He declares His real status of unsurpassable supremacy and the easy path of practicing exclusive devotion (ananya bhakti) and taking refuge in Him alone which together enable the person irrespective of caste and station in life to attain the supreme state of abiding in Him. Even a very wicked person gets quickly transformed into a virtuous person and attains to eternal peace if only he takes up exclusive devotion to the Lord (BG-IX.30-1). He assures and pledges in the same verse to Arjuna that His devotee is never destroyed (na me bhaktahpranasyati). The Lord’s exhortation to all through Arjuna is to fill the mind with His consciousness, be His devotee, bow down to the Lord and having thus made his heart steadfast in Him taking Him to be the supreme goal, the devotee shall certainly reach Him (BG-IX.34). We find in the Eleventh Chapter the categorical assertion by the Lord that it is neither by the Vedas, nor by austerities, nor by gifts nor by sacrifice that He can be seen as by Arjuna. On the contrary it is possible to know, see in reality and also enter into Him through single minded devotion (bhaktya tu ananyaya sakyam—BG-XI-53- 4).
The Lord is also very easy to please as revealed through the oft- quoted verse (patram pushpam palam toyam—BG-IX-26) that He readily accepts the devout gift of the sincere and pure-minded, be it a leaf, flower, fruit or water. We may note here the Master’s statement that there is no affectation in real devotion. He declares that He is in those who worship Him with devotion and He too is in Him (mayi te teshu chapyaham). In answer to the question of Arjuna as to whom He likes more whether those steadfast devotees who worship Him or those who worship the Unmanifested and Imperishable, the