Page 167 - Wisdom Unfurled

of spirituality. The only remedy lies in prayer to the Divine Master feeling one’s utter helplessness and taking sole refuge under Him with the firm faith that He alone can save. This is the stage of full maturity of the feeling of dependency on the Divine and the aspirant comes to realize how much dependent upon the Divine he really is. This is the graduation from bhakti to prapatti, devotion to surrender (Ref. BP V1 P398-405).
Devotion- its advanced stages
The Master talks about the growth of devotion from its initial stages to its most advanced state. He says that the devotee may be conscious of his feeling towards the object of his love but at higher stages the foam and fury is dimmed to the extent of an almost total loss of its awareness at the ultimate stage. The superfine stage of devotion may be spoken of as total self- surrender from which awareness of surrender has entirely been withdrawn by the grace of the Supreme Master Himself. It is to be noted that the final mode of bhakti in the tradition is also atma nivedanam, a total unconditional self- offering. In this context interested readers may refer to the Game of Life (CD) brought out by Imperience (also refer Path of Grace) to have an idea of the various sub-stages and buffers the abhaysi has to pass through from the state of devotion to that of surrender. There are many pitfalls awaiting the unwary traveler and it is only the grace of the ever watchful and benevolent Master of caliber that can take the devotee safely across.
In particular we may note the states of para bhakti-the state wherein the devotee is utterly devoted to the Divine and this alone can help him to come out of bhagavata vyamoham-divine infatuation or undue attachment to a person on the same path in particular to one’s guru or guide who could become a replacement of the final goal, God. In the state of para bhakti the divine also accepts the devotee as exemplified in the life of Meera bai. Still higher is the stage of parama bhakti wherein not only God is adorable but also all things created by Him are equally so. Ethics gets transcended here and the breeze of divinity starts blowing resulting in reverential attitude to everything. Ahimsa-non-injury is matured, asteya-non stealing is total and brahmacharya- living, moving and functioning in His consciousness is established, the will of Master is one’s will and there is unquestioning obedience to the Master. The stage of the Muni who silently obeys his Master begins.
Another aspect of perfected one pointed devotion (ekantha bhakti) is that the devotee ‘sees’ or feels the presence of his beloved object everywhere according to Prahlada, the supreme devotee (ekantha bhaktirgovinde yatsarvatranirikshanam). In fact this becomes the basis of paramabhakti. Our Master talks about remembrance (of the Divine Beloved) oozing from every object. Sadhakas who have moved on the path may refer with profit to the