Popular Culture Review Vol. 10, No. 2, August 1999 | Page 124

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Popular Culture Review

Many other saintly figures of the past and present have attempted to
clarify the conception of Bhakti and the qualities and the qualifications of a
Bhakta. The most important of these qualities and qualifications, however, seem
to be only five: 1) selfless love of the Bhakta for the Personal Supreme, 2) uncon
ditional surrender of the Bhakta to Him and the Guru, 3) full faith of the Bhakta in
all-powerful and all-merciful nature of the Personal Supreme and the Guru, 4)
constant and unalloyed service of the Bhakta to the lotus feet of the Personal
Supreme and the Guru, and 5) disciplined, simple, and undesigning life style of
the Bhakta at all times and in all stages of life. Even of these qualities and quali
fications, devotional service to the Personal Supreme and the Guru is of first and
foremost importance and the fountainhead of all other qualities and qualifications
of the Bhakta. In his purport in the Bhagavad-GitaAs It Is, A. C. Bhaktivedanta
advises that unalloyed devotional service to the Personal Supreme (the Guru in
cluded) is the most important of these qualities: “If one takes to devotional ser
vice in full Krishna consciousness, the other nineteen items (mentioned earlier)
automatically develop within him (the Bhakta).”^^ Goswami Shukdeva also ex
plains: “Only a rare person who has adopted complete, unalloyed devotional ser
vice to Krishna, can uproot the weeds of sinful actions with no possibility that
they will revive. He can do this simply by discharging devotional service, just as
the sun can immediately dissipate fog by its rays.”^^
Bhakti-Yoga
Bhakti-yoga has been described in the Bhagavad Gita and has been pro
claimed to be the foundation-stone for the devotee’s progress toward self-realiza
tion and subsequent unity with the Personal Supreme. Of the two prescribed paths
for achievement of self-realization and Moksha (Sankhya-yoga and Karma-yoga
— the Path of Knowledge and the Path of Action), Bhakti is the underlying current
in both. Lord Krishna advises Arjuna:
“Perform your duty equipoised, O Aijuna, abandoning
all attachment to success or failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.
O, Dhananjaya, keep all abominable activities far distant by devo
tional service, and in that consciousness surrender unto the Lord.
Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers. A
man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and
bad actions even in this life. Therefore, strive for yoga, which is
the art of all work.”^^