In all Bhakti there is an element of Jnana.
QUESTION: The expression Jnanamisra-bhakti (Bhakti mixed with Jnana) is frequently used in Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature. Kindly explain its real meaning and how it should be practised. How is it different from ordinary Bhakti?
MAHARAJ: To make the matter clear, the expression ‘ordinary Bhakti’ must be explained. Ordinary Bhakti can be understood to mean ‘conventional devotion,’ i.e., acceptance of certain creeds and practices and of certain devotional observances that have come to one through family tradition. But it becomes genuine Bhakti only when it is made dynamic by Sraddha, the deep-seated acceptance of spiritual values as a dominant factor in life.
For man to love anything, there must be some preceding knowledge of it. But the demand for knowledge ceases when a strong link of affection is established. This affection may be based on the gains you are likely to have by serving the person faithfully and winning his favour; or it may be based on the feeling that the person is one’s ‘own’, irrespective of what one gets from him or not. When anything is one’s ‘own’, it becomes sweet, irrespective of gains.
This story is from the August 2019 edition of The Vedanta Kesari.
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This story is from the August 2019 edition of The Vedanta Kesari.
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