Bhakti & Trust
Let us say it is hard to trust the world, our leaders or elders within our family. People who are supposed to protect, empower, or nourish us, might be the ones who are manipulating, gaslighting, abusing, detaining, kidnapping, or even deporting us away from what was supposed to be our home. What will we do now? Can we slow down without obsessively watching news and then access our grief and fears in stillness? Can we find moments which can make us trust the universe again in spite of what is happening externally?
Yes, I am talking about the trust in divine beings or energetic fields. Trust in the ultimate reality or those who are one with that reality. Buddha, Gyanyin, Kali, Durga or Tara, trust in Bodhisattva beings who work for the benefit of all even when we can't see them with our human eyes.
Yesterday, I heard two students of Hinduism (Robert Svoboda and Nina Rao) talk about the concept of Bhakti. Bhakti is a term common in India which implies fondness for, devotion to, trust, homage, worship, piety, faith, or love towards divine beings that bind this sacred living world together, higher/greater/deeper powers whom you surrender yourself to.
Bhakti is the reason you find a lot of people being deeply at ease even when they own nothing by western standards. Bhakti is antidote to spiritual loneliness. In this vast universe, someone can hear your and my cries and is singing us into well being. We can let that trust protect us from excessive fear.
We all know bhakti at some level. We might be devoted to our Apple products, Taylor Swift, Nick Jonas, Beyonce or a political leader. Do we really know where is deepest spiritual safety, connection, refuge and comfort? True Bhakti comes with deepest trust, unconditional surrender and has a sweet flavor. Like a ripe mango. If you haven't tasted it yet, I invite you to be curious about it and expose yourself to places where people seem devoted, where there is devotional music, art, temples, saints and where you authentically and easily seem to find connection with "divine".
At one point, Robert said, “You just have to open to door of Bhakti like you open the door of a cab and a whole new world opens up that takes you somewhere new.” Then you can find courage, a deep inner safety, peace and liberation in spite of what is happening in the outer world. With a bit of patience, discipline and practice (tapa and yama), we can uncover the protective ego wrapper, taste the divine in us and surrender to it.
May a deep trust ground you. May it give you courage to do what is yours to do in this one precious human life in these tumultous times of the polycrisis.
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