Aspirants on the Bhakthi Path

Every aspirant who seeks the eternal through the path of Bhakthi should strive to acquire the following characteristics: He must keep away from the turmoils, the cruelties and the falsehoods of this world and practise truth, righteousness, love and peace. This is indeed the path of Bhakthi. Those who seek union with God, those who seek the welfare of the world should discard as worthless both praise and blame, appreciation and derision, prosperity and adversity. They should courageously keep steady faith in their own innate reality and dedicate themselves to spiritual uplift. No one, not even a mahapurusha or avatar can ever escape criticism and blame. But they do not yield to threats. The real nature of the mahapurusha or the avatar is realized by those who indulge in criticism or blame only after wading through unbearable trouble and then, they too start to praise. The weakness of ignorance is the cause of this failure. So, let the aspirant keep away from all such waverers and ignorant persons and desist from discussing with them his belief and immerse himself in holy books and in the company of the devotees of the Lord. Later, rich with the experience of realisation and courageous on account of that contact with reality, they can mix in any company without danger and even endeavour to direct other minds on to the truth he himself has seen.

Three types can be recognized among those who seek to do good deeds and tread the path of self-realisation.

• Those who are too frightened by the troubles, losses, and difficulties, to begin the endeavour; they are of the lowest or adharma type.
• Those who, after having depressed and defeated by obstacles and disappointments and who therefore give up, in the middle. They are of the middling, or the madhyama type.
• Those who steadfastly adhere to the path with calmness and courage, whatever the nature of the travel, however hard the road; those are, of course, of the highest or the uthama type. This steadfastness, this faith and constancy is the characteristic of the Bhaktha.