Three fold path for spiritual progress

The Graceful Lord is far beyond the reach of speech, mind and intellect. Hence it is not unnatural to have many different ideas, conception and sects with regards to Him.

In reality the all pervading divinity is formless and flawless. But in view of the difference between self and the all pervading divinity, different thinkers have established different sects. The root of the separation of the self and the all pervading Lord is the ego of the individual.

In order to get the Graceful Lord manifested in actual life it is quite essential to put an end to this ego, which in fact is devoid of real existence due to ignorance and illusion. Our Rishis devised three paths-Gyan Yoga, Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Either one of which may be adopted by a person in accordance with his aptitude and the impression of his previous births to enable him to make his life sublime and get rid of the ego for achieving the highest attainment of existence.

The followers of Gyan Yoga believe in a formless, eternal and unmanifested all-pervading divinity as the only reality and all else as illusory. When the self is realized, the ego disappears. However the path of Gyan Yoga is suitable only for the intellectuals, while for others it is difficult or even impossible.

The followers of Karma Yoga (selfless service of the humanity) visualize all living beings as their own form and so merge their own self with those of others. Consequently, their self assumes an infinite form so that the ego crosses its boundaries and become all pervading. With the result, it is widely diffused and ultimately eliminated. But till they feel any difference between their own relation and those of others, the ego sustains and leads to suffering. Due to this hurdle the path of Karma Yoga may create some difficulties for the common man. Still selfless service is very beneficial for the spiritual progress as it dissolve various complexities of sub-conscious mind.     

In the light of these difficulties our Rishis have devised another path of Bhakti Yoga. As it is very difficult to destroy the ego by the preceding methods they have advice that through Bhakti Yoga the ego be tied to the feet of the Graceful Lord. Although the ego retains its existence but being attached to the Graceful Lord’s feet, it is under His control. So whatever happens, the Bhakta takes it as ‘Will of the Lord’ and remains happy. In this manner the self behaves like a doll which dances at the will of the string puller—the Lord, or like an actor in a drama who, while playing his part to the best of his ability, restricts all his actions to the will of the Director to please Him.

Bhakti Marg is based on the conception of Avatar-Vad. Two questions arise in connection with this belief. The first is that why and how the formless divinity takes a form. The second is about the form which He takes. For the first question well known saint Sri Ram Krishna Paramhansa beautifully explained that the all pervading divinity has in realty no form; but like the icy rocks floating over the north and south poles as a result of the cold climate of the place, the Lord adopts a form according to the liking and belief of a devotee out of his love for Him. And the human form is a natural and ideal form to visualize the Lord he worships and to establish his endearing love relationship with Him.

According to few wise men like Shri Aribindo it is better to follow the integral yoga to get perfection. Three types of yoga can be integrated in our life, i.e. think like a Gyan Yogi, act like a Karma Yogi and purify the emotions according to Bhakti Yoga.

  -Lord! seeing you immanent in all beings, may I offer my services at Thy feet;

  -Let Thy feet be my goal while I continue to taste the nectar of stories of Thy activities during your incarnations on this earth.