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Nine Forms of Devotion- Bhakthi- ATMANIVEDANAM
NINE FORMS OF DEVOTION- BHAKTHI- ATMANIVEDANAM
Atmanivedanam is the last step on the ladder of devotion. This last step leads the devotee straight to his beloved Lord. Atma means ‘I’ and Nivedanam means ‘offering’. Offering the ‘I’ (the ego, the sense of individuality) is Atmanivedanam, which is the highest of all offerings as the devotee offers himself and everything to his beloved Lord. What remains after offering one’s individuality is the true ‘I’, which is the Supreme Reality, the Lord. The bhakta (devotee) dissolves to merge in his Bhagawan (Lord). What remains after the dissolution is Bhagawan alone. This is a very rare phenomenon.
Atmanivedanam is the last step on the ladder of devotion. This last step leads the devotee straight to his beloved Lord. Atma means ‘I’ and Nivedanam means ‘offering’. Offering the ‘I’ (the ego, the sense of individuality) is Atmanivedanam, which is the highest of all offerings as the devotee offers himself and everything to his beloved Lord. What remains after offering one’s individuality is the true ‘I’, which is the Supreme Reality, the Lord. The bhakta (devotee) dissolves to merge in his Bhagawan (Lord). What remains after the dissolution is Bhagawan alone. This is a very rare phenomenon.
The poet saint Kabeerdasji said: “Prem ki gali ati saakri, jame do na samaye, Hari hai to mein nahi, mein hoon to Hari nahi.” This means that the path of love (devotion) is very narrow. On this narrow path two people cannot walk, only one can. If the Lord is there, the little I (ego) cannot be there, and vice versa
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the great saint of the 19th century, demonstrated the spirit of oneness with the whole world. At the end of his life he developed cancer of the throat. It was very painful for him to talk to his disciples and devotees, nevertheless his love for them made him speak till the very end of his body. It was also very painful to eat. The act of swallowing itself was quite painful. His disciples would be in pain seeing their beloved Master suffer so much. His favourite disciple Naren, who later became Swami Vivekananda, pestered him to ask the Divine Mother to relieve the pain so that he could, at least, eat. One day when Naren requested the Master again, the latter went to the Mother with the request.
Sri Ramakrishna reported later “The Mother says I alone am eating through so many mouths, (indicating all of them) why do you insist on eating from this particular mouth?” He lived that spirit of oneness, unlike the rest of as who just talk about it.
Offering a coconut to the Lord in the temple symbolises AtmaNivedenam. In the temple one offers the coconut to the Lord by breaking its hard shell, which symbolises the little ‘I’ (the ego). The white sweet meat, which symbolises the purified mind, is then offered to the Lord. A purified mind is a mind which has been transcended. If one can break this hard shell, the little ‘I’, then only can one merge in Him.
In the Narsimha Purana, lord Narasimha says, “Anyone who prays unto Me and takes shelter from Me becomes My ward, and I protect him always from all sorts of calamities.”
The same is stated in the Bhagavad Gita by Krishna as:
Ananyaaschinta yanto maam ye janaa paryupaasate teshaam nityaabhiyuktaanaam yoga kshemam vahaamyaham (Bhagavad Gita,9.22) “He who constantly remembers me and worships me at all times, is protected and his welfare is taken care of by Me at all times.” King Bali is the perfect example of Atmanivedanam or complete self-surrender unto the lord. He offered whatever He desired
He offered to wash the feet of Vamana and sanctify himself by sprinkling that water on his own head. Bali’s preceptor, Sukracharya was an all-knowing counselor. Aware that Vamana was an incarnation of Vishnu, he advised Bali to go back on his offer to Vamana.
But Bali’s magnanimity and greatness may be seen in the fact that he refused to accept his preceptor’s advice. Bali said, “When the Supreme lord Himself has come to me with out-stretched hands asking for a gift, what greater good fortune I can have than making the gift from my humble hands? I am prepared to give away everything regardless of what happens to me.”
Bali told Lord Vishnu: “I offer to you, Oh lord, all my wealth and possessions, as well as myself. I take refuge in you, protect me, Oh lord.” (Srimad Bhagavatham 8th canto). This was the sense of abnegation with which Bali offered himself to Lord Vamana. Thus he attained the lord through his selfless devotion and surrender to the Supreme.
In other words, we should learn how to cry for the lord in tears of bhakti. This is called laulyam, and such tears are the price for the highest perfection.
This feeling of ‘oneness’ with the lord and all His divine beings is achieved only in the spirit of the final form of devotion to the Supreme–aatmanivedanam.
Offering a coconut to the Lord in the temple symbolises AtmaNivedenam. In the temple one offers the coconut to the Lord by breaking its hard shell, which symbolises the little ‘I’ (the ego). The white sweet meat, which symbolises the purified mind, is then offered to the Lord. A purified mind is a mind which has been transcended. If one can break this hard shell, the little ‘I’, then only can one merge in Him.
Devotion alone bestows the supreme good; Devotion alone is the destroyer of the disease of the cycle of birth and death; Devotion alone is the means of recognizing Divinity; Devotion alone is the means of Liberation.
saibaba/ hk
divyapracharam.wordpress
This post is for sharing knowledge only, no intention to violate any copy rights
Atmanivedanam is the last step on the ladder of devotion. This last step leads the devotee straight to his beloved Lord. Atma means ‘I’ and Nivedanam means ‘offering’. Offering the ‘I’ (the ego, the sense of individuality) is Atmanivedanam, which is the highest of all offerings as the devotee offers himself and everything to his beloved Lord. What remains after offering one’s individuality is the true ‘I’, which is the Supreme Reality, the Lord. The bhakta (devotee) dissolves to merge in his Bhagawan (Lord). What remains after the dissolution is Bhagawan alone. This is a very rare phenomenon.
Atmanivedanam is the last step on the ladder of devotion. This last step leads the devotee straight to his beloved Lord. Atma means ‘I’ and Nivedanam means ‘offering’. Offering the ‘I’ (the ego, the sense of individuality) is Atmanivedanam, which is the highest of all offerings as the devotee offers himself and everything to his beloved Lord. What remains after offering one’s individuality is the true ‘I’, which is the Supreme Reality, the Lord. The bhakta (devotee) dissolves to merge in his Bhagawan (Lord). What remains after the dissolution is Bhagawan alone. This is a very rare phenomenon.
The poet saint Kabeerdasji said: “Prem ki gali ati saakri, jame do na samaye, Hari hai to mein nahi, mein hoon to Hari nahi.” This means that the path of love (devotion) is very narrow. On this narrow path two people cannot walk, only one can. If the Lord is there, the little I (ego) cannot be there, and vice versa
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the great saint of the 19th century, demonstrated the spirit of oneness with the whole world. At the end of his life he developed cancer of the throat. It was very painful for him to talk to his disciples and devotees, nevertheless his love for them made him speak till the very end of his body. It was also very painful to eat. The act of swallowing itself was quite painful. His disciples would be in pain seeing their beloved Master suffer so much. His favourite disciple Naren, who later became Swami Vivekananda, pestered him to ask the Divine Mother to relieve the pain so that he could, at least, eat. One day when Naren requested the Master again, the latter went to the Mother with the request.
Sri Ramakrishna reported later “The Mother says I alone am eating through so many mouths, (indicating all of them) why do you insist on eating from this particular mouth?” He lived that spirit of oneness, unlike the rest of as who just talk about it.
Offering a coconut to the Lord in the temple symbolises AtmaNivedenam. In the temple one offers the coconut to the Lord by breaking its hard shell, which symbolises the little ‘I’ (the ego). The white sweet meat, which symbolises the purified mind, is then offered to the Lord. A purified mind is a mind which has been transcended. If one can break this hard shell, the little ‘I’, then only can one merge in Him.
In the Narsimha Purana, lord Narasimha says, “Anyone who prays unto Me and takes shelter from Me becomes My ward, and I protect him always from all sorts of calamities.”
The same is stated in the Bhagavad Gita by Krishna as:
Ananyaaschinta yanto maam ye janaa paryupaasate teshaam nityaabhiyuktaanaam yoga kshemam vahaamyaham (Bhagavad Gita,9.22) “He who constantly remembers me and worships me at all times, is protected and his welfare is taken care of by Me at all times.” King Bali is the perfect example of Atmanivedanam or complete self-surrender unto the lord. He offered whatever He desired
He offered to wash the feet of Vamana and sanctify himself by sprinkling that water on his own head. Bali’s preceptor, Sukracharya was an all-knowing counselor. Aware that Vamana was an incarnation of Vishnu, he advised Bali to go back on his offer to Vamana.
But Bali’s magnanimity and greatness may be seen in the fact that he refused to accept his preceptor’s advice. Bali said, “When the Supreme lord Himself has come to me with out-stretched hands asking for a gift, what greater good fortune I can have than making the gift from my humble hands? I am prepared to give away everything regardless of what happens to me.”
Bali told Lord Vishnu: “I offer to you, Oh lord, all my wealth and possessions, as well as myself. I take refuge in you, protect me, Oh lord.” (Srimad Bhagavatham 8th canto). This was the sense of abnegation with which Bali offered himself to Lord Vamana. Thus he attained the lord through his selfless devotion and surrender to the Supreme.
In other words, we should learn how to cry for the lord in tears of bhakti. This is called laulyam, and such tears are the price for the highest perfection.
This feeling of ‘oneness’ with the lord and all His divine beings is achieved only in the spirit of the final form of devotion to the Supreme–aatmanivedanam.
Offering a coconut to the Lord in the temple symbolises AtmaNivedenam. In the temple one offers the coconut to the Lord by breaking its hard shell, which symbolises the little ‘I’ (the ego). The white sweet meat, which symbolises the purified mind, is then offered to the Lord. A purified mind is a mind which has been transcended. If one can break this hard shell, the little ‘I’, then only can one merge in Him.
Devotion alone bestows the supreme good; Devotion alone is the destroyer of the disease of the cycle of birth and death; Devotion alone is the means of recognizing Divinity; Devotion alone is the means of Liberation.
saibaba/ hk
divyapracharam.wordpress
This post is for sharing knowledge only, no intention to violate any copy rights