Enlighten Yourself: Bhakti Yoga – The Path of Faithful Devotion – Part 2/2

Written by Wes Annac, The Culture of Awareness

Concluded from Part 1

According to Richard Rolle, to even come close to enlightenment, we have to feel, undeniably, the flame of love in our hearts.

“No one in this vale of tears is going to attain perfection in the contemplative life overnight. For, first of all, a man’s heart must be set really on fire by the torch of eternal love, so that he feels it burn with love, and he knows his conscience melt with exceptional sweetness.

“Little wonder when a man is first made a true contemplative, and tastes the sweetness and feels the warmth, that he almost dies through excess of love!” (1)

Our minds and hearts have to be exceptionally attuned to spirit before we can act on the greater connections we have the potential to make, and once they are, our drive to find enlightenment and help the rest of creation do the same will be stronger than ever.

We’ll know without a doubt that we’ve reached a purer state of consciousness. The fire of love will burn almost out of control, and we’ll overflow with love and kindness, helping everyone we come across find a higher state of consciousness and unlock the same flowing love.

Richard continues, telling us more about the intense love (and the resulting drive to know Source) our quest for enlightenment will eventually help us feel.

“He is held tight in the embrace of eternal love, almost as though it were physical, because with unceasing contemplation, and with his whole heart, he is attempting to reach up to and see that indescribable light.

“In the end such a man will allow his soul no comfort unless it comes from God, for now he is longing for such, and to the end of his life here he knows he will so desire, crying out anxiously with the Psalmist, When shall I come and appear before the face of God?” (2)

Once we reach a certain state of consciousness, we no longer choose to accept the distortions we were once comfortable with.

We strive to attain nothing less than full and pure communion with Source, and even though that won’t happen until we’re in a much higher state of consciousness, we can begin our attempts to commune with Source now and speed up the process.

It helps to remember that, again, Source is in everything and we only need to open our minds a little to see it.

We strive to find Source, but at the same time, we recognize that we are our all-loving creator. We are the omnipotent consciousness that created our physical/etheric bodies and the holograms we run around in, and realizing this is essential to perceiving Source.

Richard then tells us that battling through the darkness is necessary to eventually reach the light.

“[Perfect souls] think it not unfitting to endure a few years’ hardship in order to be raised to heavenly thrones, and never leave them. … Physically they may have sat in solitary state, but in mind they have companied with angels, and have yearned for their Beloved.” (3)

Even when we don’t think we’re contributing anything spiritually significant, we’re far more active in various planes of reality than we realize. Together with the Company of Heaven, we’re helping the earth and various other planets ascend, and this is by no means an easy task.

We’re very active when our bodies are asleep, and even while they’re awake, other facets of our consciousness work away tirelessly to help the earth and every other planet find the light and ascend.

A little bit of hard labor is required before we can find the perception/connection we seek, Richard tells us.

“It is obvious to those who are in love that no one attains the heights of devotion at once, or is ravished with contemplative sweetness. …

“When they have attained the gravity of behaviour so necessary and have achieved a certain stability of mind – as much as changing circumstances permit – a certain perfection is acquired after great labour. It is then that they can feel some joy in loving God.” (4)

After we strive so hard to raise our vibration, the creative and perceptual gifts we seek will flow to us easily.

We’ll then be able to increase our devotion and produce purer and more potent work than we did before, and we’ll show the way for everyone who’s been too lost in the throes of the ego to find a spiritually sharpened state of consciousness.

In our final quote, Richard tells us that our actions speak louder than our beliefs. Eventually, the wheat will be separated from the chaff in terms of who’s committed to spirit and who’s committed the world.

“Love for God and love for the world cannot coexist in the same soul: the stronger drives out the weaker, and it soon appears who loves the world, and who follows Christ.

“The strength of people’s love is shown in what they do. The lovers of Christ set themselves against the world and the flesh, just as those who love the world oppose God and their own soul.” (5)

When it comes down to it, our actions display what we’re really committed to. If we’re rooted in vanity or materiality, we’ll naturally seek vain and materialistic things, but if we’re rooted in love, we’ll naturally seek to grow and expand into infinity.

It isn’t intended to sound dualistic, but it is intended to get us to really ask ourselves where we want to put our focus. Where do we want to root ourselves – in society or in spirit?

We might pick this discussion back up another time, and there’s still plenty of material to discuss about Bhakti Yoga and the general faith and devotion that help us grow closer with Source. We still have plenty to learn about this subject, and beyond the things we read about it, we can practice it constantly.

We can always ask ourselves if we’ve given thanks and praises to Source or empowered ourselves with the understanding that we’re sparks of our infinite creator, and if we find that we haven’t, we can increase our devotion and raise our vibration as a result.

Ultimately, we’ll make it back home no matter what path we follow or method we subscribe to. There are plenty of genuine paths out there, Bhakti Yoga being one of them, and they’ll all help us reach the all-loving realms of Source, wherein we’ll see for the first time that limitation really is an illusion.

Wes Annac – Interested in illuminating the way with faith, devotion, and plenty of other helpful divine qualities.