What is the yogic path that can help us surrender to the divine will?

Bhakti yoga is the only yoga that indicates the way to Ishwara pranidhana, letting go and surrender to the divine will. The path of bhakti is superior to karma yoga, raja yoga, kriya yoga, kundalini yoga, or any other yoga. All other yogas work at one level of the personality. Karma yoga will deal with action, performance, the expression of the senses or the intellect, and it will bring in the component of creativity. Raja yoga will enhance and deepen your awareness and perceptions. It will lead you towards becoming the drashta, the observer, and bring in the component of awareness. Hatha yoga will bring in the component of purity. Jnana yoga will bring in the component of applying wisdom, not just knowing but being ‘wisdom­ful’.

Only bhakti yoga works at the level of ego, removing the component of θθθθθθ from ego, ahamkara, and surrendering to the divine will. Ego is the last thing in everyone’s life that has to be transformed and transcended. That is the last barrier one has to cross. It will happen when the arrogance of the ego submits to the divine will, and that is the path of bhakti. Other yogas help you to cultivate a new idea, habit, perception or lifestyle. They help to cultivate a different you, where you are in harmony with yourself, nature and the divine, whereas bhakti yoga takes you to and makes you prostrate in front of God. Once somebody left behind their cigarettes and lighter in Jyoti Mandir: they surrendered that habit. That is also a kind of offering you can make. The offering need not be of flowers and love all the time; the offering can be of a habit as well. By giving up a habit we are actually surrendering to the cosmic will. We are giving up a need, a dependency, and becoming more self­aware, more responsible for our health and wellbeing. We are connecting with our courage and strength. This is a miracle in which we have submitted a part of our conditioning which comes from the ego, and that is also bhakti.

Ganga Darshan, September 2000

From the book “On The Wings of the Swan, Vol. VI”, pg. 66-67, Sw. Niranjanananda Saraswati

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Surrender to the divine will

What is the yogic path that can help us surrender to the divine will?

Bhakti yoga is the only yoga that indicates the way to Ishwara pranidhana, letting go and surrender to the divine will. The path of bhakti is superior to karma yoga, raja yoga, kriya yoga, kundalini yoga, or any other yoga. All other yogas work at one level of the personality. Karma yoga will deal with action, performance, the expression of the senses or the intellect, and it will bring in the component of creativity. Raja yoga will enhance and deepen your awareness and perceptions. It will lead you towards becoming the drashta, the observer, and bring in the component of awareness. Hatha yoga will bring in the component of purity. Jnana yoga will bring in the component of applying wisdom, not just knowing but being ‘wisdom­ful’.

Only bhakti yoga works at the level of ego, removing the component of θθθθθθ from ego, ahamkara, and surrendering to the divine will. Ego is the last thing in everyone’s life that has to be transformed and transcended. That is the last barrier one has to cross. It will happen when the arrogance of the ego submits to the divine will, and that is the path of bhakti. Other yogas help you to cultivate a new idea, habit, perception or lifestyle. They help to cultivate a different you, where you are in harmony with yourself, nature and the divine, whereas bhakti yoga takes you to and makes you prostrate in front of God. Once somebody left behind their cigarettes and lighter in Jyoti Mandir: they surrendered that habit. That is also a kind of offering you can make. The offering need not be of flowers and love all the time; the offering can be of a habit as well. By giving up a habit we are actually surrendering to the cosmic will. We are giving up a need, a dependency, and becoming more self­aware, more responsible for our health and wellbeing. We are connecting with our courage and strength. This is a miracle in which we have submitted a part of our conditioning which comes from the ego, and that is also bhakti.

Ganga Darshan, September 2000

From the book “On The Wings of the Swan, Vol. VI”, pg. 66-67, Sw. Niranjanananda Saraswati