21. Devotion Or Intellect, They Lead To The Same!

The words created, creator and creation cause unending arguments.

Let us be clear. What we actually see as three separate entities are not separate at all. The creator, created and creation are all the same! The words mean the same thing!

Creation itself is intelligence. Creation has its own intelligence to direct its growth. The creation is continuously creating. Only the creating exists. Only the process exists.

Where does this concept fit in our ultimate goal, which is to live joyfully? To be joyful, we need to learn to live without the help of body and mind.

Many devotees ask me, 'What is destiny?'

I answer, 'Your present is a totality of all your past decisions and your future is the totality of all your present decisions. The purpose of human life is to learn the techniques to live blissfully, without the help of the body and mind. Learn that. That is what I mean by being with God.

Learn to live in ecstasy. Great masters like Ramana Maharishi, Adi Shankara and Swami Vivekananda were great intellectuals. Ramana said that learning to live ecstatically, blissfully without the help of the body and mind is the only thing we have to learn because it is the ultimate goal.

Our understanding of the types of Bhakti yoga and Gnana Yoga is flawed. We think that Bhakti yoga primarily means devotion, and Gnana Yoga means wisdom, an intellectual process. We are wrong.

Bhakti yoga and Gnana Yoga are means by which we unite with the Divine. Masters like Ramana Maharishi, even though intellectual, expressed bhakti at its peak. Two other great masters Chaitanya and Ramanuja also expressed their great wisdom through bhakti. Ramanuja's commentaries on the scriptures are incomparable. Both are intellectuals, but are perceived as bhakti proponents. Be clear: there is no difference between Gnana and Bhakti yoga.

Devotion or faith is an easy way to attain liberation or enlightenment. But even if we have faith, nobody can liberate us like magic. We each have to liberate ourselves using the power of faith. We have to work on ourselves.

This is the way to acquire enlightenment. When we work on ourselves, and when the Guru's grace descends on us, we get enlightened.

Both these paths are not different from one another. In our journey to enlightenment, it is not important which path we travel; what is important is how sincerely we travel.