Bhakti Yoga is a Process of Continual Surrender

I would like to preface this literary journal by admitting that I am not the best disciple to my Guru Maharaja, and not really a shining example of Bhakti Yoga. My hapless attempt is to assist those who are interested in Bhakti Yoga, and to give some insight as to the inner experiences of the path for the spiritual seeker. This process has completely changed my life and I owe everything to my Beloved Gurudeva, Tridandi Gosvami Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja.

My spiritual background before Bhakti Yoga was of the Christian faith. I had a firm belief in Jesus Christ and Bhakti Yoga finally allowed me to realize  who Jesus is and most importantly, who is the Father of Jesus is and we call Him Krsna. The main mantra that we as Bhakti Yogi's chant is the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra (Chanting the Holy Names of God) Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. The proper mindset to chant is as if you were a baby crying out for your mother, not caring for anything else but to gain her attention and not giving up until you acheive that sole purpose. This mantra in and by itself has the power to completely liberate anyone and to give complete realization of God and the Spiritual World. It must be chanted purely though to have effect, and this is where Bhakti Yoga the spiritual process begins with endeavouring to have a consciousness that is free of any material desire, and the only desire that is prominent is to truly realize God (Krsna) without any ulterior motives. If you truly want to serve God, then chanting this mantra is the prescribed path to that realization. It may seem easy just talking about it, but get ready for the "Pearl of Great Price" in reality.

Just as any education is not easy, not everyone has the mindstuff to become a doctor. However, the mercy of Krsna is unlimited and whatever you lack (if you are truly sincere) will be supplied in your endeavour to realize Him. Contrary to many other ideas out there, God is alive and He is a Person. Just as you can't walk right into the White House without an invitation and sit down with our President, you must also have some relationship with the Supreme Father to be able to communicate with Him. Not that He doesn't hear your pleas at all times, the idea is that we want Him to respond to those pleas. You hear many people joking that God is the person you pray to and never get a response or have your prayers answered. If it is any consolation, justice is perfect in the universe and no one gets anything that they don't deserve good or bad.

The heart of every living entity is the seat of the Supersoul, Paramātmā, a plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Without His presence the living entity cannot get into the working energy according to his past deeds. The living entities who are conditioned in the material world are manifested in the creation in terms of respective inclinations inherent in them, and the requisite material body is offered to each and every one of them by the material energy under the direction of the Supersoul. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10). When, therefore, the Supersoul is situated in the heart of the conditioned soul, the requisite mind is manifested in the conditioned soul, and he becomes conscious of his occupation as one is conscious of his duty after waking up from slumber. Therefore the material mind of the living entity develops when the Supersoul sits on his heart, after which the mind, the controlling deity (moon), and then the activities of the mind (namely thinking, feeling and willing) all take place. The activities of the mind cannot begin without the manifestation of the heart, and the heart becomes manifested when the Lord wants to see the activities of the material creation. [Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.10.30]

The first internal communion you will experience with God is with the Supersoul (Paramatma) in the heart chakra (anahata). When you pray, He is who hears your prayers. The external manifestation of the Supersoul is the bonafide Spiritual Master Guru. He is sanctioned by Krsna, because he has fully realized Krsna and He will guide you externally so you can have the internal realization of God. Help from without and within, this is the mercy of Krsna. Additionally, you can't cheat the bonafide Guru. He is in communion with the Supersoul (Paramatma) and completely knows the disciple's heart. When you commit any activity, the Supersoul is who witnesses it. It makes you a little self conscious doesn't it? Actually, this is a mundane idea generated by the false ego because you are thinking of yourself now in a particular way and always referring to yourself as I'm this or I'm that. - YOU MUST BECOME CONSCIOUS OF YOUR TRUE SELF. This is not the self you think you are, but your true spiritual self that you have yet to discover. This process of Bhakti Yoga helps you do just that - getting rid of the false ego and reestablishing your real ego which is a pure servant of God (Krsna). A bonified spiritual master with the torchlight of knowledge and endless mercy can help you remove your false coverings and reestablish you in your eternal constitutional position of devotee and servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna. Hence the term most everyone has heard but didn't understand - self-realization.

The essential substance of the mind is the mode of pure goodness, which is the energy of Lord Aniruddha, who is the localized (Paramatma) Supersoul feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna. He is sitting in the heart (Anahata Chakra) and his size as stated in the Bhagavad Gita is about the size of the human thumb. When that (pure goodness) sattvik mental substance is dedicated in service to Lord Krsna, it is transformed to Krsna consciousness, the state of infallible goodness above the three material modes of nature (ignorance, passion and mundane goodness). To dedicate the mind to the Lord, we must channel the flow of our desires toward Him with loving devotion by chanting the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra which in turn will lead to more devotional activities. Hence there is no question of "controlling the mind," "fixing the mind," "pacifying the mind," without the reformation of desire. Our quality of mind is subject to the quality of our desire. It is clear that the original condition of the mind is Krsna (God) consciousness. That original condition is contaminated as soon as our desire is focused toward the material energy. Thus what we know to be "the material mind" is in essence the condition of material attraction. In the contaminated state of mind we are also influenced by the intelligence and false ego.

When the living entity forgets that both he himself as well as the material nature are meant for the Lord's service, the quality of ignorance becomes prominent, and the conditioned entity desires to become himself the master. Thus the conditioned soul imagines that he is a very important person within society or that he is a great philosopher. The Vedic mantras and Pañcarātra give mankind instructions about devotional service to the Personality of Godhead, which free one from the contamination of considering oneself a prestigious member of society or a great philosopher. One in knowledge should recognize himself as a tiny servant of the Supreme Absolute Truth.[Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.5.29-30]

The Vedas state that once the proper spiritual desires are engaged and the material desires are calmed down the contaminated desires do melt away with the sadhana of chanting the Hare Krsna Mantra. The external contaminated mind gives way to the awakening of inner mind (pure sattvik state). The inner mind when awakened, makes the man an empowered jiva soul to understand higher spiritual principles. Almost every well organized religion has talked about the self realization or liberation attained by many saints, prophets, and sages. Higher than the mind is the intelligence and higher than the intelligence is the soul. Birth after birth the soul is influenced by the mind, intelligence and false ego. These are all subtle energies that influence the soul due to missplaced desires of the soul because of its infinitesimal size, and the karma that has been incurred by wrong choice and action.

The mind is a real thing because it is the energy of the Supersoul. Thus on the energetic level our mental activities thinking, imagination, visualization, concentration and so forth are real movements. They are real movements that unfold as per a complex pattern. And why so complex? Why does the study of the mind's movements (the study we know by the word psychology) become so mysterious and convoluted? That is because the mind moves according to our desires. Hence, it is our desires; meaning, in our present state, it is our material attraction that complicates our mental processes. The mind can be perceived as a real thing due to the fact that by nature's arrangement, the movements of the mind have physical effects. These effects are both immediate and remote. In Bhagavad-gita your immediate environment is called "the field of activities." What is that field? It is your body. The remote environment is practically everything beyond your body.  

Your journey of realizing God and His complete creation is an eternal process. When many different scriptures tell us we were made in the image of God the Father (Krsna), it is referring to the spiritual body we all have that is eternal and has 78% of the qualities of God. Only in quality though and not in quantity.

This will end my introduction. Now lets enter into the beginning of my spiritual trek of Bhakti Yoga.