p386 _
-chap- _
toc-1 _
p387w _
toc-2 _
+chap+ _
p388
----- bhagap387.html
his meals without doing so in the morning) to observe fasts, enthu-
siasm in founding My image for worship, and in founding gardens,
buildings and towns (in connection with My worship) humility and
silence about one's own good deeds, these are the indications of
Bhakti.
Sun, Fire, the Brahmana, the Cow, the Vaishnava, Akasa, Air,
Water, Earth, Atma, and all beings these are the eleven places of
my worship.
I am to be worshipped in the Sun, by Vedic Mantras, in the
fire by sacrificial Ghee, in the Brahmana by hospitality, in the cows
by the offer of grass, in the Vaishnava by friendly treatment, in
the Akasa of the heart cavity by meditation, in the air by the con-
templation of Prana, in the water by offerings of libation and so
forth, in the Earth by secret Mantras, in Atma by experiencing
(Bhoga) and in all beings by equality.
In all these places of worship I am to be meditated on as with
four hands, bearing conch, disc, club and lotus.
He who worships Me as above and serves the Sadhus acquires
Devotion. Except by devotion that is acquired in the company of
Sadhus, there is hardly any other way of liberation. I am not so easily
attainable by Yoga, Sankhya, Dharma, the reading of Scriptures,
Tapas, gifts, charitable acts, fasts, Yajnas, the Vedas, resort to pilgri-
mage, Niyamas or Yamas as by the company of Sadhus. Even those
that are the lowest by birth, those that have Rajas and Tamas predo-
minant in them, the Daityas, Asuras, and Rakshasas attain me easily
by the company of Sadhus. The Gopis in Vraja, the wives of the
Vedic Brahmanas did not read the Vedas, they did not observe fasts,
they did not perform Tapas, but they attained Me, through the
company of Sadhus. Therefore O Uddhava care not for Srutis or
Smiitis, for biddings and for forbiddings. Have recourse to Me, the
Atma of all beings, with all devotion, and thou shall have no fear
from any quarter.
(The following stages are to be marked:
i. Study of Nature and self instruction.
2. Self discrimination, resuting in the separation of the cons-
cious Atma and the unconscious Non-Atma.
3. The understanding of what is bondage and liberation, and
the relation between Jiv.i Atma and Parama Atma (Isvara.)
[[387]]
p386 _
-chap- _
toc-1 _
p387w _
toc-2 _
+chap+ _
p388
v?