Value: Bhakti - October 2025
Fifth Week: Bhakti is Mukti
No one will seek mukti, or liberation, if it does not represent independent and everlasting happiness. However, our pursuit of happiness often focuses solely on avoiding sorrow. At the bodily level, we seek happiness through comfort, convenience in daily life, sensory gratifications, and relief from illness. A mind that is free from sorrows and agitations is also considered a source of happiness. Achievements such as appreciation, authority, and fame are regarded as happiness when attained. Yet, is this kind of happiness truly mukti, or liberation?
Some people define liberation as the end of the cycle of birth and death. Others believe that reaching heaven, the abode of the highest happiness, signifies mukti; while devotees see it as being in the presence of God at His lotus feet.
Devotion without division is liberation while living
Liberation should be understood as something that is not determined by any place, time, objects, or circumstances. If it is determined by these factors, it will be temporary and no different from worldly pleasures and gains. If I like a particular place, say a serene spot in a garden facing the ocean, that happiness will be lost when it is occupied by someone else. If I like an object or a person, then space and time may not hamper that happiness, but it is limited by the person or the object.
Happiness is lost due to divisions. An Upanishad student inquired this from the Guru: 'The uncaused (eternal) happiness cannot be effect of the ephemeral actions. What is the source of that (eternal)?' (Mu 1.2.12). A devotee worships the Lord upon recognizing Him to be the uncaused happiness. Devotion leads such a devotee to continue live, enjoying this oneness with Him, losing all divisions.
Living with unconditional love
If the liberation, or mukti, achieved by the saint is unconditional, the love he expresses in the world is also equally unconditional. For him, it is evident that the presence of the Self or pure consciousness is unconditional in all living beings; therefore, the love for that is also unconditional in the heart of the saint.
From his standpoint, every being is eligible to realize the divine presence of God, and the opportunity to do so should be extended to all. Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, during his entire life as a missionary, embraced everyone as his disciples or devotees, only to compassionately guide them to reach unconditional happiness through unconditional love.
