Yoga
Helena Pham-Ly
Dr. Orr
Philosophy of Yoga 290
Yoga Path: Bhakti Yoga The yoga path I chose is Bhakti Yoga, which translates to the yoga of devotion, yoga of love, surrender, or religion. I also feel that religion is an expression of Bhakti Yoga on a more social level. Bhakti Yoga could be something very personal. It is also one’s natural state because one’s natural state is the state of love, a state where one’s heart is overflowing with love for God. I understand that God does not mean some being that is outside of ourselves, but God is with every aspect of creation, every leaf, every rock, every human being. These are all embodiment of God, so to be the state of Bhakti is to be the very beautiful elevated state of love and awareness of the higher reality. However I feel like all of us are not there right away; one needs to follow a path called Bhakti Yoga, in Bhakti Yoga, we are now trying to get our emotions to be lifted up to a higher level. When our emotions can be turned into devotion of God then we are practicing Bhakti Yoga. To do this, we start to look at every aspect of our life and see how God can come into it; I will try to make everything I do as a service to God and try to love God in all that I do. In the beginning, God is something external; it could be Christ or Jesus. I feel if this practice is done well; I will start to see, little by little, God coming into all his creations. In my opinion, loving God is not to stay with that form, but to see God in all creations. Bhakti brings about the highest bliss because what we all crave, one way or another, is love. We go into different relationship, go into wanting to have children, and wanting to be a whole all because we are looking for this love. I want to be able to be sincere and I need to be able to depend on grace, mercy, and compassion from above. By putting God in the center, I want to be able to find myself. My main goal is to focus more on God and other things that will purify my mind
Dr. Orr
Philosophy of Yoga 290
Yoga Path: Bhakti Yoga The yoga path I chose is Bhakti Yoga, which translates to the yoga of devotion, yoga of love, surrender, or religion. I also feel that religion is an expression of Bhakti Yoga on a more social level. Bhakti Yoga could be something very personal. It is also one’s natural state because one’s natural state is the state of love, a state where one’s heart is overflowing with love for God. I understand that God does not mean some being that is outside of ourselves, but God is with every aspect of creation, every leaf, every rock, every human being. These are all embodiment of God, so to be the state of Bhakti is to be the very beautiful elevated state of love and awareness of the higher reality. However I feel like all of us are not there right away; one needs to follow a path called Bhakti Yoga, in Bhakti Yoga, we are now trying to get our emotions to be lifted up to a higher level. When our emotions can be turned into devotion of God then we are practicing Bhakti Yoga. To do this, we start to look at every aspect of our life and see how God can come into it; I will try to make everything I do as a service to God and try to love God in all that I do. In the beginning, God is something external; it could be Christ or Jesus. I feel if this practice is done well; I will start to see, little by little, God coming into all his creations. In my opinion, loving God is not to stay with that form, but to see God in all creations. Bhakti brings about the highest bliss because what we all crave, one way or another, is love. We go into different relationship, go into wanting to have children, and wanting to be a whole all because we are looking for this love. I want to be able to be sincere and I need to be able to depend on grace, mercy, and compassion from above. By putting God in the center, I want to be able to find myself. My main goal is to focus more on God and other things that will purify my mind
Cited: Stone, Michael. Yoga for a World out of Balance: Teachings on Ethics and Social Action. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications, 2009.