A section from the journey
Bhakti-Yoga: The Path of Love
There is a third path, open to everyone, and it is the path of love. This is bhakti-yoga. It does not ask for great learning or hard feats. It asks only for a heart turned with love toward the divine. In Chapter twelve Krishna describes the one he holds dear, and tells Arjuna plainly, "that man I love." Here we plant a seed that will one day grow into a whole age of devotion.
We have seen two paths. One walks through our work. One walks through clear sight. Both are good, yet both ask much. Now Krishna opens a third door, and it is the widest of all. It is the path of love.
Its name is , the yoga of loving devotion. Think of who is left out by the other paths. Not everyone can study deep books all day. Not everyone has a calm and even mind that holds steady in every storm. Krishna does not leave these people behind. He opens a way that any heart can walk.
The way is simple to say and deep to live. Turn your heart toward the divine with love. Lean on it. Give yourself to it. You do not need to be learned or mighty. You need only to love truly, with your whole self. That love itself becomes the path.
In the twelfth chapter Krishna draws a portrait of the one he holds dear. Listen to how tender it is.
"Who hateth nought / Of all which lives, living himself benign, / Compassionate, from arrogance exempt... / Seeking Me, heart and soul; vowed unto Me,— / That man I love!"
Hear those last three words again. "That man I love." Krishna says them over and over in this chapter, like a refrain. Here is the great surprise of bhakti. It is not only that we reach up toward the divine. The divine reaches back down toward us. Love is answered with love.
Earlier, in the ninth chapter, Krishna had already made a promise to those who love him this way. He says he watches over them and they are never truly lost. What they cannot carry for themselves, he carries for them. The devotee is not alone on the road.
We only plant a seed here, so let us mark it and not rush. This loving devotion is small and quiet now, one path among others on a battlefield. But hold it in mind. Long after the epics, this seed will grow into a whole age, when saints across the land sing to their beloved God in every tongue. We will meet that great flowering of bhakti in its own time.
For now, keep the tender truth of this path. The highest is not reached by cleverness alone, nor by strength alone. It can be reached by love. And the love that reaches up is met, Krishna promises, by a love that reaches down.
Bhakti says the heart that loves is met by a love returning to it. Think of a love in your own life that asked nothing back and yet was answered all the same. What does it stir in you to imagine the highest reached not by being clever or strong, but simply by loving with a whole heart?
We come now to the gentlest and widest of the paths, the path of love. Its name is bhakti-yoga. The path of action asks for steady work, and the path of knowing asks for clear sight, and both are beautiful. But not everyone can sit in deep study, and not everyone has a calm and even mind. So Krishna opens a door that anyone can enter. He says: turn your heart to me with love, lean on me, give yourself to me, and I will lift you. In Chapter twelve he paints the devotee he loves: one who hates no living thing, who is friendly and kind, free of pride, the same in joy and sorrow, with heart and soul fixed on the divine. Again and again he ends the picture with three small words, "that man I love." This is the great surprise of bhakti. It is not only that we reach toward the divine. The divine reaches back. In Chapter nine Krishna promises that those who worship him with a whole heart are never lost; he carries what they cannot. We only plant this seed here. Centuries from now it will flower into a whole age of saints and songs, the great tide of bhakti. For now, hold the tender truth: the highest can be reached by love alone.
❧1 of 1
Page 1 of 1