Bhagwad Gita - Post 148

Quality#8

Yogee

Steady in meditation

Swami Sivananda says,

“The word 'Yoga' comes from a Sanskrit root 'Yuj' which means 'to join'. In its spiritual sense, it is the process by which the identity of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul is realized by the Yogi. The human soul is brought into conscious communion with the Divine Reality. Just as camphor melts and becomes one with fire; just as a drop of water when it is thrown into the ocean, becomes one with the ocean; the individual soul, when it is purified, when it is freed from lust, greed, hatred and egoism, when it becomes pure (Sattvic), becomes one with the Supreme Soul.

A true devotee is as much a yogi because his consciousness is absorbed in God. This absorption is not occasional or intermittent, but steady and constant because he is  established in his union with God.

Quality#9

Yataatmaa dridha nishchayah

Possessing form conviction

The quality of determination comes from possessing a resolute intellect. Since devotees tie their intellect to the knowledge of the scriptures and the instructions of the Guru, it becomes so resolute that even if the whole world tries to convince them otherwise, they do not budge an inch from their position.

“Everything is well with me. I shall attain God in this birth itself.” This determination, or dṛḍhaniścayaḥ, is what characterizes all devotees.

Sri Krishna calls it conviction. In the path of Jnana, it is referred as “Mumukshatvam”, intense craving for realizing SELF.

Quality#10

Madbaktah

Mind and intellect dedicated to the Lord

In the Kaye Na Vaacha, we say, “Manasa” and “Buddhi”, along with body, senses, inherent nature, tendencies are all surrendered to Narayana, the supreme Lord. 

The soul is a servant of God by its inherent nature, and as we become enlightened with this knowledge, we naturally dedicate ourselves to the Supreme Lord. In this surrender, the mind and intellect are of primary importance.  

When they are devoted to God, the rest of the personality — body, working senses, knowledge senses, worldly possessions, and soul — naturally get dedicated in His service. Sri Krishna says that devotees who exhibit these qualities are very dear to Him.

Saying is easy, but when one really dedicates his most important faculties, Mind and Intellect, then, what would be his state?

Such a devotee,  a saint says, “will not ask the Lord even for Mukti. So long as the subtle desire for liberation lingers in one's heart, he cannot claim himself to be a true devotee of the Lord. Though the desire for emancipation is of Sattvic nature, yet the devotee has become a slave of Mukti. He is still selfish and so is unfit to call himself a sincere lover of God. Can a true devotee dare ask anything from God, when he fully knows that He is an ocean of love and compassion?”

Love.