May 10, 2026

Shankar ji shared about himself before starting the class. Shankar ji studied in Trinidad Ashram with Swami Prakashananada for two years. Since then, Shakara ji has been teaching classes with Vivek ji. Vivek ji asked Shankar ji to share his reflections on his experience with Bhakti. For longest time Shankar ji thought Bhakti is having this intense feeling, this longing for God, this feeling of love towards divine. Shankar ji is logically minded; emotions do not come easily. Shankar ji felt distant from this concept of Bhakti. Shankar ji thought if he is not having these feelings, what can he do with Bhakti?  In other words, let Shankar ji wait for this feeling to come on, then Shankar ji will engage in particular practice sincerely like Pooja or Japa feeling sincerity first, then practice. Over the years with trial-and-error Shankar ji come to understanding that Bhakti is not a feeling, but it’s practice. The feeling is Bhakti also but that doesn’t come and go it is the result of the practice.

The first insight into Bhakti is about practice not what one is feeling internally. What exactly is the practice, what are we trying to do when we are trying to grow in Bhakti? At the fundamental level, we constantly associate things and experiences in the world with Divine.  For example, when managing Shankar ji’s 3-year toddler’s tantrums it is easy to frustrated. In Bhakti it’s not instinctual, association should be an expression of Divine. What am I supposed to learn in this Divine Experience? In other words, let me not try to change the experiences I am having or circumstances/situations I am in. Let me try to connect what I am experiencing to Divine. How do I see this as divinity itself, as God manifesting right here, right now? It’s that ability by default associating all experiences as divine experiences is sign of Bhakti or growth in Bhakti. Constantly tearing up being in Aww state is the highest level of Bhakti. First experience of Vedanta for Shankar ji was, during Yatra with Vivek ji. Shankar ji attended Pujya Swami Tejomayananda ji’s Satsanga of Ramayana at Chinmaya Vibhuti. During that whenever Pujya Swami Tejomayananda said word Rama Shankar ji could feel the emotion, tearing up the strong love in Pujya Swami Tejomayananda.  This level of Bhakti is at the very height. First point is Bhakti is practice not feeling. The practices that we engage in should be that we are constantly remembering everything we are experiencing is nothing but manifestation of Divine.

What are some of practices that help us to feel that divinity is in front of us? The first is Gratitude. What does it mean Gratitude? What would being grateful, writing gratitude journal do? Shankar ji understood gratitude very recently. When Shankar ji was driving in the jungle near Trinidad Ashram and seeing so much of life of with lots of varieties of plants, insects. This Verse from Viveka Chudamani came to Shankar ji where Adi Shankaracharya was describing rarity of this human birth, how rare to be born as human to be exposed to teaching of Vedanta studying under qualified teacher. Shankar ji really felt at that time in the midst of being parenting phase of the life. Shankar ji was thinking of being a good husband, good parent and worry about Satsang, Sadana, Seva later. This might be manifestation of Shankar ji’s own Tamas his personality to postpone it to be later. This was Shankar ji’s mind space in Trinidad. It is only then Shankar ji was thinking what was he waiting for, this is THE chance. When will another opportunity like this manifest to be born as Human, to be even exposed to this Vedantic idea that we are joy itself and to be studying under qualified teacher, to be taught this systematically. You have to have conviction that God is all I seek in life only then, will this knowledge be revealed to you. When Shankar ji really felt that he was so privileged right there, really felt that gratitude only then ideal of gratitude made sense. It’s not finding things that we are grateful in mechanical way, it is thinking that how blessed we are to be in this particular moment, in this particular circumstance. Gratitude is really an expression of acceptance of the feeling that I don’t want these circumstances in my life in any other way than they are even though they may be filled with sorrow/challenge. Why? I deeply feel all of these experiences are leaning me to our Goal. Therefore, I am happy where I am, I need nothing to change externally. More than that, that divinity in whatever form it comes is here with me, guiding me every step. Shankar ji when he thinks about the past how amazing divinity is even though how sorrowful past is, even though Shankar ji made mistakes, this led him to this moment, to these teachings, the person he is today.  That’s what acceptance in gratitude is. All that sorrow we experience; all the mistakes we made have led us to right now. Gratitude is really an expression of acceptance of the feeling that I don’t want these circumstances in my life in any other way than they are even though they may be filled with sorrow/challenge.

Our Vices as seekers fall into the category of Tamas or Rajas. Roughly we can assess, the Guna, that predominates in our personality based on the vices we struggle with the most.  The reason why Shankar ji is bringing this up is Shankar ji struggled with Tamas, more than rajas. Shankar Ji’s vices are more along the lines of lack of consistency, procrastination habit, discipline etc. Fundamentally Tamas is an expression of our own inner doubt, that we don’t feel like we can reach the goal because we don’t have the clarity, the certainty that, yes, I can reach the goal. One practice that helped Shankar ji a lot is to visualize that his Ishta Devata is there with him, holding when you fall telling, you can do it.  Why? Because I am here with you. In Tamas, for a long time Shankar ji always felt like, he needs to overcome Tamas with self-effort, discipline, willpower. With that strategy, Shankar ji felt like it’s very inconsistent. Sometimes, that doubt of inspiration was there. Shankar ji was consistent for a long time. Another time, it wasn’t there. Instead of relying on willpower, in the context of Bhakti is, Surrender, surrendering the problem at the feet of the Lord. Oh, Hanuman, how can this bad habit/Vasna be stronger than you? Who is with me, right now holding me, lifting me up, what can be greater than your strength? This willpower that I feel like I need to develop is your power and you are here with me. This is a visualization. Do it with your Ishta Devata in your own way with the sentiment of the divine is being with you, encouraging you along the path. That it’s their power that they’re lending to you in your pursuit of growth. That’s the feeling you need to cultivate, especially when you feel like you struggle with Tamas.

If you feel like you struggle with Ragas more, things of agitation or fear or jealousy, anxiety, along that nature. Typically, when we are in Ragas, we feel like the world is causing our mind to be agitated. The practice/visualization here is whatever is the source of my agitation, see it as an expression of your Ishta Devata. For example, Shankar ji’s son is starting a temperate tantrum causing frustration to Shankar ji and his wife. Shankar Ji visualizes it and sees this is baby Krishna here in front of me. Oh, Krishna, what is it you’re trying to teach me in this moment? What is it that I’m trying to learn in this moment? How am I supposed to grow in this moment? Whenever we find our mind is agitated, for whatever reason, put the source of the agitation, make the form of that agitation, God in whatever form best suits you in the circumstance. Ask the question, is it that supposed to be learning in this moment? Upasna, is in its simplest form, is visualization. Pooja, is a form of visualization. All of it is just trying to get in the mental habit of associating the things in the world with the divine. How do you increase that association? Repetition.

The first overarching point, is Bhakti is practice, not a feeling. The feeling will come and go. It is the result of practice. It’s the result of the state of our minds. Ultimately, it’s not the feeling that we’re after. It’s the consistency and practice that we’re after. We are after the natural instinctive association.

The next overarching theme, maybe the last point. Shankar ji grew up in the U.S. So, this may be more of a modern problem. For a long time, Shankar ji never really felt like he needed to believe that God was real. This idea of God the question of, did Rama actually walk on this earth? Did Shiva actually walk on this earth? It wasn’t a question that needed to be answered. Shankar ji I always thought, it doesn’t matter if God is real or not real ultimately, these teachings in the Bhagavad Gita or these teachings in our Shastras are to help my growth. Whatever helps me grow, that’s good enough. Shankar ji always thought the question of God was a question of belief. Shankar ji needs to believe that Rama walked on this earth. Shankar ji needs to believe, for whatever scientific evidence, that there’s a God, that there’s a creator, very logically minded way of conceiving, but the other question of, does God exist? Shankar ji feels like he has come to appreciate more is that it’s not a question of belief, it’s a choice that we make. Does God exist? That’s not a belief question. That’s a choice question.

Shankar ji will give brief synopsis about Life of Pi is a common book that kids read in school. There’s this young boy who is the only survivor of the shipwreck. The book is about the boy telling his story of what happened during the shipwreck and everything that transpired to two people from the insurance company who came to investigate the cause of the shipwreck. The boy talks about how the ship got wrecked. He was stranded in a lifeboat. And who else was on this lifeboat with him? There was this majestical tiger. There was this orangutan that came up to the lifeboat on a boat of bananas. There was this hyena that was with them. And a zebra. And over the course of the journey, the hyena attacked and killed the zebra, the orangutan. The tiger killed the hyena. They made it back to shore. These interviewers are like, what are you talking about? What really happened? We don’t want your story. We want to know what really happened. We don’t believe your story. Now this boy, he asked them, why don’t you believe my story? Do tigers exist? Yes. Do zebras exist? Yes. They all exist. What’s so unbelievable about the fact that they, all of these existing things are happened to be come on this lifeboat. They couldn’t believe it. They were asking about what really happened. The boy shares, “I was the tiger. My mother was the orangutan. The cook on the ship was the hyena. And the zebra was this injured sailor. The cook killed the injured sailor for food. He killed his mother. And ultimately after that, the boy killed the cook. Now he asked them, is this a more believable story? Is it really believable that there is such a person that would kill someone just to eat their flesh to survive? Is it believable that a little boy would overpower and kill this person? How is that more believable than all of these being animals?” The idea that he eventually got these people who were interviewing to convey is that really when we’re talking about faith, we don’t really analyze what we mean when we say faith.

We are talking about Bhakti. We use Bhakti all the time. We have faith that our car will take us to our destination. That whoever is driving the car will get us there safely. That the bread I’m eating is edible and what makes me sick. We have faith in all facets of our life. But for some reason, when it comes to the question of God, we have doubts. We say, does God really exist? How do we know? Why is there so much suffering if God exists? This may take us on a slight tangent as logical brain becoming more active. What is God talking about? Theory of evolution in its simplest form, it is survival of the fittest. The traits that maximize the species chance of survival. Survival of the fittest. If we think about this theory of evolution, we as human beings optimized for survival. All of the traits we have, all of the qualities that we have, are the process years of evolution, which help our species survive across time. There is a pen here. If we ask, what is this? Everyone will say, this is a pen. This is one object called pen. There’s like six faces on this pen, which are touching each other. The question is, why don’t I perceive this as six objects that are just touching each other? Why is that not my experience of the pen? Another question you could ask is, why do we delineate between the plant and the soil in which it’s growing? Why even make the distinction at all? Why do I perceive it as two entities and not one? Or in the case of the pen, why do I perceive it as one entity and not six? Tying this back to this last discussion on evolution, we say that we’re optimized for survival, which means we view the world essentially as tools that we can perceive. Things in the world appear to us as tools which can aid us in the pursuit of survival. That’s why we see this as a pen, because perceiving it as six objects touching each other has no benefit to my pursuit of survival. But this one unified object called pen, this helps me write, this helps me transfer ideas. Why distinguish between the soil and the plant? Because it’s beneficial to know that distinction in my pursuit of survival. What is Shankar ji trying to say is, what are we not optimized for? Perceiving truth. We don’t see the world as it really is. We see the world in a way which helps us pursue this instinctual goal called survival. The reason why Shankar ji brought all this up is when we say does God exist, we think this is a factual question. Just like I see a pen here, can I see Rama right here next to me? Was Rama a factual reality like this pen appears as a factual reality. The understanding that we come to is that, no, the whole question is wrong.

In Vedanta, a very important fact is that there’s different levels of reality. The highest level, Paramarthic level, what does this world look like from God’s perspective? The next level, Vyavaharik level, is what does this look like for us, individual beings? The lowest level is Pratibhasik, what does this world look like from our, from a very subjective view? This is like emotions. The things that only I experience, the mirage, dream, those are all like Pratibhasik. Vyavaharik mean transactional, what we’re experiencing right now in the waking state. This is called the transactional level of reality. It means when we’re transacting with someone, what’s the first consideration? What do I want? What do I want will determine the correct level of reality through which I view this world? In other words, what I’m sharing is if my goal is survival, most of us probably don’t think our goal is survival.

In Bhaja Govindam, there are the three Eshanas. Putra Eshana, the desire for family, progeny, legacy, permanence. Vitteshana, the desire for resources. Lokeshana, the desire for attention.

All of those three broad categories of desire, you can say fall into the pursuit of survival. Those are biological imperatives to help us in this grand evolutionary pursuit of survival. We are beyond survival. But anytime we do something for attention, that’s an expression of our desire for survival. It’s an instinctual, biological desire. All of this is to say is that if the motivation behind my actions falls into those three categories, attention, family, resource, gathering, it’s really an expression of my desire, my pursuit of survival. If I’m pursuing survival, then how I view the world as distinct objects is valid, that is the appropriate level to view the world. This is a pencil, because it helps me with survival. It is valid for me to get angry at someone if they insult me, because I’m protecting my status. So, all of that is valid if the goal is survival. But I think all of us here are here joining this class, because we have come to the realization that that is not our goal. We don’t want to be pursuing survival. We want to be pursuing something greater. What are we in pursuit of? Permanent joy, independent joy, God.

Vyavaharic means transactional. What determines the transaction? What do I want? If I want survival, then how I normally view the world is fine, valid. If I seek God, independent joy, then how should I be seeing the world? What is the correct level, transactional level, through which we see the world? In other words, what am I maximizing for? Evolution is maximizing for survival.  What am I maximizing for if my goal is God realization? Quietude of mind. In other words, in any experience, if my mind is getting agitated, I know that I’m viewing this situation wrong. It is the result of wrong thinking. My conviction has to be my agitation is the result of wrong thinking. We all know how we feel whenever our mind is agitated. As a spiritual seeker, we have to have the conviction that any time our mind is agitated, it’s the result of our own wrong thinking. It’s our own fault not others. How do I think about this situation differently such that I am moving towards quietude of mind? All of this came from this basic understanding of Bhakthi that it’s a choice, not a belief. What’s the root of the choice? What’s at the core of the choice, is what is it that I’m seeking in this love? If I’m seeking permanent joy, then I need to choose to see God in every moment. Every source of agitation is a manifestation of the Divine, helping me move towards quietude of mind. That’s the choice we have to make. What is required is in every moment I choose to see Rama here with me.

Two main topics that we discussed today about Bhakti. 1) Bhakti is a practice, not a feeling. 2) Bhakti is a choice, not a belief.

Discussion Subject: What is a persistent challenge or a persistent source of agitation in your life? Identify it. What has been persistently agitating you, a challenge that you’ve been constantly facing? What is God trying to teach you in that challenge or source of agitation?

Shankar Ji: A scientist may say “What are you talking about? How do you know God is teaching anything with this challenge?” No scientist, this is just a random challenge. Everybody has challenges. This is just a function of accident or randomness or probability. Your whole premise is wrong. You are operating from the mode of survival. We are operating from the mode of God realization. Therefore, the question is, not whether God is real or unreal or true or untrue, it is what is the most beneficial way to view the circumstance such that I’m moving closer to quietude mind? The best way to view the world to move towards quietude mind is to see everything as divine. That is what makes it true. The fact that it moves us closer to quietude of mind makes it true. For Shankar ji always has this Poorva Pakshi, this debating opponent in head, which is characterized by the Western materialist scientist mindset. Shankar ji always has that doubting person in his mind. This is Shankar ji trying to gain his own sense of clarity is No, it is true that all of this is for our evolution. That this has been given to us by the divine for our evolution. How do I know it’s true? Because that’s the most beneficial lens through which to view the world to help me move towards quietude mind.

RAW: What we said about Bhakti ultimately is that we’re trying to develop a new habit. What’s the new habit? To associate all of our experiences as divine experiences. To see God with us here and now in every moment. What is it the thing which prevents us from being able to do that? It just doesn’t come naturally become too consumed in our daily responsibilities that we just forget. Which is why all of Sanatana Dharma has been structured in such a way that we are constantly forced to remember the divinity in every moment. What is the one of the best ways this has been structured into our tradition? Invocation Mantras. There is a Mantra as soon as you wake up a Mantra before you take a bath, the Mantra before you study, a Mantra before you work, a Mantra before you eat. For everything, there’s an invocation. Why? It’s not to appease some Gods. That’s not the best way that we can view it. Really, all of those practices are meant to help us remember the true purpose behind why we’re doing what we’re about to do. So, RAW is to chant an invocation before we engage in our next activity. It can be Aum or Ram or I am Joy. Aum Nama Shivaya, right before we start driving. This is supposed to help us get in the habit of remembering. Everything that deals with the mind, deals with the level of thought is really governed, by Vasanas. The simplest way to understand Vasanas it’s just our habits. We have to re-condition the mind to develop a new habit, that maximizes our chance to move towards quietude of mind. One of the best boons, as a parent, was Shankar ji and his wife started learning Bhajans to sing lullabies. They’re constantly stuck in head. That’s why all of the names, which we are given in our tradition, are names of the Lord. Because every time we say a name, we should bring us back to, this is the Lord in front of us.