Vedic books are full of verses on surrendering to God. In Hindu dharma, surrendering to God is the highest aspiration. It is a state of mind that is beyond verbal expression. “Bhava Vidha Bhakti” is a simple yet profound devotional chant used to invoke this ultimate goal.
Vedic texts describe bhava as pure thought or dharana, unattached or detached from feelings. Vedas explain that bhava means “attachment to God.” According to the sages, detachment is necessary because “God is love.” In fact, God’s love is so complete and intense that it cannot be expressed by words.
God loves us because He is our source and fulfillment, because He is omnipresent and almighty. God’s power, which is described as satchitanand, allows us to transcend our low self-image and reach godly levels. Self-love and vanity are human weaknesses that can be overcome with sastchtananda. We begin to reach this ssatchitananda state when we begin to see other godly qualities within ourselves. When God becomes our private Lord and Savior, then our concept of ourselves as “worthy” disappears.
The atma nivedana is the first part of the process for surrendering to God. There are various aspects to the atma nivedana: internal reflection, mental stillness, and internal awareness. The internal reflection occurs before the inner silence. It is necessary to develop the necessary mental and emotional balance to fully attain the atma nivedana. Many people mistake inner reflection as meditating, but it is not.
Self-reflection allows us to become aware of all that we do not want or need. We may unconsciously do things that do not serve us well in our daily lives. We will also discover parts of ourselves that may need improvement. It is during this stage of the process of surrendering to God that the bhaava comes into being.
The mental stillness that follows the nivedana will enable us to observe our thoughts without judgment. The name actually comes from our quieting down of our thinking. Many of us feel trapped by the incessant voice inside our head that says we must do this or that. This voice keeps telling us what we already know, but we may not be able to hear it because of our habitual blocking of the verbal messages that it speaks. It is during this stage of the process of surrendering to God that the mind can receive messages freely and not fear them.
Finally, an open awareness of our surroundings will allow us to receive ananda from the bhava that surrounds us. There are countless numbers of such ananda that surround us and many of them are part of our everyday lives. Through the process of surrendering to God, we will be able to notice the spirituality of these.
The spiritual nature of bhava is often a deterrent to the initiated entering the bhava. Bhava is spiritual, but only if we allow ourselves to see that spiritual truth. For example, we may consider the ocean is spiritual, but we cannot see its spiritual depth through its surface. Likewise, bhava is spiritual, but we will only become aware of it when we experience bhava will be able to see the bhava for what it truly is: a beautiful, radiant manifestation of truth that reflects the deepest essence of reality.
In the practice of surrendering to God, there are three primary forms of surrendering to God: intellectual, emotional and mental. Intellectual surrendering to God means that you have surrendered to God your ideas and beliefs, but you are still attached to your mind and your body. Emotional and mental bhava is a little more difficult to achieve because until you reach a state of complete inner peace, it is very easy to resist intellectual and emotional bhava. It is important to remember, however, that intellectual and emotional bhava can be overcome. And the first step in overcoming it is to acknowledge that you have those thoughts, feelings and emotions as well!
The third stage of the process of surrendering to God is to move out of your mind and focus on nothing else. Picture your whole being in the presence of God and allow those feelings, thoughts and emotions to dissolve away. Imagine a stream flowing over rocks, carrying all of your emotional and intellectual baggage along with it. Picture God is looking down upon you and praises you for leaving your mind and body behind and entering into a higher spiritual state.
For many people, this act of leaving the mind and body behind is a very difficult and daunting task. But if you let go of the process of trying to control every thought and reaction, you will find that it becomes easier to get in touch with your inner bhava. When you finally become able to get in touch with your data, you will have achieved navamukhasvanasana. And this is opening up a new and beautiful experience of living that is incomparable to anything that you could have experienced before.