Within Hinduism, a traditional teaching regarding the bewildering diversity of divine forms is that the formless Supreme Being adopts many different guises as an act of compassion.
Devotion is the fuel for sādhana (spiritual practice), the sweet longing that inspires sitting for meditation, for ritual, for learning and teaching.
We all seek wholeness, to connect the wounded part of us with something completely beyond ourselves, and that is made possible through devotion.
The more I experience being immersed in devotion, the more I appreciate any expressions of devotion from any tradition or none.
Images and text from Ekabhumi Charles Ellik. Previously published by Sounds True in The Bhakti Coloring Book (2018) and The Shakti Coloring Book (2015)
Śrī Krishna Caitanya is an extraordinary person of the sixteenth century whose example of ecstatic embodiment is unique in the world. His contagious spiritual emotions and kirtan flooded the Indian subcontinent and demonstrated the power of bhakti to dispel the deluding power of maya and bring one to love as an eternal state of being.
You’ve probably heard that bhakti is devotion or love. Though that’s correct, neither word completely conveys what bhakti is.
The Sanskrit word krishna has two meanings. It means the dark one. It also has another root and that is “karsha” which means to entice or enchant.