The foundations of bhakti (devotion): God is here, God is now, God is in me and God is mine (chapter 12 verses 1 to 2) 

 

 •Bhakti (devotion) is that which joins us with the Supreme Soul. If there is a small electricity bulb in our houses then if you look at it one way then it has no power. But when that small bulb is connected with a powerhouse through the medium of a wire then energy and power keeps coming to the bulb. That is why the small bulb lights and shines. The wire is the medium. In the same way, there is the individual soul and the Supreme Soul. The individual soul, who is you and I, are small bulbs. The Supreme Soul is a powerhouse and bhakti (devotion) is the medium that connects us with the Supreme Soul.

 

•Performing bhakti (devotion) is ideal but there are three main reasons why people do not perform it. The first reason is the attitude of enjoying material things. The second reason is holding onto things. The third reason is agnyān (ignorance).

 

•What pleasures do we want? Those that are near and those that are instant.

 

•Why the Supreme Soul cannot be attained through karmas (actions). The reason for this is that those things can be attained through karmas (actions) and can be manifested through karmas (actions) have the characteristics of creation and destruction.

 

•The foundations of bhakti (devotion).The first is that the God who is omnipresent is also here. The second is that the God who is beyond time is here now. The third is that the God that is in everybody is also in me. The fourth is that the God that is everybody's is also mine.

 

•Why bhakti (devotion) is a creative process; it is never a destructive process. It is an activity of creating.

 

•How the word bhakti (devotion) comes from the stem bhaja and the many meanings of the stem bhaja.

 

•Why one can only become a devotee if one learns to accept in life.

 

•The story in the 10th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavad of when Akrur goes to bring Shree Krushna to Mathura.

 

•A study of the Shree Suktam (invocation to Goddess Lakshmi for steady wealth).

 

•The three types of shradhā (faith). The first is andha shradhā (blind faith), the second is ashradhā (no faith) and the third is shradhā (faith).

 

•An explanation of shradhā (faith) using the example of how to swim.

 

•How to have shradhā (faith) that "God is there" without argument, without dismissing and without sophistications.

 

•A study of the Taittreya Upanishad about how the soul is incomprehensible.

 

•The difference between spirituality and laws. Laws believe that that which is written is final and not that which is spoken. But spiritually, that which is written is dead and that which is spoken is imperishable. 

 

Chapter 12 introduction: http://youtu.be/0ZHcVlSW_IQ

 

Chapter 12 verse 1: http://youtu.be/51eWw1glBCM

 

Chapter 12 verse 2: http://youtu.be/jS2qjbjyQYY

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