Gyani Baile & Dolly Baile

9. Paths to the Brahman
In the process of writing this book, the revisit of the details of her
experiences reveal that she was put on some kind of combination of
paths : asthang yoga, bhakthi yoga and jnana yoga with the purpose of
evolving and gaining higher knowledge of the Self (Atman), gain
exposure to Hindu religion, and exposure to Vedas and Upanishads.
Bhakti Yoga (devotional worship)
Bhakti yoga includes chanting, devotion and meditation. Many people
in their homes install personal deity (s) in the form of image of Ishta -
Devata (or it can be one of the Avatars or other deities of choice), and
perform daily worship called puja. The Ishta - Devata can be one of the
trinity Brahma (the creator aspect of Great God Brahman), Vishnu (the
preserver aspect of Brahman), and, Shiva (the destroyer aspect of
Brahman) with or without their feminine consorts. The consorts of
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are respectively Saraswati, Lakshmi, Parvati
(other names of Parvati are Shakti, Durga, Uma).
Prior to her Inner Experiences we did have the mandir at home which
had Lord Krishna with Radha (Krishna is an Avatar, a reincarnate of
Lord Vishnu) as the main deity and there were 5-6 more deities pictures.
During these experiences we added Sai Baba's pictures to our mandir.
Prior to her Inner Experiences she followed a simple discipline of doing
a brief 5 minutes of puja. Now we have come to know, through this book
on 'Hinduism An Introduction' by Shakunthala Jagannathan, that a lot of
rules for performing Puja are given in the scriptures in great detail.
First stage of Bhakti yoga is called Apara Bhakti. Here the devotee
asks God for something in return. It could be a prayer for material
prosperity, a prayer for a help for near dear ones, or mental peace or
consolation in sorrow or comfort in adversity. Regarding Apara Bhakti,
Baba has said "worshipping an idol is a first step, but do not devote all
your lifetime on the first step". Baba does not want us to just do the
rituals; instead make sincere effort to understand the truth about
ourselves i.e. the Atman. We did not realize exactly when, but along the
way she quit asking God for any material things and moved to this mode
of Parabhakti which is described as bhakti where devotee gets consumed
with love for Ishta- Devata. Such devotee asks for no gifts from God,
125