Spirituality comes in an assortment of flavors and varieties. For over 35 years, I have been drinking from the well of wisdom in the Vedas and especially appreciating the sweetness of its ripened fruit known as Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Vedas are a vast body of literature containing knowledge in every field of human life to help the soul navigate this world and reach the ultimate destination beyond it.
This ancient manual of life was compiled by Srila Vyasadeva, who is revered by spiritually realizes saints and seers as an incarnation of God. His divine purpose was the writing of everything that humans need to know to fulfill their aims and completely awaken spiritually.
Although Vyasadeva was such an avatar – not at all an ordinary person – he felt despondent after composing all the Vedas. His guru, Narada Muni, the great sage among the demigods, then appeared before Vyasa and explained that the cause of his despondency was that he had not yet fully glorified the personal feature of the Absolute Truth. Taking this to heart, Srila Vyasadeva then meditated deeply upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead and wrote Srimad-Bhagavatam from his mature and pure realization.
In Vyasa’s own estimation, the cream of all spiritual wisdom within the Vedas is found within the Srimad-Bhagavatam. And the cream of that cream he describes as bhakti, devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
One of the many things I love about the Vedas and Srimad-Bhagavatam is how thoroughly every aspect of spiritual science is detailed. Every energy and entity in cosmic creation as well as in the eternal transcendental world is named and identified with complete information about its relationship to the Supreme Source. I find all other flavors of spirituality contained and explained in this with an all-encompassing perspective.
This is why I choose to practice, share, and cherish bhakti healing arts, appreciating them as complete and connected to the fountainhead of all flavors.
Healing means making whole and healthy again. The Vedas identify the root of all suffering and ailment to be disconnection of the soul’s consciousness from its relationship with its Supreme Source. All other symptoms are satisfied by tending to the root cause. Bhakti, or pure devotional service to God, is identified in Srimad-Bhagavatam as the original natural healthy state of the soul and the means to reconnect it to that wholeness.
Many cultures throughout the world and history have their own healing practices and traditions. Energetic clearing, grounding, protecting, balancing, and realigning, for example, are universal principles expressed in different ways according to time, place, circumstance, and individuality of people. Within bhakti, these benefits are inherently woven into our spiritual practices, though they are not the aim of them. The aim is loving relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, upon whom all the all-pervading energies rest. In connection with the Source and Master of all energies, the soul’s own energy is naturally awakened, aligned, and mastered.
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