Bernd’s weekly blog No.7 : Devotion

Hi everybody!

I’m sitting at my little cute laptop type device, with music playing in the background, two beautiful little pugs, the inestimable Hamlet and Pandora, sitting being their incredible and sweet selves, and writing about devotion is an easy task. The love of two magical little ones, the power of music, and the joy of simply being in a body calibrated each day by the fires of yogic endeavour, make devotion a very natural outpouring. 

So, the first big question we need to ask is what exactly is devotion, and what does it mean to be a devoted human being?

Let’s take away overtones of devotion in a religious or spiritual sense for a bit, and just look at the quality, the feeling, of devotion. To be a person filled with devotion is to be doing whatever it is we do with a heart fully engaged in the process. If we love someone, we are deeply connected to them, and we are doing all we can to be with them on their journey. If we are devoted to our own development, or our fur babies, or our profession, or really anything else, we are fully in connection. 

What is missing in a devoted heart is ego. Ego and striving from an egoic standpoint is a place devoid of devotion, which is essentially a deeply emotional and selfless place. If we truly want the best for someone, what we want is of no consequence. We are simply doing our best to help them rise up. 

In line 14 of the first chapter of the Yoga Sutra, the yogi Patanjali states that practise must be done for a long time, without interruption, and an attitude of devotion. These teachings are all over the yogic world, and are actually crucial to the entire process. The problem is that we are living and thinking in a very small, contracted way. Devotion to any process means we finally allow it to unfold as it naturally wants to and needs to, without trying so hard to control and over engineer the outcome.

To use the yogic example, if you are deeply devoted to your own human journey, you will give yourself whatever really needs to be given at any particular time, and drop small minded ideas of how you should look, the speed your progress should fly at, the way your teachers present themselves, and so forth. Instead we simply get on with the process of practise, and when we meet a teacher who gives us a further piece of the puzzle that is us, we dive into what they are offering us. 

To have a devoted heart is to set aside all the small little ideals and pseudo values you may have gathered, and live a life of love, warmth, and genuine caring.

There is a further aspect to devotion, that of devotion toward a particular aspect of the divine, or the true nature of reality in itself. Some of you reading this will have a hard time with it, as I did when I began on this journey. Being raised by one PhD of Theoretical Physics, and another PhD of Geophysics, didn’t leave much room for God in my life, from the very beginning. 

And yet… something was calling to me. Some kind of mysterious feeling that there was more to life than living as a bunch of cells that will eventually decay and dissolve into the earth. I had no idea what this feeling was, or where to look, as for me personally the religion of my homeland, Austria, in all its Catholic accoutrements, didn’t hold any fascination. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I met an inspiring and wise Taoist master who began to introduce the world of mystery and wonder to me. I recall a life changing moment, where the teacher asked us to lie down, imagining we are dead, and our body decomposing into the earth. I thought this was pretty cool, considering I was a teenager and loved the old kung fu films! What I did not expect was that I went into this incredible feeling of freedom, as my consciousness left my body behind and I felt the immeasurable joy of not being bound within these cellular limitations. 

The experience began my search for meaning and depth, and, looking back, my journey toward an ever more devoted heart. 

Fast forward to now (to share all that happened in between is the subject of a rather large tome, so I will put this to one side at present)... A life where the presence of the divine, the energy of a conscious universe pervading every aspect of who I am is felt. And it grows and continues to develop in this direction. 

At present, I am deeply devoted to all I do. My yogic practises, my parenthood to my little fur babies, my beautiful fiancee, my teaching, my community of practitioners I travel with, my teacher, the divine... Essentially any corner of my life where there isn’t devotion is like a painful thorn in my gut and heart that needs to either be transformed or pulled out!

Live with devotion. A heart that is open, dedicated, and fully engaged with all you do. Don’t hold back any more! Find the hard areas, the points of gripping and pulling away, and instead melt into the ocean of soft joy that awaits, if you only give in.

I wish you well on this journey, dear reader.