LA Yoga. Special Section. Giving Back With Bhakti

:: March/April 2005 Volume 4/Number 2

SPECIAL SECTION:
Giving Back With Bhakti

By Michael Mollura

Hundreds of hearts opened spontaneously in the act of devotion. The Bhakti yoga community proved itself alive and well, their practices resounding through the night skies with eternal waves of love in response to the wave of devastation.

In recent years, Bhakti Yogi’s have found a voice. While these yogis don't need a reason to get together and chant their love of God, the tsunami was a call they heard and as a result numerous tsunami relief kirtan events sprouted from the inside of every kind of love hole imaginable.

An essential element of Bhakti is seva, or selfless service, and to a Bhakti yogi, providing relief delivers a blissful experience of aliveness. With that awareness, an almost maternal need to embrace others is triggered and, in doing so, the Bhakti devotee embraces the Self and serves God. When a dreadful event such as this takes place, the maternal instinct to come to the aid of others becomes like a reflex for Bhakti practitioners.

Andrew Behla, who leads traditional call-and-response chants at Yoga Desa in Topanga Canyon, contributed to the tsunami relief efforts in that exact sort of reflexive action. As a devotee of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (Art of Living), his recent Kirtan In The Canyon events sent donations to the International Association of Human Values, which is a sister organization of the Art of Living Foundation.

"Naturally, when you feel so much love inside, you can't help but want to share it with others," Behla says. "All of the practices that I do prepare me for Seva which helps maintain the bliss that is the fruit of Bhakti."

Wah!, another Bhakti Yogi and a world-renowned kirtan singer, held a tsunami relief fundraiser at the Hill Street Church in Venice, CA. Over 200 people attended this event that raised around $9,000.
"Compassion arises out of suffering," Wah notes. "If you have suffered, you understand how it feels to others when they experience great hardship." The money raised from Wah's concert went to fund Amma’s tsunami relief efforts.

Marty Alan, sitarist and Siddha Yoga devotee, has also contributed his talent to the tsunami relief efforts with that very awareness as his umbrella on one of the rainiest days in Los Angeles history. Despite the weather conditions, a fundraiser at the Bonsorte Design Studio was attended by 150 devotees and even managed to raise $2,000 for the victims of the tsunami.

Comments Sura of the Temple Bhajan Band and Govinda's Restaurant, which has been donating food to many of these yoga events, "Bhakti never stops and is meant for everyone. By watering the root of the tree, all the branches and leaves are nourished”

Bhakti yoga is not just about serving others and chanting the names of God. The practice is about trusting God's will, surrendering and being unconditional with the union that takes place between the yogi and the consciousness of all living beings