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Dasya Bhakti In Hinduism – Servant Like Faithful Devotion To God

Dasya Bhakti in Hinduism is one of the nine ways of seeking God. These ways include constantly engaging with sermons about God, singing hymns about greatness of God, remembering God, serving God through service to fellowmen (who are embodiments of God), worshiping God in holy images, paying obeisance to God, adopting the attitude of a servant towards God, cultivating loving intimacy with God, and surrendering one’s body, mind and soul to God.

In Dasya Bhakti, the seeker acts as a faithful servant of his ishta devata (chosen god). Dedication of everything to the ishta devata leads to a spirit of renunciation. As a result, the ‘I’ and ‘mine’ consciousness is transcended to a higher state of spiritual evolution which manifests itself in the ‘Thou’ and ‘Thine’ consciousness.

Dasya Bhakti is the means of transcending one’s ego. It helps in the spiritual evolution of a person. There are illustrations of this in Bhakti literature.

The best illustration of Dasya Bhakti is the relationship between Hanuman and his Lord, Sri Rama. Hanuman is said to have declared: “In duality-consciousness, I am your servant and you are my master. In a higher plane of consciousness, I am your part where is the highest plane of consciousness I am inseparable from you – this is my unflinching conviction.” This conviction is gradually transformed into realization of Supreme. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa also practiced dasya bhakti and had a vision of his ishta devata, Goddess Kali in her ferocious aspect.