syn·er·gy
- the interaction or cooperation of two or more substances or agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.
- It comes as no surprise that love-devotional paths (e.g., bhakti yoga) and intuitive-insightful paths (e.g., jnana yoga) are naturally intertwined and synergistic.
- Ramana Maharshi, an impressive living example of non-dual realization, strongly encouraged his disciples to explore the love-devotional aspect of Self-realization. Ramana himself was a devotee of Arunachala, a small mountain traditionally associated with the worship of Shiva; he claimed the mountain was his guru and he regularly made devotional circumambulations of it. The quarterly magazine of his ashram is "The Mountain Path."
- Ramana's corollary is Sri Ramakrishna, the most famous bhakta of modern times. He was devoted to loving worship/remembrance of Kali (as Supreme Identity in the Form of Divine Mother). His most famous disciple, Vivekanada, said of Ramakrishna, "He was a bhakta on the outside, and a jnani on the inside; I am a jnana on the outside and a bhakta on the inside."
- Like Vivekananda, whose name means "Bliss of Discernment" (between the essential and the non-essential), I am outwardly a jnani and inwardly a bhakta. Nearly all my writings come off as Zen-like, promoting the sheer, open, non-dual vision. But my total personality certainly does not lack a devotional side.
- My latest book Eye of the Heart is a brief meditation that weds Bhakti and Jnana.
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