You Are Not Book.indb - Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph. D.

The Bhakti Illusion / 215
This illusion of an “I” worshipping a mother with all of
these wonderful qualities not only runs the risk of psychological
trance-ference of the “wish” for the perfect magical
mommy and its repressed pain of separation lying in an
age-regressed adult, this illusion also carries with it and presupposes
three things: 1) That there is a separate substance
called you and mother, 2) That there is an “I” that will get or
experience something if it does the practices, and 3) Probably
the most seductive of all is the premise of the feminine as
opposed to the masculine. This is deeply rooted in projecting
ones’ feminine qualities onto an outer object or deity and then
worshiping the outer deity. This is not only anthropomorphic,
but it also implies more than one substance (masculine and
feminine and attributing different qualities or attributes to
the ONE SUBSTANCE), and also implies a separate “I” doing
something to get something. This can be best conveyed
by the words of Nisargadatta Maharaj, who said to me, “You
think you are a person, so you think Maharaj is a person;
you think you are an entity or a deity, so you think Maharaj
is an entity or deity.” (This must be gone beyond.)
“When the realization of the inadequacy of Atma-Bhava
dawns upon the Yogi, he determines to break the last fetter
by renouncing the bliss and knowledge of the atomic
plane. Thence forward all his efforts are directed by intense
penetrating . . . which alone can pierce through this veil
or illusion.” (Taimini, The Science of Yoga, p. 428)
Moreover, to focus on an outer object is called, in the yoga
sutras, Samadhi with (based on) seeds. If you focus on seeds,
the problem is that even if you go into Samadhi, you return
with seeds and the fruit of those seductive seeds.
Below is an enquiry that began with the concept of earth
and it led to the Veil of devotion to an outer object (the
mother); in yoga circles, this is called Bhakti.