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58 THE PATH OF LOVE
used and interpreted.
The profound worship based on the high ideals of
philosophy and spirituality, prompted by divine love, doubtless
constitutes true Bhakti Yoga. It follows then that the various
ceremonies and rituals, which are part and parcel of every creed
or the shariat* of every religion, constitute only its shadow.
Nevertheless, it may be said that the ritualistic worship, which
the masses of humanity confuse with religion, is Bhakti Yoga
in its incipient or initial stage. A number of the ceremonies
performed by the followers of every creed are doubtless useless,
but those ceremonies and modes of offering prayers, which are
essentially based on the principle of conveying or evoking
worship, may be said to constitute elementary Bhakti Yoga.
Although Bhakti Yoga cannot be divided into separate,
watertight compartments, it may be said to have three principal
stages. The first stage, which is elementary, concerns itself with
ritualistic worship. The Namaz of the muslims, the Tal-Bhajan
and the Sandhya-Pujas of the Hindus, the Kusti and Bhantars of
the Zoroastrians, the prayers of the Christians, etc., are no doubt
Bhakti-worship in rudimentary stages. The first stage of Bhakti
Yoga is therefore general, and almost everyone is concerned with
it and can practice it.
The second stage, which is intermediate, concerns itself
with the constant remembrance of God. The worshipper,
through constant mental or physical repetitions (Nam-Smaran
or Zikra) of any one name of God, achieves the fixity of thought
on God, without the medium of any ceremony. In other words,
when a person’s thoughts are always directed towards God,
* Ceremonial side of religion