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Originally Posted by Nowayout
What is love comes to my mind first? Love is universal, we all know what love is when we are touched by love.
Non-duality, does it include love?
Harden not your hearts Jesus would also say. Love expands the heart, what is in the heart that expands.
Mind, non-duality, and the heart. Are they one?
I'm in love with Jesus because his words and life truly revealed that he was love incarnate.
If non-duality awareness leads one away from this love of the Christ, which I believe it does not, then it's useless.
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Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion. It may be devotion to an ideal or an individual. That individual may be represented by a photograph or something more symbolic such as a statue or the cross (for those devoted to the Christ).
Bhakti Yoga is primarily for those of a certain temperament, those whose emotional body naturally gravitates towards the path of idealism and devotion.
Bhakti Yoga is love characterised by separation - there is the devotee and the object of devotion, linked by the act of devotion.
Non-duality is love without the separation. This love simply allows all to be whatever it is. In non-duality there is no specific object of devotion, because all is seen as the Self. Some people may not even call this love, but there is an all-inclusive expansion of the heart to embrace all of creation, because we know that we are that and there is no separation between our Being and any part of creation.
Both Bhakti Yoga and Advaita (non-duality) also involve surrender. The Bhakti Yogi surrenders his or her will to the object of devotion to become an instrument of service. The Advaitist surrenders to the reality of what is, the reality of whatever arises in each moment, knowing that all is the Self.
So I would suggest that Advaita and Bhakti Yoga are different, but not necessarily contradictory.
Peace.