Help with Bhakti
 

I would like to practice Bhakti because the non-duality of Advaita feels so cold and impersonal to me. But because I believe Advaita, it is difficult because I know that in the ultimate reality, the Gods are not real. I can make believe they're real, but it is like waiting for the other shoe to drop. How do I devote my life to a God when I know that in the end, it is not real?
I have read much on this and different teachers say different things. Osho believed that it couldn't be done -- that a person would be a split personality because the two tendencies are opposites. Swami Sarvapriyananda, on the other hand says there is no problem because we're pretending the whole world is real anyway, so why not Gods-- and that it's just different levels of reality. But that doesn't help since I believe that the Advaita level is the true one, I'm back in the same place. Do any of you struggle with this?

I do not. I understand there is One Creator, God, Father, Spirit, Being, by any Name.
I understand there is a Lila, a Cosmic Play in motion for this Being's pleasure.
Whether it is called a Dream or Illusion - there are players on the stage.
What player I chose to be is the lover, devotee of the One, the All That Is, the Infinite Intelligence, the Divine Brilliant Mind,
the Sacred Heart, my Beloved Maker.
It is a role 'He' has created - for a reason - I was shown the reason.
Said in diff ways - This One Being loves love, wants love, all He can get...
He has a boundless ability for Love...but 'He' is the Only One...so 'He' created us to love Him back...the eternal Divine Romance.
I am honored to play the role of His beloved daughter, princess, devotee, servant.

Someone else, like Ramakrishna, sometimes Yogananda - thought of this Being as the Divine Mother, as you probably know. :smile:
All the same to me - Blue boy with a flute, or a beard in sandals, or a bright Divine Light inside my head
or a Presence all around- all the same to me!
:notworthy:

Might want to check these two lectures.

Seeing God in Everything | Swami Sarvapriyananda https://youtu.be/0DsiJz6OETg

Bhakti Yoga: The Path of Devotion | Swami Sarvapriyananda https://youtu.be/dDIdHh2-mF8

Thank you for your replies, Miss Hepburn and JustASimpleGuy.
To Miss Hepburn, I think your conception of God is Beautiful :hug2:
To JustASimpleGuy, thank you for the links. I like Swami Sarvapriyananda very much. I will watch them over the next few days :hug2:

Bhakti is ultimately Advaitic when you consider the infinite oneness of Brahman?

On dual wings named Vairagya and Viveka we flew,
In the blue,
We flew unto Ourself,
We flew unto that Ever-present Night of Peerless Silence.

Traditional Advaita considers Jnana the primary path with Bhakti, Raja & Karma supporting paths.

Did I say otherwise? ;)

Oh, I gotcha. LOL!

Here's something interesting. I'm reading "Sri Ramakrishna: The Great Master" penned by one of his direct students. He practiced and Realized the Truth of several Bhakti-oriented traditions ending with non-duality, and he basically said in the end they all Reveal the same Truth.

"One who has found true devotion to God has found the rope to tie God with."

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa told that to his pupils. Thank you for your post, Just A Simple Guy. One-pointed concentration is the goal of all yoga practice, if you can call it that....

Call it WHAT? "Yoga"? "Goal"? :rolleyes:

Yup, and he had a thing for Kali, Divine Mother. Hahah.

The image of Kali always reminds me of the piece from the Gita where Sri Krishna says "I am become Time, destroyer of all." when he revealed his true nature to Arjuna.