Strictly speaking, meaning of Bhakti is LOVE. In this sense, all the souls who are in Copper Age, Iron Age and Confluence Age are BHAGATS. Baba sometimes says, in one way everybody is yogi( a child does Yoga of its parents, a patient that of doctor, a student is yogi of his teacher).
There is love in deities. Even ShivBaba loves us. But deities and ShivBaba are not called as bhagats since they DO NOT NEED love of anyone.
So it can be said that pure bhagats are those who desire love of God. Others or anybody who has desire also belong to that category indirectly. Baba has said in Murli that even those who do not believe God also believe that there is some power(some say it as nature).
Even a Bk is a Bhagat till he becomes 100% nischaybuddhi(faith). When one becomes sure of his bright future, then only he can be totally carefree. Only then he can be called as KNOWLEDGEFUL. A Murli point also says that till you become achal, adol(stable) you are bhagats.
Even though BKs love Baba, Baba calls the BK path not as Bhaktimarg. He gives the name gyanmarg. The reasons may be due to the following:-
a)In Bk path, knowledge is the base of everything. But in lowkik Bhaktimarg, just love(emotions, bhaavnaa) is enough.
b)In lowkik love, there is feeling of both giving and taking. Each one experiences something from the other. But in Bk path, the communication is as if it is one way. The energy flow is unidirectional. We(BKs) feel(=enjoy) love of Baba. But Baba does not enjoy(get excited or feel extra happy) love of children.
Not only that real aim of every Bk should be to become like that. A Bk should be a donor to others and have no expectation at all. He should immerse in love of Baba. He should not feel that he is giving love to others. The other person should get love from him. So energy flow here also is one way. A real Bk will not be influenced by another Bk (or any soul, of course, except ShivBaba). Sun does not feel that it is giving. It just radiates. Others receive according to their capacity. So even ShivBaba or a true gyaani is like that.
c)The purpose of knowledge is to make everything clear. It says nothing is new. All is fixed. There is no real(egoistic) effort. The main purpose itself is to go away from all limited feelings. The chaitanya atma becomes jada(liveless= fully content). So there is no emotion at all. When everything is clear, there is no giving and taking.
d)Even in lowkik, two names/paths are well known and are considered as different things. According to them, Bhaktimarg means one who does rituals, pooja, etc. Gyanmarg means just trying to be embodiment of swamaan. So Baba might have used the name gyaan marg to his teachings(Bk path).
So now considering the word Bhakti to lowkik people, I try to reply to the following.
bansy wrote:
1)What is "pure Bhakti" ?
2)Now a reverse question ... how and at what stage in The Cycle does the first Bhakti begin. During Golden Age, Silver Age ? A 100% pure soul has no Bhakti.
3)Or another side question - is what if I do not believe in God (atheist) and just at ease and happy with the life as it is, good and bad, not worried about life or death. Then I have no Bhakti, does that make me ....eerrrr, pure and knowledgable ? 4) For example, does an amoeba beleive in God…...
5)Anyone try to give some sense to all of this ? I seem to be tending towards how different are man (soul) is to nature. For example, an earthquake or a hurricane, or lightning is nature, just as the solar winds thay are to hit the earth. But are they "bad" things.
1)When the love is pure, it is called as pure Bhakti. Here pure means desiring just God(or deity) and not any material benefit from God. Expecting just God and not anything from him. He will be even ready to die if he gets that enjoyment. (Eg:- Meera Bai). Another example may be :- Some do noudha Bhakti and be ready to die if they do not get vision of God].
2)I think part of this is already explained. There is purity even in an impure soul. The word Bhakti itself is of lower value. Even in Copper Age, there is some purity. Their effort matches the highest level of Bhakti. Hence they are like masters of Bhakti. So they get titles as bhakt shiromanis.
Now how Bhakti begins?:- An infant is satisfied in itself (if it is supplied with food, water and shelter). It has no expectation even from its mother. In fact it does not know what a mother is. As it grows, it slowly feels love of mother. It feels something is lacking in itself and enjoys/expects mother’s company. As it grows, it becomes more knowledgeful (about body) and expects love of a boy(or a girl). Usually desire goes on increasing as a person grows. Similarly the state of Satyug and Tretayug can be considered as that of baby and child.
When the soul reaches Copper Age, it becomes more knowledgeable about body and body consciousness shakes the stability of the soul and Bhakti begins.
3)This is also not really bad. But it will not make a person pure and knowledgeful. But since negative effect of Bhakti is absent, he will be comfortable.
4)according to my knowledge, there is no soul in amoeba. It is simialr to a living cell of a body. I do not kave full knowledge of that. But I have read in a book of Naturopathy that the virus, bacteria, etc take different forms in different environments. The structure of these itself changes according to the environment. For example the form of virus in atmosphere will be one type. When the same virus enters a human/animal body, it will change its form. Its form will change accordingly to the health condition of the body.
5)There are four things:-
a)Jada(liveless, example:- dead objects like machines, stones, soil, water, etc). They are just molecules and atoms.
b)Living things:-= Plants and animals, Eg:- These are also atoms and molecules. But have additional thing called cell which has a definite structure and characteristics.
c)Chaitanya= Soul . Animals:- These have soul in addition to the body. There are two categories here:- 1)Intelligent less animal or less intelligent animals= also called as just animal. 2)Intelligent animal= Human beings.
d)God also comes in the category chaitanya since he is also a soul. But he is above all, since he is bodyless and truth(always constant), he can be considered in separate category.