Bhuma Vidya

The sanskrit word Bhumi means ground. Bhuma Vidya refers to the art / science of discovering the ground on which our life stands on. Once one has found that, one digs further and further and so on until one reaches the foundation of all of existence. One has to actually experiment with ones life in this regard to actually know this. Understanding it intellectually is at best only the first step.

The outermost layer of the individual is usually the ego and that is perfectly fine. The ego is basically the set of all viewpoints, desires, fears biases etc. Normally, most people are lost in this. In trying to make this ego successful, most lives are spent. To be successful in this, there is a lot of hard work that is needed. One has to lay the ground work. The discipline and sincerity with which one lays the ground word has a big role to play in deciding the extent to which one fulfils the potentials of the outer ego. Obviously, this would require one to do a lot of studying and interfacing with the world. Only when this has been done for a long time, does the individual stand a chance of creating the internal and external environments that can facilitate full development. So, preparations is clearly the ground on which a successful individual usually stands.

Ego on Preparation

But it is difficult to prepare for a long time. There are two kinds of feedback mechanisms that operate within us that give us the joy needed to do things. One is the immediate feedback (remember the joy of having tasty food) and the other is the long term feedback (joy of accomplishing things of value). To keep getting both kinds of feedback is a challenge. To accomplish that one has to have some kind of deeper motivation within. Preparation and training for long periods of time (usually measured in years if not decades) is difficult to persist without such a motivation. The stronger and nobler the motivation, the more the individual finds the energy to prepare and thereby better the chances of success.

Ego and preparation on Motivation

Finally, motivations also do not stand by themselves. Those who have tried to sustain noble motivations for long periods of time will know this all too well. There needs to be divine grace for ones will to manifest itself. So, this motivation or deeper will should rest squarely on Bhakthi. Without this one will burn out all too soon. For, the world will provide incredible and seemingly insurmountable challenges. With Bhakthi, one develops the necessary equanimity of mind and patience to endure the obstacles and deal with failures (of which there would be lots to deal with). This is not the mere superficial chanting or temple visits that goes around for Bhakthis. This is the deep ability to see divine will at play everywhere at all times. This is indeed the pinnacle of development and normally takes many years of adherence to Yoga to be at this level.

All resting on Bhakthi

Clearly this development can be seen as a going from gross to the subtle (Earth (Discipline etc) -> Space (equanimity etc)), which to me seems the most worthy of all of human development. A couple of points are worthy of being made here. This is not a linear process wherein one level is completed before one goes to the next. Instead it is a cyclical process of going in and coming out. Slowly one acquires the depth and extends the base of ones presence at each level. For some people, one or two intermediate levels may be skipped for a while. For even more small subset of people, the outermost level may not even be the ego. But, for most, that may not be possible. One has to develop every single level step by step. A thorough training in the various disciplines of yoga will help one develop in such a fashion.

Bhakthi not developed through such a process is very superficial and not worth its name. 

So, what is the ground on which you are standing? Have you touched the Bhakthi herein described?