Some impersonalists say, “Enlightenment terminates devotion.
As long as we are conditioned and are habituated to thinking about forms, we
can conceive the Absolute Truth as having form and cultivate devotion to him.
But when we become enlightened, we will realize that we are ourselves God and
will go beyond devotion.”
Such thinking appeals to the ego because the ego wants to be
the greatest and God is the greatest being. However, devotion-terminating
conceptions of enlightenment are actually unenlightened conceptions because
they contradict scripture and misdiagnose our innermost longing: our longing
for love.
Seekers on becoming enlightened don’t give up devotion, but
upgrade it to pure devotion.
To gain a sense of scriptural testimony on this subject,
consider for example the Bhagavad-gita’s consistent description of the
enlightened. It (07.19) declares that the enlightened (jnanavan) surrender to
Krishna, understanding him to be everything. The Gita’s philosophy illumines
the import of “everything” when applied to Krishna – he is the highest
embodiment of everything we aspire for in our quest for beauty, love and joy.
No wonder seekers on becoming enlightened don’t give up devotion, but upgrade
it to pure devotion.
The Gita (18.54) reiterates this post-enlightened status of
pure devotion. The preceding verses (18.49-53) delineate how a jnana-yogi
practices and progresses towards enlightenment. This verse (18.54) describes
the enlightened: they are equipoised towards all things and all people. Then it
concludes by declaring that those thus enlightened attain pure devotion to
Krishna.
Gita wisdom explains that our longing for love and the
concomitant attraction to form are natural, not delusional. Our present
attraction to worldly forms is a misdirection from attraction to Krishna’s
all-attractive form. Enlightenment removes the various impurities that cause
this misdirection. So, the enlightened devote themselves to Krishna in his
personal manifestation because they find him naturally, sublimely, irresistibly
attractive.
Thus, enlightenment leads to not the termination of
devotion, but its elevation to pure devotion.
http://www.gitadaily.com/2015/05/30/enlightenment-doesnt-terminate-devotion-but-culminates-in-it-2/
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