Ananyata is important. Ananya. ‘Anya’ means ‘other’. So, ‘ananya’ means ‘no other’. Ananyata means being exclusive or single-minded in our devotion and this has many facets to it actually. Ananyata has many facets to it. But I'm just going to focus on one facet which is choosing a particular form of God to worship and sticking to that form. That's one meaning of ananyata. All forms of God are one. Krishna is not another, and Ram is someone else, and Shiva is somebody else. No, if we think like that, it's total ignorance.
Padma Puran says, “God is only one. Every form of God is whole and complete and internally one and the same.” There's no bara (big) Bhagwan, chota (small) Bhagwan, pura (complete) Bhagwan, or adha (half) Bhagwan. There's only one Bhagwan, but that Bhagwan has many forms. Three main types of form you could say. One we call Bhagwan.
In Bhagwatam, Ved Vyas ji says that one single Supreme power appears in three main forms: One is formless; One is Almighty form: Vishnu, Shiv, Durga. They are all in the paramatma, almighty category; and then you have Bhagwan category, which is the loving forms of God, which is Ram and Krishna.These are the three main categories.
So, in Raganuga bhakti, we choose one form of God, not because one is better than another form, and not because it's wrong to worship many forms, but there is a specific reason. Now why does someone worship many forms? It's not wrong. It's a good way to start devotion. But I think if we asked someone… and many of the people sitting here probably worship many forms of one single God. You know it's one single God, but you worship God in many different forms. So, if we were to ask someone, “What is your reason for worshiping God?” They might just feel like, “Well, reason? I mean, Isn't it something you do? I mean, everybody worships God, right? My parents worshiped in this way. Their parents worshipped in this way. I'm worshipping God. It's a good thing to do. It's the right thing to do. And I worship God in many of His forms.” But the goal is not crystal clear. There's just a feeling that this is something I should do. It's a good thing to do.
In Raganuga bhakti, we have a specific goal. We're doing sadhana to purify our heart, so we can get a Divine heart, so we can receive His Divine bhakti. Having received that Divine bhakti, we become qualified to serve Him personally, directly in the Divine world, and take part in His leelas forever! So it’s a very specific goal. Once we have a very specific goal, it makes sense to focus our efforts. Bhagwan Himself may be confused by us that, “Well, which form do you want Me to come in? I'm only Me, okay? So I'm not going to come to you as Ganesh, and Hanuman, and Krishna, and Durga. Pick one.”
So, that's one reason that we focus on one form of God, that He's only one, and He's only going to come to us in one form. So, we have to choose that form, and then focus our devotion on that form. Many people find that their devotion progresses more quickly when they choose one form, because now their emotions are directed at one particular form of God, and their relationship becomes deepened in their heart.
