(09-05-2017, 05:09 AM)loostudent Wrote: STO is service to Creator (consciously or unconsciously). This is also known in the teachings of Jesus. This may be different than usual bhakti but the goal is also union with the Creator.
"A holy man is one whose mind, heart, and soul are merged in God /.../ And knowing that God is present in all existence, he serves Him."
"To love only your compatriots is maya. To love people of all countries, to love followers of all religions, comes from love of God, from compassion."
(Ramakrishna)
STS is also service to the Creator, so that cannot be a definition used to differentiate STO and STS.
STO is caring about all other-selves, and helping them when the opportunity arises - karma yoga seems the clearest equivalent.
Bhakti can be a problematic concept, because in India as elsewhere it is not uncommon to have people focus their devotion on a person rather than the One who is in *everyone*; in fact that is how cults operate - by narrowing the focus of devotion to the cult leader.
Another problematic form of bhakti is devotion not to a person but to a deity, *but* for the purpose of benefitting one's life circumstances, and negating the equal divinity or value of other people. When people make offerings to Lakshmi as a down-payment for their own prosperity, or worship Kali to help them defeat their enemies - that is all genuine bhakti, but a serious distortion away from STO.
At its silliest, bhakti is begging God to save oneself while doing nothing toward self-transformation - e.g., Pure Land Buddhism
Quote:The essential practice in Pure Land Buddhism is the chanting of the name of Amitabha Buddha with total concentration, trusting that one will be reborn in the Pure Land, a place where it is much easier for a being to work towards enlightenment.