PARA-BHAKTI

 
Para-bhakti is not merely intensified Bhakti. It begins where Bhakti ends. At the stage of Para-bhakti, devotion is not only single-minded, but is accompanied by extreme restlessness of the heart and a ceaseless longing to unite with the Beloved.

This is followed by lack of interest in one's own body and its care, isolation from one's own surroundings and utter disregard for appearances or criticism, while the divine impulses of attraction to the Beloved become more frequent.

This highest phase of love is most fruitful, because it has as its object a person who is love incarnate and who can, as the Supreme Beloved, respond to the lover most completely. The purity, sweetness and efficacy of the love which the lover receives from the Master contributes to the insuperable spiritual value of this highest phase of love.