In late April, 2025, Richard
Slavin, whose Hindu name and title are Radhanath Swami, spoke on the essence of
bhukti at the conclusion of the Bhukti Yoga Conference at Harvard
University. Ultimately, the concept bhukti, which translates as devotionalism directed
to a deity, such as Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita, refers to the nature
of the human soul. The immediate context is selfless love, which is directed to
a deity, and this context immediately involves extending universal benevolence
to other people (and other species), and even to nature (i.e., the
environment). After Radhanath’s talk, he walked directly to me. I thanked him
for his talk and went on to suggest refinement to compassion being extended
universally, as in universal benevolence even to other species. To my great
surprise, he touched my head with his, which I learned afterward was his way of
blessing people, while he whispered, “I think I want to follow you” or “You
make me want to follow you.” A Hindu from Bangladesh later translated
the swami’s statement for me. “He was telling you that he considers you to be
his equal,” the taxi driver said. I replied that being regarded as that swami’s
equal felt a lot better than had he regarded me as his superior, for in my view,
we are all spiritually-compromised finite, time-limited beings learning from
each other.
The full essay is at "On Kindness to Detractors."
