Upadesa Saram - Post 11

Verse 9

भावशून्यसद्भावसुस्थितिः|

भावनाबलाद्भक्तिरुत्तमा||

bhāvaśūnyasadbhāvasusthitiḥ|

bhāvanābalādbhaktiruttamā ||

Devoid of bhava is being well-established in true Existence.

From the strength of meditation is the supreme devotion.

Bhava Shunya

Bhava here means “Sankalpa”, any notion about one’s self (Jiva), about the world (Jagat) and the Lord (Easwara).

I am the Body, I am the mind, I am a Samsari, I am the doer, I am the enjoyer - These are some of the notions about the self.

Everyone in the world is nothing but a collection of notions.

Very often, we do not deal with a person as he is, but with “our notion” about that person and all these notions about one another is the main problem.

Sad Bhava

Devoid of all notions is the simple human being, limitless in nature. 

In the Para Bhakti stage, the devotee finally gets convinced that there is a stage beyond duality. As much as he would always like to be only subservient to God, the devotee, when he experiences the all-pervading nature of the Lord, says in exasperation, “How can I be a broken piece separate from God? Indeed, I have to be one with Him.”

Su Stitih

The Jiva is now free of all thought modifications. This state is so coveted that it is here described with the auspicious prefix ‘Su’ as “Su-Sthiti” – meaning “the wonderful state, the most auspicious state”. It is that state of FIRM abidance in the Self. Reaching That, there is no fall. It is permanent. 

This final state is free from all Bhavana or feeling or accompaniment of any relationship with God. Bhavana is only possible when there is some thought or Duality still in the mind. Here even that has dissolved, and the devotee is in total oneness. 

Maa Amritanandamayi gives a beautiful comparison of how this is achieved: The essence of her writing in one of her books is as under:-

“It is like the thought “I want to go to sleep” which we repeat when we go to bed. Till the time we deliberate on this sleeping, it does not happen. Once we transcend the thought / wanting to sleep, we glide to sleep on our own.

Jiva and Easwara

Taking clue of the example given by Ma on Gliding to sleep, how so ever we deliberate on the “I AM HE” knowledge and read all scriptures and keep thinking of Non-dual principal and like the child keeps thinking “I want to go to sleep”, you may keep telling that Jiva and Easwara are one, but till the time you experience this truth, this will remain as a Knowledge.

However, as we saw in the previous post, the culmination of a sincere meditation is a thoughtless state where, the Bheda or the distinction between you and God, Jiva and Easwara goes on its own, like the child glides to sleep after it leaves its efforts / its deliberation to sleep.

Only with single pointed focus on Lord, you can reach a stage in meditation when all other notions about the world and all other jivas in the world, explained earlier in this post, are gone and all that is left is you the meditator and Easwara the meditated object.

As the meditation intensifies, there has to be a stage when the meditation finds its fruit, the distinction between you and the Lord on whom you are meditating is gone, I.E., the last and the subtlest notion you had been carrying on about your identity as something other than Easwara, is also gone.

Whether we say that we have merged with Easwara or Easwara has pervaded us, both mean the same in essence, at this stage.

The verse also illustrates the poetic genius and mastery of Sri Ramana Maharshi: The juxtaposition of “Bhava-Shunya”and “Sad-Bhava” is interesting. 

There is a play of words here. In Bhavana there is still a trace of thought, whereas purity and Truth in their absolute sense are beyond thought. 

The placement of the words poetically seem to suggest a tussle between Thought (Bhavana) and Purity (Sad), for, as thoughts thin out, purity gets established fully. 

The words are placed as if Thought is teasing Purity by chasing around it. Although ‘cornered’ from both sides, it is Purity that emerges victorious.

What a beauty, what a masterpiece that Sri Ramana gives us in this verse, to the world of Spiritual aspirants!

Love.