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
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.
