Verse 10
Asaktiranabhishwangah
Putradaaragrihaadishu;
Nityam cha samachittatwam
Ishtaanishtopapattishu.
Non-attachment, non-identification of the Self with son, wife, home and the rest, and constant even-mindedness on the attainment of the desirable and the undesirable.
Asaktiḥ: Therefore, we should be detached from things, and live an individual life. We should be alone to ourselves and not mix socially, as these people are not necessary for us.
Anabhiṣvaṅgaḥ: We should not seek contact with anybody. We should not look for people to chat with. There should be no contact. We do not need friends.
Let us be very clear on one thing. Extrovertness and attachment do not go along with spiritual evolvement.
One can either be an extrovert /a person attached to people/objects or he can be a sincere spiritual aspirant. One cannot be both at the same time.
Putradāragṛhādiṣu: Also, we should not be attached to our family members—such as son or daughter, husband or wife, property or house.
If we are householders, we have some duty to perform as a trustee of an institution, not attaching ourselves to anything, but doing our duty very meticulously.
We may live at home, but we should detach ourselves, knowing well that one day or the other we will leave, and also knowing that one day or the other they will leave us. Hence, attachment is unfounded and unwarranted.
Again, this also needs to be understood very clearly.
Till the time one enters the spiritual path seriously and sincerely, he/she thought they loved their family very much.
But this love was never 100% pure, as it was mixed with attachment and more than that, it was colored with some or the other expectation from their family members in return.
We can all appreciate this point as we close our eyes now and think.
Whereas, when one takes up the spiritual path, he still loves and can continue to love his family, but with a change. It is now pure love, not withstanding how they are, not withstanding whether he /she gets back the same pure love in return.
So, it is now LOVE WITHOUT ATTACHMENT.
Love without appointment (expectations) and hence no scope for disappointment either.
nityaṁ ca samacittatvam iṣṭāniṣṭopapattiṣu:
Whether pleasant things or unpleasant things come — whether good news comes that makes us feel happy, or there is something which makes us very unhappy—we should keep our mind in a state of balance, and not be tilted either to this side or that side.
Verse 11
Mayi chaananyayogena
Bhaktiravyabhichaarinee;
Viviktadesha sevitwam
Aratir janasamsadi.
Unswerving devotion unto Me by the Yoga of non-separation, resort to solitary places, distaste for the society of men.
Mayi cānanyayogena bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī:
Finally, we should resort to God only.
All mystics emphatically declare that to invite God into our hearts, we must get rid of the pride of the self.
Avyabhicharini bhakti is ekabhakti, which means wanting only one, and not wanting anything else. If we want another thing simultaneously, it is vyabhicharini bhakti.
Here is avyabhicharini bhakti, where we do not want anything else except that one thing. “May that devotion be fixed on Me.” And what kind of fixing is it?
Ananyogena: “With an undivided assiduity of concentration, may you be devoted to Me with a devotion that has no second.”
It is worthwhile reading the commentary on a sutra from Narada Bhakti Sutra covered in the blog post under the theme Narada Bhakti Sutra.
viviktadeśasevitvam: We should always try to live ekantam—alone—and not in a thoroughfare or a city, where there is a lot of noise and dust.
Viviktadeśasevitvam aratir janasaṁsadi is dislike for crowds of people. If there is a crowd of people, we should leave that place and go somewhere else—sit under a tree.
We should not have any kind of taste for organizations, crowds, and the noise of human society. We should be alone to ourselves.
This aloneness sets in automatically, this cannot be deliberated and achieved.
Love.
