Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 15

Sutra 6. Yajjnaatwa matto bhavati sthabdho bhavatyaatmaaraamo bhavati. 

(By knowing which man becomes intoxicated (or overjoyed) peaceful and completely immersed in the enjoyment of the Bliss of the Atman. )

Yat Jnaatwa: Having Known (God)

(Puman: A person, this Puman expression is implied for each verse giving the signs of a devotee immersed in divine love)

Mattah Bhavati: Becomes  Intoxicated; overjoyed

Sthabdha Bhavati: Becomes  quiet,peaceful

Aatmaraamah Bhavati: Exists as one continually enjoying the bliss of the Atman

The description of a realized devotee is continued. In this Sutra the author says “By knowing That” (by “That” he means God). 

But in the previous Sutra he says “On obtaining That” and there he means love.

Jnaatwa: Previous expressions were “Labdhwa” ‘having gained’ and ‘Prapya’ ‘having attained’. Now it is “having known.”

(Difference between Labdhwa (gained), Praapya (Obtained) and Jnaatwa (Having known) is very significant in the path of devotion.

In the initial stages of devotion, as it was explained by the

Author a week before in his talk on purpose and fructification of Bhajan singing in a Sai centre in Oman, the devotee gets some new experience when he enters a Sai centre, starts participating in Bhajans etc.  This was explained by the author as Gaining proximity to God and melting his ego.

This is Labdhwa- gaining.

Once he has tested this new found experience, he has to work towards getting more and more of such moments of bliss. He learns and sings Bhajans with an urge to get more and more nearer to God, This was explained in the talk as Finding God and placing God.

This is Praapya- Obtaining. For this efforts have to be made.

When the egos gone, when the heart itself has melted in Love, when week after week, seated in Bhajan, the devotee finds God now for longer and longer duration and not only during the 1 hour bhajan session, then his heart has expanded with Love. This is the state where he  gets the subjective experience of Godhood, which is LOVE or BLISS, whatever one may call it as.

This is Jnaatwa- Knowing God where, it is not Knowing like one knows his wife, his manager, his children, his place etc, where all these are different from himself but here, the knowing means-  the devotee is Knowledge himself. 

The God who was hanging in a portrait in his centre hither to, has merged with the devotee or the devotee has emerged with the God and both have  dissolved in the ocean of LOVE- Prema Sagara, Sai Rama.

In this context, a verse from Atma bodha was referred in the recently concluded talk in Sadan on Purpose of Bhajan, which is reproduced here.

AJNANA KALUSHAM JIVAM  JNANA ABHYAASAAD VI NIRMALAM 
KRTVA JNAANAM SVAYAM NASYET  JALAM KATAKA RENUVAT 

Kataka nut, when it is placed/ dropped in a glass of water with dirt, the nut clears all the dirt in the  water, renders the water pure and also, in the process, dissolves in the water.

In the context of Jnana, this verse is explained thus:-

Knowledge (of Brahman) clears all our ignorance (dirt), the mistaken super imposition of our ego on our divine identity and then, after having cleared all the ego, the knowledge itself dissolves (dissolves means, the Knowledge no more remains separate from the Knower, the sadhaka). The Sadhaka himself exists as Knowledge, Jnana, Chit!!

Knowledge, referred in the context of Devotion here is the Love for God, which clears all the dirt of ego in our heart and after rendering our heart pure, the duality of Love and God also disappears like the Kataka nut dissolves and then, what remains is the purest heart where, there is no duality between the Bhakta and the Bhagwan, there is no one to be devoted and there is no God on to whom one has to be devoted!!!

So, the devotee can no more Know God, as He is existing God, not as a form of God but as what God is taught to him by his SAI when SAI says - "God is Love, Live in Love".

And.... may we exist as that.......

LOVE.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 14

Dear All,

Now we come to the last part of 5th verse.

Na Utsaahee Bhavati: A devotee does not work to promote his own self-interest but works for the good of all without any sense of ego or of any feeling of external compulsion, in a spirit of service to God. As he is not prompted by ego, as he does not wish for fruits, his actions are no actions at all .

He does not work for his personal pleasure and profit. He has no enthusiasm for selfish or worldly pursuits. He is not affected by success and failure.

How can a devotee be enthusiastic about anything ? A man undertakes a work on account of the pleasure in it or of the pleasure that it will bring. There is no more work to be done by a devotee of God-realisation . He enjoys the highest bliss .

When the devotee has the fountain of all bliss by his side, how can there be any desire for him for the enjoyment of worthless and trivial sensual pleasure ?

  

He does not desire or crave for anything because he has no ego, he is filled with Divine Love and he feels therefore no want. Desire exists only so long as the ego or the sense of separateness with its concomitant imperfection exists. 

The sum total of all the pleasures of the universe is like a drop when compared to the ocean of Bliss ; i.e., God, who is the source of all these pleasures. Nothing tempts the Bhakta who has attained His Love. As a man who gets nectar to drink will not be tempted to drink in a muddy pool of water, just as a man who gets a bagful of sugar-candy will not hanker after black jaggery, so also a devotee who has got that Supreme Bhakti will not hanker after anything whatsoever.

  

When the devotee has attained Eternal Satisfaction in His Love, the impulse for attaining something else disappears and with it the desire to perform actions for the achievement of any personal gains. Only as long as there is a sense of imperfection can there be a motive for action. In Divine Love the Bhakta achieves Perfection. 

He sees the Lord in all, and all in God. Therefore he ceases to perform actions of his own volition. A similar idea is expressed in the Bhagavad Gita, “He who  neither rejoices nor hates, nor grieves, nor desires, renouncing good and evil, full of devotion, he is dear to Me.” (Chapter XII— 17).

Thence forward, he becomes the instrument of God; he performs actions without his own Sankalpa, without desire or attachment, in accordance with His Will for the well-being of the whole world.

Author's special  note

This verse has few expressions as under:-

Na kinchit vaanchati: Does not desire anything

Na Sochati: Does not grieve

Na  Dweshti:  Does not hate any one feels enmity

Na Ramate: Neither rejoices  in anything

Na  Utsaahee: Does not have the enthusiasm to act for his own interest.

All these are read in the context of "Yat Praapya - Having obtained/ deserved and won the Love of God".

It is to be noted after reading the elaboration of each of the

above expression in the previous posts that all the NA or Neti covered - no grieving, no hatred, no desires, no selfish motive, all these come from only one attainment, THE LOVE FOR AND THE LOVE OF GOD.

Once the devotee is soaked and immersed in the Love of God, his state is like a piece of Gulab Jamun is immersed in the sugar syrup/ essence which is there in the utensil in which the gulab jamun pieces were dropped.

Before the piece  which did not have any sugar content was immersed in the sugar essence in the big utensil which has been heated up, the piece was separate and the sugar essence was separate.

Now, after it is placed inside the utensil, then can any one say that a particular part of the gulab jamun is sweet whereas some other part is not sweet??? Can any one say that the inner part is more sweeter than the outer part??

The reader has to go to the sweet shop, pick up a fresh piece of Gulab jamun, place it on the tongue, enjoy every piece of the sweet getting in, to actually experience the above expression.

Similarly, a man, devoid of experience of Love of God, when he immerses in divine love of God, then his identity as a whole gets immersed in divine Love. 

When his identity of Ego is gone and his identity is only LOVE, then tell me, O reader, from where he can bring a part of his identity now, which can grieve, which can hate, which can have selfish motive which can have any desire??????

This brings the 5th verse to end.

Love.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 13

Dear All,

Now, to the next part of Sutra 5.

Na Sochati: A devotee has no grief. He has no particular attachment to any object or person. He expects nothing, hopes nothing, fears nothing. He has no disappointment, frustration or failure or loss. Therefore he has no grief.

The devotee who realises God is freed from grief also. Can darkness remain in the presence of light? How can sorrow manifest when one is immersed in the Ocean of Bliss and Prem? 

Grief is a mental creation. It manifests when the mind is attached to body and illusory connections. When the mind is obliterated, when there is self-absorption and self- effacement by merging in the bosom of God, how can grief approach the devotee? Absolutely impossible.

Na Dweshti: Freedom from hatred is the next sign of a perfect man or realised devotee. When the devotee is free from desire and pain, when he beholds God in all forms he cannot have hatred to any creature. He feels that if he hates anybody, he hates God Himself.

A devotee hates none. He loves all, serves all and helps all. He is ever engaged in the good of all beings. He works for the enlightenment and uplift of the lesser, unfortunate infant souls.

He is not attached to any person, object or place. He tastes the honey of divine love and so he does not depend on any worldly object for his personal satisfaction.

The devotee does not hate anything. Hatred is due to ignorance. How can the devotee hate anybody when he sees Lord Hari in everything? He feels that the World is manifestation of the Lord and all movements and actions are His Lila.

He has an all-embracing, all inclusive, exalted mental state. This cannot be adequately described in words.It has to be felt. 

Tulsidas says, “Sitaramamaya sab jaga jani, karou pranam jori juga pani” — Knowing the whole world to be the manifestation of Sita and Rama, I prostrate to all with hands bowed in worship.”

On the subject, Bhagwad  Gita says,

A Bhagavata or devotee who has attained God-realisation has no hatred to anything. He is friendly and compassionate. He is without attachment and egoism. He is balanced in pleasure and pain and forgiving. - Gita, Chap. XII-13.

Swami Sivananda explains this verse thus:

Hatred can be removed by the cultivation of virtues such as friendliness, compassion, forgiveness and eradication of egoism and mineness. Positive overcomes negative.

An egoistic man is easily upset by trifling things. As his heart is filled with vanity and pride, a little disrespect or harsh word or mild rebuke or censure throws him out of his balance. He hates others on account of his wounded vanity. Hence, removal of pride and egoism will pave a long way towards eradication of hatred.

Hatred is born of egoism. Eradication of egoism which is the root-cause will itself lead to the annihilation of hatred.

If you are endowed with the quality of forgiveness you will excuse that man who tries to harm you or who has done you any harm, and you will entertain no hatred for anybody.

Cultivation of divine virtues like compassion, love, forgiveness, etc., will only thin out or attenuate hatred. Vision of God or God-realisation or the knowledge of the Supreme Being can completely eradicate or burn hatred.

Author's special note 

As explained in yesterday's post on desires and as given by Swami Sivananda above, Ego or Avidya, ignorance of one's divinity is the main cause of all miseries, all such vice qualities in man. 

So, it won't work if we start telling, "I won't hate, I won't hate". Who is saying this line?? Your mind. And your mind is already infected with the disease Ego. So, you are trying to cure an illness of Hatred with an already infected medicine - Mind. How will it work???

To stop hating human, start loving God!!! Only a love filled heart, longing for God's love, will stop hating others!!!!


Love.