Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 55

Sutra 48. Yah Karmaphalam tyajati, karmam sannyasyati tato nirdwandwo bhavati.

[He who renounces the fruits of his actions, and who renounces all actions goes beyond the pairs of opposites (such as pleasure and pain, good and bad, heat and cold)].

Yah: who

Karmaphalam: the fruits of actions

Tyajati: gives

Karmani: actions

Sannyasyati: renounces

tatah: then, there by

Nirdwandwah: free from pairs of opposites (such as pleasure and pain, good and bad, heat and cold)

Bhavati: becomes.

When the devotee feels that he is an instrument in the hands of God, he renounces doership and agency. When the devotee does total self-surrender, God destroys his ego and begins to act through his organs. Now the devotee is freed from the pairs of opposites.

“All actions” mean here selfish actions (Kamya Karmas). One should renounce selfish actions. Life is not possible without some kind of activity. Selfless activities must be continued.

When the devotee dedicates the fruits of all his actions and the actions themselves to the Lord, he is freed from the effects of virtuous and vicious deeds. He is not affected in the least by pleasure and pain resulting from the pain or loss of the results of actions. Such a devotee is beyond the effects of the Gunas. He is ever immersed in the remembrance of God. Selfish actions have no attraction for him.

Initially, this surrender bhavana has to be cultivated and the devotee needs to call God and announce / share that he is taking up actions that are required in this world without selfishness and is dedicating the fruits of such actions to God.

All this deliberations are there as long as the devotee recognizes the following:-

1. Physical identity of the devotee.
2. Need for taking up actions, which follows his identity of himself.
3. Conscious of not acting selfish, which follows from the earlier 2 points.
4. Identity of God as an entity, as a power separate from himself.
5. Invoking God and sharing that he has / is acting selflessly. This follows all the earlier points.

Ultimately, all the above 5 points are gone ONLY when the devotee does act, but in his parama prema for God, immersed in his love for God, the acts are done without any cognition of such acts, exactly as we start the car and reach our office, without even slightest of thought about the route from rest to office. 

To be aware of the 5 points above, the devotee has to be conscious of his identity. When the identity itself is dissolved in the ocean of God's love, then who is acting, who is renouncing the fruit of one's actions and to whom one is surrendering  the fruits of his actions.

In one line, if this state has to be expressed, then this is the state where,

"The surrenderer, in the culmination of his surrender, has surrendered the surrendering though also and hence, the surrenderer, per say, stands fully surrendered so that there is neither the surrenderer, nor the God, nor the actions to be surrendered. All that exists is LOVE/ GOD, as both expression is the same".

Regarding transcending all dualities or Dwandha, which is mentioned in the Sutra, with the above para, it is taken care of automatically because, cognition of any duality is there only when the devotee is conscious of / aware of his own identity as a Jiva. 

This is often explained by the Author to few sadhakas by taking example of weekly Bhajans  held in any Sai centre.

Author explains, for the Bhajans to begin, the 3 Aum Kara has to be rendered first, then only Ganesha bhajan comes and then all bhajans follow.

This 3 Aumkaar is related by the author to the identity of ourselves as a Jiva (separate from God, separate from others in this creation).

Once this identity crops up, then like Guru, Devi, Sai, Rama, Krishna, Sarva dharma  bhajans follow,  all  likes and dislikes, fear, selfish thoughts / actions propelled by attachment / hatred / fear  etc. will come automatically, one by one.

Let there be silence, says the author. No three Aumkaars even, only silence, supreme silence. Similarly, no identity of oneself has to be there and only silence prevails and PURE , EVER FLOWING LOVE  results in such total silence.

He who transcends the Dwandwas always keeps a balanced mind. This is an important sign of a Jivanmukta, one who is liberated even while he is alive.

Love.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 54

Sutra 46. Kastarati kastarati maayaam? Ya sangam tyajati yo mahaanubhaavam sevate, nirmamo bhavati.

[Who crosses, who crosses the Maya? Only he who avoids all contact with such objects of senses as are likely to inflame passions, who resorts to a great spiritual soul and serves him and who is free from mineness or idea of possession.]

ip: Kah: who

tarati: crosses  kah: who

tarati: crosses

maayaam: the world of senses

Yah: he who

sangam: contact

tyajati: gives up

Yah: who

Mahaanubhaavam: a great spiritual man 

Sevate: resorts to and serves

Nirmamah: free from mineness

Bhavati: becomes .

A saint is the supreme refuge for those who are immersed in the formidable ocean of Samsara or worldly existence .

Worldly attachments and sins are easily got rid of through service of saints. Just as fire removes cold, fear and darkness, so also service of saints removes cold in the form of sin, fear of rebirth and the darkness.

Benefits of being in the company of  Saint / Masters have been explained in detail in earlier verses and it is assumed that the readers have absorbed the same. So, Author is not getting into further detail on the same which is emphasized in this Sutra.

A line which is worth repeating a million times on being in company of Saints / Masters:-

"When you approach a master  do not carry your mind which is already colored with your ego, your vasanas or mental impressions. Your Ego covers all your likes, dislikes, fear etc.

As Guru Yukteswar requested his disciple mukunda (Paramahamsa yogananda as He was known later on), "Allow the master to work through you" and for that, you have to surrender only one thing at His lotus feet- YOUR MIND!!

Sutra 47. Yo viviktasthaanam sevate, yo loka- bandhamunmoolayati nistraigunyo bhavati, yogakshemam tyajati.

[He who resorts to a solitary and holy place, he who roots out worldly desires or bonds, transcends the three gunas and gives up all ideas of acquisition and preservation.]

Ya: who

viviktasthaanam: a lonely and holy place

sevate: resorts to  

ya: who

Lokabandham: worldly desires or bonds

Unmoolayati: roots out

nisthraigunya: free from the effects of the three Gunas

bhavati: becomes

Yogakshemam: acquisition and preservation

Tyajati: gives up.

A solitary place is one where the din and noise of the talk of sensual desires and craving for sensual objects does not penetrate.

A solitary place is favourable for the practise of detachment, dispassion or Vairagya. The aspirant can do whatever he likes. He is not disturbed by other people. He is forced to give up comforts and some objects which he likes best, because he cannot get them in a solitary place.

Mere retirement to a forest is of little spiritual value. He who has cravings and desires meets temptations even in a forest. 

Solitary place here actually refers to withdrawal of senses and to sit with a silenced mind. 

This can be achieved even in a busy place / city or in a forest, depending upon the level of a sadhaka.

If conviction in sadhana is there, then every place is a solitary place, otherwise, even seated in sanctum sanctorum Prashanti Nilayam, the mind may be noisy, wandering here and there, thinking of the world and its objects!!

Solitary thus is silence at mental level.

Silence is not merely Maunam or silence of speech. it is neither only silencing the body (physical needs). Real Silence is Silence of Mind. Thus these three silence together helps a spiritual seeker to evolve in his sadhana by leaps and bounds.

Only at the peak of sadhana, in the depth of meditation, when the devotee / sadhaka almost gets a glimpse of God / Pure consciousness within, then the word silence itself loses its purpose as there is no mind any more which has to be silenced.

This is the stage where, as poured by Sankara, "Na muktir na bandaha", for the one who realizes God / Self, there is no relevance of even the last and subtlest duality - Moksha or freedom or Bondage. How?? Because the mind, which  thinks about "whether I am bound or whether I am liberated", that mind itself is transcended. 

So, this duality also goes and then, it is all SHIVOHAM, SHIVOHAM, "I am the SELF, the pure, auspicious" (Shiva).

One can reach a certain stage either in Yoga, Bhakti or Gyana in the world. For attaining advanced stages solitude is indispensably requisite. 

About the three qualities mentioned in the sutra, 

Sattva is the enlightening quality ; 

Rajas is the inflaming quality and 

Tamas is the enveloping or obscuring quality. 

Sattva is light, harmony; Rajas is passion, motion and Tamas is inertia, darkness. These are the forces that bind the soul to the world.

In sadhana / Spiritual evolvement, a man moves from Tamas to Rajas first and then from Rajas to Satvic. 

Only when he moves to / embraces Satvic quality,  his mind is conducive to devotion / meditation / dhyana / satsangh etc.

At the pinnacle of spiritual sadhana, a sadhaka transcends static quality also. He transcends all qualities and such a state is known as pure satva.

Lokabandham: They are the binding forces of the world. They are Rajas and Tamas, desires, cravings, attachments, sensual pleasures.

The whole Sadhana or practice is transcendence of the three Gunas.

By discipline, worship, by cultivating virtues, study, kirtan, meditation, service of the preceptor and the grace of the Lord the devotee or the Yogi transcends all the three Gunas.

The feeling of ‘mine-ness’ grows through constant association with sensual objects. It is very difficult to eradicate this feeling of ‘mineness’.

Yoga Kshema: Yoga means applying one’s needs and Kshema means the preservation of what is already in our possession.

In the spiritual sense Yoga means union with God or God-realisation or the practice of Yoga Sadhana or discipline through which God is realised. 

Kshema means maintaining one’s progress on the path of God realisation. As a devotee entirely depends upon God, as he has made total self-surrender to God, as he is ever united with the Lord, the Lord Himself looks after the Yoga and Kshema of the devotee.

Lord Krishna says in the Gita. “Those who are exclusively devoted to Me and worship Me in a disinterested way, fixing their thought on Me, I Myself bear the burden of their Yoga and Kshema, as they are ever united with Me.” Chapter IX-22.

When the aspirant develops intense Bhakti he will be able to give up Yoga and Kshema.

The ideas of this Sutra come in Gita, Chapter 11-45. “The Vedas deal with the three Gunas; be thou above these three qualities, O Arjuna ! beyond the pairs of opposites, ever steadfast in purity, careless of possession, full of the Self.”

Love.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 53

Sutra 44. Kamakrodhamoha smritibhramsa buddhinaasa sarvanaasakaaranatwaat.

[Because it is the cause of lust, anger, delusion, loss of memory, loss of intellect and total ruin.]

Kama: desire, lust

Krodha: anger;

Moha: delusion, infatuation, bewilderment

smritibhramsa: loss of memory

Buddhinaasa: loss of intellect

Sarvanaasa: total ruin

Kaaranatwaat: being the cause of.

Desire is born of Rajas. It generates both greed and anger. It is the cause for commission of sin.

The opposite of evil company “dussanga” is “Satsanga”.

The natural tendency of the mind is to stick to something. It is normally sticking to vishayas or objects. If this tendency is to be annihilated, it must be turned to God or Atma .

“Buddhinasa” or loss of discrimination refers to the inability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, the permanent and the impermanent, good and bad, right and wrong, etc .

Lord Krishna says : 

“Man thinking on the objects of sense, develops an attachment to these ; 

from attachment arises desire (to own / enjoy the object to whom he gets attached)

from desire anger proceeds; (anger is there when he is not able enjoy / attain the object to which he gets attached)

from anger arises delusion; (when anger arises, it obstructs the reasoning capacity of man and he is deluded thus)

from delusion confused memory; (A deluded man loses sharp memory)

from confused memory the destruction of reason; (On losing memory, man ceases to use his power of reasoning / discrimination)

from destruction of reason he perishes.” (The last stroke, without discrimination, man is not a man, so Krishna says, he perishes, i.e., The value / preciousness of human birth is lost, though he may still be alive and leading a life which is of no use)

Gita Ch. 11-62-63.

Sutra 45. Tarangaayita apeeme sangaatsamu- draayanti.

[Though they (evil tendencies, lust, anger etc.) appear only in the form of ripples in the beginning, they become like an ocean as a result of evil company.]

Tarangaayitah : acting as ripples

api : even though

Ime :  these (lust, anger, etc.)

Sangaat : by (evil) association ;

Samudraayanti : become like an ocean.

An aspirant should be afraid of even faint traces of evil till they are totally eradicated. Just as fire under the ashes may assume the form of a huge flame by the blowing of a strong wind, so also suppressed evil may assume a huge form through evil company.

Therefore the aspirant should be ever vigilant and avoid evil company ruthlessly.

In the beginning lust and anger may be checked when they are in the form of ripples ;. but it is very difficult to curb them when they assume the form of a big ocean owing to evil company.

Swami  very often says these lines "Tell me your company and I will tell you what you are".

Mind seeks gratification of senses, fulfillment of lower passion etc. 

When such a man puts himself in bad company, those who are there in that company, fuel his thoughts and convince him that he is not doing a sin by resorting to fulfillment of sensual desires / passions etc. 

Man always wants people around to appreciate his thoughts, his feelings, his actions and thus, man falls prey to such false recognition of his evil desires in the company of evil.

Whereas, when he opts for satsangh, such noble men to whom he approaches will never tell some thing just to please him, but they will tell only what is right and what is wrong.

That is why, it is said, even if you are not able to reform yourself, just be in good company, never leave satsangh, make satsangh a part of your daily routine, always try to listen to words of noble / learned men and try your best to practice what they say / teach.

Love.