Sutra 23. Tadviheenam jaaranaamiva.
(A love without it [the sense of greatness of the object loved — “the Lord”] is simply a passion
of a woman towards her paramour. )
Tad-viheenam: deprived of that (bereft of the knowledge
of that (glory of the Lord or divine greatness)
Jaaraanam: of couples or paramours indulging in base,
unlawful passion
“Tat”: or ‘it’ means love.
In this verse, Narada brings about the difference between
Prema (Divine love) and Kama (physical love).
PREMA- DIVINE LOVE
Divine Love is true and pure.
All love other than that for God is unlawful. To love any creature as a
creature and not as divinity embodied in it is unlawful. Impure selfish love
taints the heart of a man.
The devotee cherishes always
the sense of majesty and
magnanimity of the Lord. His Ishtam is the Lord of his
very breath (Prananath or pranavallabha). It is this idea that keeps up his
devotion, nourishes and strengthens it.
In the earlier sutra, we
learnt that the gopis of Brindavan were
fully aware about the Supreme divinity of Krishna.
The love of Gopis was saturated
with the knowledge of the Divine glory. It was of a very pure nature. It was
Shuddha Prem. It is the expression of
total merger of their personalities with the supreme truth, the divinity of
Krishna.
There was nothing sensual
about this subtle and gracious relationship between the Gopis and the Lord of Brindavan.
KAMA-BASE LOVE
If the idea of the sense of
greatness of the Lord is lacking then he has no devotion. His devotion tantamounts
to the passion of a lustful husband and wife. There is no grandeur in his
devotion.
Deprived of the sense of
divine greatness devotion is like the love of a woman towards her paramour which
is constantly shifting from person to person in an indefinite manner, according
as one appears more desirable than another.
THE INNER / IN-DEPTH MEANING OF THIS SUTRA
When a master / preceptor has
to really drive home the actual meaning / purpose of a teaching, he sometimes
uses a direct / extreme example to the disciple so that the essence is driven
deep inside the heart and soul of his disciple.
What is perhaps the inner meaning of this sutra??
If the love for
God is without the recognition of the infinitude which is the essence of the Lord, it will be such a relationship that it cannot mature into the ecstasy of
true love.
What is the state of devotion in most cases with human
beings?
· A man visits temple, attends kirtan / satsangh,
chants prayers, undertakes rituals as and when required, for worshipping the
Lord.
· He limits the Lord to a form which pleases him
and continues to limit the Lord in the same form.
· He identifies his passion / his normal love for
all others as the level of his love for God, with a
little higher level but not at a much higher level.
· Since he loves lower passion, he also enjoys the
story of Rasa leela, Story of Krishna and Radha’s love at a lower level, as it
suits his understanding of Love.
· Such initial level of devotion is pleasing to
him and hence, he does not strive to evolve to higher level in devotion.
Whereas,
· God, in whatever name or form we recognize and
worship, is essentially beyond name, form and attributes.
· In Bhakti, Lord, in essence, is PURE LOVE.
· So, all rituals, all poojas, all worships, all spiritual
activities undertaken by a man MUST increase his pure love for his chosen God.
· The Love for God must expand and grow to such
level that “for God” in the expression “Love for God” goes and only LOVE
remains.
What, if man does not evolve
in His love for God to the extent given above?
· Man’s devotion / love for God only remains at a
lower level.
· The purpose
of devotion then turns out to be temporary satisfaction, momentary
happiness, selfish expectations.
· When, at any phase in man’s life, when he finds
that the above requirements are not getting satisfied with one Lord or when an
incarnation / an Avatar leaves his body and the devotee does not have that Lord
to put up all his selfish requirements and enjoy momentary satisfaction on
physical darshan of the avatar, then what does he do?
Such a man runs after other
Gods / other Gurus / other preceptors / other sects in the path of devotion, even
converts from one religion to another religion so that he can get that
happiness, which he thinks as permanent whereas it is just temporary and
fleeting moments of happiness!
This exactly is described by
Narada as “Illicit love with another man, one's
SUMMARY
The very purpose of any path in spirituality - Bhakti or Jnana or Karma
or Raja yoga, is to ultimately discover the divinity in one’s own self.
Talking on the path of devotion which is the main subject of Narada
Bhakti Sutra, if the purpose is clear to
a Bhakta, then, he / she would choose just one Lord, focus fully in that Lord,
immerse in love for that Lord, expand that love to such enormous proportion
that the devotee just exists as Love.
When one reaches such a matured level in Devotion, then, wherever he
goes, whichever God he prays, whichever Guru he meets, whichever temple he
visits, whatever form of worship he undertakes, the essence is same - SUPREME,
SELFLESS, PURE LOVE!
In such a case, going back to the Sutra, there is neither own's husband, nor Paramour, neither mine, nor not mine, neither Bhagwan nor even the Bhakta.
IT IS ALL JUST LOVE, IN ITS PUREST AND DIVINE ESSENCE!!!
Love.
