Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 46

Sutra 37. Lokeapi Bhagavat guna Sravana keertanaat.

[(Bhakti develops) from listening to and singing of the attributes and glories of the Lord, even while engaged in the ordinary activities of life in the world.]

Loke: in society, while engaged in the ordinary activities of life in the world

api : also, even

Bhagavad- guna-Sravana-kirtanaat: from listening to and singing of the attributes and glories of the Lord.

As Vishnu, the Lord said, 

Naham vasami vaikunthe / Yoginam hridaye nacha

Madh bhakta yatra gayanthi / Tatra tishtami Narada

["I may not always be found in heaven (Vaikuntha), or even in the hearts of great yogis. Wherever My devotees are singing My Name, Narada, there you will find Me without fail."]

As Sathya Sai, the Lord reiterated the same when He said,

"Wherever my glory is sung, I install myself there"

Sravanam (Listening) & Kirtanam (Singing) are the first 2 stages in the Navavida Bhakti given in Srimad bhagavatam and the same are given in this sutra by the same Vyaasa.

SRAVANAM

There cannot be a story more appropriate than the story of Raja Parikshit, when it comes to Sravanam

Once when Maharaj Parikshit went into the forest for hunting,  he became very tired and thirsty. He entered the hermitage of sage Shamika Rishi who was meditating at that time.

The king again and again requested for water but the rishi deep in meditation did not hear him. This enraged the king and he completely lost his intelligence.

In his anger, the king picked up a dead snake and placed it on the shoulder of the sage.

The rishi’s son Shringi came to know about this incident and angrily cursed the king. He cursed that on the seventh day from that day, a snake-bird would bite Parikshit Maharaj.

When Shamika Rishi came to know about the curse, he chastised his son.

When king Parikshit received the news of his death, he accepted this curse as good news.

Maharaj Parikshit was a great devotee of the Supreme Lord Krishna. He had full faith in the protection of the Lord. 

He did not try to make any arrangements to protect himself. Instead he immediately gave up his royal duties and went to the banks of the Ganges.

He knew that one who engages in hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord gets liberated from the cycle of birth and death. He desired to associate with great saintly devotees who could speak to him about Krishna.

By the arrangement of the Lord, many great saintly devotees also came to the banks of the river Ganges. The great sage Sukhdev Goswami, the son of Vyasa appeared on the scene. Maharaj Parikshit accepted him as his spiritual master and requested him to narrate the transcendental, glorious pastimes of the Lord.

Being very pleased by the submissive and devotional attitude of the king, Sukhdev Goswami then narrated the nectarean pastimes of the Lord and His various expansions. These are recalled in the book Srimad Bhagavatam.

Maharaj Parikshit was completely absorbed in hearing about the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. Anyone who regularly hears Hari Katha becomes eligible to get liberated from the cycle of birth and death.

After hearing the katha for seven days and nights without sleeping, eating or drinking, Parikshit Maharaj fixed his mind on the Lord and meditated on Him. The snake-bird Takshaka bit the king. The body of the kind immediately burst into flames and burned to ashes due to the fire of the snake-bird’s poison.

(O Sai Bhaktas, Parikshit could transcend all limitations of his body in 7 days of listening to Lord's glory , he transcended the fear of death and could merge with the Lord even before the snake actually went to bite him and here,  in this Kali Yuga, Swami has spoken to us for 70 years, from October 1940 when He taught us Manasa Bhajore Guru Charanam, up to 2010/11,

Should we not transcend all limitations of this world and reach Him and merge with Him, even while our body continues to carry on its required  duties?)

We will move to Kirtanam in the next post.

Love.