Sutra 66. Triroopabhangapoorvakam nityadaasya- nityakaantaabhajanaatmakam premakaaryam premaiva kaaryam.
[Love and love alone such as that of a devoted servant or
a wife, which transcends the three forms mentioned before (in Sutra 56) should
be practised.]
Triroopa-bhanga-purvakam:
transcending the triple form
Nityadaasya-nityakaantaa bhajanaatmakam:
consisting of constant loving service such as that of a devoted servant or wife
Prema: love
Kaaryam: should be practiced
prema: love
Eva: alone
Kaaryam: should be practised.
The author begs Devarishi to
change the order in which this Sutra has to be explained, so as to bring in
the required essence which Devarishi has dealt in a manner to be gathered and absorbed
in more subtler manner than what it appears to be on the face of it.
Most outstanding qualities of
a true Servant is his loyalty and respect for his master. Let the relationship
with God start in this manner, with the devotee filled with immense respect and
unconditional surrender to the Lord.
Only unquestionable respect will
lead to ultimate surrender.
2nd Stage- Kanta Bhava
The devotee now proceeds to
acquire few additional qualities in addition to the qualities of Loyalty and
respect given above.
A devoted wife has few
additional qualities over and above the qualities of a true servant.
She is fully dedicated, She fully Loves her husband or shall we say, her love
for her husband is FULL and COMPLETE.
In addition to the above, she
owns her husband totally with a total sense of belongingness.
There is a purpose behind
giving the qualities of servant and a devotee in this sutra.
Amongst woman, some do respect
their husbands but the required level of dedication may not be there.
Few others may be totally
dedicated but the total love may be lacking.
Few more may have all the
above qualities but the sense of belongingness may not be there. Especially in
these modern days, the call is “You go in your way, I shall go in my way. Let
love be there but no sense of belongingness, both of need “Space” and by
chance, if we both find our ways meeting each other somewhere, it is
wonderful”!!!
Mira’s Devotion or Gopi’s
devotion was not like what is described above. They owned their Krishna, all for
themselves. The ownership was so complete that it did not have the fear of
losing Krishna to someone else.
Last stage - Transcending the three distinctions
The three distinction in love
are the following :-
1) Subject -
the one who loves or the one who
experiences Love
2) Object -
The one who is loved
3) Relationship
or the process of Love.
Devotion or Bhakti which seeks
to serve and love without any motive whatsoever, which has risen above the
triad of lover, love and the loved, should always be the ideal of a devotee.
The highest form of divine
love or devotion is the feeling of the lover, the art of loving and the object
of love merged into one.
Only after all the above
qualities of a servant (loyalty and respect), a wife (dedication, sense of
belongingness and total love) are experienced
by a devotee towards his Lord, can a devotee dissolve the triple consciousness, namely, the
worshipper, the object of worship and the act of worship.
As the author often quotes, “It is LOVE LOVING LOVE” where the subject, the object, the experience of
loving - ALL IS BUT LOVE, LOVE PREVAILS, LOVE RULES, LOVE WINS, LOVE EXISTS!!!!
Having gone through the qualities of a servant, a wife and then the transcending of the triple differentiation, it is worthwhile to see how beautifully one leads to the other and then to the ultimate merger with Lord.
- Only with respect, one can be loyal to any one
- Only with respect and loyalty, can one dedicate oneself to the God. Dedication and extreme reverence / respect to the Lord almost go together.
- Only with worship full of dedication, can one experience total love for God.
- Only with supreme Love for God, can one Own God / one can have a total sense of belongingness with God / one can see himself in God and God in himself.
(In case of God or a Guru, in Kaliyuga, the above sequence stops at Respect and Reverence. We fail to move forward to Loyalty and dedication and therefore, the final steps- total Love, total Surrender and final merger- is not experienced by us as devotees of God or disciple/ followers of a Guru.)
In this sutra, quality of "sense of belongingness" of a wife is described as "possessiveness" by few who have written on the Sutras.
Author has given the meaning as total merger.
Possessiveness is caused due to Attachment which by itself is EGO.
Merger is the result of total Love, which is possible only after annihilating ego totally.
And only and only upon total merger, can the differentiation between Subject, Object and the Experiencing, the Bhakta (subject), Bhagawan (Object of worship) and Bhakti (Process and experience in devotion) can all be transcended where, all three are not uprooted mercilessly but they all surrender and dissolve in the supreme existence that is LOVE, where both Bhakta and Bhagawan exist as LOVE and hence there is no difference!!!
Having gone through the qualities of a servant, a wife and then the transcending of the triple differentiation, it is worthwhile to see how beautifully one leads to the other and then to the ultimate merger with Lord.
- Only with respect, one can be loyal to any one
- Only with respect and loyalty, can one dedicate oneself to the God. Dedication and extreme reverence / respect to the Lord almost go together.
- Only with worship full of dedication, can one experience total love for God.
- Only with supreme Love for God, can one Own God / one can have a total sense of belongingness with God / one can see himself in God and God in himself.
(In case of God or a Guru, in Kaliyuga, the above sequence stops at Respect and Reverence. We fail to move forward to Loyalty and dedication and therefore, the final steps- total Love, total Surrender and final merger- is not experienced by us as devotees of God or disciple/ followers of a Guru.)
In this sutra, quality of "sense of belongingness" of a wife is described as "possessiveness" by few who have written on the Sutras.
Author has given the meaning as total merger.
Possessiveness is caused due to Attachment which by itself is EGO.
Merger is the result of total Love, which is possible only after annihilating ego totally.
And only and only upon total merger, can the differentiation between Subject, Object and the Experiencing, the Bhakta (subject), Bhagawan (Object of worship) and Bhakti (Process and experience in devotion) can all be transcended where, all three are not uprooted mercilessly but they all surrender and dissolve in the supreme existence that is LOVE, where both Bhakta and Bhagawan exist as LOVE and hence there is no difference!!!
Love.
PS - Echoing the last para given above, Devarishi does not stop with "Prema Karyam - Love should be practiced" but repeats, "perma EVA karyam - Love ALONE should be practiced".
In Upanishads and many vedanta treatise which were given by various masters, starting from Sankara, to emphasize the essence of an expression, in many stages, an expression is repeated. Similarly, Devarishi reports and adds a punch "EVA" to bring about the actual essence of this Sutra.
Love.
