Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 17

Stabdha bhavati : 

In the previous post, we read about Sutikshana running in all directions, dancing, singing, on hearing that his Lord Sri Rama is in chitrakoot.

The same Sutikshana sat silent, motionless and when Rama came near him, Sutikshana was so much filled with Rama's Love within, that he went into total silence and Rama had to wake him up and tell that He was in front of Sutikshana.

Only one who has experienced these states in their love for God will actually know that after the madness, the ecstasy reaches its peak, the Bhakta reaches that moment when he is fully enveloped by, filled with the essence of God's love and it is at this moment, this state, that the Bhakta gets automatically into the depth of silence. 

He loses the consciousness of his body that danced, the voice that sang and is totally drawn inward and has totally immersed in God's love, God consciousness.

When a devotee acts, it is God who acts through him. A devotee is inwardly quite peaceful and serene when he serves the world out of love and mercy.

Atmaaramo bhavati : 

We sing this Bhajan Sri Rama Charanam where we sing thus:-

Vaidehi Ramam Vaikunta Dhamam Bhoopala Chudamanim
Atmabhi Ramam Prabhu Sai Ramam

(Sri Rama, who is all pervading, from the earth (vaidehi) to the high heavens (vaikunta) is that Purusha, that brahman who exists in each Jiva as Atman, the SELF and that Brahman or Atma Ram has willed to descend in Kali Yuga, crystallizing himself to a form and descended as an incarnation as Sai Rama).

The very purpose of such incarnation is to teach we Jivas, with His Darshan, Sparshan and Sambashan, with His teachings, discourses that we are verily divine, we are the pure SELF and to drive this truth into our very existence, He addresses us as "Divyatma Swaroopalara".

The devotee after the intoxicated state in His love for God, gets into deep silence and is stilled, filled with whole soul Love for His God and then, ultimately, the devotee comes to meet the purpose for which the Lord incarnated on this earth. The devotee reaches the Lord, merges with the Lord and exists verily as "Atma Ram", the SELF!!!



The devotee grows into the likeness of the Lord and therefore shares with Him His perfection and partakes of His infinite bliss and joy. He realises the Atman within and beholds the Atman in every creature.

With this, we come to the end of verse 6.

Love.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 16

Matto Bhavati : 

In the Upanishads Atman is compared to Madhu or honey. 

The Sufis often compare it to wine.

The Saktas compare it to liquor. 

In the Vedic Yagna it is Soma juice. 

All these symbolize the enjoyment of the sweetness of divine bliss. 

A devotee who has drunk the wine of divine love cannot observe the conventional rules of propriety. He is not a slave of the conventional laws of society and scriptures. The God-intoxicated devotee is not conscious of himself. 

Once, Guru Nanak dev visits Babar's palace and King Babar offers a glass of Bhang (Opium) to Nanak ji.

Nanak  smiles and says,

Bhang tambaku chotara utar jaaye parbhat (prabhat), 

Naam khumari nanak chadi rahe din raat.

The intoxication of all these liquor shall remain at best for a night and will leave only with a hangover next morning,

The intoxication of Lord's name/ Lord's love grows more and more for Nanak, day and night.

Let us see one more such intoxication depicted in Ramayana.

In Ramayan, Sutikshana gets to know that his Ram is coming, in chitrakoot.

He cries in ecstasy, saying, "My Ram is coming??" His state is expressed thus:-

Dishi yaru vidishi pant nahin sooja ko mein chala yu kahan nahin bhooja

Kaba hu ka phiri paache poni jayi  kaba hu kar nritya  karata gun gaayi

(Running to the north east, west, south, everywhere, some times he dances, some times he cries, sometimes he sings)

What do we understand by "intoxicated in Divine Love"?

Since it is difficult to relate to until we have really experienced such an intoxication in God's love, let is start with our understanding of "getting intoxicated in Madhu/Liquor".

What do we see in a person who has drunk beyond limits???

- He does not see the world as others see.

- He does not behave like others behave.

- He does all those actions which appear to be " Not normal" 

Now, with this limited understanding of "intoxication", let us  try and understand how a devotee intoxicated in  his Love for God would possibly exist??

All the three things explained above about a drunkard applies to this devotee but the dimension changes. The devotee is not "abnormal" due to consuming alcohol  which will last for few hours and then when others narrate about his behavior when he was drunk, the person is ashamed.

The devotee is eternally intoxicated in his love for his God, not for a day, not for few hours but eternally.

So, his actions, his movements, his state may sound as "abnormal" for others whereas, for him, the actions of all others may appear to be "abnormal".

When a devotee reads some literature on God, when he sees  a video / movie on  lord, when he stands with his eyes closed in temple when prayer is on in the temple, when he mediates on Lord in silence, when he attends a satsangh where the Glory of God is spoken and being most fortunate when he sees his God physically (being blessed to see Sai physically in Parthi, moving around, approaching the devotee Himself, filling the heart of devotee with His darshan), such intoxicated experience, with his heart fully filled with Love, may be experienced by the devotee.

The manifestation of intoxication may be different, In some places, we see devotees dancing in ecstasy, chanting "Hare Rama Hare Krishna", in some other places, the devotee just sits quiet with tears rolling down his cheeks. Both of them are intoxicated in divine Love but the manifestation looks different.

Such is the state of identity or union with the Lord. The devotee loses his separate existence. He has no will of his own as he has already surrendered it completely to the Lord . He is simply an instrument in the hands of the Lord .

This is the madness of a devotee, intoxicated in his love for God/ in God consciousness!!

Special Note

Till the time one has really experienced such ecstasy, such madness in his Love for God, all that is said above may at best make a good reading for him.

But when one has experienced such moments of "intoxication in divine Love", then the entire post of today would be seen by him / her as though some one has observed him / her and then, written his / her experience today!!!

How ever, one has to  read such texts continuously and try to absorb and evolve in his / her divine love so that one day, he or she is also able to get the subjective experience of whatever is spoken on "Matho Bhavati".

Love.

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.