Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 56

Sutra 49. Yo vedaanapi sannyasyati, kevala- mavichchinnaanuragam labhate.

He who abandons even the Vedas, even the rites and ceremonies prescribed by the Vedas and obtains undivided and undiluted and uninterrupted flow of love towards God.

Yah: who

Vedaan:  the sacred books, the Vedas

api: even

Sannyasyati: renounces

Kevalam: Undivided unalloyed

Avichchinaanuragam: uninterrupted flow of love

labhate: attains.

By ‘Veda’ it is meant here the ritualistic portion of the Vedas. The man of realisation does not stand in need of the rituals prescribed by the Vedas but they may be performed in earlier stages as a means for God-realisation.

Kevalam: Love for God is not diluted with desires of any other kind such as pleasures of earth and heaven. The love that arises at this stage is never satisfied till God is realised. 

Renunciation of Vedas really means renunciation of desires.

Continuous flow of love without any break even for a second is Avichchinna-anurag. Vedas can afford no interest for a man who has got this kind of incessant flow of prem. 

That is the reason why the Gita says: “All true Vedas are as useful to an enlightened Brahmin, as is a tank in a place covered all over with water.” Ch. II. 46.

Dear Readers, 

This sutra needs to be properly understood so that sadhakas, half way through in their sadhana, take advantage of such sutras / declarations in advanced vedantha treatise and say, "See, in the treatise itself it is written that vedas are not required for a devotee and hence I have renounced vedas / rituals / prayers etc.

The sutra reads thus :

"He who abandons even the Vedas, even the rites and ceremonies prescribed by the Vedas and obtains undivided and undiluted and uninterrupted flow of love towards God.'

While for a devotee who is immersed in Parama Prema for God, this sutra is experienced as such, for others, let this sutra be rearranged in this way

'He who is filled with undivided and undiluted and uninterrupted flow of love towards God, transcends the vedas, the rites and the ceremonies prescribed by the vedas'

When the devotee advances in his devotion he gets merged in the Lord. Such a devotee does not deliberately renounce the Vedas. 

The Vedas themselves withdraw their control over him as he has realised the goal of his life. 

This gets aligned to the previous post's commentary which explains "Renouncing the renouncer" or "Surrender of the surrenderer".

As long as one is in a state to deliberately abandon vedas / anything, he has not reached the state of uninterrupted flow of Love.

Only when a devotee is so immersed in love for God that he cannot afford a break / a disruption in his Love for God to allow his mind to work, he transcends all code of conduct run spiritual sadhana, he transcends all spiritual injunctions, transcends all the ritualistic requirement of the vedas.

There is no mind left any more to think of performing the sandhya vandanam, to sing bhajans, to perform daily aarti, to recite daily vishnu sahasranama, which he would have been doing daily once upon a time.

So, there is no mind to say - "Do these rituals" and similarly, there is no mind to say, "Don't do these".

So, it is not that he will stop all these totally (with mind). In a gathering where the sahasranamam is being recited, he may even effortlessly chant the same, he may sing bhajans in a gathering effortlessly, he may undertake pilgrimage with family / others without a thought to accept / reject a request to join in pilgrimage.

It is just that he has transcended the NEED for following / undertaking the spiritual injunctions, the preliminary ritualistic requirement mentioned in the Karma Kanda of the vedas.

The vedas are now for such a devotee, like a guide who helps in taking a tourist upto the destination and on reaching the destination, the guide being confident that the tourist is capable of taking care of himself in the destination, shakes hands, accepts the gratitude of the tourist and bids goodbye and leaves the tourist!!!!

So, devotees, let us not misunderstand the sutra given by Devarishi . You / We do not abandon vedas, it is that when we reach the penultimate state in our Devotion for God and are almost at the doorstep of Merger with God or have merged with the God, then it is the vedas and all spiritual discipline which salute such a devotee and leaves the devotee, knowing fully well that the devotee has outgrown and transcended the need for embracing such rituals.

Love.

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.