Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 73

Sutra 68. Kanthaavarodharomaanchaasrubhih parasparam lapamaanaah Paavayanti kulaani prithiveem cha.

[Conversing with one another with a choking voice, with hairs standing on end, with tears flowing from their eyes, they purify their families as well as the earth (the land which gave birth to them).]

Kanthaa-varodha- romaanchaasrubhih: with choking of voice, hairs standing on end and tears (flowing from the eyes);

Parasparam: with one another; amongst themselves

Lapamaanaah: conversing 

Kulaani: families; clans

Prithiveem: the earth

Cha: and

paava- yanti: purifying .

In Gita, X-9 Lord Krishna says "Having their minds fixed

upon Me and their life directed to Me, enlightening one another, and constantly talking about Me, My devotees become satisfied and delighted."

Talking of Bhakti to one another in faltering tone attended with thrill and tears of joy, they sanctify their race and the wide earth.

The spirits of the ancestors of the devotees feel gratified and purified by the devotion of their descendents.

When there is a congregational prayer, when devotees meet together and do Kirtan and common meditation, they generate a spiritual current or force which inspires and purifies the hearts of many. The whole atmosphere of that place gets purified and is surcharged with currents of Divine Love.

The scriptures say, “Holy is the family and blessed the mother, nay, the earth itself is fortunate through him whose mind is absorbed in the Supreme Brahman, the ocean of infinite knowledge and bliss.”

Lord Hari said, “I do not dwell exclusively in Vaikunth nor in the hearts of Yogis, but, O Narada, I am verily present in my full splendour, where my devotees sing of Me.”

Choking of voice, hairs standing on end and tears flowing from the eyes are external marks of the internal emotion. They express intensity of feeling. This feeling is Prem or divine love. He who has such a Prem can have direct communion with the Lord.

The above state was described in an earlier post with visualising a situation when a devotee has a close darshan / sparshan / sambhashan with / of Sai or when a devotee comes out of the interview room after being with Swami.

All these choking of voice, tears flowing from the eyes - when one really experiences such things in his devotion, then only one can experience and know from his experience that all these things happen when the devotee has transcended, for that moments / few moments, his individual ego, his individual identity, all thoughts about himself, his family and in fact the whole world.

So, in those few moments, he has, in fact, merged with Lord and existing as pure as Lord. When such extraordinary thing happens, the body spontaneously reposed to such extraordinary state of the devotee and all these things happen to his body about which the devotee is neither aware, nor can he normally explain as to why such things happened!!!!

The greater the Bhakti is, the greater the orbit of the spiritual influence. The greatest of them are the light of whole universe. Even if they live in caves, the spiritual waves generated by their devotion will spread over the entire universe and find an echo in all pure hearts ready to receive them.

“Paavayanti”. The devotees purify. Kulaani, their families, Prithiveem cha, also the world. Wherever they go, they radiate love and joy, they dispel fear and ignorance, they give new life and fresh life to the despondent; they inspire and elevate those who come to them. It is in this way that they purify.

The same truth is echoed by Sankara in Vivekachudamani where, the Guru, on being satisfied that his disciple has realized SELF, showers his blessings on his disciple who has now crossed the duality of Guru and Shishya and says,

श्रीगुरुवाच

धन्योऽसि कृतकृत्योऽसि पावित ते कुलं त्वया ।
यदविद्याबन्धमुक्त्या ब्रह्मीभवितुमिच्छसि ॥ ५0 ॥ 

śrīguruvāca

dhanyo'si kṛtakṛtyo'si pāvita te kulaṃ tvayā |
yadavidyābandhamuktyā brahmībhavitumicchasi 

The Guru replied: Blessed art thou! Thou hast achieved thy life’s end and hast sanctified thy family that thou wishest to attain Brahmanhood by getting free from the bondage of Ignorance! 

( Verse 50)

In the company of such a devotee / God / Self realized being,

in his existence as pure, divine SELF, his family, his village, his state, his country and in fact the whole world stands blessed!!!!

The Aura of such purified soul envelops a huge area and purifies all those beings who come within/ who are enveloped by that Aura.

Love.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 72

Sutra 67. Bhaktaa ekaantino mukhyaaha.

[Those who have one-pointed devotion to God for His own sake are primary.]

Ekaantinah: single-hearted, those who possess one-pointed devotion to the Lord for His own sake, those whose only object of love is God

Bhaktaa: devotees

Mukhyaah: are primary.

Bhaktas who are exclusively attached or devoted to the Lord are the best of His devotees.

The body, mind, wealth and everything else become the property of God. He lives in the world as His instrument. His mind is absorbed in God. His eyes see everywhere and at everytime the Lord .

The Lord has settled in the eyes of the devotee. No one can enter his eyes now. Even sleep has no access there.

This was explained in the context of the Bhajan - Sai Aum Sai Aum Sai Aum in a recent blog where, "Nayan Nayan Mein Sai Aum" was explained.

He who has attained this primary Bhakti or absolute stage of devotion is called a Bhagavata or Sant (Saint). This primary devotion is not tinged with any worldliness or selfishness. The devotee does not long even for Mukti. He does not love God as a means to an end.

A description of the nature of a true Bhakta is given in Bhagavat (XI.14.14), “He who has resigned his mind to me, does not seek after the position of Brahma or that of Indra, or an emperor’s throne or lordship over Patala, or the attainment of Yoga powers, or even Moksha from which there is no returning ; for he desires nothing but Myself.” 

Such a one was Uddhava. Of him the Lord says, “Neither Brahma, nor Sankara, nor Samkarshana, nor Sri Devi, nor my own self is so very dear to me as you are.

“Just as fire growing into a flame turns all fuel to ashes, so devotion to Me, 0 Uddhava, burns out all sins.”

Single pointed devotion has been dealt exclusive in post 12 under Surrender theme, which is reproduced here.

SINGLE-MINDED DEVOTION

Single-minded Devotion – Craving nothing but God 

After the war in Lanka, Ma Sitaji presented Hanumanji with a

beautiful, precious pearl necklace as a gift of gratitude. Hanumanji proceeded to carefully examine each and every pearl – from top to bottom, from left to right. Then, he began to take the pearls off the string, one by one, bite them in half, again examine them thoroughly, and then throw them on the ground. Ma Sitaji could not watch this. Finally she said, “Hanuman – what are you doing? That is a very expensive, precious necklace I have bought for you. Why are you pulling off the pearls and breaking them?” Hanumanji replied, “I am looking for Rama. You have said these pearls are priceless and precious. If so, they must have Rama inside them.”

Swami
Chidanandasaraswati

Pearls (and diamonds and rubies and cars and money) are only precious if they are filled with God. If God is not there, it doesn’t matter how expensive the diamond is, it is still empty and useless. God’s presence in your life can turn stones to diamonds, but without God your diamonds are as worthless as stones. 

                       - (Swami Chidanandasaraswati)

Single minded devotion- Bhagwad Gita 

XI:53 

NAA HAM VEDAIR NA TAPASAA NA DAANENA NA CHE JYAYAA SHAKYA EVAMVIDHO DRASHTUM DRISHTAVAAN ASI MAAM YATHAA

Neither by the vedas, nor by austerity, nor by gift, nor by sacrifice, can I be seen in this form as you have seen me.

XI:54

BHAKTYAA TW ANANYAYAA SHAKYAM AHAM EVAMVIDHO RJUNA JNAATUM DRASHTUM CHA TATTWENA PRAVESHTUM CHA PARANTAPA

But by single-minded devotion can I, of this form, be known and seen in reality and also entered into, o Arjuna.

The wise student should endeavor to read such ideas together, and ponder the real inner meaning. 

Swami Venkatesananda

Austerity, charity, and self-sacrifice, are indeed most essential, not for self-realization, but for self-purification. 

With their help, we de-hypnotize ourselves, and overcome the hallucination of worldly life and sense-pleasure. 

Hence, Krishna wisely warns us in the eighteenth chapter that even the three purifiers should be performed without attachment. Dirt on the body is removed by soap but the soap itself should then be washed away.

Only by single-minded devotion can god be realized. 'ananya bhakti' means love or devotion in which there is no other involved. 

This devotion is not exclusive of anything, but all-inclusive. Here 'All' is a synonym for God. 

One who sees God, and God alone, everywhere, 'enters' into the reality, and swims saturated in his omnipresence.

(Bhagwad Gita commentary by Swami Venkatesananda)

Dear Ones,

We learnt from the previous posts on Attraction-Faith-Adoration and Worship that as the devotee engages himself in worship of his chosen God, the thought patterns get reduced and focused on the Lord alone.

When the focus on God gets total and complete, then the whole day, the whole life of a devotee is saturated with God’s thoughts and in that God filled mind, there can be no impressions left, out of all the activities undertaken by the devotee as a part of his artha, kama and dharma, as a householder, as an office goer, as husband /  wife / father / mother / child etc. 

Actions are performed, duties are discharged but the heart stays unmoved, not perturbed by anything that happens to a Bhakta!

Mira used to perform her duties in the palace and apart from her minimum duties, the entire remaining part of the day she used to be seated in the temple of Krishna, constructed as per her request by her father in law. She danced and sang- “mein ne leeno, govind mol mayi re mein ne leeno govind mol” (I gave myself to Krishna and in the barter, in exchange, I got Govind all to myself).

Actions are performed truly as an offering to God, obviously without expecting any results, only when the devotee reaches this single minded devotion.

That is the nature of Ekanta Bhakti. Ekanta means “having only one end.” That end is to be in the presence of the Lord always and ever doing service to Him. Such devotees have only one thought of God.

Love.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 71

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.

1^st stage - Dasya Bhava

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.

2^nd 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!!!

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.