Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 27

Sutra 15. Tallakshanaani Vaachyante naanaamatabhedat.

[The characteristics of Bhakti are described variously on account of difference in view-points (according to the different schools)]

Tallakshanaani: its characteristic marks or indications of devotion

Vaachyante: are being described or stated

Naanaamatabhedaat: according to diverse opinions or owing to difference in viewpoints.

In Rig Veda, there is a sruti which says, 

"Ekam Sath, Vipra Bahuda Vadanti"

(Truth is one, Scholars speak about it in different ways)

The one truth that God, formless, attributeless pervades the entire creation and thus each and everyone / everything in creation is but that God, the universal consciousness, is described in innumerable ways in 100+ upanishads followed by various vedanta treatise and commentary.

Similarly, the inner experiences of Bhakti is purely subjective. The mental condition of a devotee is known only to himself. But the devotees conduct themselves in different ways. 

We can recognise the characteristics or marks of devotion. Every change in the heart finds external manifestation in the behavior as well as the appearance of the devotee.

In this and the succeeding nine Sutras, Narada gives a description of Bhakti as given by some writers who have preceded him and shows how his own view is more complete than that of any of his predecessors .

Dear All,

• Each human being is born with his own sanskara, due to his past accumulated karmas.
• Thus, each one's mind, his vasanas, his thoughts work in a different way than the other individual in this world.
• Thus, when a human being enters the path of devotion, his sanskara play a role in shaping up his thoughts, his feelings, his approach to Bhakti.

In the Sivanandalahari, Sri Sankara speaks of Bhakti as the sticking of thoughts to the feet of the Lord permanently. Just as a needle sticks to the magnet, the seed to the Ankola tree, a virtuous wife to her husband or a creeper to a tree. 

In Devi Bhagavatam, supreme love is compared to oil poured from one vessel to another (Tailadharavat). There should not be any break in the regular succession of thoughts about God. 

In Bhagavatam, Maitreya says that Bhakti is a natural settlement of the mind upon the highest truth from which all objects and senses have come out. 

Prahlad prays that the love which the worldly people have for the objects be turned into Bhakti by being directed towards God. 

In the Narada Panchatantra Bhakti is spoken of as service rendered to the Lord of the senses through the senses without being clouded by Upadhis and purified by being directed towards Him. 

Thus there are different views. These views are different on account of the differences in which the divine love is experienced by devotees who are in different stages of development or evolution and also in different moods or states. 

Lakshana means mark or characteristic or sign All devotees unanimously agree in the essential characteristics of devotion. But some give prominence to certain indications; while others to certain other marks. That is all. There cannot be any fundamental difference in the essence. 

When we  enter a sweet shop having varieties of milk sweets, each one with a unique shape, unique name. However, when each one of those sweets are placed on our tongue and we taste it, the sweet essence of all sweets are exactly the same, as the essence is the sweetness of sugar!!

Similarly, there may be different ways in which so many Bhaktas define Bhakti but the inner experience of each Devotee, when he nears the lord and his heart melts in Love for his Lord, is EXACTLY THE SAME and the mystic beauty is that no devotee can exactly describe his subjective experience when he actually experiences it.

All varieties/ differences in the descriptions are only upto the point of merger with Lord. At and upon the merger, no one can ever express his inner experience with limited words and when two such devotees who have merged with Lord ever come face to face, their eye contact reveals only one expression from both of them:

"OUR EXPERIENCE IS THE SAME,  OUR STATE, UPON THAT INNER SUBJECTIVE, INTUITIVE, INTIMATE EXPERIENCE, IS THE SAME".

Here, all the diverse expressions of Bhakti / expositions of devotion, like various streams of river flowing from mountains, reach one common sea, the Prema Sagara, lose their individual identity and merge and exist as LOVE.

Love.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 26

Sutra 14. Lokopi taavadeva kintu bhojanaadi-vyaapaara stwa asareeradharana vadhi.

(Social customs and practices also may be followed in like manner, to the same extent only (as scriptural injunctions). But eating, drinking, dressing should be continued as long as one wears this body.)

Lokah : social practices, social customs and usages 

Api: also

Taavad: that much, to that extent

Eva: only

Bhojanaadivyaapara: activities such as eating (drinking, dressing, sleep  etc.)

Tu: but, on the other hand 

a-sarira dharana-vadhi: as long as one wears this body.

Worldly duties such as one’s occupation in life, and maintaining the family, etc., should also be carefully and scrupulously performed along with religious duties according to the injunctions of the scriptures.

As a seeker, till the dawn of total forgetfulness in Love which is the culmination of His Ananya Prema for his Lord, we learnt in the previous verses that the spiritual injunctions, moral code of the society etc. have to be followed.

All the selfless dedicated practice, as prescribed in the spiritual books of devotion, only encourage, improve and cultivate more and more devotion with more and more purity, in the seeker.

As regards eating, drinking, sleeping, exercises etc., these would continue even after one reaches the supreme Goal of God realization. 

Why??

Not because the realized yogi enjoys eating, drinking, sleeping etc. but because, till the time his left over prarabdha karma has to be cleared, this present body is required to be kept in tact so that the body helps / undergoes the left over karma of the yogi.

Even for a realized master, for the actions undertaken by him up to the point of Realization, he has accumulated Karmas and those Karmas have to be cleared / borne. 

This explains why Realized masters like Ramana, Rama Krishna, Sivananda, Chinmayananda etc. had grave diseases like cancer / heart problem / paralysis etc. 

So, for clearing those left over prarabdha, eating, drinking, sleeping, exercise etc. is required. 

Dear Readers,

This verse is from reader's point of view, in case, a curious human being has to ever look at a realized master and wonder, why he is still enjoying the food / sleep etc like a normal human being. 

This verse is to clear their doubts and to make them understand that a realized Master can be understood only by another Master and that they should not try to look at a Master with their mind and attribute ideas  for his actions just like how they go about doing those actions.

For example, when they take food, they enjoy it to the core, they can't even wait till the food is brought from the kitchen and served in their plate because the aroma / smell of food taunts them all the while, whereas, a yogi partakes food just to preserve his body  just for 2 things.

1)  To maintain his body for clearing his prarabdha karma. ( About this, the yogi does not even think)

2) To maintain his body for serving the society, for Loka  Kalyanam.

Thus, a sincere devotee and the one who has already merged with God through and in his devotion to God,  the verse has no relevance because eating, drinking, sleeping etc. are not anymore in his thoughts.

Food etc. just come to him and he partakes it.  If, on a day, no one serves him food, he has no thought that he has not had food on that day. He just accepts whatever comes to him, without running for the same.

Sankara explains this  in Viveka Chudamani while described the qualities/ lakshanas of a realized being  beautifully thus:

A Yogi / Jivan Mukhta (in our context, a devotee who has realized God), exists unaware, unconscious about the material world, 

(just like, when a blanket is placed on some one in  cold by any unknown being, the person who has been wrapped with a blanket does get the warmth of the blanket but he is not aware that some one has helped him, placed a blanket on him etc.

A child, when it is hungry, sucks milk from its mother's breasts, unaware of the same and it continues to lie on its mother's lap with its eyes closed.

This is the state of a realized yogi. He just accepts what ever is offered to him, like a child  (with a child-like innocence), without any other thought (of happiness on getting blanket, thanking the one who gave him the blanket, searching for the one who placed the blanket on him etc, thanking the mother for giving milk etc.)

A time will come when all activities religious as well as mundane will drop by  themselves.

A Videhamukhta   has  to be served food by people around him, otherwise, he may not even eat any food / drink any water and the body, after existing for few days without any food , leaves on its own!!

Love

PS- The verses we have learnt so far, is all about "RENUNCIATION". 

We will move on to the next  subject covered from the 14th sutra, from tomorrow.

Love.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 25

Sutra 13. Anyatha paatitya sankaya.

(For, otherwise there is the risk of a fall.)

Anyatha: otherwise 

Patitya Sankaya : risk of a fall.

This sutra is in continuation with the earlier sutra which said, "Even upon realization, one should follow / practice / spread spiritual teachings". 

So, in this sutra, it is said, if a realized master / a yogi in advanced spiritual level falls down and does not practice spiritual teachings, then there may be a fall (of him and of those who believe in him).

We are all aware how the Rishi Vishwamitra of great tapas became a victim to the influence of the celestial nymph. Even Lord Buddha had to face Mara. 

There must not be any unholy thrill or unholy vibration in the mind, even. This is the highest standard of purity. The Gita says, “Who sitteth, controlling the organs of action, but dwelling in his mind on the objects of the senses, that bewildered man is called a hypocrite.” Cha. III-6.

If a Master / Yogi / Spiritual preacher fails, then the society / people believing him will fail ten times more than the yogi's fail / fall.

So, in the path towards Self Realization, even in the penultimate step, one moment before the moment of Self realization, there is a risk of a sadhaka having a down fall and slipping away from the Goal.

Human beings desperately look forward towards spiritual leaders for self satisfaction, for mental peace.

There are so many spiritual leaders who appear to be some thing at surface level but turn out to be totally difference and not genuine, in later course of time.

When such leaders turn out to be ingenuine, there can be extreme impact on those who followed them. Either they may be extremely disillusioned or they may turn out to be extreme non-believers  in spirituality.

This is what is given in this sutra - "OTHERWISE, THERE MAY BE A FALL".

Love.