Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 68

Sutra 62. Na tat Siddhau lokavyavahaaro heya kin tu phalatyagastat saadhanancha kaaryameva.

[Till Bhakti is developed one must not neglect to observe social customs and ceremonies. One should surely perform them but only the fruits of all social activities are to be surrendered to the Lord.]

Tat Siddhau: for attaining it, in the development of devotion

Lokavyavahaarah: social life, social custom and usage;

Na: not

Heyah: to be neglected

Kintu: but

Phala-tyaaga: renunciation of the fruits of actions

Tat- saadhanam : means helpful to it, its performance

Cha: and

Kaaryam: must be performed

Eva: certainly.

So long as this Bhakti is not achieved to the extent prescribed in earlier Sutras, Narada Says here that  the ordinary way of life should not be given up but renunciation of the desire for reward of actions and discipline preparatory to it should be persistently practised. 

The essence of this Sutra has been covered elaborately in the previous verse itself.

So long as one is practicing to cultivate and develop devotion the highest level, worldly activities including our duties towards family, society and the nation should not be given up and one must continue the dynamic life of activities fulfilling one's duties and responsibilities.

Each one is expected to pursue his / her life in the field where the LORD has placed them, because the Omniscient Lord knows exactly what is needed for our own inner unfoldment.

It is for the exhaustion of our existing vasanas that we have been placed in a particular environment, to carry on certain types of responsibilities and in the process, enjoy or suffer, as per our Karmic balance.

To protest over it, to weep over what life is giving to us, is useless. It is for the doctor to decide if one should be admitted in the hospital, whether the patient should go to a normal medical ward or a surgical ward, whether the patient should go through a normal medical procedure or undergo a severe procedure which may be really painful!!! It is futile for the patient to weep over what he has to undergo. The only hope for the patient is - after all the hardship / sufferings / surgery / post surgery pain etc., he will return home one day, relieved of all the pain, all the agony!!!!.

In a Sadhaka's life, all the sufferings explained above are the ones which he has to undergo while being in the society, while discharging his role as a father, as a mother, as a husband / wife, son / daughter, as a Manager / Subordinate, as a friend etc. The hope explained above is the hope that one day, in his evolvement as a Bhakta, he will return home, the home of the Lord, the abode of peace, prashanti, where there is only Peace, there is only Love!!!!!

So, what is the way to lead this life sojourn as a householder on one hand and internally, as a devotee??

We have to continue to live this life, doing every bit of our assigned role and simultaneously, we have to cultivate and expand our Love for the Lord, whose expression is there in the entire world around us.

We will then, continue to go to our fields of activity with more and more new found Joy within us.

We are nearing him more and more, surrendering our work / actions and its fruit spontaneously and naturally to him (which is explained in the previous post clearly) and where there is no appointment (expectations a particular outcome for our action / our sacrifice etc), there can be no disappointment (that we did not get what we wanted out of our actions / sacrifice, because, we have stopped wanting, we have stopped seeking appointment)!!!

So, the whole field of work itself is considered as LORD Himself, at the peak of one's evolvement as a true Bhakta!!!

It is here that Sadhana is not separate and the life apart from our hours of Sadhana are not different. our Life itself becomes our Sadhana. 

Such a life lead by a true devotee, in itself, becomes a source of motivation for all others whom look up to such a great devotee!!. For a novice spiritual aspirant, this devotee's life, his actions, his silence, his every walk in life is equivalent to Scripture. The novice devotee learnt every day in the company of such a great devotee, the Mahatma!!!

Love.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 67

Sutra 61. Lokahaanau chintaa na kaaryaa nivedita atmalokavedatwaat.

[The Bhakta should feel no anxiety about worldly concerns, as he has consecrated himself, the world as well as the Vedas to the Lord.]

Loka-haanau: with regard to the miseries of the world, in respect of social disorganization

Chintaa: anxiety, thought

na: not

Kaaryaa: should be cherished, is to be entertained

Nivedita-atma-loka-vedatvaat: on account of his having surrendered to the Lord his own Self, the worlds and the Vedas.

Let us start off with seemingly impossible aspect of this sutra and then proceed to see how it is possible to exist as per this sutra.

Question of a normal human being

There is a line in an old Tamil movie where the poet writes, in contradiction to this sutra's affirmation.

The Hero, in extreme pain on events in his life / his sister's life etc., sings:

"Pambu vandu kadikaiyil, Pazhum vayiru tudikkaiyil yaar mugattil pongi varum sirippu?"

(When a snake comes and bites someone, when someone is hungry without food for days together, then, if  such  beings are asked to smile when you are in distress, then how can they smile?)

So, in the early stages in devotion, how can a devotee stand by this Sutra's affirmation and say, 

"O Bhagawan, this is all your Maya only, I know You are just behind this very sorrow I am now facing, I am not the mind and its sorrows, I am the knower of the sorrows, and so the sorrows cannot be me or mine".

May be a man of wisdom, a true Jnani can say like this. But how can a simple devotee rise to this level???

Answer to the volley of questions shot above 

A Jnani has to go through all the 4 qualifications of Viveka, Vairagya, Shad Sampath, proceed to a Realized master who can take him, give him shelter in His Kutir, teach Him vedas and vedanta.

And, the seeker has to go through the three processes - Shravanam (Listening to the Guru's teachings), Mananam (Accepting the truth in what ever heard, believing in what ever heard) and Nidhidhyasanam (Proceed to absorb intensely, what ever heard and then believed to be a true path).

But a devotee - he does not have to necessarily go through various treatise, he does not have to listen to discourses, he does not have to undertake severe austerities to rise above all anxieties / worries related to this world. 

All that he has to do is - "Surrender his mind, his existence at the lotus feet of his chosen Lord".

Like the famous English line which says "you cannot have the cake and eat it too", it is not possible to retain one's mind, one's ego and then also surrender to God and say, "I have surrendered all my thoughts, words and  words  to God".

Either you retain your mind with you or you leave it at Lord's lotus feet when you prostrate at His feet in the alter when you do the namaskaram after the Bhajan session ends and the Aarti gets over.

So, all that has to be done is - "DEVELOPING AN UNSHAKABLE ATTITUDE OF SURRENDER THAT I WILL DO MY BEST IN MY ROLE AS HUSBAND, FATHER, SON, MANAGER IN MY CO., OFFICE BEARER IN SPIRITUAL ORGANIZATION ETC. ETC, AND MY ROLE ENDS WITH MY PERFORMING MY DUTIES. RESULTS - I HAVE ALREADY OFFERED TO YOU, O BHAGAWAN, AS MY MIND HAS BEEN OFFERED TO YOU WHEN I HAVE KEPT MY HEAD AT YOUR FEET".

Without such an attitude, we are actually not devotees, we are but a part time seekers!!!!

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The devotee need not worry if his affairs go wrong, because his self, worldly affairs and even the Vedas have been surrendered to the Lord .

Just as a drop of curd decomposes a large quantity of milk, so also does the love of the world stand in the way of attaining the highest devotion.

When the devotee surrenders himself and his all to the Lord, the Lord removes all his anxieties. He takes away the mind of his devotee. How can he then worry about the loss in the absence of the mind ?

This Sutra does not advocate hardness of heart or indifference to human suffering. 

It does not condemn the charitable acts and philanthropic work of large-hearted people. 

It emphasises only one point — Chintaa-na-kaarya — No anxiety or worry is to be entertained.

The devotee has surrendered his very existence (intellect, mind and body), attachment to the world and also his reverence to the Vedas (discipline, rules etc.) as Nivedanam to the Lord.

More than all the prasadams, all the ritualistic offerings which we undertake in various Puja, all that Swami wants from us is to offer ourselves ENTIRELY to HIM, for HIM to take over and rule us, inside out!!!!

This is the true Nivedanam which is prescribed by Devarishi in this Sutra.

With this surrender, a true devotee cultivates a spirit of renunciation, the joy of surrender and a constant sense of self-offering to his chosen Lord.

TO GIVE EVER IS THE EXPRESSION OF LOVE!!!

Love is measured by the joy of sacrifice - of giving oneself and one's all to his beloved Lord.

Did Sai not call his devotees and say, "I am yours, you are Mine"?

How can one take back what has been offered in LOVE??

So, the expression of this sutra- "The Bhakta should feel no anxiety about worldly concerns, as he has consecrated himself, the world as well as the Vedas to the Lord, 

is experienced in  a / the most grand, most wonderful climax where, instead of offering his actions, his thoughts, his words, the fruits of his actions etc., the devotee OFFERS HIS LOVE, WHICH IS THE TREASURE BESTOWED ON HIM BY THE LORD, BACK TO HIM, CRYING  OUT,

" Tera Tujhko Arpan"

(O Lord, anything else, apart from Love, cannot be claimed as a true offering as all the above die or wither away with passage of time, but I am offering You the most beautiful gift which You gave me and sent me to this world, which is nothing else but You Yourself. I am offering my love, I am offering me as Love, to You, who are nothing but Love, so that, Let LOVE merge in LOVE and then, thereafter, EXIST ONLY AS LOVE)!!!!!

Love.

PS- Devotees of Sai Sadan, Muscat, may pick up the Samarpan booklet which might have gathered a lot of dust by now, from the corner of their shelves, (if somehow they can remember where they kept it last, 3 years before when their brother Sathya retired from his coordinator role) and then read the   Bhajan "TUMHE NAMASKAR SAI BABA" along with its interpretation, especially the line "Prem Dakshina Sveekaro Bhagwan"!!!!!!.

Whether any one remembers any thing about this Bhajan or not, Sathya still vividly what Sai made him speak on this bhajan, this line, when this bhajan was taught - ne - learnt together at  Sai's Lotus feet in Sadan.

Love.

Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 66

Sutra 60. Saanti roopaat paramaanandroopaachcha.

[The path of devotion is easy) because it (devotion) is of the nature of peace and supreme bliss.]

Saantiroopaat : of the form of peace of mind ;

Paramaanandaroopaat : because form of supreme bliss because of its being of its being of the and.

The devotee forgets everything, even himself. He truly lives only for God. He lives in God.

Honey gives sweetness at once to anyone who tastes it. Even so devotion bestows perfect peace and supreme bliss. This fact is self-evident. It admits of no further proof.

HOW MAN LOSES HIS  PEACE / BLISS?

·  We should have, by now, be absolutely clear, after reading so many times in so many theme posts in this blog that God created man exactly as He himself, pure, divine, spotless, blemish less!!

·  When Man was thus born for the first time, he cannot have ego. By EGO, what do we mean?? The basic Ego is “Identifying oneself with one’s limited identity with his / her body, the physical existence and forgetting that one is not this body but one is divine, pure SELF, as one is created by God.

·  So, is it now  absolutely clear that as long as man exists exactly as he is created by God, he cannot have his ego identity, he cannot be affected by hatred, attachment etc. , as these factors- Hatred, Attachment etc. are children of the mother Ego.

·  Only when one identifies oneself with his body and mind, then that  mind, identifying ourselves as our physical identity as Ram or Shaym or Mohamad or Peter etc., can hate someone (who is not suiting to, who do not gel well with what we have thought as our identity, our likes, our dislikes, our nature etc.) or love someone (who suit, who recognize our nature, our likes, our dislikes, our way of life).

·   With this Ego identity, with this Raga, Dvesha, our mind is agitated and in that agitated mind, our peace is gone, our bliss is disturbed!!!!

WHEN WE LOVE GOD

·  And, when one is immersed in God’s Love in and out, then what happens?

·  Our Ego, identifying ourselves as this body, this mind- is slowly and steadily getting dissolved in the ocean of Love which has enveloped us totally.

·  When we exist as Love ourselves, then, we truly exist as God, for, the God Himself declared- LOVE IS GOD!!

·  When we have no mind to love/ hate any one with respect to our limited identity, when we don’t have the mind to treat someone as Mine and someone as not mine,  when we do not have mind to get affected by whatever is happening around us in the world, when our mind, if it exists, is totally filled with God’s love, then, can we close our eyes and at least think or imagine, if we are able to exist thus for a day, even for an hour, in that  day or hour, How would we exist as??? What perhaps would be our experience??

· WE   WOULD BE IN TOTAL PEACE, TOTAL BLISS, BECAUSE, IN OUR EXISTENCE AS LOVE, WE EXIST EXACTLY AS GOD EXISTS.

· Though Sai did have a body, Sai did have the whole educational  institutions, the ashram, the super specialty  hospitals to be looked after, though He worked tirelessly to look after all these things , still, HOW WOULD HE INTERNALLY BE?? WHAT EXPERIENCE DOES A DEVOTEE HAS, WHEN HIS EYES MEET SAI’S EYES FOR A SECOND?? WHAT PURITY IS EXPERIENCED, WHICH IS RADIATED BY SAI’S EYES, SAI’S DARSHAN???

·  That purity, the divinity, the devotee, in his Love for God, exists as!!!

·  In that state of existence, like Sai, it is not enough to say that the devotee finds peace, the devotee experiences bliss. To say thus would mean that peace, bliss etc. are something different from the devotee / Sai. If they are something different from you, then you cannot be Peace/ Bliss eternally. Peace and bliss would come and go just like your relatives, who are different from you, visit you and leave you after staying with you for few days.

·  SAI IS LOVE, SAI IS BLISS, SAI IS ANANDA. Similarly, the devotee who has experienced that Sai’s love also exists AS PEACE, AS BLISS!!!!

·  The most appropriate expression is – He abides in peace, He abides in Bliss (just like it is said, the sadhaka who has experienced SELF/ ATMAN, Abides in SELF)

Love.