Surrender - Part 22

ABSOLUTE FEEDOM/ SUPREME BLISS- SAMADHI

We have undertaken a journey in the path of devotion to arrive at Surrender/Atma Nivedanam, the last stage in this flow, so far. 

The ultimate culmination of Atma Nivedanam, given in scriptures and also taught in various sessions by the author is the thoughtless state/state of supreme bliss or ananda/Samadhi!.

For the time being, we will confine ourselves to having a glimpse of Samadhi in the context of Bhakti Yoga, i.e., Saguna Upasana.

Samadhi is the state in which one Exists eternally, after Atma Nivedanam or absolute merger of jiva with God. 
According to Vaishnava scriptures, there are four types of salvation known as Salokya, Samipya, Sarupya and Sayujya.

SALOKYA

To live in the same domain as God is one kind of attainment. If God is in heaven, you also are in heaven; you may not be very near to God, you may be far away, but you are in the same kingdom; where the king rules, that country is your abode also; you may not be able to see the king but you are happy that you are in the same land which is ruled by the king. This is salokya mukti. This is also a great thing. After all, you are in the Land of God though you may not see God.

SAMIPYA

Samipya means nearness to God; you are living just by the side of the Ruler of the country; you will feel some elation – the King’s Palace is just here and I am here. Though you have nothing to do with that Palace, you will gain nothing by the nearness, but the mind will say ‘I am so near the Palace of the King; He is here only!’ Thus, nearness to God also is a stage in liberation. This is samipya, closeness.

SARUPYA

Still greater freedom is sarupya, assuming the same form of God; you become an ambassador of God. God has given you the powers which He wields. The ambassador has practically all the powers of the kingdom which he represents; he can speak for the whole country of which he is the ambassador.

The Vaishnava scriptures say sarupya means not merely becoming an ambassador, because the ambassador does not himself look like the king, though he can be adored and invested with all the paraphernalia of the king also, there is something more here.

In Vaikuntha, Abode of Vishnu, Narayana, they shine like Vishnu Himself. When you see the attendant of God, you cannot know whether He is God Himself or is an attendant; he will shine like God Himself, though he is not God. This is called sarupya.

It is said that when Bharatha walked into Ayodhya to make preparations for welcoming Sri Rama who was returning to Ayodhya after 14 years,the Ayodhyavasis mistook Bharatha for Sri Rama Himself. Bharatha's form was exactly like Sri Rama's form. There was no difference between the two. The Bhajan " Jaya Kausalya bandana Ram" echoes this feeling of ayodhaya vasis, waiting for their Sri Rama, as explained by Brother Hari beautifully- " Mangala pavana naam, Jaya Sundara vaidehi Ram...."

SAYUJYA

The last one is sayujya, merging in God, the Highest attainment. All these come under what is known as Saguna Attainment, meditation on God as adorned with all the good qualities –  ananta koti kalyana guna sampanna – all the blessed things are there in God.

In tamil, when a person seeks a very high position/ pocession/ status in life, we often say, " O,YOU SEEM TO BE ASKING NOTHING LESS THAN THE SAYUJYA PADAVI "(The title of Sayujya)

We touched upon  this subject  while learning the samarpan bhajan- Bhavadharini partiswari where the word " SAMRAJYA DAYINI" was explained and learnt as the SAMRAJYA OF SAMADHI.


We learnt thus:-

"Where the yagna is Total Surrender and the Samrajya is what is referred in Sivananda Lahiri- as "Sayujya".

SAAROOPYAM THAVA POOJANA SHIVA MAHA DEVETHI SAMKEERTHANE,

  SAAMEEPYAM SHIVA BHAKTHI DHURYA JANATHA SANGATHYA SAMBHASHANE,

SAALOKYAM CHA CHARACHARATHMAKA THANU DYANE BHAVANI PATHE,

SAYUJYAM MAMA SIDDHA MATHRA BHAVATHI SWAMIN KRIDHARTHOSYSMAHAM.

The Mukthi of my becoming you (Saroopyam) is in thine worship.

The Mukthi of my coming near you (Sameepyam) is in singing about you and calling you “Hey, Shiva” and “Hey Madhava”

The Mukthi of living with you (Salokyam) is in sweet conversation with thine devotees, who in their mind live with you,

The Mukthi of forever mixing with you (Sayujyam) is in thinking forever of your moving and stable form which is the universe,

And so I get all these in this birth itself,

Oh God who is the consort of Bhavani,

I am thankful to you for all these."

Now, if you have carefully read the post on Atma Nivedanam, you would recall and you would also understand why the author begged to  re-word Atma Nivedanam as Atma Sayujya!!!
To be continued...

Love.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Surrender - Part 21

ATMA NIVEDANAM - SURRENDER / MERGER OF SELF WITH GOD

In the post on “why did God create man”, we heard God answering a question and saying thus: -

No joy of the senses, no joy of possession, can match the joy of God. Though I had everything from eternity to eternity, I began to think, "I am all-powerful, and Joy itself, but there is no one else to enjoy Me. I will make souls in My image, and clothe them as human beings with free choice, to see whether they will seek My material gifts and the temptations of money, wine, and sex; or whether they will seek the million times more intoxicating joy of My consciousness." 

The Bhakta ultimately has sought and attained the million times more intoxicating joy of God consciousness!

Bro. Hari, very often speaks on Nava Vida Bhakti and takes us through the nine stages through and through with the aid of Bhajans. When he reaches Atma Nivednam, the last stage or the ultimate state, he says that he got stuck. For all the other stages, he got choice of bhajans.

However, when he reaches Atma Nivedanam, even after searching the entire Bhajanavali book, he could not find an appropriate bhajan. He says, "Swami perhaps had something to teach me, so I sat in silence and started contemplating and then it stuck me. At that stage, upon complete surrender, every bhajan is appropriate because, no matter what the wordings of the bhajans are, whether it is a namavali bhajan or a bhajan filled with bhava or any other type, the state of mind of the singer after reaching the stage of Atma Nivedanam, has to be the same."

Believe me, brothers and sisters, once a devotee reaches this stage or anywhere near the stage, both the statements given below are identically same for him/her.

1)    Bhajans now mean nothing for him, because the purpose of bhajan is fulfilled. All rituals, all religious practice, all devotional practice followed till now, were immensely useful for him to reach the state of TOTAL SURRENDER but after reaching such state, he is freed of all such practice. Through all the devotional practices undertaken by him,which were MEANS, the END that is merger with the Lord, has been attained. 

                                                                     Or

2)    Any bhajan is the same at his state of existence now. Once you have ceased to be a nadhi after merging in the prema sagara Sai Rama, percussion/ bhajan/ singer/ song/good singing/bad singing/shruthi/ apashruthi -All these mean nothing for you because none of these can now segregate/ divide/isolate you from the prema sagara and make you think on all the above mentioned things. The doll made of salt has merged in the lake of salt. The sugar cane has ceased to exist and only the sweet essence exists now. Is it possible for the essence to revert its status to the sugar cane any more?

The stage is explained as Atma Nivedanam, surrendering the SELF/ ,merger of SELF in God supreme.

With folded hands, with prostrations to the Author of Srimad Bhagawatham, the author shall modify  the wording ATMA NIVEDANAM  to ATMA SAYUJYA or ATMA SAMYOG, because, at this stage, there is no one left to surrender/offer anything to anyone. It is complete merger of Jivatma with the Paramatman, the individual consciousness with the pure absolute universal consciousness.

THE SURRENDERER HAS BEEN SURRENDERED ULTIMATELY.

In the next concluding post on SURRENDER, we will consolidate all the important learning in many previous posts on surrender and join all the learning to make a Garland of Surrender, Garland of Atma Samyog!!

Love.