Narada Bhakti Sutra - Post 69

Sutra 63. Stree Dhana Naastika Vairi charitram na sravaneeyam.

[Stories or description of women, wealth, atheists or enemy should not be listened to.]

Stree-Dhana-Naastika-Vairi Charitram: Descriptions or the behavior or conduct of women, wealth and ungodly persons (who deny the authority of the Vedas and the existence of God) and of enemies

Na: not

Sravaneeyam: should be listened to.

In this Sutra, some obstacles to the development of devotion have been enumerated.

In spiritual lessons, we are taught something called “Collective Vasanas”. What is this Collective Vasana??

When there is Pralaya and the world / creation folds itself, then the world disappears but the impressions, the tendencies, the nature of all the individuals who die in the process of cessation of the creation, does not disappear.

The above can be well understood in the context of an Individual who dies. In the Hindu religion, we believe that a person undergoes several births and deaths before he realizes God and merges with the God in one birth.

Now, when the person dies, his physical body is burnt, his mind is dissolved but his karmas or his tendencies are all carried along with the 3^rd body called Karana Sarira. When he is reborn, the impressions carried forward at the time of his death, are brought back in his next birth and they are called “Sanskaras”. These Sanskaras manifest into active impressions which are called Vasanas. 

Now, take this example and magnify the same and apply the death of all the human beings during Pralaya and during the next evolution process of the creation, just in the case of individual death and rebirth, all the carried impressions of all individuals collectively are again manifested as “Collective Vasanas” in the next evolution of the universe.

Thus, with each yuga, God just creates a world which is conducive to the manifestation of the Vasanas of all the beings collectively.

To be more clear, let us see -  What would have been the collective vasanas in Tretha Yuga? How the Ayodhya vasis would have been living, What topics they would be discussing? What impressions they would perhaps be having???? They had nothing to talk / nothing to think / nothing to carry as impressions except their RAM.

In the Dvapara yuga, there was some deterioration of the culture and hence, along with good people with good thoughts and good talks, many bad people in the form of many asuras etc. came up.

Now, in this Kali yuga, we can imagine, how much the collective vasanas / impressions of the human beings have undergone deterioration!!

So, obviously, there would be talks / there would be people leading lives and deliberately or even innocently trying to spread their own ideas, their own approach to life, to the people around, in the society around!!!

Now, to what all a spiritual aspirant would get to hear when he is in the company of people who talk things to take him away from his spiritual path and to pull him into this world, in the Kali Yuga??

Regarding Woman, such group of people would say “A thing of beauty is a Joy forever”, “Sathyam Shivam Sundaram", "Are Moorak, Woman are God’s beautiful creation, you must enjoy their beauty and not run away from the same”, “ What is there in going to various women, after all, variety is required in Life” etc. etc.

Regarding wealth, such perverted minds would say - “Spirituality is not to be practiced in forest, in aloofness, you should enjoy all the wealth, all the prosperity”, they would have the example of  how King Janaka lead his life, to quote to prove their argument.

Regarding God, there would be people to say, 

“Has any one seen God?? All these ideas of Gods are created by human beings, why believe in all these things?” 

or, 

“About your Guru, how do you know that he is pure and perfect?? He looks normal, he dresses normal, he also leads life like you only, why you are foolishly keeping him at a higher pedestal than yourself?” 

or 

“Enjoy this world, God, spirituality etc. can be taken up later on, otherwise, in your old age, you are bound to cry and say, O, I missed everything in life in search of God who is abstract and I got neither God, nor this world”.

( Na Khuda hi Mila, na visaale Sanam!!!)

A Bhakta, even at a higher level in his devotion, must take care not to be in such group of people. After all he also has a mind which can deceive him any time. Such talks will slowly poison his mind and then, he falls into the pit of this Maya Jagath!!

Why say,“Spirituality is actually proven when one practices the same even standing in a prostitute street”. 

Better not to take such risk, better to be in satsangh, better to be only in Godly thoughts, better only to be in our scriptures!!!

The glittering objective pleasures of wine, wealth, woman etc. have the potential to lure a sadhaka even at his advanced stage and therefore, till the time one attains Self-realization, one should always stay far away from all these attractions!!

Love.

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!!!!

----------------

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.