NaradaBhakthi Suthra part3-bakthisaaDhanaani

 

 

Suthra 34

 

thasyaaH saaDhanaani gaayanthi aachaaryaH

 

The teachers of the ancient past sing about the means of supreme love.

 

In the Vedas and epics etc. the following are described in hymns and songs to be the means of supreme love.

 

Narada was the ultimate example of bhakthi but he did not want to preach on his own but says that this is the way shown by the great acharyas. An aachaarya is the one who not knows the way to realization but also have gone through the path themselves. aacharthi ithi aachaaryah, meaning one with jnaana and anushTaana.

 

The word 'sang ' is used because in bhakthi the joy expresses itself in music as seen with many saints, like Meera, Tulasidas and other saints of the land of abhang. Valmiki was the first. The Vedas are mentioned as the singers of the glory of the Lord.

 

Acharyas like Sankara and Ramanuja have shown the way to mukthi through bhakthi and Narada here starts to explain the various means of cutivating bhakthi.

 

Suthra 35. thath thu vishyathyaagaath sangathyaagaath cha

 

The first step is to give up the sense experience and to give up attachment.

 

The sense objects are there but it tempts us only if we have the desire for them. As said in the gita, dhyaatho vishayaan pumsaH  sangastheshoopajaayathe.  Only if we think about them the attachment is born and then the desire to have them. As long as one is attached to the sense objects the karma will continue and the cycle of birth and death follows for ever. One way to give up the attachment is to understand that the joy out of the worldly objects is not permanent and the thing of joy today becomes the cause of sorrow tomorrow.  But even with that knowledge which could be acquired through the study of the scriptures, it is not possible to give them up unless the mind is drawn towards something higher. This is accomplished by bhakthi. To detach from the world it is necessary to attach ourselves to the Lord.

 

Merely giving up the sense objects will not result in detachment as it could result from inability to get them or due to some compulsion such as disease. It is important to renounce them mentally and this is possible only by attaching ourselves to the Lord as the Azvar says, icchuvai thavir yaan pOy indhiralokam aaLum acchuvai perineum vEndEn arangamaanagaruLaanE, meaning that he did not care even for the luxuries of Indraloka except singing here the glories of the Lord. To the devotees the joy of remembering the Lord , singing His glories and serving Him is the ultimate bliss compared with which nothing else in this world matters.

 

How to cultivate that bhakthi is being explained in the suthras that follow.

 

To cultivate bhakthi, the steps to be taken are elaborated in the next two suthras.

 

36.avyaakrtha bhajanaath

 

By uninterrupted service to the Lord.

 

The service to the Lord means service through body, speech and mind, kayen, vaachaa manasaa. Worshipping Him, talking about Him and singing his glory and contemplating on Him all the time. 

 

avyaakrtha means uninterrupted. In Adhyathma Upanishad it is said,

 

nidhtraayaaH loka vaarthaayaaH SabdhadheH arTha vismrtheH

kvachiinaavasaram dhathvaa chinthya aathmaanam aathmani

 

One should not allow any gap for drowsiness, gossiping, distraction due to worldly pleasures of sense objects and forgetfulness and should meditate on the Self within.

 

Sa thu dheerghakaala nairantharya sathkaara aasevitha dhrDa bhoomiH

 

It becomes firm by prolonged uninterrupted devotion towards the end to be attained.

 

The uninterrupted service or devotion means engaging in all activities with devotion and as offering to the Lord. Hence this does not prohibit day to day activities discharging our duties but implies that they have to be done with the thought of the Lord always in the background when the same becomes a worship.

 

37. loke api bhagavatguNa SravaNa keerthanaath

 

By hearing and singing about the Lord even while engaged in worldly activities.

 

The idea set out in the previous suthra is elaborated here as Sravana and keerthana even while acting in the world. Listening to the  stories and the glories of bhagavan takes the mind off the worldly pursuits of sensual pleasures. Keerthana or chanting or singing His glory prevents the mind from lapsing back into the worldly pleasures. Keerthana does not mean that one should be singing the bajans with cymbals etc. It denotes the mental activity of having the awareness of the divine presence within when the heart is attuned to Him so that His divine music flows through.

 

Srimadhbhagavatham says, thasmaath kenaapyupaayena manaH krshNaH nivesayeth, By some means bring the mind to Krishna.

 

In Gita too the Lord says,

 

Vishyaana DhyaayathaH chittham vishyeshu vishjjathe

maam anusmarathaH chittham mayyeva pravileeyathe

 

"The mind constantly engaged on sensual objects gets attached to them but the mind of one who constantly contemplates on Me shall get merged in Me."

 

This becomes easier by following the methods of bhakthi as outlined in Bhagavatham by Prahlada.

 

Sravanam keerthanam vishNoH smaraNam paadhasevanam

archanam vandhanam dhaasyam sakhyam aatma nivedhanam

 

Hearing, singing of Vishnu, thinking and failing His feet, worship, bowing down, serving Him, treating Him as a friend and offering oneself to Him.

 

38.mukhyathasthu mahathkrpayaa eva  bhagavatkrpaaleSaath vaa

 

Mainly it ( the state of supreme love, paraabhakthi) is attained through the mercy of great souls and a little grace from the Lord.

 

This suthra emphasizes the importance of sathsanga. Personal effort is necessary for attaining anything but that alone is not sufficient. This is proved even in our worldly ventures. We see often that in spite of our great efforts success is not always guaranteed. Hence in spiritual progress how could our sole effort may bring success? Of course it requires the grace of God, which even if it is a little, can save us. But God requires our effort also born out of our free will. He is there like the Sun always shining but we have to open our windows to feel it. This effort is strengthened by sathsanga.

 

Sravanam is the most important means to Bhakthi. This is possible only if we associate with the great souls. Bhagavatham stresses the importance of  sravanam and keerthanam. Sravanam also means getting  a guru whose grace will take us to God. How to find a guru? If our devotion is sincere the Lord Himself will send us a guru at the proper time.

Krishna  says in Gita thadhviddhi praNipaathena paripraSnena sevayaa upadhekshyanthi the jnaanam jnaaninaH thatthva dharSinaH(BG4.34)meaning “Know this knowledge by prostration, repeated questioning and by service. The wise who have the knowledge  of reality will impart it to you.”

 

Sankara says in Bajagovindam

 

Sathsangathve nisssangathvam

nissangathve nirmohathvam

Nirmohathve niSchala thathvam

 niSchala thathve jeevanmukthiH

 

With the association of the good the detachment develops. When there is detachment there is no more delusion. With the absence of delusion the immutable reality manifests itself and with the realization of this absolute reality one become free from bondage.

 

In Srimadbhagavatham Narada himself is said to attain paraabhalthi through his service to the sages in his previous life. In Mundakopanishad  we have the text’ thadhvijnaanaarTham sa  gurum eva abhigacCheth samithpaaNiHSrothriyam brahmanishTam’ one should approach  a guru, who is well versed in Vedas and well established in Brahman, with sacrificial fuel on hand.

 

God’s grace even if it is a little is enough to save a devotee who has completely surrenders himself and acts as an instrument of God. But such devotion is rare to get and hence one needs a guru.

 

39.mahathsangasthu dhurlabho agamyo amoghaScha

 

The company of the great is difficult to obtain subtle and infallible.

 

Lord Krishna says in Gita,

 

 

manushyaaNaam sahareshu kaschith yathathi siddhaye

 yathathham api sidDhaanaam kaschinmaam vetthi

                                                                              thathvathah

 

“One in thousands of men only tries for getting this knowledge and of them only one perhaps knows Me as I am.”

 

Thus men of spiritual enlightenment are rare to get and it is not possible to know their real worth as they keep their greatness disguised. Hence there is a possibility of choosing an unsuitable one as guru, one who professes to be great.

 

We may also fail to recognize a really great man due to our ignorance. But if they are found their association is infallible as we have instances when even a worst sinner have been reformed by sath sanga as in the case of Valmiki.

 

 

To meet a proper  spiritual guru we need the grace of the Lord. This is affirmed in the next sutra.

 

40.labhyathe api thath krpayaa eva

 

The sathsanga is obtained only through the grace of God.

 

When one is ready for spiritual progress the lord Himself sends someone as his guru. This has been seen in the stories of the great devotees and saints. This sutra reassures those who feel that they may not find or recognize a proper guru so that they need not despair.

 

Krishna was the jagathguru not only because He gave a discourse on Gita but He was a guru to all since His birth installing bhakthi in the hearts of all. But some like Kamsa and Duryodhana failed to recognize Him but it was their ignorance. Rama was guiding all in His incarnation advising Dharma to all. Including His parents. To Madurakavi Azvar whowas seeking a guru the Lord guided him to Nammazvar by the light that was seen in the south. Hence we need not seek the Guru ourselves in which case we may choose a wrong one but we should have faith in the Lord and pray to Him to show us the light and He will do so at the right time.

 

In the meanwhile we should go to the temples and holy places which are inhabited by pure souls and the vibrations from them will help us in our path to salvation.

 

41. thasmin thajjane bhedhaabhaavaath

 

To the Lord and His devotees there is no partiality.

 

The Lord says in the Gita, ‘samo aham sarvebhootheshu na me dhveshyo asthi na priyaH.’  “ am the same for all and I have neither dislike nor love towards anyone.”

 

Like the mother who punishes the naughty child and rewards the good one, the Lord  punishes the wicked, to reform them  and rewards the good to encourage them and this is not due to partiality on His part.

 

Similarly His devotees also have no partiality and treats all alike. This is because they see the Lord in all beings. The saint Swami Rama was beaten once by some who mistook him for a thief.  He fell down unconscious and his disciples came and revived him. They asked him whether he recognized those who were helping him and he said that the same hand which beat him earlier are helping him at that moment. Such is the samadarsana of the saints.

 

42.thadheva saaDhyathaam thadheva saaDhyathaam

 

That supreme devotion should be attained.

 

The means of attaining the supreme devotion have been outlined in the previous slokas and now Narada declares that the supreme devotion must be attained. The attainment does not mean that it is something external like learning. It is already made put that the supreme devotion cthe steps to be avoided by one aspiring for supreme bhakthi.

 

43.dhussangaH sarvaThaa eva thyaajyaH

 

Evil company is to be shunned by all means.

 

Sanga or association can be good or bad. Though the Gita says , vivikthadheSa sevithvam arathiH janasamsadhi(BG.13.10), resorting to solitude and avoiding all crowds, is necessary for spiritual progress. The company of the good is beneficial in the initial stages before one attains the state of paraabhakthi. Even more important is the avoidance of the company of the evil minded.

 

The cognition of Brahman in all is possible only after attaining the parabhakthi. Till then the differences are felt and discrimination is necessary. We have taken this birth to exhaust our prarabdha. By associating with evil company we share in their prarabdha like a man who is imprisoned just because he was in the company of gamblers. Moreover the vibrations of their thought and actions will be communicated to us like Ajamila who through the association with bad woman and friends turned into a sinner despite his training as  an austere Brahmin. The effects of bad company is elaborated in the next two suthras.

 

 

 

44. kaamakroDhamohasmrthibhramSabudDhinaaSa

    ( sarvanaaSa)kaaraNathvaath.

 

Being the cause of lust, anger, delusion, loss of memory and discrimination.

 

This seems to be echoing the Gita sloka

 

 Dhyaayatho vishyaan pumsaH sangah theshu upajaayathe

      sanghaathsanjaayathe kaamaH kaamaath kroDho abhijaayathe

 

 kroDhth bhavathi sammohaH sammohaath smrthivibhramaH

      smrthibhramSaath budDhinaSah budDhinaaSaath vinaSyathi (BG.2.62/63)

 

By the mind dwelling upon the sense objects attachment is created for them and from that the longing desire to possess them springs up and  the desire gives way to anger .From anger delusion arises and  the delusion causes  loss of memory which results in destruction of  reasoning power and as a result the man is destroyed.

 

When we think about an object  continuously, DhyaayathaH, we get attached to it. This is sanga .Then we start desiring it sangaat sanjaayate kaamah, which, when thwarted , results in anger kaamaat krodho abhijaayate. Then  comes sammoha  delusion. When the intellect is clouded with anger one is not .able to think straight. That is, we imagine something which is not there and that is delusion. sammohaat smrti vibramah.’. From sammoha arises confusion of memory. When angry we forget whom we are talking to, and what they have been to us in the past. In the Sundarakanda of the Valmiki Ramayana, Hanuman says kruddho hanyat guroon api,. angry man will not hesitate to kill even his elders or even his preceptor. This will happen because  he forgets everything except the cause of his anger, not caring whom he hurts. The confusion of memory results in the loss of reason  buddhinaasah  due to which he comes to ruin.

 

This process is accelerated in the company of the wicked. What happens is further described in the next sloka.

 

 

45. tharangaayithaa api ime sangaatha samudhraayanthe

 

Even though they rise like waves  they become a sea with the association of evil people.

 

The evil propensities can be checked at the outset but in the bad company they are continuously aroused and like the waves they come and go forever and soon expands in to an ocean, impossible to control.

 

The sense organs being given food always with the association of the bad people, become all powerful and overpower the man. In Gita Krishna says, indhriyaaNi pramaaTheeni haranthi prasabham manah (BG.2.62), the senses are strong and drag the mind along with them and when the mind follows the senses the discrimination is  led astray like a boat in a strong wind. indhriyaaNaam hi charathaam yanmnao anuviDheeyathe; thadhasya harathi prajnaam vaayurnaavam ivaambhasi(BG.2.67)

 

46.kastharathi kastharathi maayaam? yaH sangaan thyajathi

    Yo mahaanubhaavam sevathe nirmamo bhavathi

 

Who can cross over maya? One who gives up attachment , one who resorts to a great soul and becomes free from sense of possession.

 

What is Maya? Krishna says,

dhaivee hyesha gunamayee mamamaayaa dhurathyayaa

maamevaye prapadhyanthe maayaam ethaam tharanthi the

(BG.7.14)

 

 

This divine delusion formed by the gunas created  by Me is difficult to cross and  those who resort to  Me alone are able to cross over.

 

This delusion born out of ignorance is mama maayaa says Krishna, meaning that till one has the right perception the reality is hidden from him by the Lord Himself in the form of maya because as long as the ego causes identification with the body, mind and intellect, the reality cannot be understood. The Lord removes the delusion only of those who resort to Him. He says maam eva, meaning “Me alone” which denotes ananyabhakthi. Those who surrender to Him with unflinching devotion to Him alone, give up attachment to the world and purify their mind of all sins through devotion. To them naturally the maya is removed like the darkness is gone when the sun rises.

 

Ramanuja calls Maya as the wonderful power of the Lord. He creates a situation through His maya so that we could exhaust our past karma and by doing everything as an offering to Him we cross over the maya which causes transmigration. To do this one has to give up the attachment. This is easily said than done. For this purpose Narada advises us to resort to the company of mahathmas.

 

The same idea is expressed in the Gita as

 

thath viddhi praNipaathena pariprSnena sevayaa

      upadhekshyanthi the jnaanam jnaaninaH

                                                            thatthvadharSinaH(BG4.34)

 

Know this knowledge by prostration, repeated questioning and by service. The wise who have the knowledge  of reality will impart it to you.

 

The disciple has to approach the guru in obeisance, pranipaatha, and  with humility and obedience, seva and  learn through exhaustive questioning, pariprasna. Then the guru who is a jnani and tathvadarsi,  a realized master, will impart the knowledge of Brahman. What is implied here is that unless the student has humility, faith and healthy enquiring mind he cannot acquire  spiritual knowledge.

 

Attachment and the sense of possession as a result of it will go only by the knowledge imparted by a spiritual guru and by observing his actions. When one attains the perception ‘sarva khalu idham brahma, all this is brahman,’ he sees Brahman not only in his self  but also in the inner self of his self, that is, in the Lord. When all actions are dedicated to the Lord with the spirit of yajna, realizing that all actions are due to the interaction of the gunas within and without, the sense of agency is removed. Then there is no attachment or sense of possession. This sutra refers to karmayoga.

 

47.yo vivivkthasThaanam sevathe, yo lokabanDhanam unmoolayathi,

    nisthraiguNyao bhavathi, yogakshemam thyajathi

 

He who resorts to a solitary place,  who gives up worldly attachments, who transcends the gunas and gives up ideas of acquisition and preservation,( crosses over the maya.)

 

Narada further specifies the necessary conditions to cross over Maya.

 

1.To resort to a solitary place. This need not be taken literally as one could be alone even in a crowd and vice versa. Even when we go to a solitary place we are not alone as we carry our thoughts and desires with us. What is meant here is that one should dissociate himself from his body mind and intellect and identify with the Self alone. When  one thinks of himself not as a physical entity as so and so and such and such, like “ I am Mr. X, father, son, manager, wealthy, fat   etc. which is physical identification and like “I am happy, I am sad etc. which is mental identification and like “I am a scientist, philosopher, artist etc. which is mental identification, but thinks of himself only as a Self bereft of all this appendages, he is then alone by himself. This is viviktha sThaanam.

 

2.To uproot all worldly attachments. The identification with the body creates worldly attachments. When it is gone here is nothing that makes us cling to the worldly objects.

 

3. He transcends the three gunas. The whole world is made up of three gunas, including our body, mind and intellect which are all the products of the prakrthi constituted by three gunas. The Self or purusha is not affected by the gunas but gets entangled with the world

Due to wrong identification with the body, mind and intellect. When the realization that ‘I am the Self of whom the inner self is the Lord’ comes one becomes free from the effects of three gunas.

 

4. Giving up all ideas of acquisition and preservation. When the identification with the body is gone there is no more wish to acquire or to preserve. Yoga is the acquisition and kshema is the preservation of what has been acquired. These two are the forces that drive all men towards activities. A devotee on the other hand, as we could see from the lives of the saints, is not worried about his yogakshema which the Lord takes over as His responsibility as Krishna says in the Gita,

 

 

ananyaaH chinthayantho maam ye janaah paryupaasathe

      theshaam nithyaabhiyukthaanaam yogakshemaam

                                                                            vahaamyaham

(BG.(.22)

For those people, who think of me without any other thought and persistent in my devotion always , I take care of their welfare.

This refers to dhyaanayoga or the path of meditation as elucidated in the sixth chapter of the Gita. The next two sutras deal with jnana and bhakthiyogas respectively.

 

48.yaH karmaphalam thyajathi, karmaaNi sannyasyathi, thatho nirdhvandhvo bhavathi.

 

One who gives up the results of all actions, renounces all desire-motivated activities, and from that passes beyond the pairs of opposites.

 

To become nirdhvandhva as explained in the Gita is the highest state of jnana.

 

Jneyas sa nithya sannyasee yo n dhveshti na kaankshathi

nirdhvandhvo hi mahaabaaho sukham banDhaath

                                                                pramuchyathe (BG 5.3)

 

He  who does not desire nor  dislikes, and is ever beyond the pair of opposites, is to be known as the ever renounced, nithyasannyaasee, and he is freed , easily, from the bondage.

 

A karmayogi who works without attachment has neither desire nor aversion. So he is to be considered as nityasannyasi.,  perpetually renounced. Thus doing everything with detachment he does not get bound by his works and his release from bondage is effortless.

 

Any action done with desire for the result or not done due to aversion for the same  create fresh karma for which one has to experience the effect and it goes on to create bondage of life and death. When the same karma done without attachment there no fresh karma resulting from it and hence there is no bondage from such karma.

 

Hence it is said here that one should give up the desire for fruit and also should renounce all actions done for fulfillment of desires.

 

As all beings are bound to act it is not possible to desist from action. If you stop doing any action physically you may be doing the same mentally or do some other action  involuntarily .So karmayoga consists in not stopping from action but do the same without longing for the result as the result is not under your control.

 

The karma is of three kinds. prarabDha, sanchitha and aagaami. Prarabdha is what has already started giving result which has given us this janma. That will end only when this life ends, neither sooner nor later. But when we react to the result that comes out of our prarabdha and do some other action propelled by desire or hatred we create fresh karma for which we have to take future janma to exhaust it.

 

For example someone does harm to you or good , you feel depressed  or elated and act accordingly. You start hating the person who harmed you or develop attachment to the one who did good to you. Both arise from the ego-centric feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine.’ But if you accept what comes as your prarabdha and are not affected by it, there is no new karma created as a result of it which is called aagaami or that which will give result in future. This eliminates further janmas. Sanchitha karma on the other hand means that which is accumulated in the past lives and is waiting to give result .

 

Sanchitha karma becomes void when all actions are done as an offering to the Lord and without the ego-centric impulses.

 

This is explained in the Gita thus:

gatasangasya mukthasya jnaanaavasThitha chethasah

 yajnaaya aacharthaH karma samagram pravileeyathe(BG.4.23)

 

All the actions of one, who is without attachment and free, done in the spirit of sacrifice, are completely dissolved.

 

An ascetic who is devoid of elation and depression and takes what comes with out being affected  by it. He is always convinced. that he is not the doer but it is   his gunas which are interacting with those outside. Thus in spite of continuing his regular activities to maintain his body and soul together and those necessary for his station in life, that is his varna and asrama, he does nothing at all.  All his actions get dissolved and do not produce any result that affects him.

 

 All his karma is dissolved. The karma which has already started to give result does not affect him because he has no attachment to his body. Since he does all karma as a duty and as an offering to the Lord with the  spirit of sacrifice their results do not cause any karma in future. The karma which has not yet started to give result  is also dissolved since he has the jnana that prevents future birth.

 

49.yo vedhaanapi sannyasyathi kevalam avicChinna anuraagam labhathe

 

One who has given up karma and karmaphala since he does everything as the offering to the Lord, gives up even the rituals prescribed in the Vedas. The only thing that remains is the uninterrupted love for the Lord.

 

Vedas here means the ritualistic portion known as karmakanda where many disciplines, like yajna and japa  are advocated for the fulfillment of specific desires like going to heaven, or acquiring supreme sovereignty  etc. For the bhakta anything that does not lead him to the Lord is useless. The Vedas containing ritualistic portion are pertaining to gunas as they are of the nature of gunas, some sathvik , some rajasik and some thamasik. This is why Krishna says in the Gita, ‘thraigunYa vishayaa vedhaaH nisthraiguNyo bhavaarjuna (BG.2.45)

 

There are three kinds of vedasannyasa. The first is to adopt only those rituals which are enjoined as one’s svadharma which have to be done. The second type is that in which even these should be dedicated to the Lord  and done in the spirit of worship. The third variety is when all the rituals  fall off themselves when one has reached the final stage. That is why it is said that there is no karma for the man of realization. This is akin to leaving the horse outside when we reach the destination or leaving the boat after crossing the river. All spiritual disciplines and rituals serve as the pole in a pole vault. When you reach the top you cannot cross the barrier unless you let go the pole which helps you so far. The word sannyasyathi means renunciation as well as dedication. One dedicates selfless activities and renounce selfish ones.

 

50.sa tharathi sa  tharathi sa lokaan thaarayathi

 

He crosses , he crosses the maya and carries also the worlds across.

 

This is the answer to the question kaH tharathi maayaam in sutra 46.

The word ‘he crosses’ means that the one who has been described in the slokas 47 to 49 is able to transcend the maya. Not only he crosses it but also he makes others do so by his example.

 

Thus ends the fourth chapter ‘The means to bhakthi.’an only be attained through the grace of God and the association of the great saints and devotees. What stands  as an impediment is only our ego. The Lord is in all and available to all like the fruit in a tree. It only requires that we should extend our hand to pick it. He is ready to shower His grace but we must allow it to reach us. To do this one must eradicate all impurities of the mind due to egoistic impulses. This can be achieved through sathsanga. In the forthcoming sutras Narada elaborates on