Advaita Bhakti thro. Contemplative Practice of Narayaniyam ( ABCPN - 2 )

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ABCPN - 2

Note: Please read the Introduction

– post #15182 - if you have not already read it)

 

Namaste.

Sloka No. 4 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 91 - 4):

bhakter-utpatti-vR^iddhI tava caraNa-juShAM sangamen-aiva pumsAM

AsAdye puNya-bhAjAM shriya iva jagati shrImatAM sangamena /

tat-sango deva bhUyan-mama khalu satataM tan-mukhAd-unmiShadbhiH

 

tvan-mAhAtmya-prakArair-bhavati ca sudR^iDA bhaktir-uddhUta-pApA

//

 

Tr.: It is by association with Thy devotees that bhakti

germinates and develops in men who have auspicious deeds to

their credit, just as in this world it is the relationship with

prosperous men in various ways that leads to the prosperity of

people. Therefore Oh Lord, may I always have contact with holy

men, and through their outpourings of narratives and hymns

dealing with Thy excellences, may I, with all my sins effaced,

become established in firm and whole-hearted devotion.

 

Comment. What is being prayed for is sat-sangh, the company of

the noble and the holy, which is the first step on the ascent in

the ladder of spirituality. Narada waxes eloquent on the mental

attitudes of these noble souls: (Bhakti sutra 68) When (they)

with choked emotion, body covered with horripulation and tears

flowing down, converse with each other in broken words, they

sanctify their family and tribe, nay the very earth itself they

come to glorify. “kaNTAvarodha-romAnchAshrubhiH parasparaM

lapamAnAH pAvayanti kulAni pR^ithivIM ca.”

Hearing the narratives and hymns dealing with God’s excellences

is the ‘shravaNa’ regimen prescribed as Number one of the nine

manifestations of bhakti, enunciated long ago, by the greatest

devotee of all times, Prahlada. ‘By hearing and singing the

glories of the Lord, even while engaged in the activities of the

world’, says Narada again in Sutra 37:

“loke’pi bhagavad-guNa-shravaNa-kIrtanAt”.

 

Sloka No.5 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 91 - 5):

shreyo mArgeShu bhaktA-vadhika-bahu-matir-janma-karmANi bhUyo

gAyan kShemANi nAmAny-api tad-ubhayataH pradrutaM pradrutAtmA /

udyad-hAsaH kadAcit-kuhacid-api rudan kvApi garjan pragAyan

unmAdIva pranR^ityann-ayi kuru karuNAM loka-bAhyash-careyaM //

 

Tr.: Oh! Lord, Deign to bestow on me that state of mind,

whereby, preferring the path of devotion as the best among the

various paths for spiritual attainment, I fervently chant again

and again Thy names and accounts of Thy achievements in Thy

incarnations, so sanctifying and spiritually elevating, until

with my mind melting with loving emotion, I shall sometimes

laugh, sometimes cry, sometimes shout, sometimes sing aloud and

sometimes dance in ecstasy, and move about like a mad man who

has lost his link with society and its conventions.

 

Comment. It is by such devotion one comprehends ‘Who is He? What

is He?’ (cf. Gita XVIII – 55). Usually when one asks God for

something, that is what is meant by petitional prayer and most

of our prayers are petitional prayers. But that prayer itself

has to be supported by intense devotion. We never ask of God to

give us that intensity of devotion; because we think we have it.

This is where our free will comes in the way, without our being

aware that it does so. We never ask God to give us bhakti.

Bhakti means the decision to go back to the source, knowing full

well that it is the royal road to the goal of spirituality. And

He waits and waits (-- this is the ‘agony of God’, talked about

in Christianity --) until we ourselves, by our own free will,

decide to go back to Him. In the meantime He gives us some petty

things we have always wanted, so that in due time we may begin

to want what He wants to give us. It is in this context, one

asks for bhakti to be granted to us by Himself. The mind that

attaches to God automatically liberates. The thesis here is that

such a mind is already in the transcendental experience of

bliss, it need not wait for the so-called mukti. In this

connection listen to Adi Sankara: It appears Narayana Bhattadri

has echoed this sloka of Sankara.(Sivananda-lahari: Verse

no.81).

kamcit-kAlam-umAmahesha bhavataH pAdAravindArcanaiH

kamcit-dhyAna-samAdhibhishca natibhiH kamcit kathA-karNanaiH /

kamcit-kamcid-avekshaNaishca nutibhiH kamcid-dashAmIdR^ishIM

yaH prApnoti mudA tvad-arpita-manA jIvan sa muktaH khalu //

Meaning,

Sometime in worshipping Your lotus feet, sometime in meditation

and concentration sometime in offering obeisance, sometime in

listening to stories about You, sometime in looking at Your

form, sometime in singing Your praise - he who gains such a

state in exhultation, having surrendered his mind to You, O

Lord, he is verily liberated even when alive.

 

Sloka No.6 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 2 - 10):

tvad-bhaktistu kathA-rasAmR^ita jharI nirmajjanena svayaM

siddhyantI vimala-prabodha-padavIM akleshatas-tanvatI /

sadyas-siddhikarI jayaty-ayi vibho saivAstu me tvat-pada-

prema-prouDhi-rasArdratA drutataraM vAtAlayAdhIshvara //

 

Tr. For, Devotion to Thee stands (as a unique path) in that it

bestows purity and enlightenment directly and immediately,

without any pains, by submerging one in the flood of delight

generated by hearing and remembering Thy deeds and excellences.

Oh Lord of Guruvayoor! May I soon attain that tenderness of

heart produced by intense love for Thy feet!

 

Comment. The two attributes of bhakti, namely ‘svayam

siddhyantI’ (= leads to the goal by itself) and

‘sadyas-siddhikarI’ (= immediately successful), -- these two are

what made Tulasi, one of the greatest exponents of bhakti as a

philosophy, to extol it above jnAna or yoga, or vairAgya

(detachment or dispassion). We may recall and enjoy his powerful

metaphor in this connection. JnAna, yoga and vairAgya are all

masculine in conception (according to the grammar of the

language) and so they cannot ultimately succeed as bhakti can,

over the enchantments of mAyA which is feminine. mAyA, says the

poet of the Rama-carita-manas, is only a nartakI (dancer)

whereas bhakti is the beloved of his hero Sri Ram. The

‘feminine’ bhakti can conquer mAyA whereas the ‘masculine’

jnAna, yoga,and vairagya, etc. however powerful they may be,

tend to succumb to her charms!

 

(To be continued)

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

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