pUrNamadah pUrNamidam... .. Oceanic Love -Prema Sagara

[Guest guest]

Nairji writes...

 

"Don't try to buy bhakti hoping that it will save. Bhakti can't

be bought. It has to arise spontaneously. Real bhakti is your

imperishable love for yourself. You are both the lover and the

loved. In other words, you are love. When you conclude advaitically

that you are everything and repeat that to yourself, you will begin

to become an ocean of love spontaneously. If you have an

ishtadevata, you will know that you are your own ishtadevata and will

be united in total love with Her/Him. You can thus have an

ishtadevata and remain an advaitin too. That is advaita in apparent

duality of the lover and the loved."

 

WOW! nairji, that is the most beautiful passage i have ever

read. "Oceanic love" is what all spirituality is about... Prema-

sagara!

 

Nairji, the purnamadah quote can be explained using 'adwaita'

philosophy ' it can also be explained beautifully using Dwaita

philosophy.

 

In fact, i myself am guilty of taking recourse to a dwaita verse

recently ! (post 21976)

 

akShayam karma yasmin pare svarpitam

prakShayam yAnti duhkhAni yannAmatah |

akSharo yo'jarah sarvadaivAmRtah

kukShigam yasya viSvam sadAjAdikam |

prINayAmo vAsudevam

devatAmaNDalAkhaNDamaNDanam ||

 

By dedicating work to Whom it becomes imperishable, by uttering Whose

names miseries melt away, Who is indestructible, undecaying, the

nectar of divinity, in Whose belly lies the universe beginning with

Brahma, and Who is the integral ornament of the assemblage of all

gods, we propitiate that VAsudeva.

 

(dwadasha stotra of madhava)

 

Well, i apologize if offended any advaitins here by quoting that

verse ! the point i was trying to make was it is easy for us hindus

to worship Brahman with attributes (saguna) and also contemplate on

the nirguna braHman . (shabda brahman-AUM) !

 

In one of my other posts , i also quoted from Brahma-samhita

 

advaitam achyutam anadim ananta-rupam

 

adyam purana-purusham navayauvanam cha

 

vedesu durlabham adurlabham atma-bhaktau

 

govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami

 

 

I worship Govinda, the Primeval Lord, Who is inaccessible to the

Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, Who is

without a second, Who is not subject to decay and is without a

beginning, Whose Form is endless, Who is the beginning, Whose Form is

endless, Who is the beginning, and the eternal Purusha; yet He is a

Person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.

 

But what i am trying to reiterate here is , for many of us , the path

of Jnana may be difficult and by resorting to devotional worship

(bhakti marga ) , the spiritual aspirant slowly realizes that God is

just not in the 'archa-vigraha' or idol , he is also manifest in

everything else in the universe- in the laughter of a child, , in

the song of a cuckoo bird, in the Blooming lotus in the pond, etc

etc....but this is Jnana or consciousness ...

 

Sages like Rramana Maharishi COULD NOT TOLERATE even anyone trampling

on grass or showing cruelty to animals....

There is an incident ---- a female monkey came to shri ramana's room

along with her new born and the ashramites tried to shoo the monkey

away with stones, shri ramana reprimanded them and sai" leave her

alone! she has come to tshow me her baby just like you all do!

 

well, every group has its own rules and their own agenda (maybe not a

good word) what it wants to promote - Some groups like ambaal clearly

state they only want to promote 'samayachara' of adi shankara and the

divine couple Shiva-shakti. Other vaishnava groups are even more

strict - they only want to hear the Glories of DIVYA-DAMPATI .... SO

ON AND SO FORTH...

 

this makes me wonder .... if Love is the 'operative' word, how can

you love Shiva and not love Vishnu or Love PARVATI and not love

Lakshmi ? Respect ADI SHANKARA AND NOT RESPECT kABIR, RUMI etc who

are also advaitins in their own way? this brings us to the basic

question... what is adwaita? is it absence of dwaita -non-duality...

 

But a bhakta always maintains a separate identity in the beginning

before realization dawns - at which point I and Thou disappears and

the lover and the beloved becomes ONE ! TILL THAT DIVINE MERGER TAKES

PLACE, the bhakta assumes a seperate identity ... such was the case

with Hanuman bhagwan...

 

lord Rama asked Hanuman, "Hanuman, what attitude do you cherish

toward Me when you worship Me?" Hanuman answered, "Sometimes I see

that You are the whole and I am a part; sometimes I see that You are

the Master and I am Your servant. But Rama, when I have the Knowledge

of Reality, then I find that You are I and I am You."

 

Our beloved shankarapada sings in Govindashtakam

 

 

Worship Govinda who is supreme bliss, real, knowledge, infinite, and

eternal, who is free from Ákáùa (and other upádhis), who is the

highest light, who was eager as a child to crawl in the cow-pen, who

is really free from difficulties, but who appears to be in

difficulties (or who is the abode of máyá, cause of all), who appears

manifold due to máyá, who appears as the world, who is the Lord of

the earth and Ùri, and who has no Lord to control him.

 

AND NOW READ THIS ...

 

THE VERSES IN THE JIVANMUKTANANDALAHARI

 

Sometimes (conversing) with the learned and those keen on learning;

Sometimes with eminent poets versed in poetic figures and sentiments;

while at times with eminent logicians prone to right reasoning and

inferences; The sage, with ignorance dispelled by guru's grace

(dèkúá), is not al all deluded.

 

 

 

Sometimes engaged in the practices of Abstract meditation; sometimes

in the worship of the Lord, in joy and humility; with fragrant

flowers in bloom or with good petals and leaves; The sage, with

ignorance dispelled by Guru's grace (dèkúá), is not at all deluded.

 

**********************************************************************

 

adi shankara presented the philosophy of "sanatana dharma" in the

best possible manner ... A philosophy based on LOVE , RESPECT AND

COMPASSION...

 

and let us join hands and uphold that Dharma!

 

let the wave merge with the Ocean and let there be PREMA-SAGARA

(OCEANIC LOVE)

 

LOVE and BLESSINGS