naradabhakthisuthra5

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suthra-5-yath prApya na kinchith vAncchathi,na SOchathi,na dhvEshti, na ramathE ,nOthsAhee bhavathi

 

Attaining that one is not desirous of anything more, does not grieve,has no hatred towards nor rejoices over anything and does not exert himself on self interest.

 

This description is that of the sThithaprjna, the one who is established in the Self, outlined in the second chapter of Gita.(BG-II-55 to76) He is duhkhEshu anudhvighna manAh, not perturbed in sorrow, sukhEshu vigathasprhaH, nor jubilant over happiness because he is veetharAgabhayakrOdhaH, devoid of attachment, fear and anger.

 

This state of realisation is shown to be achieved through bhakthi in the twelfth chapter of the Gita in the sloka, 'adhvEshtA sarvabhoothAnAm maithrah karuNa Eva cha nirmamO nirahankAraH samaduhkh sukha kshamee; santhushtassathatham yOgee yathAtmA dhrDanischyah mayyarpithamano buddhiH,'(BG XII-13,14) One who is always thinking of the Lord,with his mind engrossed in Him,is always contented,devoid of ego and sense of possessions, equanimous,patient forgiving, full of mercy, being friendly towards all with hatred towards none and has self control and descrimination.

 

In the previous suthra the word labDHvA is used while in this it is prApya and they look synonymous but actually not so.The former word is used in the sense of gaining as the devotion is to be gained through divine grace only. In this suthra he word prapya is used to mean 'attaining.' to attain something one has to make effort.When the bhakthi dawns in the heart the ego disappears and the perfection is attained through the exercise of devotion. a devotee is not desirous of anything above devotion itself, even moksha. they are immersd in th joy of experiencing the lord in their heart and as Sankara says in bajagovindam such a devotee is all the time elated , 'nandhathi nandhathi nandhathi Eva.' That is why it is said here that he does not desire anything else except bhakthi.'na kinchith vAnchathi.'

 

na Sochathi, he does not grieve because he has no worldly desire. Sorrow arise only as a cause of desire which when fulfilled brings joy but it is short lived as everything in this world is transitory. So all wolrdly happiness brings sporrow in its wake. Hence a devotee has no grief apart from being separated from the Lord, which predicament is ruled out when his heart is united with the Lord through bhakthi.

 

He has no hatred , na dhvEshti, because he sees the Lord everywhere.Hatred is born out of anger when something goes against our wish, which is the result of kAma, desire. So when desire is absent ther could be no anger and no hatred.The attitude of a bhaktha is vasudhaiva kutumbakam. After havibg transcended the notion of 'I' and 'mine,' he has samadhrshti towards everything and has neither hatred nor rejoices towards any happenings of the world, na ramathE. Sankara says on who sees the divine self inside is always has the same bliss whether he is enjoying the worldly pleasures or engaged in spiritual practice, 'yogaratho vA bhogarathO va,' whether heis in the midst of the world or away from the society, 'sangaratho va sangaviheenaH.'

 

na uthsAhee bhavathi, a devotee does not take up any action for his self interest. This is described in the Gita by the word sarvArambhaparithyAgee, used to denote a bhaktha. (BG XII-25) this does not mean that the devoteehas given up all actions because Krishna Himself says in the third chapter of Gita that one cannot desist from performing karma that are prompted by his gunas. 'na hi kaschit kshaNamapi jAthu thishTathyakarmakrth.' But the bhaktha does not think that he is the agent of his action and functions as the instrument of the Lord. Hence he is not affected by the result of his karma and therefore whatever he does becomes the worship of the Lord.