Naradfabhakthisuthra-suthras8to11

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suthra8-nirodhasthu lokavedavyApAranyasah

 

This renunciation is the consecration of all activities vedic and secular.

 

The word nirodha mentioned in the last suthra is explained here. Nirodha is not the cessation iof all activities, spiritual and secular.As Krishna says in Gita,'na hi kachith kshaNamapi jAthu thishTathi akarmakrth,'(BG-3.5) no one can desist from action even for a moment.Even when physical action seems to have ceased, mind and intellect continues to act.So the renunciation of action means only nyAsa, consecration.

 

All sages and saints who had renounced the world continued to do the vedic karma like yaga etc., not for their own sake but for the welfare of humanity. Adisankara caused a shower of gold to help a poor couple and so did vedanta Desika to help a brahmachari who wanted to become a grhastha.Krishna says in the Gita that He Himself works incessantly as the world would come to a standstill if he does not do so.(BG-3.24)

 

So what is renunciation? It means dedicating all activities for the purpose of God-realisation and divine service, which implies complete consecration of body, mind and intellect to the Lord as made out in the Gita, 'yatlkaroshi yadhaSnAsi yajjohOshi dhadhAsi yath; yath apaSyasi kountheya thath kurushva madharpaNam.'(BG-9.27), which means that one should make whatever he does, eats, offers, gives or sees, an offering to the Lord.

 

The devotee is free from the desire for fruit and the sense of agency. He does everything to please the Lord and as His service and acts only as an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Hence he has no ego which is the cause of bondage.So what is renounced is not the action but the ego.All activities secular or spiritual are done as the worship of the Lord Bhakthi yoga results in jnana that all beings are part and parcel of the Lord, which is Brahmabhavana and the actions of such a devotee is nothing but karmayoga. Thus jnana, bhakthi and karma combine for a devotee.

 

Suthra9-thasmin ananyathA thadvirOdhishu udhAseenathA cha

 

The renunciation outlined in the previous suthra means a single-minded devotion to the chosen form of God,and exclusion of everything contrary to it with indifference.

 

A true devotee has no attraction for the outside world because his whole world consists of the Lord of his heart and everything he does is the service to the Lord as given in the the sloka 'kAyEna vAchA manasEndhriyairvA buddhyathmanA va prakrthersvabhAvath karothi yath yath sakalam parasmai nArAyanAyethi samarpayami, I offer to the Lord Narayana whatever I do with my body, mind, intellect and the self ( means ego here) and by natural instincts,'

 

Thus he is neither influenced by joy nor by sorrow because he considers everything as the prasadha, blessing. Joy and sorrow pertain only to the body, mind and intellect and all the three are engrossed in the devotion of the Lord. This furher explained in the next two suthras.

 

Suthra10-anyASrayANAM thyAgaH ananyathA

 

Renunciation of all other support(except that of the Lord) is whole-heartedness, ananyatha

 

In Ramayana, Visbheeshana says, 'thyakthvA puthrAmscha dhArAmascha rAhavam SaraNama gathah,' that he has surrendered to Rama leaving behind his wife and sons. Sankara says in his HaricharaNashtakam,

na sodharO janakO janani na jAyA

naivaAthmajo na kulam vipulam balam vA

samdhrSyathE na kila kOpi sahAyakO me

thasmAth thvamEva SaraNam mama shankapANE

 

The meaning of the sloka is as follows:

 

There is no one helpful to one who wishes to attain the Lord, may it be his brother, father, mother , wife or son or any other relative. So the only refuge is the Lord.No one or nothing pertaining to the world is conducive to spitiual welfare. Hence the devotee considers that the Lord is everything for him. This is ananyabhakthi.in which all the love ordinarily shown towards one's close relatives is directed towards the Lord alone.This comes out of the knlowledge that God is the only supporter, the only friend and closest to the heart than any other relative of the world.

 

suthra11-lokavedeshu thadhanukolAcharaNam thadvirOdhishu udhAseenathA

 

The term in the 9th suthra , indifference towards all that is contrary to devotion means performance of such secular and vedic actions only which are conducive to devotion.

 

When the devotee engags himself in the service of the Lord and his duties according to the varna and asrama, also done as a worship to the Lord, all the other activities secular as well as vedic naturally cease to be important to him without any conscious effort on his part to avoid them. All the desire- motivated activities not only secular, but also vedic, such as doing rituals for the fulfilment of desire, even to go to heaven, are given up by the devotee since they cease to attract him.