Naradabhakthisuthra 10 to16

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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.

 

Suthra12-bhavathu

niSchayadhArDyath oorDhvam SasthralakshaNam

 

Even after the realization one

should take care of the spiritual teachings.

 

A jnani has no need of sasthras

as Krishna says in the Gita `thraiguNyavishayA vedAh nisthraiguNyo bhava

arjuna,' (BG-2-45)

 

This can be construed in two ways

..To an enlightened one the karmakanda of the veda

which is the ritualistic portion that secures enjoyment in this

world and is like water in the well when the whole area is flooded

as given in the subsequent sloka. But if we take veda to mean the entire

scripture including wisdom of Upanishads it may be interpreted

thus: Even when the entire land is flooded the well can contain only as much

water as it can hold .So too one can comprehend only as much as his intellect

can grasp, which fact has been proved by the controversies in interpreting the

vedantic passages

 

But Krishna

also says `yadhyadhAcharathi Sreshrah

thath thath eva itharo janAh. Sa yath pramANam kuruthe lokasthadanuvat

rthathe(BG-3-21) That is, the masses always tend to follow the footsteps of

those whom they consider as leaders. So it is the duty of the wise to preserve

the wisdom of the scriptures in order to guide others. The truth of the

scriptures must be re-lived before our eyes and their usefulness demonstrated

to all to induce the common man to adopt it for his enlightenment. The wise

alone can give out the values

That are relevant to the particular age and time sifting the grainfrom

the chaff. This is the real meaning of

the Gita slokas. The protection of the sasthras mentioned in this suthra

includes making the scriptural texts understandable to the ordinary man to

cultivate a liking for them.

 

We have seen in the recent past that the scripture has been neglected as

something irrelevant or meaningless even by the educated , not to mention the illiterate. This is due to the reluctance

of those who are well versed in the scriptures to part with their knowledge

either due to mistaken idea of its being secret to be guarded or because they

fear that it may not be appreciated. The spiritual knowledge is said to be

guhya, secret in the sense that it is difficult to be understood and not

because it should be told to anyone.

 

It is true Krishna says in the Gita `idham

the nAthapaskAya nAbhakthAya kadhachana na chASuSrooshavE vAchyam na cha mAm

yO abhyasooyathi,' (BG.18-67) meaning that this knowledge should not be disclosed to one who lacks the discipline nor to one who is either

without faith or devotion and atheistic. But it is difficult nowadays for

the one who has the quest for knowledge

to learn the scriptures by himself because the real implications will be lost

unless guided by a guru. So it is the duty of the knowledgeable persons to make it easy for

all. Some of the acharyas have been doing the good work in the recent years and

many are being benefited all over the globe.

 

Most important fact to be remembered is that neither the sruti, ie.vedas

nor the smrthi, namely Bhagaatgita has restricted the spiritual knowledge to any

particular sect of religion. It is common to the whole humanity.

 

Suthra13- anyaThA pAthithyaSankayA

 

For otherwise there is a risk of fall.

 

To an enlightened person there is no risk of a fall as he has reached the

stage of sthithaprajna as outlined in

the Gita. But it is the duty of such men to guide the rest of the humanity by

imparting knowledge because to one follows the spiritual disciplines without proper

understanding there is a risk of fall, meaning that he will lapse back into

samsara.

 

Suthra14- lokopi thAvadheva ; bojanAdhivyapArasthu ASareeraDhraNAvaDhi

 

The worldly activities of an enlightened man also is restricted to those

that are necessary for the sustenance of life. But they have to follow the

common way of life for the sake of others doing the same duties as the others

do but without attachment. The same idea is expressed by the Lord in the Gita

as follows:

sakthAh karmaNi avidhvAmsaH

yaThA kurvanthi bhAratha

kuryAth vidhvAn thaThA askthaH

chikeershuH lokasangraham (BG-3.25)

 

The wise do the same actions as the unenlightened but while the latter do

them with attachment the former does it with detachment.

 

The Lord further says that even though there is no work for Him to do He

still goes on working nonstop merely because if He ceases to work the worlds

will collapse. The life of Lord Krishna was the best example to this. What he

did He preached later. He tended the cattle and fed the horses during the war

and did all the work expected of Him in the role He put on Himself.

 

 

 

Suthra15- ThallakshNAni vAchyanthe nAnAmathabhedhAth

 

The characteristics of bhakthi is described variously according to

different viewpoints.

 

Bhakthi is a subjective experience and it has to be different for

different individuals. In the following nine suthras Narada defines bhakthi as

given by various devotees before him and also gives out his view point. Even an

ordinary worldly love defies description as words cannot express clearly what

the heart feels. The divine love which is bhakthi likewise differs from devotee

to devotee and could only be experienced because it transcends verbal

description. Still the sages and saints try to explain it for the sake of all in order to give a taste of what it is.

When the infinite bliss of devotion is expressed in words it becomes finite as

the words are finite. The infinite can never be described by the finite. In the

next nine suthras show the attempt of the bhakthas to define and describe what

is devotion.

 

Suthra16-poojAdhishu anuragah ithi PArA

Saryah

 

Vyasa, the son of Parasara is of the opinion that bhakthi is expressed

through worship and other acts of love.

 

The three views on bhakthi given in the three suthras that follow are the

expressions of bhakthi through act, word and thought. The first view is that of

Vyasa according to which all physical acts such as worship, and service to the

Lord are denoted as bhakthi provided it is accompanied with love. This means

involving all our senses in the act of worship such as the devotion described

in Mukundamala by Kulasekhara Azvar.

 

.. jihve kirthaya

kesavam muraripum chetho bhaja SreeDharam

pANidhvandhva tham archaya achutha kaThAh

Srothradhvaya thvam Srunu

krshNam lokaya lochanadhvaya hareh

gacchAnghriyugma Alayam

jighra

ghrANa mukundha pAdhathulaseem moorDhan nam aDhokshajam

 

Azvar gives injunction to his

senses to become engaged in the worship of the Lord.

 

Oh tongue, sing about Kesava.,

the slayer of Mura. Oh mind, think of SreeDhara. Two hands, you worship Him ,

Two ears, you hear the stories about Achyutha. Oh eyes, look at Krishna. Pair of feet, you go to the temple of Hari.

Oh nose, you smell the tulsi leaves from the feet of Mukundha. Oh head, bow

down to ADhokshaja.

 

When all the senses are thus engaged in the service of the

Lord they will cease to be attracted by the worldly sensual pleasures. This reminds one, of the

KuraL of the famous Tamil sage Thiruvalluvar, who has given to the world maxims

with deep meaning in short sentence.

Pattruga pattrattrAn pattrinai

appattrai

pattruga pattru vidarku.

 

It means that in order to

relinquish the attachment of the world one has to develop attachment towards

the Lord. If we want to give up something it is easier to do so by shifting our attachment to something else

which is more desirable.