Naradabhakthi suthra- adhyaya 1 suthras 4 to6

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Suthra-4-yallabDHvA pumAn siddhObhavthi amrthObhavathi

thrupthObhavathi

 

yath=that which(bhakthi); labDhvA=having

gained;pumAn=man; bhavathi=becomes siddhah=perfect;amrthah=eternal;thrupthah=

contented

Attaining bhakthi a devotee becomes perfect being, becomes

immortal and contented.

 

Bhakthi is the only thing a

devotee asks for, but the Lord gives him mukthi as well, which is denoted by

the word amrtha.Bhakthi alone gives full satifaction to the devotee and hence he become thruptha, contented.The word

siddha does not mean the ashtamAsiddhis, the occult powers which are eight in

number, but it means that the devotee becomes

perfect in all respects. When one is an aspirant he is a sadhaka

and when he attains the goal he is siddha.It is in this sense the word

siddha is used here. He feels a krthkrthya, one who has accomplished

what has to be accomplished.

 

Shankara in his sivanandhalahari

says in a beautiful sloka,

 

narathvam

dhevathvam nagavanamrgathvam maSakathA

paSuthvam

keetathvam bhavathu vihagathvAdhijananam

sadhA

thvadpAdhAbjasmaraNparamAnandhalaharee

vihArAsaktham

cheth hrdhayamiha kimthEna vapushA.

 

'Let me be born as a man or god,

animal or a tree, a mosquito, a worm, a bird. If my heart is immersed in the

waves of bliss of remembering your lotus feet what do I care for the kind of

body I have?'

 

Kulasekhara in Mukundamala

expresses the same idea in praying for

bhakthi alone, irrespective of where he is , in heaven or in hell or on earth.'avismrtih

tvaccharaNAravindhE bhavE bhavE mE asthu thava prasadhAth,may I have the

remembrance of your lotus feet by Your grace, in all my lives to come.' And 'dhivi

vA bhivi va mamAsthu vaso narakE vA , whether I am in heaven, earth or

hell.'

 

In srimadbhagavatham Krishna tells Uddhava that the one who has surrendered

his heart to the Lord will not desire either the post of Brahma, Indra or to

become a ruler on earth or in netherworld,nor will he desire yoga siddhi or moksha, except the Lord

Himself.

 

The word pumAn is

significant in as much as the qualification for attaining devotion is being a

pumAn or a man, which includes woman, as the word denotes a human being in

general. It eliminates the necessity of being a brahmin or kshathriya or a

srothriya, wellversed in vedas, to be a devotee and includes all who have faith

in, and love for, the Lord.

 

Krishna

says in Bhagavatgita, 'mAmhi pArTha vyapAsrithya yepi syuh papayOnyah;

sthriyO vaisyAh thaTHASudhAh thEpi yAnthi parAm gathim.' This means, those

who resort to the Lord will attain salvationmay they be of low birth or women

or visya , implying that they need not be brahmins or kshathriyas for whom

alone the learning of the vedas is prescribed. Many saints and women like Meera

and Andal are examples of this.

 

Thruptha means one who is

perfectly sarisfied and a devotee is so, with his devotion alone and does not

seek anything else except the smaraNam, kirthanam and padhasevanam as the Azvar

in Thirumalai puts it,

pacchaimamalai

pol Eni pavazavAi kamalacchengaN

achuthA amarar ErE Ayar tham kozundhE ennum

icchuvai thavir yAn pOy indhirlokam ALum

acchuvaiperinum vEnDEn rangamAnagaruLAne

 

I do not want even the rulership

of heaven except singing your glory, your form like the green mountain, coral

lips, lotus like eyes, and your names Achyutha, Lord of devas, and the child of

yadhavas, Oh the Lord of Srirangam.

 

 

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.

 

 

Suthra-6-yath jnAthva mattho bhavathi, sthabdhO bhavathi

AthmAramo bhavathi

 

Knowing the Self one becomes like

an intoxicated or madman, and like a numb or fascinated man , enjoying the

bliss of the self continuously.

 

The picture of the man of realisation, sThithaptajna,

through bhakthiyoga continues.One who is completly immersed in devotion has no

ego and functions only as an instrument of God. He may look normal outwardly

and may do all his duties as expected but his attitude differs from that of an

ordinary person actng with a selfish

motive. Sometimes he acts like a madman not conforming to the social standards

because he is intoxicated with devotional fervour and acts like a lunatic. Most

of the devotee-saints were considered as lunatics by their family and

society.He can be described as mattha-madhupa, a bee intoxicated

with honey of the Lord.This is because his actions cannot be understood by

others He is under the influence of a

higher power, the ways of which is inscrutable for the ordinary mind.sri

Ramakrishna Paramhamsa said that all are mad but while some are mad after

money, power and other worldly things a devotee is mad after God.

 

Sthabdha on the other hand

means inactivity due to enchantment. A devotee at the height of ecstacy may

appear completely stupefied. Nammazvar while composing pasuram on the Lord

being bound to the mortar said one word 'etthiram' meaning 'what

a wonder' and became unconscious for six months. He sat motionless for many

years under the tamarind tree deeply engrossed in the joy of the Lord.

 

AthmarAmA means immersed

in the self, That is, the real Self of all, Brahman which arises from the

jnana. This denotes that realisation of the Self is not attainment but knowing

the reality.The upanishad says that the Self is inside the individual self, 'ya

athmanaH antharah,' whom the individual self did not know,' yam AthmA na vEdha,' and to whom the

individual self is the body,'yasya AthmA Sareeram,' that is the inner self of all. the immortal.

 

The suthra has a subtle

suggestion that there is no real difference between jnana and bhakthi.They

differ only in the method of approach and in their expression.In the Gita

Krishna says,'thEshAm jnAnee nithyayukthaH EkabhakthirviSishyathE,'(BG.7.17)

that the jnani, man of wisdom is always with the Lord, and devoted to Him only

through yoga and he is the first and foremost among those who seek Him. the

description of a bhaktha in the 12th

chapter and of jnani in the 13th chapter of the Gita are similar and reiterated

again in the 18th chapter ,'bhakthyA mAm abhijAnAthi yavAn yaschasmi

thathvathaH thathO mAm thatthvathO jnAthvA viSathE thadhanantharam, through

devotion he comes to know Me fully, who and what I am in reality; knowing

Me thus in truth he forthwith enters into Me,'

 

When Sankara and Ramanuja speak

of bhakthi and jnana being subservient to one another respectively it should be

understood that they refer to the jnana and bhakthi at the level of sadhana, a

means of attainment whereas in the final

stage both are the same.Besides bhakthi has a special merit in as much as it

can be achieved by anyone while jnana cannot be without the necessary

discipline.