Q&A

[Guest guest]

Question (asked by Mahima) : `A lover of God needs Nirvana(total

annihilation of the ego, is the ideal of the jnanis, the non-dualists).

some time or other, doesn't he?'

 

SR: `It can't be said that bhakta's need Nirvana. According to some

schools there is an eternal Krishna and there are also eternal devotees.

Krishna is the Spirit embodied and His Abode also is Spirit embodied.

Krishna, is eternal and his devotees are also eternal. Krishna and the

devotees are like moon and stars always near each other. You yourself

repeat: " What need is there of penance if God is seen within and

without? " . Further, I have told you that the devotee who is born with an

element of Vishnu cannot altogether get rid of Bhakthi. Once I fell into

the clutches of jnani(Totapuri), who made me listen to Vedanta for

eleven months. But he couldn't altogether destroy the seed of Bhakthi in

me. No matter where my mind wandered, it would come back to the Divine

Mother. Whenever I sand of Her, Nangta(Master used to refer Totapuri as

Nangta, meaning the 'naked one') would weep and say, " Ah! what is this? "

You see, he was such a great jnani and still he wept. (To the younger

Naren and others) Remember the popular saying that if man drinks the

juice of alekh creeper, a plant grows inside his stomach. Once the seed

of Bhakthi is sown, the effect is inevitable. it will gradually grow in

to a tree with flowers and fruits.

 

` You may reason and argue a thousand times, but if you have the seed of

bhakthi with in you, you will surely come back to Hari.'

 

sarvam vasudevamayam jagath

Prashanth