Narada Bhakti Sutras E-Book

Sri Sri Ravishankar

• Herausgeber: Aslan eReads
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 205

Beschreibung

The Narada Bhakti Sutra (IAST: Nārada Bhakti Sūtra) is a well known sutra venerated within the traditions of Hinduism, purportedly spoken by the famous sage, Narada. The text details the process of devotion (Bhakti), or Bhakti yoga and is thus of particular importance to many of the Bhakti movements within Hinduism. It has received particular attention among the Vaishnava traditions. Sanskrit scriptures often appear in variant editions which may show differences in organization and verse numbering. For example in the translation by Swami Prabhavananda there are eighty-four verses arranged in nine chapters,[1] whereas in the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust translation by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and his disciple Satsvarupa dasa the eighty-four verses are organised into five chapters

Leseprobe

Title

Narada Bhakti Sutras

The Aphorisms of Love

a discourse by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Sri Sri Publications Trust, India

 

© Copyrights Sri Sri Publications Trust

This digital edition is published by arrangement with Aslan Business Solutions

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Aslan Reads -An imprint of Aslan Business Solutions Borivli, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India Email: [email protected]: www.aslanbiz.com & www.aslanreads.com

Physical Editions Published by:

 

Sri Sri Publications Trust The Art of Living International Centre 21st KM, Kanakapura Road, Udayapura, Bangalore – 560082 Email: [email protected]: www.sattvastore.comToll Free: 1800-258-8888

© All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher

ISBN: 978-93-85898-28-0

Layout by: Sri Sri Publications Trust

Contents

Title

A Bridge to the Divine

Beginning the Spiritual Journey

Rejoice without Conflict

Glorify the Divine

Crossing the Ocean of Maya

Love is Beyond Proof

Merging with the Divine

Worship is Inevitable

The Founder Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The Art of Living

The Art of Living Programs

International Centres

 

Love is not an act -it is a result

Love does not give rise to more questions -it is the answer for all questions

Love is not a path -it brings you back home

Love IS Home

A Bridge to the Divine

Lake Tahoe, USA 9th July, 2001

Om Namoh Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namoh Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namoh Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Life springs from love–the origin is love and life seeks love. The goal of life is also love and, in between, life is sustained by love. There is not a single creature or living entity on this planet that has not known love or is devoid of love. Yet, love in its many distortions has brought so much misery in life.

Love is known as three different flavours

• of affection• love towards companion and• respect-appreciation

If we are made up of a substance called love, then why don’t we experience it? Why is there so much misery? If love is everywhere in creation, why is there a seeking for love? Why do we seek love? When these questions start bothering the human mind, then one’s spiritual journey has begun. What is love? The Rishi Narada brought out these Bhakti Sutras-aphorisms on love.

In the first Sutra he says :

Athato-Now, let me enunciate what is ‘Bhakti’, what is devotion.

Athato bhaktim vyakhyasyamah

What is that love which is devoid of imperfection? What is that love which crowns all other love? What is that love which contains all other love? Such love, such a pinnacle of love, is called devotion and I will enunciate it. What is that love? The most difficult thing to do is to describe feelings-any feeling for that matter. It is not easy to put feelings into words or to make someone understand intellectually what the feeling is. It is a humungous task.

Narada ventured-as only Narada can venture. One who has lived that devotion alone can venture into describing it. In the first Sutra Narada says, Athato-“Now let me enunciate what is love.” One who has not been a seeker, one who has not understood life in its various facets, cannot grasp what Narada is saying. First that urge has to come-“I want to know a love that is free from misery, free from attachment, free from entanglement, free from all sorts of hooks.” When that deep urge has begun, then the Master, the Rishi, the Muni can speak-can say words, which go directly into the heart of the person. For such a seeker, Narada says, “Now let me enunciate Bhakti, devotion.”

The word, ‘Narada’ itself is so beautiful. It is the spoke that joins the circumference to the centre. One who holds you towards the centre is Narada. Often love makes you uncentred, it throws you off-balance, it makes you emotionally and physically weak. Though love is the greatest strength on this planet, without wisdom, the same love makes you weak, absolutely weak, isn’t it so? Narada-one who holds you to the centre, yet makes your life rise to the pinnacle of love. He says :

Sa tvasmin param prem rupa

Devotion is ultimate love, the pinnacle of love in Him, in That. Often love turns into hatred, anger, sour feelings. But the love to the Divinity does not. The next Sutra goes :

Amrit swarupa cha

It is immortal, undying, because it is unconditional-it is not attached to some strings. When you love somebody, you don’t care what they do with you, how they behave with you. You simply love them. Even in the case of the child and the mother, you have had many such examples where the children are not so kind, but the mother is always kind.

You know, I heard about an instance in a train at a railway station, where a son had an argument with the mother, an elderly lady, and he really beat her up. She was all bruised, but when the police came to catch the son, she said, “No no, don’t do anything to my son.” She prevents the police from taking action on her son, who has been very brutal. Getting angry she says, “Never mind, he’s my son.” The police is trying to discipline her son, but she doesn’t want that to happen.

Love is unconditional. Such unconditional love is amrit swarupa-undying, immortal, it makes you immortal. It is not that one day you fall in love and the next day you fall out of love. Devotion is not that. It stays deep inside, even if you don’t feel it everyday on a day-to-day basis. Often people feel devotion one day and they start repeating all those exercises so that they can feel it again, but it doesn’t happen. But it remains, it is undying. Once someone tastes the pinnacle of love, they can never forget it, they can never leave it. So that love is undying.

Yallabdhva puman siddho bhavati, amrito bhavati, tripto bhavati

Having attained that, human life becomes perfect. There is nothing that you feel you don’t have. That perfection dawns in life. Siddho bhavati, amrito bhavati-you recognise that something deep inside which has never aged, never dies. Tripto bhavati-it brings such fulfilment. Love brings such fulfilment in life.

Yat prapya na kinchid vanchati, na shochati, na dweshti, na ramate notsahi bhavati

Having attained that, there is no more craving, no more desires. Na shochati-you will not sit and cry for anything, there is no sadness. Na dweshti-you do not hate anything. Na ramate-nothing else is ‘rejoiceful’. Nothing else is pulling you off your centre, nothing else is charming. Notsahi bhavati-then there is no other enthusiasm or excitement that can take you off. That does not mean you are devoid of enthusiasm-notsahi bhavati. You are not over-enthusiastic, not over-excited about anything.

Yat gyatva matto bhavati, stabdho bhavati, atmaramo bhavati

Matto bhavati-knowing which you become intoxicated; stabdho bhavati-so still deep within you. Atmaramo bhavati-you are reposing in the Self. Only love can make you repose in the Self, only love can quieten you; matto bhavati-only love can intoxicate you. There are so many types of intoxication, but the intoxication that comes out of love is the intoxication, the supershot. You are amazed, wonder-struck. It is baffling. Atmaramo bhavati-and it reposes you in the Being.

The Rishi addresses all the three levels. Emotionally you get intoxicated, intellectually you are wonder-struck and you repose in the Self. The three layers of our existence are the Spirit (the Self), the Mind (the Intellect) and the Emotions. How does love have such a profound impact on all three layers? Cravings, desires and aversions arise in the heart. Curiosity, inquisitiveness, enquiry are in the intellect. Joy comes out of intoxication. That is why many people get into intoxication or curiosity when they read all sorts of magazines or watch television. Everything is for the intellect-to calm it down and satisfy the urge of the intellect to know. There is nothing so wonderful, so awesome, as this deep devotion.

Stabdho bhavati, atmaramo bhavati-is this just an emotional exercise or will it take us further towards the ultimate reality, the truth to Self-realisation? The Rishi says, “It takes you to the Self. Such is the glory of Bhakti, of love.”

Lake Tahoe, USA 10th July, 2001

Om Namoh Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namoh Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namoh Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Yat gyatva matto bhavati, stabdho bhavati, atmaramo bhavati

Knowing which you become intoxicated, spellbound and you repose in the Self. There is nothing that can intoxicate you like love. And all the intoxication that people use is to be in that love, is in the search for that love. But they are searching for love in the wrong place. It is the frustration, the ‘unfulfilment’ that makes one go for intoxicants, isn’t it so? What happens when you are intoxicated? The ‘two’ disappears, the ‘other’ vanishes. When the other vanishes, then you are more at ease and love is that which gives you such ease, such comfort.

Divine love intoxicates you. Just knowing Divine love, you get intoxicated, spellbound and wonder-struck. When we are miserable, we ask many questions, “Why this, Why this?” When the questions turn into wonder, love arises. Love does not give rise to more questions-it is the answer for all the questions.

Love is not a path actually. Love is home. Love brings you back home. Love is not an act or an action. It is a result.

Then the next question arises, “How can I have it? That’s what I want. Yes. What you are saying is right! How can I have it? I want to have it. I desire for it.” Then the Rishi says :

Sa na kamayamana, nirodha rupatvat

It cannot be an object of desire. When the desires cease, then love can be felt, experienced. Don’t make love an object of desire. Desire means what? Not now, not this; something in the future. Desire simply means, ‘not now, not this-that and then’. Desire causes such feverishness, love is such a cooling impact. Sa na kamayamana-don’t make love an object of desire, the goal of your desire. When the desires calm down, you realise that love is right here-Now. That is why Buddha said that desires are the cause of sorrow and misery. Love is the goal of all desires and when you cannot have, when you cannot experience or achieve that love, then hatred and anger come. The desire for love brings all other imperfections, for e.g. frustration. Whether fulfilled or unfulfilled, desire brings frustration. This is the nature of desire. Love cannot be achieved by just desiring it because it is the cessation of desire. It is the source or goal of all desires-sa na kamayamana.

Then what is that cessation? How does one stop that?

Nirodhastu loka veda vyapara nyasah

It is taking a break from all activities, whether worldly or spiritual, whether religious or material-being centred in both activities. Nirodhastu-there is a feverishness to do something, to achieve something. You say, “I don’t want anything material,” but then it could switch over to wanting to achieve some heaven, some spiritual merit, or bliss or some state of consciousness. See, you are still holding on to the desire and the action, but it has shifted from the material to the more ethereal, non-material. Our mind is so tricky.

Loka veda vyapara nyasah-you cannot leave activity just like that. So what can you do? If you are 100% in an activity, then you become free from the activity. You are able to rest from that activity. This is what we don’t do. Being 100% in an activity centres you. Desire is not being involved 100% in action. Suppose you want to drive and go to Los Angeles-you just drive and go; but if you just sit and keep thinking about it, it creates the feverishness. This is desire. Desire is chewing on to something and not swallowing it-not really acting on it. Those activities which you have to do, do them and rest. Those which you don’t need to do, leave them and rest.

Nyasah-being centred, letting go. However important an activity is, are you able to let go of it in a moment? Then you will see that it does not bother your mind, it does not bother you and it increases your efficiency. It is your attachment to an activity that makes that activity suffer, whether it is spiritual or material. Your obsession to act, your inability to retire and repose in the Self brings you frustration. Do anything with 100% and you will be able to drop it effortlessly. This ability to let go comes to you. Often you let go of things when you are frustrated. When you can drop and quit in a moment, without getting frustrated, then Yoga happens-you have retired back to the Self. You are holding onto things, onto activities and that holding on creates frustration. This is what desire does.

Desire is trying to hold on to air in a fist. How much air can you hold in the fist? The more you tighten your grip, the lesser air you can hold. Love is like the vast sky and the sky cannot be held in the fist. You have to open your palm. That is nirodha-when you open your palm, the entire sky is in there and if you hold a mirror in your hand, you can have the sun, the moon-everything. A small palm can hold the sun, but not the fist-nirodha rupatvat.

Nirodhastu loka veda vyapara nyasah-being centred, being 100% in activity and rest. This is the way to be in Divine love.

Tasmin ananyata tad virodhishu udasinta cha

Often love is thought to be between two-one and the other. When there is another, you don’t feel totally one with the person. You always question and doubt the other person’s love for you. If you doubt whether the other person really loves you or not, you will be unable to love them unconditionally, unable to merge with them. Certain things you have to take for granted. One thing is the love of the other person from whom you want love. You have to take it for granted. Even if the love is not there, you must feel that it is there.

Tasmin ananyata-means feeling totally one with the other. That is Divine love. Be indifferent to anything that appears to be opposing it. It might happen that you are in love with God, and sometimes things happen that don’t seem to show that God is really in love with you. But ignore those things. A saint was once spreading the message of God in villages. One rainy day he came back home and found that most of the roof of his little hut lay broken in the rain. His disciple got very angry and blamed God for being so cruel. “We have been working so hard for you and you couldn’t even save one roof for us!” he complained. On the other hand, the saint was so thankful, “Oh God, you are so kind, you saved half the hut so that our heads don’t get wet. In this big storm the whole house could have been destroyed. Now we can also see the stars and the moon.”

Tasmin ananyata tadvirodheshu udasinta cha-whatever appears to be opposing love, you just be indifferent to it. Otherwise it is very easy to get drawn into the opposite values of love, hatred, anger, jealousy and frustration.

If you want to be centred in love, you have to drop anything that appears to be opposing love, otherwise you will be caught up in the cycle of opposites and you will never be free, you can never achieve that perfection. You are born to be perfect-siddho bhavati and the perfection is not in action or speech, perfection is in the Being. The perfection in the Being alone can bring perfection in speech and action; and to be perfect in the Being, you need to immerse yourself in that intense love. What is ananyata bhakti? How does one feel this sense of ‘no other’?

Anyashrayanam tyago ananyata

Often you have so many other supports, for e.g. you are on a spiritual path and you go to an astrologer and ask if you will make progress? What will happen? You are taking another support. Letting go of all the supports is anyashrayanam.

Niradhar-that is dropping the crutches-and the mind is looking for crutches. It is looking for some anchor here and there, for e.g., if you feel negative, you go and talk to someone. If anyone supports your negativity, you start feeling better. If someone shuns your negative statement, it irritates you.

Anyashrayanam tyago ananyata-letting go of all supports. Krishna said in the Bhagavad Gita: ananyaas chinteyeh janha paripaas-I am there for the one who is one-pointed and does not look for other supports. “I become the feet for those who do not look for crutches, I become the eyes for those who do not look for glasses.”

Loka vedeshu tadanukul aacharanam tadvirodheshu udaseenta

In the world, as well as in spiritual matters, act towards that which nourishes this love, accept that which moves you in the direction of this love and be indifferent to that which is not supporting this love, because life is full of opposites. In life both things, events will happen-those that will support your hatred and destroy love, and those that will destroy hatred and support love, because the field of activity and life is full of opposite values. The same occurs in the scriptures, too-one scripture will authenticate this and another will authenticate that and if you go into all this, you may get really confused. Even in the name of Dharma-righteousness, people can make a lot of mistakes. If Jesus was crucified, he was crucified since it was thought that he had been blasphemous-that he had committed a blasphemy against God.

Loka vedeshu tadanukul acharanam tadvirodheshu udasinta-if the activities in the world become an obstruction for your growth, then act skilfully. Often people prepare for Pujas or ceremonies, but the preparations eat up all their time. So when they actually sit for meditation, Puja (prayers), their minds are all over, caught up in insignificant little things. All the preparations have been in vain. Your aim is to sit and meditate, but you are upset because someone next to you is snoring. So the whole exercise has become futile. You then sit in an angry mood and cannot meditate. So when opposites come your way, take it with ease. Be indifferent. If you are sitting for meditation and someone is irritating you, take it lightly. Otherwise, there is no point in sitting with your eyes closed, getting irritated. Just be indifferent to anything that seems to be opposing it.

If you can be in love, be in love. If you cannot be in love, at least be indifferent. Don’t swing to the opposite of love, that is hatred. You cannot force your self to love something that you don’t like, but you can definitely be indifferent to it. Don’t force yourself to love things which you cannot. Just be indifferent and wait. It is a great secret-indifference. But you know, indifference will irritate people more than hatred! If you hate somebody, they are at ease, but if you are indifferent, they will feel uncomfortable. To anything that appears to be a conflict, indifference is the solution. Conflict has never brought joy. Even in the time of the Ramayana, Rama fought the war and there was no joy later, only misery. Same with Mahabharata-after the war there was no joy.

Conflicts cannot bring peace.

Whether solved or resolved-there is no question of peace.

With indifference, there is hope.

Loka vedeshu tadanukul acharanam-behave in such a manner that it is supporting to love and be indifferent to anything that appears to be opposing love. Again, love is not just an emotion, it is not being mushy-mushy. Love is the innermost strength, love is the force that you are. We depend so much on the expression of love. This is not ananya bhakti. If you are dependent on an expression or a gesture from someone, to feel love for them, I tell you that you are mistaken and you have not grown. If you can see love beyond expressions, beyond the physical gestures, if you can peep into the Being, you can see that there is no other-there is no difference, there is only absolute oneness. That is ananyata. Like when the child is sometimes cranky, rebellious, the mother sees beyond the expression. That ‘connectedness’ of you with the Divinity, with the whole world, with the creation makes you perfect, makes you stable, makes you intoxicated, makes you fulfilled. Otherwise you go with a lack consciousness, with a craving-“I want, I want.” The Rishi says, sa na kamyamana-it is not a subject of craving, it is Being.

Beginning the Spiritual Journey

And summarised at Montreal Ashram, Canada 16th July, 2001

Om Namoh Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namoh Bhagavate Vasudevaya Om Namoh Bhagavate Vasudevaya

If you ask yourself a straight question, “What is it that you want in your life?” It will boil down to one thing and that is love. Behind every desire there is love, isn’t it? Yet, life cannot move an inch without love; life has sprung from love, moves in love, and its culmination is also love.

Yet we see that life is full of problems. Sometimes if there is no love, then life seems to be better because then there are no problems. Love comes with this tail called problems. If you love objects more, then that becomes greed. If you love people more, it is entanglement. If you love yourself too much, that is ego-centrism, arrogance. If you love someone too much, then jealousy comes behind that. Whether jealousy, greed, lust or anger, there is love present underneath.

Love, when it ferments, becomes hatred.

Love, when it gets distorted, becomes fear.

It is love that causes fear. It is love that is the cause for anger. You love perfection, so you are angry at imperfection. Suppose you don’t love perfection, there is no question of being angry. Just search underneath your anger, there is love. Every problem on this planet is caused by love. So, many people prefer not to love, they shut off…cut themselves off. Some run away from society, some remain in an indifferent state, like a log of wood, almost dead.

But this is not life, isn’t it so? Then what is the purpose in life? What is the goal in life? What do you want in life?

He says the search in life is for a love that is free from all these distortions, all these negative emotions.

Love often suffocates you, but you cannot have love without freedom. Like the spider, you know, it makes its own web and it gets trapped in its own web. Yet the spider cannot be there without the web, then it is no spider at all.

Human life is in a similar situation. It cannot be without love. Like the spider weaves its web from it’s own saliva, we weave our world with our own love and we get trapped in our own world. Love suffocates you. It makes you obliged, it takes away your freedom. But the innate tendency of human life is to be free. You want to enjoy freedom. So the quest, the search, is for such a love that does not take away your freedom. Infact, the love that establishes you away from the imperfections of jealousy, greed, anger, and upholds you in its pure essence, that love is called devotion. That is called bhakti. That is called love, the Divine love.