Narada Bhakti Sutra 61-66 (chapter 6 section 2)

Practice of Love

Need not worry about the disturbance in the world

surrender the self, the world, knowledge & well being

Till it is not attained

actions need not be abandoned

pursue your love

but let go of the anxiety for the fruits

The stories about women, wealth,

non-believers & enemies

should not be listened to.

Pride, Vanity and other such things

should be let go of.

Having surrendered all actions

even lust, anger, pride etc 

should be targetted at him alone

Transcending the three forms

always as a servant, as a beloved 

dwell on love alone, work on love alone

 act with love alone

 

 

 

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Narada Bhakti Sutra 56-60 (chapter 5 section 2 & chap 6 section 1 )

Secondary Love Divine

The lowe devotion is threefold

according to individual discrimination

or according to the type of discontent

Better than the other

each preceding one becomes nobler

 

Practice of Love-Divine

Better than all, easily attainable is devotion

because love depends on no other proof

love itself is the proof

it’s the nature of peace

because by nature it is supreme joy

 

 

Shiva’s discourse to Vasishta Maharishi

My intense meditation was broken at this instant,
and my trance gave way to the sight of outward
objects, which I kept looking upon for sometime;
when I observed a flaming fire suddenly rising in
the forest to my view. It was a bright as a big
white cloud, and as brilliant as the shining orb
of the moon.

Vasisht & Rama

Yoga Vasishta is a book compiled from the talks that Vasishta Maharishi had with Rama.

Rama is 16 years of age and completely devoid of all happiness, he’s going through an identity crisis and is wondering what the hell he is doing in the this world and why the hell is he alive and why all people are going crazy over money, power,women etc.

So the book basically is advice given by Rama’s Guru Vasishta on all these factors and more. 

Sri Sri Ravishankar personally recommends reading this book atleast once for any serious seeker of truth and so did Ramana Maharishi. 

In all my years of studying scriprtures. two Books stand out for their massive value and the immediacy of the effect of the teachings. One is Yoga Vasishta and the other “I am That”. Both these book are pure advaitha and can catch a man’s mind and never let it go. It’s poweful, simple and direct.

Here Vasishta describes how the world is created, the crux of the problem, basically how and what and why and when of everything, every question you might ever have is explained in this book. every answer, and THE answer to all questions. 

Rama in the beginning is dense, a little depressed and not ready to listen to yet another discourse, but as vasishta starts speaking in the royal court, not only Rama but all the courtiers are rapt in attention & are in due course liberated.

To casual readers, its can be an amzing fiction too. the stories, the imagery, the concepts, but if absorbed, the ideas given in this book, if percieved directly vasishta’s one and only message, then there is no escape but to experience the truth.

Like he tells Rama in the beginning “by the time I am done with my talking, you will most definitely be liberated”. Its said that if a non seeker, non interested, depressed seeker like Rama can be liberated by just listening to Vasishta, anybody can too….

“Just as the sky is (i.e. appears to be) stained by dust, smoke and clouds, so also the pure Self in contact with the qualities of maya is (i.e. appears to be) soiled by them.”- Vasishta

Narada Bhakti Sutra 51-55 (chapter 5, section 1)

Kinds of Divine love

(Supreme love-divine)

The true nature of love is

indescribable, inexplicable

like a dumb man’s experience of taste 

expresses itself rarely

in a recipient

without attributes, without greed

growing every moment

continous, extremely subtle

is the nature of the experience.

once attained only that is

felt, seen, comprehended,

& contemplated upon. 

 

Nisargadatta: The Way to Self-Realization

The person merges into the witness, the witness into awareness, awareness into pure being, yet identity is not lost, only its limitations are lost. It is transfigured and becomes the real Self, the sadguru, the eternal friend and guide. You cannot approach it in worship. No external activity can reach the inner self; worship and prayers remain on the surface only; to do deeper meditation is essential, the striving to go beyond the states of sleep, dream and waking. In the beginning the attempts are irregular, then they recur more often, become regular, then continuous and intense, until all obstacles are conquered.

via Nisargadatta: The Way to Self-Realization, Part Six.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 49,50 (chapter 4, section 2)

Means for Love

He who renounces even the scriptures

gains unbroken flow of love

he crosses, 

indeed he crossed & helps

the world to cross over as well

Narada Bhakti Sutra 46-48 (chapter 4, section 1)

Means for love

He who crosses Maya

He who gives up attachments

He who serves Great Masters

He who gives up ‘My’ness

He who dwells in solitude

He who uproots Bondage with the world

He who is free from the three Gunas

He who is carefree about his wellbeing

He who relinquishes the fruits of his deeds

who renounces all Ego centric Actions

is free from Duality

 

 

 

Hridaya

Hrid=centre

Ayam=this

Hrit or Hridaya is the sankrit word for Heart centre. It is often used to describe the ultimate state. It is also said that God resides in the heart centre.

It is not to be confused with the heart chakra or the Anahata chakra which is said to be at the centre of the chest. Hridaya does not refer to a chakra nor does it refer  to the physical heart.

In meditation a Sadhak is asked to meditate on any form of his beloved diety in the cave of the heart. But this heart is neither physical nor psychological. Infact Hridaya itself is God, is the goal, the ultimate state, the natural state. 

It is but another word for Nirguna(formless) Brahman(reality). Hridaya is boundaryless, formless, without divisions and is a state of perfect equanimity. Meditating on the Hridaya the sadhak merges in it, becomes it. 

Everything has it’s own source in Hridaya so find the source and you shall find all. When a thought arises, find where it’s coming from, when you feel pain, anguish, happiness, find the source, where is it coming from. You feel like you exist, where is this “I”, find it’s source in you, dig deep.

Meditating on hridaya is a simple, easy technique that anyone can try and experience it’s fruits almost immediately. Hridaya is love, it’s in no one place, it’s everywhere, it has no form and yet all forms are in Hridaya are Hridaya. So meditating on Hridaya can be a natural easy process and the love that arises can be experienced when all fighting and struggling is given up. Just surrending and being the self, being Hridaya is enough.

Do it and know for yourself.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 43-45 (chapter 3, section 3)

Bad company is to be ever renounced.

Being the cause for lust, anger, delusion

loss of memory, loss of discrimination

and utter ruin.

Though appearing as a ripple 

it becomes like an ocean.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 38-42 (chapter 3, section 2)

Satsang

Most Importantly it is the grace of great beings

or the grace of God.

To come in contact with a great being

is indeed extremely difficult,

It is impossible to know them fully

and yet it’s effect is invaluable.

Nevertheless it’s all due to grace.

Indeed grace and devotees

there is but any difference.

That alone is to be attained,

that alone is attained

 

Narada Bhakti Sutra 34-37 (chapter 3, section 1)

Aids to Divine love

Thus sing the teachers about the methods

That indeed is renunciation of objects and attachment

by uninterrupted love & devotion

In this world always dwelling on the nature and glory of the lord.

A Happy New Year

A very Happy New Year to all from Lotus Sutra. 

Kali Maa represents destructive aspect of Nature, but the deeper significance is that she destroys egos. The garland of heads you see around her neck are the egos she’s vanquished. She’s prakruti(nature) and shiva under her feet is Purusha(primordial being)

So this year may our egos be vanquished, may Mother nature nourish us and mother us and let us all lay still and equanimous and at peace just like shiva at the feet of kali shakti, the universal energy. Mother.

Mother always wants the best for her children, no matter how harsh she may seem, she loves, she knows what’s best for her child. Let us surrender at her feet and let go.

Jai Kali Ma

 

Narada Bhakti Sutra 28-33 (chapter 2, section 2)

“Knowlege alone is the means to Obtain it”-some say

“Mutually dependent they are”-others declare

It is it’s own fruit says son of Brahma

As observed in palaces while dining

appeasement of hunger

can not happen with just the knowledge of it

Neither is the king pleased

discussing cooking often

so it is to a seeker for liberation

Hence love alone is to be cultivated

A man named U.G

 

“If you have the courage to touch life for the first time, you will never know what hit you.  Everything man has thought, felt and experienced is gone, and nothing is put in its place.”     “Whether you are interested in Moksha, Liberation, Freedom, Transformation, you name it, you are interested in happiness without one moment of unhappiness, pleasure without pain, it is the same thing.”   “We don’t want to be free from fear. All that we want to do is to play games with it and talk about freeing ourselves from fear.”   “Your constant utilization of thought to give continuity to your separate self is ‘you’. There is nothing there inside you other than that.”   “When the movement in the direction of becoming something other than what you are isn’t there any more, you are not in conflict with yourself.”   –U.G.

Zen is

“Zen” is english transliteration for “cha’an”, which has it’s roots from Sanskrit word “Dhyan” which Buddha used quite a lot. 

But funnily in India “Dhyana has just become synonymous with concentration. So the greater deeper meaning is lost in India, but lives on in the form of Zen.

The real meaning of Zen is…

Narada Bhakti Sutra 25-27(chapter 2, section 1)

Sutra 25

That supreme devotion indeed is far superior than 

Karma Yoga & Jnana yoga

Sutra 26

Because it is the nature of the fruits of  all systems of Yoga or communion

Sutra 27

The lord

distastes ego

and loves the ones who are egoless

 

Neo Advaitins

Three Advaita students came out of a Advaita talk.

“What did you think of JK’s talk today?” one of them asked. “When he talked about ego and self, I thought that was kind of dualistic, wasn’t it?”

“Ah,” said the second, “but your even saying that is dualistic itself, don’t you see?”

“Look who’s talking,” said the third. “I’m glad I’m not dualistic like you guys!”

A moment for Zen

 

The only Zen you find on tops of mountains is the Zen you bring there.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 21-24

Sutra21

just like the gopis of vrindavan

Sutra22

even there, in this condition of love

there is no bane for forgetting the glory of the lord

Sutra23

love without wisdom

is like couples indulging in illicit love

Sutra24

love in ignorance

is truly not love that can cause true happiness