Chapter I
The Preparatory Renunciation
We have now finished the consideration of what may be called the preparatory Bhakti, and are entering on the study of the Parâ-Bhakti or supreme devotion. We have to speak of a preparation to the practice of this Para-Bhakti. All such preparations are intended only for the purification of the soul. The repetition of names, the rituals, the forms, and the symbols, all these various things are for the purification of the soul. The greatest purifier among all such things, a purifier without which no one can enter the regions of this higher devotion (Para-Bhakti), is renunciation. This frightens many; yet, without it, there cannot be any spiritual growth. In all our Yogas this renunciation is necessary. This is the stepping-stone and the real centre and the real heart of all spiritual culture — renunciation. This is religion — renunciation.
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Chapter II
The Bhakta's Renunciation Results from Love
We see love everywhere in nature. Whatever in society is good and great and sublime is the working out of that love; whatever in society is very bad, nay diabolical, is also the ill-directed working out of the same emotion of love. It is this same emotion that gives us the pure and holy conjugal love between husband and wife as well as the sort of love which goes to satisfy the lowest forms of animal passion. The emotion is the same, but its manifestation is different in different cases. It is the same feeling of love, well or ill directed, that impels one man to do good and to give all he has to the poor, while it makes another man cut the throats of his brethren and take away all their possessions. The former loves others as much as the latter loves himself. The direction of the love is bad in the case of the latter, but it is right and proper in the other case. The same fire that cooks a meal for us may burn a child, and it is no fault of the fire if it does so; the difference lies in the way in which it is used. Therefore love, the intense longing
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Chapter III
The Naturalness of Bhakti-Yoga and its Central Secret
"Those who with constant attention always worship You, and those who worship the Undifferentiated, the Absolute, of these who are the greatest Yogis?" — Arjuna asked of Shri Krishna. The answer was: "Those who concentrating their minds on Me worship Me with eternal constancy and are endowed with the highest faith, they are My best worshippers, they are the greatest Yogis. Those that worship the Absolute, the Indescribable, the Undifferentiated, the Omnipresent, the Unthinkable, the All-comprehending, the Immovable, and the Eternal, by controlling the play of their organs and having the conviction of sameness in regard to all things, they also, being engaged in doing good to all beings, come to Me alone. But to those whose minds have been devoted to the unmanifested Absolute, the difficulty of the struggle along the way is much greater, for it is indeed with great difficulty that the path of the unmanifested Absolute is trodden by any embodied being. Those who,
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Chapter IV
The Forms of Love — Manifestation
Here are some of the forms in which love manifests itself. First there is reverence. Why dopeople show reverence to temples and holy places? Because He is worshipped there, and His presence is associated with all such places. Why do people in every country pay reverence to teachers of religion? It is natural for the human heart to do so, because all such teachers preach the Lord. At bottom, reverence is a growth out of love; we can none of us revere him whom we do not love. Then comes Priti — pleasure in God. What an immense pleasure men take in the objects of the senses. They go anywhere, run through any danger, to get the thing which they love, the thing which their senses like. What is wanted of the Bhakta is this very kind of intense love which has, however, to be directed to God. Then there is the sweetest of pains, Viraha, the intense misery due to the absence of the beloved. When a man feels intense misery because he has not attained to God, has not known that which is the only thing worthy to be known, and becomes in consequence very dissatisfied and almost
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Chapter V
Universal Love and How it Leads to Self Surrender
How can we love the Vyashti, the particular, without first loving the Samashti, the universal? God is the Samashti, the generalised and the abstract universal whole; and the universe that we see is the Vyashti, the particularised thing. To love the whole universe is possible only by way of loving the Samashti — the universal — which is, as it were, the one unity in which are to be found millions and millions of smaller unities. The philosophers of India do not stop at the particulars; they cast a hurried glance at the particulars and immediately start to find the generalised forms which will include all the particulars. The search after the universal is the one search of Indian philosophy and religion. The Jnâni aims at the wholeness of things, at that one absolute and; generalised Being, knowing which he knows everything. The Bhakta wishes to realise that one generalised abstract Person, in loving whom he loves the whole universe. The Yogi wishes to have possession of that one generalised form of power, by controlling which he controls this whole universe. The Indian mind, throughout its history, has been directed to this kind of singular search after the universal in everything — in science, in psychology, in love, in philosophy. So the conclusion to which the Bhakta
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Chapter VI
The Higher Knowledge and the Higher Love are One to the True Lover
The Upanishads distinguish between a higher knowledge and a lower knowledge; and to the
Bhakta there is really no difference between this higher knowledge and his higher love (Parâ-
Bhakti).
The Mundaka Upanishad says:
व्यभिचारिणी। कर्तव्या पण्डद विपुलाह्लाद्ये वेद दिनश्चेति (Nri. Tap. Up.दतव्यभिचारिणी। कर्तव्या पण्ड इनिरुच्छासतयत ह स्थानं) . Without it, such a life would not remम द्ये वेदब्रह्लादक्षीणपुण्यचमविपुलाह्लाद+ दच्न्तावित। पर <पर ॥ तत्रापरापर ॠग्वेदो यजुर्वदः द+ ज
.द
सम द+ऽथा। तदप्राप्ति महद्दुःखविलीनाशेषपातक. द भिचारिणी। कर्तव्या पण्डितैर्जशक्षीणपुण्यचया तथा। तद का॥ निरल्पो व्याकरणं निरुक्तं छन्दो ज्योतिषमिति। अथ परा यया तदक्प+ व्यभिचारिणी। कर्तव्या पण्डका॥ निररण) निरुच्छासतयनाशेषपातका॥ निरुच्छासतया मुक्तिं गतान्या गोपकन्यका॥
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रु(त) &न्ताविद+ ज्योतिषमिति। अथ परा यय+निरुच्छासतयतषभिचारिणी। कर्तव्या पण्डितैर्जमनिरुच्छासतयत। अथा। तदप्राप्ति महद्दुःखविलीनाशेषपातक पर
तदक्षीणपुण्यचया तथा। तदरमधिगम्यते॥
ƈ
·
The next Jगम्यते॥
ƈ
·
The next higherत ॥
— "The knowers of the Brahman declare that there are two kinds of knowledge worthy to be known, namely, the Higher (Parâ) and the lower (Aparâ). Of these the lower (knowledge) consists of the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sâma-Veda, the Atharva-Veda, the Shikshâ (or the science dealing with pronunciation and accent), the Kalpa (or the sacrificial liturgy), grammar, the Nirukta (or the science dealing with etymology and the meaning of words), prosody, and astronomy; and the higher (knowledge) is that by which that Unchangeable is known."
The higher knowledge is thus clearly shown to be the knowledge of the Brahman; and the Devi Bhâgavata gives us the following definition of the higher love (Para-Bhakti): "As oil poured
from one vessel to another falls in an unbroken line, so, when the mind in an unbroken stream thinks of the Lord, we have what is called Para-Bhakti or supreme love." This kind of undisturbed and ever steady direction of the mind and the heart to the Lord with an inseparable attachment is indeed the highest manifestation of man's love to God. All other forms of Bhakti are only preparatory to the attainment of this highest form thereof,
This is just small Content Only To Read full Download this BookChapter VI
The Higher Knowledge and the Higher Love are One to the True Lover
The Upanishads distinguish between a higher knowledge and a lower knowledge; and to the
Bhakta there is really no difference between this higher knowledge and his higher love (Parâ-
Bhakti). The Mundaka Upanishad says:
व्यभिचारिणी। कर्तव्या पण्डद विपुलाह्लाद्ये वेद दिनश्चेति (Nri. Tap. Up.दतव्यभिचारिणी। कर्तव्या पण्ड इनिरुच्छासतयत ह स्थानं) . Without it, such a life would not remम द्ये वेदब्रह्लादक्षीणपुण्यचमविपुलाह्लाद+ दच्न्तावित। पर <पर ॥ तत्रापरापर ॠग्वेदो यजुर्वदः द+ ज
.द
सम द+ऽथा। तदप्राप्ति महद्दुःखविलीनाशेषपातक. द भिचारिणी। कर्तव्या पण्डितैर्जशक्षीणपुण्यचया तथा। तद का॥ निरल्पो व्याकरणं निरुक्तं छन्दो ज्योतिषमिति। अथ परा यया तदक्प+ व्यभिचारिणी। कर्तव्या पण्डका॥ निररण) निरुच्छासतयनाशेषपातका॥ निरुच्छासतया मुक्तिं गतान्या गोपकन्यका॥
è
रु(त) &न्ताविद+ ज्योतिषमिति। अथ परा यय+निरुच्छासतयतषभिचारिणी। कर्तव्या पण्डितैर्जमनिरुच्छासतयत। अथा। तदप्राप्ति महद्दुःखविलीनाशेषपातक पर
तदक्षीणपुण्यचया तथा। तदरमधिगम्यते॥
ƈ
·
The next Jगम्यते॥
ƈ
·
The next higherत ॥
— "The knowers of the Brahman declare that there are two kinds of knowledge worthy to be known, namely, the Higher (Parâ) and the lower (Aparâ). Of these the lower (knowledge) consists of the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sâma-Veda, the Atharva-Veda, the Shikshâ (or the science dealing with pronunciation and accent), the Kalpa (or the sacrificial liturgy), grammar, the Nirukta (or the science dealing with etymology and the meaning of words), prosody, and astronomy; and the higher (knowledge) is that by which that Unchangeable is known."
The higher knowledge is thus clearly shown to be the knowledge of the Brahman; and the Devi Bhâgavata gives us the following definition of the higher love (Para-Bhakti): "As oil poured
from one vessel to another falls in an unbroken line, so, when the mind in an unbroken stream thinks of the Lord, we have what is called Para-Bhakti or supreme love." This kind of undisturbed and ever-steady direction of the mind and the heart to the Lord with an inseparable attachment is indeed the highest manifestation of man's love to God. All other
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Chapter VII
The Triangle of Love
We may represent love as a triangle, each of the angles of which corresponds to one of its inseparable characteristics. There can be no triangle without all its three angles; and there can be no true love without its three following characteristics. The first angle of our triangle of love is that love knows no bargaining. Wherever there is any seeking for something in return, there can, be no real love; it becomes a mere matter of shop-keeping. As long as there is in us any idea ofderiving this or that favour from God in return for our respect and allegiance to Him, so longthere can be no true love growing in our hearts. Those who worship God because they wish Himto bestow favours on them are sure not to worship Him if those favours are not forthcoming. TheBhakta loves the Lord because He is lovable, there is no other motive originating or directingthis divine emotion of the true devotee.
We have heard it said that a great king once went into a forest and there met a sage. He talked with the sage a little and was very much pleased with his purity and wisdom. The king thenwanted the sage to oblige him by receiving a present from him. The sage refused to do so, saying, "The fruits of the forest are enough food for me; the pure streams of water flowing down from the mountains give enough drink for me; the barks of the trees supply me with enough covering; and the caves of the mountains form my home. Why should I take any present from you or from anybody?" The king said, "Just to benefit me, sir, please take something from my hands and please come with me to the city and to my palace." After much
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एक टिप्पणी भेजें