Beach 7: The Art and Science of Spiritual
Love
Wave 9: ADVAITA BHAKTI THROUGH CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE OF NARAYANEEYAM
Note: You may want to read the Introduction, if
you have not already seen it.
Sloka
No. 8 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 94 - 9):
yadyal-labhyeta tat-tat-tava samupahR^itaM deva
dAso’smi te’haM
tvad-geh-onmArjan-AdyaM bhavatu mama muhuH karma-nirmAya-meva /
sUryAgni-brAhmaN-AtmAdiShu lasita-catur-bAhum-ArAdhaye tvAM
tvat-prem-Ardratva-rUpo mama satatam-abhiShyandatAM bhakti-yogaH
//
Tr.
Oh Lord! Whatever comes into my possession, I offer it unto Thee. I am Thy
servant. Let me repeatedly do with utmost sincerity and interest such
devotional duties as cleaning Thy temple, Thy altar! Let me perform the worship
of Thy four-handed form conceived as manifesting in the solar orb, in fire, in
holy men and in the Atman!. Let my mind be ever in communion with Thee through
devotion, which consists in the melting of heart into a continuous stream of
love ever flowing towards Thee!
Comment. The
sun and fire have always been considered holy in all religions and in Hindu
culture and literature, starting from the time of the Vedas, they each take the
first place in physical representations of the Absolute. The very first prayer
of the Rig veda is to ‘agni’, the God of fire. He is the symbol of
the Divine Will, Power and Force. He is the messenger who connects the
offerings of the humans with their divine destinations. He also brings the
messages and presents from the Divine to the human world. The last prayer of
Man before he leaves the body should be to ‘agni’, according to the very last
verse of the shukla Yajur Veda.
agne naya supathA raye asmAn vishvAni deva
vayunAni vidvAn;
yuyodhyasmaj-juhurANameno bhUyiShTAnte nama uktiM vidhema
meaning,
Oh
agni, show us the right path, lead us to eternal
freedom, Thou who knowest all. Preserve us from the deceitful attraction of
sin. To thee we offer our salutations, with devotion, again and yet again.
The
Sun is another major visible expression of Divine Light, representing the
infinite power, majesty and glory of the Almighty .
But mark it, it is not the visible sun or the visible fire that is worshipped
or considered as the Absolute. Behind the physical sun there is the concept of
a surya-devata and behind the
physical fire there is the concept of an agni-devata. That is where, as the poet says here, the
Lord is reachable to us.
Sloka
No. 9 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 97 - 3):
tvad-bhAvo yAvadeShu sphurati na vishadaM tAvadevam
hyupAstiM
kurvan-naikAtmya-bodhe jhaTiti vikasati tvan-mayo’haM careyaM /
tvad-dharmasy-Asya tAvat-kimapi na bhagavan prastutasya
prNAshaH
tasmAt-sarvAtmanaiva pradisha mama vibho bhakti-mArgaM
manojnaM //
Tr. As long as the experience that ‘Thou art
the All’ does not arise, shall I continue to perform your worship thus. Soon shall I attain to this experience of the unity of
all existence. Thereafter I shall move about with a
complete identification with Thee. Oh Lord! For one traversing the path of Thy
(Bhagavata) dharma there cannot be any downfall or destruction. Therefore
bestow on me the capacity to follow the path of bhakti, the most fulfilling of
all spiritual paths.
Comment.
Here the thought is that bhakti matures into the ultimate jnAna. To
speak of two
paths bhakti and jnAna as if they are mutually exclusive is contrary to the
conclusions of
yo mAM pashyati sarvatra sarvaM ca mayi
pashyati /
tasyAhaM na praNashyAmi sa ca me na praNashyati //
meaning, He who sees me everywhere and sees
everything in me, never becomes separated from me nor do I become separated
from him. This is nothing but the brahma-bhAva
where one is in brahman
all the time.
Sloka
No. 10 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 94 - 4):
tval-lokAd-anya-lokaH kvanu bhaya-rahito yat-parArdha-dvayAnte
tvad-bhItas-satyaloke’pi na sukha-vasatiH padmabhUH padma-nAbha
/
evaM bhAvepy-adharmArjita-bahu-tamasAm kA
kathA nArkANAM
tan-me tvaM cchindhi bandhaM varada
kr^ipaNa-bandho
kr^ipA-pUra-sindho //
Tr.
There is no sphere other than Thy transcendent state of Vaikuntha that
is free from the fear of death and downfall. Even satya-loka (the world of the
highest level of divine existences, where the creator Brahma lives), Oh
Lotus-navelled One, is not found to be a secure and happy place by the
Lotus-born Brahma at the end of two parArdhas (that being the life-span of a Brahma).
What then to speak of those who, in consequence of their unrighteous deeds,
have incurred numerous sins and reside in hells. Therefore Oh Giver of
boons! Friend of the Lowly!
Comment. Recall:
Certain is death for the born (‘jAtasya
hi dhruvo mR^ityuH’)
(Gita II – 27). Even
Brahma, though the
first-born, is born and the end awaits him. What begins has to
end. Every movement of the Sun across the sky implies the passing away of our lives. This
continual reduction in the remaining part of our lives is something that the
scriptures are never tired of pointing out, because even after all this, we
tend to forget this especially in crucial moments of self-consciousness, anger,
jealousy, passion or disappointment. (See also ‘Death on the Wings’)
Sloka
No. 11 (Ref. nArAyaNIyaM : 99 - 10):
avyaktaM te svarUpaM duradhigama-tamaM tattu
shuddhaika-satvaM
vyaktaM cApy-etad-eva
sphuTam-amR^ita-rasAmbhodhi-kallola-tulyaM
/
sarv-otkR^iShTAm-abhIShTAM tad-iha guNa-rasen-aiva
cittaM
harantIM
mUrtiM te samshraye’haM pavanapura-pate pAhi
mAM kR^iShNa rogAt
//
Tr.
Thy nature as Absolute Being is not manifest to the
senses or the intellect. It is therefore difficult to grasp or attain. But Thy Being manifest in shuddha-satva
(spiritual purity) as
Comment. This is the explanation why followers of
advaita have no reservation about the worship of the saguNa form of God
while striving to comprehend the nirguNa concept of Godhead. Bhattatiri, through this sloka, sets at
nought all the nagging dilemmas of a doubting advaitin, in regard to worship of the
Formful. The real Nature of the Absolute
Godhead is ‘duradhigama-tamaM’, that
is, to reach out to it is most difficult, almost impossible. Recall, Gita
Ch.XII – 5: Greater is the trouble of
those whose minds are set on the manifest; for the goal, the unmanifest, is
very hard for the embodied to reach.
klesho’dhikatarasteShAM avyaktA-sakta-cetasAM /
avyaktA hi gatir-dukhaM dehavadbhir-avApyate
//
The
philosophy of advaita has two facets. One is the 'kevala-advaitam' and the other is 'bheda-abheda-advaitam'. The
former one will not even talk of any attribute-ful form, as a possibility in the absolute
sense. In other words, even Ishvara belongs to a lower reality than the
Absolute. And because, everything other than the Absolute is non-real, Ishvara
has to be non-real.
(See also ‘The
message of One-ness’) But the bheda-abheda-advaitam says that the wavy surface
of the ocean even though it appears as if it can be distinguished from the
ocean, IS the ocean. There is no distinction between them. If we have to make a
distinction between them that distinction is one ‘without a difference’. In
other words, bheda (difference,
distinction) appears ‘without a real difference’. God is the highest being in
devotional thought and He must therefore be Absolute also, even as the wavy
surface and the ocean are one and the same in spite of the apparent difference.
Bhattatiri’s advaitic leanings are in this category.
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