One of the most powerful terms in Advaita Vedanta (science of oneness) is ‘Viveka’. ‘Viveka’ has the base of ‘Vich’ meaning ‘to filter’, it is to know what is important. Everybody wants happiness. Yet the majority of our effort goes into ‘being happy’ instead of being ‘happiness’. Working to be happy is like flirting with happiness. Our course that is flowing through Narada Bhakti Sutras is to know with clarity and to feel with conviction that what is most important is happiness, that way we don’t flirt with happiness but we get married to happiness (the way Rishika Andal and Rishika Meera did). Through Bhakti we are moving away from flirting with happiness and we are marrying happiness. 

In this course the focus is on Bhakti. There are many synonyms to Bhakti, one of them we saw last week was ‘dedication’. Another synonym is ‘love’. Bhakti begins with loving oneself. The evolution of this love is to love one’s own (close family, etc). The evolution of this is to love oneness. This is the Bhakti we are going to orient ourselves towards. This Bhakti is being reflected upon by Rishi Narada. Narada means “the one who gives knowledge”. Pujya Swami Brahmananda has shared that Rishi Narada is Bhagavan’s sankalpa. When Bhagavan has a thought, that thought turns into action through Rishi Narada. When Bhakta Dhruva went to the jungle to try to find ‘position’, Rishi Narada met him and challenged him saying he is too young to do that. But Bhakta Dhruva was convinced that engaging in ‘tapa’ was the right path for him because Rishi Narada had come to meet him, and he has been graced to flow through that path. Bhagavan’s sankalpa is to challenge us to be more steady, sincere and strong. This Bhakti through Rishi Narada is in the form of Sutras (aphorisms, zip file). These are condensed words that need to be opened up. 

Recap: In Sutra 1, the word ‘atha’ is used. In our culture the word ‘Aum’ and ‘atha’ are synonymous. They both indicate auspiciousness, which in practical terms means egolessness. ‘Atha’ means the person engaged in this has the maturity to go from being dependent (or trying to be happy) to being independent (or being happiness). It is the ‘content’ that makes us happy not the ‘context’. 

In Sutra 2, Rishi Narada shares that Bhakti is loving the divine. The word ‘Saa’ is used. (‘Saa’ means ‘she’ and ‘SaH’ means ‘he’). What is special about this is, Rishi Narada has not identified a specific God but a general God. 

This class:

Sutra 3: Amrutha swaroopa cha

This means, the nature of love for the divine is ‘Amrutha’ (immortal, fearless). The three fundamental fears that all beings have are death, unknown and sorrow. These fears are encapsulated in the word ‘Mruta’ (meaning death which is the most obvious fear). A lighter form of this is ‘change’. Our sense of change begins with the ego. This change is then transferred to the equipments (Intellect, mind, breath, body). This is then transferred to experiences like ‘hot and cold’, ‘pleasure and pain’. These changes make us uncomfortable. The ego is an illusion, which is then multiplied by the illusion of equipments, which is multiplied by the illusion of experiences – but we still have the notion that this is real! This is why we fear! Rishi Narada is sharing here the nature of loving the divine is beyond change or illusion, it is Amrutha (changeless, fearless). It is an investment that will never go away. For us, we have to know Amrutha to aspire Amrutha, because we don’t aspire for what we don’t know. Knowing Amrutha is what we are doing together. Relative Amrutha (changeless) cultivates absolute Amrutha. If we invest in that which changes less, the more we put in our time, resources and effort towards this. Eventually we will feel that which is changeless. 

Sutra 4: Yat labdhva puman siddho bhavathi, amrutho bhavathi, truptho bhavathi

When one gains this special devotion, one becomes a siddha. Becoming a siddha, one becomes fearless. Becoming fearless, one becomes content. Pujya Swami Brahmananda has shared that ‘siddha’ means one who is balanced.  In terms of Narada Bhakti Sutra, siddha or balance is only possible when we know and feel all is Bhagavan. There is no disturbance in that which is homogeneous. When we feel this, we will rest (truptha). 

Sutra 5: Yat praapya na kinchid vaanchathi , na shochathi, na dweshti, na ramathe na utsaahi bhavathi

Rishi Narada is going through a series of verbs that we are always engaged in. These verbs are desire (vaanchati), saddening (shochati), hating (dweshti), liking (ramathe), energizing (utsaahi) – but for the one who practices love for the divine, they are ‘siddha, amrutha, truptha’, they do not experience any of these verbs. They are beyond these verbs. 

We act for fulfillment, and if we are fulfilled, then we don’t need to act or engage in these verbs. We are no longer dependent on the external. We are independent – dependent on the presence that lives in our hearts.