Class Notes by Bhargavi
Narada Bhakti Sutra is a course in hydrating our thirst for love. Rishi Narada is our farmer and he is an expression of Bhagavan Krishna. In Chapter 10, v26 of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna shares that Rishi Narada is a greater being than him among the subset of deva rishis and therefore Bhagavan says He himself is Rishi Narada.
Sutra 22: In this sutra, it is clarified that the gopis are like Raja rishis, they could see that Bhagavan Krishna is not an ordinary being.
Sutra 23: Rishi Narada is describing the difference between love and lust. Anyone who loves to try to get, that is what lust is. In the language of knowledge, trying to get something is equivalent to trying to create joy. This is a strong expression of ignorance. Swami Chinmayananda writes, “In lust there is a total dependence upon the form and the nature of the beloved and the lusty must consider his beloved, victim as something entirely separate from himself as entirely another. Thus in lust, there is a sense of separateness and naturally it must endure all the consequences of sufferings. In love there is always the bliss of oneness and the rewarding sense of fulfillment”.
Sutra 24: Rishi Narada is encouraging us to love (kripa). Kripa can be defined as kindness. Kindness is to live to make others happy. If one wants to grow out of lust and into love, the reason you live is not to get, but to give.
Sutra 25: Sātu karma-jnāna-yogebhyo’ pyadhikatarā
The supreme bhakti (Anuraga= authentic and deep love) is higher (more impactful) than karma, Jnana and Raja yoga/Hatha yoga.
Bhakti yoga is considered the best because in Bhakti yoga, Bhagavan is always in front of you. In other yogas, sometimes Bhagavan is not directly in front of us. This is often compared to being a kitten. The mother cat holds the kitten in its mouth, and the kitten always keeps the cat in its radar.
Sutra 26: phala- rūpatvāt
This Bhakti is of the nature of the result/fruit
In Upadesha Sara, Sri Ramana puts the most emphasis on Bhakti, right in the center (verse 10). In all the yogas, the ends is to be one with Bhagavan. All of the yogas have a vision of disidentifying with one’s vasanas and rise to Aum! In Shrimad Bhagavatam, the ninth section, only focuses on vasanas and the final practice being vasana nasha and the focus of section ten is, Bhagavan Krishna being born. Bhagavan Krishna’s birth is the ends. And the means that is most clear for that is Bhakti yoga.
Sutra 27: Isvarasyāpi-abhimāna-dvesitvāt dainya-priyatvācca
Divine has a dislike for arrogance/ego. In contrast, has a liking for meekness or humility.
Sometimes, in Karma, Raja and Jnana yoga, there is a focus on self effort. In this pursuit, the person feels like they are the ones who are putting in that effort. That self effort is a Sattvic expression of selfishness. I, am the cause of how evolved I am. Rishi Narada shares he has a dislike for it because this keeps us away from Bhagavan. He does have a liking for being meek where one feels their evolution is not on account of their effort, but rather Bhagavan’s kripa.
Sutra 28: tasyāh jnānam-eva sādhanamityeke
In this and upcoming sutras, Rishi Narada shares how other teachers compare means (or yogas). Some teachers share that it is only through knowledge, people can cultivate Bhakti (authentic and deep love, not ritualism).
Before you love any entity, you have to know some details about that entity. People like Nachiketa and Rishika Andal were born with such purity that even little bit of knowing was sufficient. Sri Nisargadatta, who was a beedi maker, got completely transformed in a short period of time, when his teacher came and told him that he is not the body but the Infinite. For us, we have to know before we love. Hence, we learn Vedanta in Ramayana, Vedanta in Bhagavatam, and so on…
Sutra 29: anyonyāsrayatvam iti anye
Other teachers share that there is a mutual relationship between knowing and loving. You don’t just have to know, you can know and love simultaneously rather than sequentially.
In Acharya Sankara’s Vivekachudamani, he compares a bird’s wings to Viveka and Vairagya. Just like the birds have a system of flapping their wings, Viveka and Vairagya have a certain coordination. They fuel each other. The more you know Bhagavan, the more you love Bhagavan and vice versa. This sutra is included so people don’t get trapped into thinking that they first have to know and then love. This is to be practiced simultaneously. When you have clarity about the ends, you have the conviction that your responsibilities are meaningful. If any of us feel bored with our responsibilities, we don’t have enough clarity about purpose of our life. Jāmabavan reminded Lord Hanuman that he was born for Rāma kāja and he just started to grow physically, mentally and intellectually and that commences Sundarakānda.
Sutra 30: svayam phala- rūpateti brahma-kumārāh
Rishi Narada shares that Bhakti is its own fruit. This is shared by Bhagavan’s child, Who is himself Rishi Narada (but some others state that this child is the Sanata Kumaras). For our commentary, we will assume it is Rishi Narada who is sharing that Bhakti is the way to Bhakti.
Bhakti is the means and Bhakti is the ends. This is the most efficient yoga, path. For us who are lacking in time, Bhatki is most efficient. Us being in this class, is a gift we are giving ourselves.
Sutra 31: rāja-grha-bhojanādisu tathaiva drstatvāt
Because it is seen demonstrated as such in the examples of palace and dinner. If you want to make it to the leader’s home, you have to have a relationship with that leader for them to invite you.
By this, Rishi Narada is trying to teach us that we have to be active to practice Bhakti. You can’t just know the leader and the dinner, you have to have a relationship with the leader, you have to eat dinner for you to have that full experience.
Sutra 32: na tena rāja-paritosah ksudhā-santirvā
Without Bhakti, you cannot be close to the leader and the leader will never be satisfied with you. Similarly, without Bhakti, your hunger will not be appeased.
The implication is that without developing an active relationship with Bhagavan, then one cannot have the experience of being free. In the flow of Kripa, at the top is Bhagavan’s kripa and at the bottom is sva kripa. If you don’t grace yourself, you will not have Bhagavan’s kripa. God helps those who help themselves. Once you start putting in the effort of cultivating Bhakti, you will find that this is effortless.
Sutra 33: tasmāt saiva grāhyā mumuksubhih
Therefore, the Bhatki being referred to here, can only be felt by those who want to be free.
Gurudev, in his commentary, writes, that when one starts to honestly feel that they are limited, they have tried everything in life and still don’t feel complete, in that honesty, their intensity for freedom grows. He says, “The more one realizes one’s own hapless state in life, the more one would seek a savior. It is lack of realization of the dire state of his existence that drives man to seek his fulfillment in the world of sense objects”.
If we are not happy enough, Bhakti is the way to be happy enough, to be happiness!
Review of Sutras 20-30 and the individual laskshas for these sutras:
Sutra 20: Personal
Sutra 21: Spiritual-Gopis relationship with Bhagavan (not just emotional)
Sutra 22: Complete- Gopis experienced a completeness
Sutra 23: Incomplete- When we are in a relationship without love, we will feel incomplete
Sutra 24: Attachment- relationship where we are trying to get rather than to give, there is attachment
Sutra 25: Constant- In Bhakti yoga, Bhagavan is a constant
Sutra 26: Result- Bhakti is the means and the ends
Sutra 27: Acknowledgement- Your evolution is not because of your self effort only, it is because of lots of Grace. That makes you meek rather than arrogant
Sutra 28: Know- the more you know Bhagavan, the more you can’t help but love Bhagavan
Sutra 29: Feel- As you come to know Bhagavan, simultaneously feel Bhagavan
Sutra 30: Efficient- The more efficient sadhana is Bhakti