In the culture of protesting there is a saying ‘silence equals death’. This is in regards to a revolution. But in terms of evolution, ‘silence equals joy’. When the experiences, the equipment and the ego is silenced, that is not death, it is joy. There is no more need to ‘do’. ‘Silence is joy’ is indicative that divinity is in our heart. ‘Doing’ tends to be external and ‘not doing’ tends to be internal. Divinity is not just in your heart but divinity is ‘you’. Narada Bhakti Sutra is guiding us to feel everything that we are looking for is inside of us, is us! 

Lakshyas for Sutras 41-50:

Sutra 41: Godliness. This is where Rishi Narada is sharing that it is God who expresses through the great.

Sutra 42: Exert. One is to exert so that the great come to us. We take one step towards them, and they take ten steps towards us. It is our svakrupa that starts to trigger Acharya krupa and so on. But if we are not working hard and smart, then it means that we are not serious about feeling divine. 

Sutra 43: Influenced. Dussanga influences us,even though we think we are more powerful than negative company. Another word is ‘pushed’ because negative company pushes us.

Sutra 44: Fall. If someone pushes us, the propensity to fall is much higher.

Sutra 45: Crash. Negative company starts off small, we keep getting pushed, we keep falling until we crash. 

Sutra 46: Crosses. A very special section of Narada Bhakti Sutra starts in Sutra 46, where Rishi Narada is talking to himself on who crosses Maya. He shares 12 practices that help one to cross over dejection, anxiety and stress.

Sutra 47: Secured. The one who is secured is the one who crosses. There are many practices prescribed such as being by oneself, not being attached, which can only manifest when one is secure.

Sutra 48: Renounced. One renounces their results, actions and doership. One who is secure crosses, but deeper than that is one who is renounced. 

Sutra 49: Saved. After Rishi Narada states the 12 disciplines, the one who follows through is saved (from drowning in meaninglessness). 

Sutra 50: Savior. The one who is saved becomes a savior. The guide is a distinguished student. A student has 9 qualities, a guide has 9 plus 7 qualities. One of the qualities of a guide is that they are empathetic (dayaalu). They know the struggles of a student, so they act out of fulfillment to help such students. 

Recap:

Sutra 53: Rishi Narada brings the visualization of a paatra (container – in terms of a seeker, is one who has a holding power. They are able to hold their mind from being annoyed and distracted. They are able to hold the Brahmakara vritti. Brahmakara means an expression of infinity, vritti means thought – Brahmakara vritti is ‘Aham Brahmaasmi’. When one has the sentiment ‘I divinity am’ , the more one can hold that, the more this becomes our reality. One develops this holding power by habit. 

Sutra 54: Rahitam means without. Translation – without gunas, without kaamana, that which is comprehensively growing (pratikshana vardhamaanam), without breakage (avicchinnam), subtlest (sukshma-taram), that which is natural and of one’s own experience (anubhava-rupam). 

When one crosses over Maya, one is saved, one is the savior. What does this feel like? Rishi Narada has already stated that it is indescribable. But we need words to hold on to , to be saved. Without the access to our shastras, our holding would be so little! Rishi Narada is trying to help us, so that we can feel what it feels like to be saved. This joy is not contextual. Sometimes when our context is smooth we feel like we are enlightened, but as soon as that context changes we fall! But this joy is not contextual, one feels Narayanamaya (one feels Bhagavan Narayana in all – is all). Bhakta Prahlada knew that and we are trying to train in the same way. 

Pujya Swami Chinmayananda has written “It is of the nature of constantly becoming meaning there is nothing other than it to disturb the experience. It is a constant and continuous state of pure and simple ‘Be’. So continuously to ‘Be’ is the fulfilment of the highest Love – pure Existence. Try! Just ‘Be’ ! Do not ‘be-come’. But just ‘Be’. When this ‘Be-ness’ comes out to express as you, that is the ‘becoming’. Stop it and just ‘Be’. That is the state of the highest love, because love is identification – total surrender. Because you have totally identified with It, you have all-surrendered to Him – you have completely become one with it. Therefore – (anubhava)- just ‘Be’.”

This Class:

Rishi Narada is trying to make the impossible possible. He is using the finite to describe the infinite. For this we should be humble and inspired. 

Sutra 55: tat prāpya tad evāvalokayati tad eva śṛṇoti tad eva bhāṣayati tad eva cintayati

Translation: Tad-divinity, praapya – rediscovering you are divinity , eva- alone, avalokayati – in every field of experience there is only divinity , śṛṇoti – all one listens to or hears is divinity, 

Bhāṣayati – all one speaks is divinity, cintayati – all one thinks is divinity. 

Divinity can be in our equipments, but the more immersive experience is when our equipments are in divinity. This verse is describing equipments that are in divinity (whether it’s the mouth, ear or brain). This Sutra is sharing that there is no more duality. Eva means alone or oneness. Every one of our experiences is based on a subject engaging with an object. No duality means there is no object, there is only the subject. One is just ‘be-ing’, the word for this is bhaava. A practical way to develop our equipments being in divinity is by holding on to the Brahmakara vritti. Everyone of us should have a strong relationship with this vedic mantra “aham Brahmāsmi”. 

From Chandogya Upanishad: 

yo vai bhūmā tadamṛtam

That which is infinite is beyond death/change.

yat alpaṁ tat martyam

That which is small/finite is dying/changing.

For the one who is in divinity, that never changes. For the one who has a separate relationship to divinity (one’s equipments occasionally think and speak about divinity), that may die away and change. 

Sutra 56: gauṇi tridhā, guṇa bhedāt ārtādi-bhedādvā

Gauṇi means lower or secondary, implication is, now Rishi Narada has already stated the primary in reference to the experience of Bhakti and now He is going into the tactile framework. Tridhā means that which has three rungs, guṇa bhedāt means the rungs are differentiated based on the gunas, these gunas relates to ārtā etc. The word ārtā comes in Bhagavad Gita chapter 7 in reference to the types of bhaktas. Our vasanas are the deepest facet of who we are. This gets expressed as the gunas and it is the gunas that facilitate the type of bhakta we are. Our bhakti pertains to how we relate to Bhagavan. If Bhagavan is our only relative, then our bhakti is incredible. 

The one whose vasanas express as ‘tama’, their relationship with Bhagavan is in reference to aarta (they relate to Bhagavan to come out of pain/adversity). A classical example of an aarta bhakta is Devi Draupadi. If our vasanas express as ‘raja’ (aggressiveness), then our relationship with Bhagavan is not for aarta but artha (in this case our relationship with bhagavan is to come into prosperity. A classical example of an artha bhakta is Sugriva. If our vasanas express as ‘sattva’ (filled with quietness), then our relationship with Bhagavan is to come into Jnana, meaning that we are a jignaasa (desire is for jnana). In this case we pray to Bhagavan for Bhagavan. The classical example of this type of bhakta is Raja Janaka. Past sattva is ‘atita’ (one who is beyond). They are not aarta or artha or jignaasa, they are a jnaani. Really they are Bhagavan, and the reason is because they have no vasanas (hence no gunas or bhakti, because they are Bhagavan). Aneesha means one who has no God, and the only one who does not have a God is God! We have to keep climbing from thinking about adversity, thinking about prosperity, thinking about knowing to ‘be-ing’.