Hari
OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
The Narada Bhakti Sutra is our guide for a while… the
nature of Love (with the capital 'ell') and a full exploration of it. As
always, you are encouraged to seek out the full text from Chinmaya Publications
(links in side-bar); but for those who prefer e-readers, this version is recommended. Whilst awareness and interest can be
raised by these posts on AV-blog, they cannot substitute for a thorough reading
and contemplation...and practice!
Chapter
Six, Section Two - Obstacles to Practice.
Yes,
the Narada Bhakti Suutra is not merely a tome on the theory of Devotion - it
offers top tips too!
laekhanEe
icNta n kayaR inveidtaTmlaekvedzIlaTvat!.61.
Lokahaanau
chintaa na kaaryaa nivedita-aatma-loka-veda-shiilaatvaat ||61||
No worry or anxiety should be entertained at the
worldly losses, as it is the nature of a true devotee to constantly surrender
his limited self and all its secular and sacred activities to the Lord of his
heart.
Here's another quote with which many of you will be familiar;…"For life
is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They
do not sow or reap; they have no storehouse or barn, yet God feeds them. How
much more valuable are you than the birds! Who of you by worrying can add a
single hour to his lifespan?…" (Luke Ch 12:23-25)
Top tip number one, then, is surrender all concerns at the feet of
the Lord! Indeed, the suggestion is more along the lines of don't bother with
worry in the first place. This comes down to checking the attitude, as
discussed yesterday for Choose-day. Life, by it's very process, will present
challenges and hurdles for us to negotiate. If we have true bhakti in our
hearts, though, this processing ought to become much less harrowing and even be
welcomed, as these things are what hone our personality and resolve. The true
devotee sees the turn of the Universal Cogs/Lord's Work in everything that
takes place and knows that there is always choice entertained within these
events.
We are inclined to think in terms of heroism as diving fearlessly into battle, or risking our own life for others in an accident and such like.
We forget therefore that the essence of heroism is to keep smiling in the face of
everything and that every one of us has hero potential. Sorrow is something we
bring upon ourselves through not attuning the mind to the fact that everything,
ultimately, is for the good. Difficult to accept sometimes, but none the less
true.
It is very difficult for the novice in this philosophy to retain
composure such as this. Without yet having experienced the Truth Divine, what
incentive is there to keep the seeker motivated? Having theoretical
understanding of the Universal Consciousness is one thing, trusting and
believing it in times of challenge is another. Followers of jnaana-marg can
resort to the anchor, 'all sorrows are at mental level; I am not the mind nor
these sorrows; I am the knower of sorrows and the sorrows are not mine.' What
for the bhakta-marg though?
The bhakta may well have the easiest way of overcoming sorrows. Such
a one has already offered up themselves to the will of the Lord and thus
acceptance of the trials and tribulations is set in place by the nature of
devotion. The joy now is found by working through the strifes and offering these,
in turn, at the altar. Thus, the stresses and strains and worries are handed
over for the Lord to take care of.
The bhakta needs to be surrendered fully and believe that there is
no existence worth the having away from the Lord's presence. Sitting on the
platform beside the Lord, it is possible to look over one's life with an
objectivity and understand that the sorrows are not to be owned, but are mere
objects which come and go and we are thus witnesses only of sorrow, never
owners of it. This is the attitude of the bhakta, if well-cultivated, which
enables renunciation of the world and adoption of the Divine. If there is a
slip in the presence of this understanding and the bhakta for any moment
reclaims the sorrows as his own, it will be found that bit more difficult to
surrender again. Offer everything up to Naaraayana and make every effort not to
reclaim it!
Waste not your energy on matters anxious - or indeed excess joys -
for all are the Lord's play. Remain serene and know fulfilment.
