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
Seven; Section 2 - The Glory of The Sage; Glory of the Perfected. After
declaring the absorbed nature of a Bhakta, we are advised that this an occasion
for rejoicing;
maedNte
iptraE n&TyiNt devta> snawa cey< _aU_aRvit .71.
Modante
pitarau nRtyanti devataaH sanaathaa cheyam bhuurbhavati ||71||
The past generations rejoice in their fulfilment, the
divine beings in Heaven dance in joy, and this earth itself becomes endowed
with a spiritual saviour.
We
saw earlier that the presence of a truly holy person lends a sacredness to
every place they enter and the hearts of those who encounter them. Here, we are
told that the very cosmos is graced and joyful for the sacred state of the
Completed Bhakta. When a devotee rises to the level where his heart overflows
with Love, when his body shivers in joyous horripulation and when he is
constantly moved to blissful tears, then all the ancestors, in all the lokas,
rejoice; the gods and goddesses dance with the glory.
This
indicates that time itself becomes irrelevant to the Bhakta. Past and present
all roll into the now. All the jiivas which had gone before and all which wait
to travel come together to celebrate the union with the Higher which the Bhakta
has achieved. What is more, those of us on this planet, when we encounter such
a noble being, can count our blessings; in such a one we have living example of
the possibilities of spirit.
What
is more, all the battle with right and wrong, good and evil, the trials and
tribulations which we face in life are relieved somewhat by the presence of
such a personage. Still further, if we take up even one small part of what they
demonstrate is possible, we too may find our load is lifted, at least to the
level whereby we carry it more readily, shed the unnecessary more easily and
may even be able to share the load of others as we grow stronger in our own
way. This being the case, we can call such a saint, this noble and Realised
person, a saviour to us. For each of us, the true saviour is our will - but the
will must be tickled into action and that comes from examples of others who
have attained such brilliance.
When
fully awakened from a dream, we are liberated of all the concerns of that dream
instantly and without regret. In the same way, the masters of spirit
re-discover the Truth of Self and this is considered as mukti - liberation.
Reaching that state, it is impossible for the living master to remain silent
about the glory of that experience. He (or she) moves about in the world
singing the joys of Realisation in attempt to convey it to others and in the
hope of inspiring them. The become the very light about which they sing and it
becomes the only purpose for seeing out the remainder of existence on the
earthly plane.
These
are the prophets, the saints, the sages, who bring about a moral balance in
Mankind, an ethical purity which can be engendered by those who are aware to it
and thus redress some of the aches and sorrows of this existence.
