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. Looking in
from the outside, it can seem odd to us that there is no strict hierarchy among
the ranks of the Realised ones…
naiSt
te;u jaitiv*Aêpkulxni³yaid_aed>.72.
Naasti
teshu jaati-vidyaa-rupa-kula-dhana-kriya-adi-bhedaH ||72||
Among them, there are no distinctions based upon
caste, culture, beauty, family, wealth, or profession.
Among
the men of realisation in the various periods of history, whether Christ,
Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Vivekananda, Buddha or Shankara, whether Ramanuja or
Madhwa, among all these saintly masters there would have been no distinctions
ever entertained by them. They would see only Love, with no division or
prejudice such as we regularly face in our pluralistic world. How often in each
day do we hear words of opposition? It is ever there, within families
(jealousies and possessiveness), within communities (boundaries…), within
nations (borders and cultures). We are constantly faced with 'the different'
and for most, the easiest way of dealing with those perceived differences is to
be spiteful, angry, violent.
This
is the nature of Mankind's behaviour in the world perceived as being made up of
many separate components and whilst each person is identified and locked into
their perception of themselves according to the BMI, the ego-self. Once a
person begins the climb to the more tranquil heights of philosophical
understanding, though, these distinctions start to drop away and, instead, the
things which unite all the items and beings of the world become more obvious.
Gradually, at the culmination of such practice, in the state of Realisation, it
is found that there are no separations after all; it is discovered that All are
One and equal. How so?
ytStdIya>.73.
yatastadiiyaaH
||73||
For they are of His own nature Divine.
On
reaching a clear understanding of the nature of Divinity, one does oneself take
on that nature. A Bhakta now recognises all others as expressions of The Lord -
indeed as extensions of his or herself. To the Sant-Bhakta, the One Lord alone
is ever-present whether he chooses to play among the poverty-stricken, or with
the artists, scientists… or other saints and sages.
From
their standpoint, the whole universe is an expression of the One Reality and,
therefore, whatever the declarations of the Great Ones, irrespective of the
faiths they advocated or the language they spoke and the style in which they
presented the concepts - they all thundered the One Truth that there was, is
and ever will be but One Self.
Distinctions
exist only for those who have not reached the peaks of philosophical
understanding. The truly great realise that all belong to That and exist in
That alone.
Thus,
among those supreme devotees, there are no distinctions as to which of them is
possibly a greater man of Realisation; all of them belong to That because each
saw only That. Questions of 'who is the greatest bhakta' exists not among those
very men… but yet may be asked by those of us who fall short and who have yet
to perceive the Unity of All.
