Self-enquiry as taught by Sri Bhagwan is enough

[eranilkumarsinha]

I am a slave of My devotees. I am as it were without freedom. For My heart is in the grip of the devotee; for, such is My love of the devotee.

                                                                         Bhagavata, S.K. 9-63



O Arjuna, the greatest of the Bharata race ! Four kinds of pious men adore Me. They are the distressed one, the knowledge-seeker, the wealth seeker, and the knower.

                                                                      Verse 7-16, Srimad Bhagavad Gita


Among them, the knower ( or the man of wisdom ), ever-communing and single-minded in devotion, is the best. I am indeed supremely dear to such a knower, and he in turn is dear to Me.

                                                                         Verse  7-17, Srimad Bhagavad Gita
( This Verse has been selected and included by Sri Bhagwan in ‘The Song Celestial’. )


While all of them are certainly noble, the knower I cherish as very self-such is My view. For, ever in union with Me, he is established in the conviction that I am his highest goal.

                                                                         Verse  7-18, Srimad Bhagavad Gita


Lord says that knower among them is the best devotee. Such a devotee feels ‘God as his own’ and God is in the grip of such a devotee too and loves him as His own, conveying the sense that they are One. The Bhakta of this type is called a Jnani in this Verse. Such a Bhakta seeks nothing from God, not even Realization. In Verse 7-17, the Great Lord says, “ eka-bhaktir visisyate “. The one ever-communing, single-minded in devotion is the best. It is as if Sri Bhagwan is Himself addressing the great warrior Arjuna. Isn’t it ?

Thank you,
    Anil   


 

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Ardent one pointed devotion to God is extolled by Sri Bhagavan as
an equally effective technique like self inquiry.

Q:  If what is destined to happen will happen, is there any use in
prayer or effort or should we just remain idle?

Sri Bhagavan:  There are only two ways to conquer destiny or be
independent of it.  One is to inquire for whom is this destiny and discover that only the ego is bound by destiny and not the Self,
and that the ego is non-existent. The other way is to kill the ego
by completely surrendering to the Lord, by realizing that one's
helplessness and saying all the time, "Not I but thou, O Lord",
and giving up the sense of "I" and "mine" and leaving it to the
Lord to do what he likes with you.  Surrender can never be regarded as complete so long as the devotee wants this or that from the Lord.  True surrender is love of God for the sake of love and nothing
else, not even for the sake of moksha or liberation.  In other words,
complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny,
whether you achieve this effacement through self inquiry or through bhakti marga.

[Day by Day with Sri Bhagavan, Devaraja Mudaliar].

Saint Manikkavachagar says:  "See He is caught in my net of bhakti!"



Arunachala Siva.   

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

Ji.Yes. ‘Eka-bhaktir visisyate.’ Ardent, one-pointed, ever-communing and single-minded Bhakti is as infallible as the Straight Path of Atma-Vichara. Nay, Sri Bhagwan has said that ‘Eka-bhaktir’ and Atma-Vichara are one and the same. One is merged into the Self and the other is ever One with God, or the Guru. May I say that the Self of Vichara is the God of Bhakti ?

‘Not I but Thou, O Lord ! After complete surrender, there is no ‘I’, only Be-ing is. ‘Only Thou , O Lord !

Saint Sri Manikkavachagar: See. He is caught in my net of Bhakti.

Such is the greatness of Bhakti.

Dear sir, will you kindly give us the complete verse ? 

“ Sa tu karmajnanyogebhyah api adhiktara.’
( Parabhakti is better than action, Jnana and Yoga. )
Verse-25, Narad-Bhakti Sutra

Thank you so much sir.

Regards,
  Anil     

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

This is a long poem in Tiruvachakam, called Tiru Anda Pahuthi, which describes the formation of universe, and man's ways to reach Siva.
It runs to 182 lines.

A few lines before the line I quoted are:

See, He is Primordial, He is the Ancient,
See, He is not seen by Brahma and Vishnu,  He is the High Master,
See, He is wondrous, He is also many,
See, He is beyond words,
See, He is beyond our mind, where the mind cannot reach,
See He is caught in the net of bhakti....



Arunachala Siva.     

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear sir,

Thank you so much for citing seven golden lines from Tiruvachakam.

Sri Bhagwan spoke very highly of Tiruvachakam and often cited Its Verses. Is an English translation of the same available ?

Regards,
   Anil

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

There is an English translation by Dr. G.U. Pope written in 1900
and published by Clarendon Press, U.K.  This book may not be
available now.  But you can read it in www.Shaivam.org.  This
web gives many Tamizh Saiva scriptures and some English translations.  You can see for Tirumurai 8 and see G.U. Pope's
translations.  It runs to about 100 pages and you can down load
it.  The English is Victorian English.  And in some places, the translations are not accurate.  However, it is the best translation in English so far.



Arunachala Siva.     

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

Thank you so much for giving the invaluable information regarding the Tiruvachakam.
I  read Sri Bhagwan’s narration of how the Tiruvachakam was sung by the Saint Sri Manikkavachagar and inked by Lord Shiva Himself. The Mahabharata is also said to be composed in the similar way. Maharshi Sri Vyasa composed the Verses which were inked by Lord Ganesha Himself. Whenever I read a citation from this Great Work (Tiruvachakam), particularly from Sri Bhagwan, I experienced a stirring. Hence, I always wished to study this Sublime Work.

Dear sir, question of application of Advaita does not arise in complete surrender, for, after complete surrender, only the Guru or God remains.  Then there is neither ‘I’ nor ‘mine’. Only Thou, O Lord !

Regards,
  Anil   

[eranilkumarsinha]

As snow in water, let me melt as love in Thee who art love Itself, Oh Arunachala !

                                                        Verse-101, Akshara Mana Malai


Sa twasmin param premrupa //

                          S-2, Narad-Bhaktisutra

That Bhakti is Supreme Love for God.


Amritswarupa  cha //

                          S-3, Narad-Bhaktisutra

This Bhakti is not only premrupa but is also ‘Amritswarupa’.


So, the Bhakti is Pure Love for the Lord and tastes like ‘Nectar’.



The man of spiritual insight, established in same-sightedness, sees the Self as residing in all beings and all beings as resting in the Self.
                                                                          V-29, Srimad Bhagavad Gita

He who sees Me in all beings, and all beings in Me- to him I am never lost, nor he to Me.

                                                                            V-30, Sri Mad Bhagavad Gita

 In the above cited two Verses from Sri Mad Bhagavad Gita, it is important to note that in  Verse-29  the devotee is said to see the Self in all and all in this Self. But in the very next Verse (30)  the Self is replaced by ‘I’, the Supreme Lord, indicating that the Self is verily the God, that there is a basic unity of both.

The above two Verses also teach the highest principle of ethics. To do towards the others as for one’s own self. ‘Seeing the Self in all and all in the Self’ will certainly drive away the self-centredness. Objective consciousness then is bound to diminish resulting in the expansion of the subjective consciousness. The substantiality of the shadow of a tree is subordinated by the substantiality of the presence of the tree itself. One Self  then becomes a matter of experience.

Thank you,
    Anil
         

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Yes.   Sri Bhagavan has expressed the same idea in Sri Arunachala
Pancharatnam, Verse 5:

He, who, with Heart to You surrendered,
Beholds for ever you alone,
Sees all things as forms of You,
And loves and serves them as none other
Than the Self, O Aruna Hill,
Triumphs because he is immersed
In You, whose being is pure bliss.

[Tr: Prof. K. Swaminathan}



Arunachala Siva. 

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

Srimad Bhagavad Gita is said to be the Essence of the Upanishads. Sri Bhagwan is that Essence Embodied and is, therefore, the Final Authority.

The Five Verses of Sri Arunachala Pancharatnam are the most sublime Verses I have ever read. As I understand, the first Verse is the invocation for the Grace and Compassion  of Sri Arunachala, in the second Verse the Self is symbolized by Sri Arunachala as the Supreme Truth who is at the Core of all existence- jivas as well as the jagat, the third Verse deals with the Path of Atma-Vichara or the Self-enquiry, the fourth Verse deals with the Path of Yoga, and the fifth and the final Verse deals with the Path of Bhakti culminating in ‘Eka-Bhakti’- when the devotee sees all things as His forms and loves and serves them as none other than the Self.

Thank you so much sir.

Regards,
  Anil       

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Yes. The first verse is Arunachala's Swarupa Lakshanam.  The second
verse is Its Atma Lakshanam.  The third verse is on self inquiry.
The fourth is on dhayna/yoga marga.  The fifth is karma and bhakti
marga.  These verses were first written by Sri Bhagavan in Sanskrit
and then in Tamizh.



Arunachala Siva.

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,       

Will you kindly explain ‘Swarupa Lakshanam’ and ‘Atma Lakshanam’ as revealed in the Verse-1 and Verse-2 of Sri Arunachala Pancharatnam ? In Verse-5, Sri Bhagwan says that “… sees all things as forms of You; and loves and serves them as none  other than the Self, O Arunachala ! “ which certainly implies ‘Parabhakti’ as well as ‘nishkamya karma’. 

Thank you so much sir.

Regards,
  Anil

[eranilkumarsinha]

Let your mind be absorbed in Me. Be devoted to Me, sacrifice unto Me, and bow down to Me. Thus, having Me as your highest goal, and united with Me in mind, you shall come to Me alone.
                                      Verse. 9-34, Srimad Bhagvad Gita

Sri Bhagwan says ( page 143, GVK, edited by Sri David Godman ) that whenever in the Gita it is said, ‘ serve Me, surrender to Me, I am everything ‘, it relates to the Atma-swarupa and not to the form wearing sankha, charka, gada, and four arms. The references made by all mahatmas to ‘I’ are to that Atma-swarupa and not to the body.

We must also remember that whenever Sri Bhagwan referred to ‘I’, It was to the ‘Atma-swarupa’ and not to His body.


Those who have drunk deeply of devotion through a mind that has become ripe through devotion will, as the reward for their devotion, crave only surging, supreme devotion (parabhakti), the ever-fresh ambrosia of devotion itself.
                                                                        V. 720, GVK, edited by Sri David Godman


When you investigate you find that both parabhakti (supreme devotion ) and jnana are identical in revealing swarupa. To claim that, out of these two, one is but the means to the other is due to not knowing the real nature of either.
                                                                         V. 722, GVK, edited by Sri David Godman
       
Sri Muruganar says in his commentary on the above Verses that since parabhakti is only the loss of the ego, this state is indeed jnana-swarupa.

Sri Bhagwan : To remain, through the power of contemplation, in the state of pure being, beyond thought, is the essential nature of supreme bhakti. ( p-314, GVK )

So, Supreme Bhakti is to remain in the state of ‘Pure Being’, beyond thought. Jnana is to merge into and abide as the Self, beyond thought. And the Self is the Pure Being. Sri Bhagwan said to Sri Dilip Kumar Roy, the famous musician in the Aurbindo Ashram, that Bhakti is the mother of Jnana but at the same time cautioned Sri Kanappa, a blind devotee against ‘devotional emotion’ as mentioned in the GVK edited by Sri Godman on page314,315. The contradictory advice given to two devotees should be understood in the light of Sri Bhagwan’s Statement that Parabhakti is to remain in the State of Pure Being.

Thank you,
   Anil

   

[Subramanian.R]

Dear Anil,

Swarupa Lakshanam  - The characteristics of the Self.  It is an ocean
of grace.  It is like the sun which swallows all the darkness.  It is again like the sun which makes the lotus blossom.

Atma Lakshanam - The Self is only the one without a second.  The
mind, the ego, i.e. the jivas rise from It, are sustained by It and are
dissolved in It.  It is the Heart.  From the Heart, the ego rises, it is sustained by the Heart and finally gets dissolved by the Heart.   

Arunachala is Swarupam, its characteristics.

Arunachala is Atma.



Arunachala Siva.

[eranilkumarsinha]

Dear Sri Subramanian Sir,

Ji. Yes. This is a very nice explanation. Sri Arunachala is Swaruupam. Sri Arunachala confers 'Knowledge of Swarupam' to whoever meditates on Him in the heart.Sri Arunachala is Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss, or, Swarupam.

Sri Arunachala is the Self, the Atman who dances in the hearts as 'I'. Heart is His Name. Sri Arunachala is Atma Swarupam.

Thank you so much sir.

Regards,
  Anil