|| Shri Hari ||
Liberation and Devotion
(Mukti aur Bhakti)
continued.....
As long as there is a feeling of mine-ness with the body, there is importance given to sense pleasures, there is attraction and passion,till then love of God will not manifest.When sense enjoyments are renounced outwardly, but within there is subtle attraction towards these, this is called "rasbuddhi". As long as there is "rasbuddhi", till then there remains dependency on sense enjoyments and prosperity (hoarding, accumulating things). When this "rasbuddhi" goes away, then there is no longer any dependency, and one becomes independent. This independence, this freedom is called 'Mukti". He who was at one time dependent on nature"prakrutishth", becomes"swasth" when he is no longer dependent. Even when this "rasbuddhi" goes away, then too past impressions (memory) of I-ness remains. But to wipe out this subtle egoism (sense of I-ness), one does not need to make any effort. While doing spiritual practices, there remains an insistence in one's own spiritual practice and opinions. On attaining "siddh" (perfected) state, there remains no insistence,but there remains importance and reverence of the spiritual practice that leads to his accomplishments.
This insistence on the spiritual practice, is the subtle egoism, due to which there are differences of opinion between the various philosophers. However on attaining love, even the tinge of egoism that is present, that too will go away and "jeev" will become united with the Supreme Being with ease.
In Jnanayog, after liberation one gains love, but in "bhakti yog" (path of devotion and love) love is attained straight away. A follower of "Jnanayog" who has past impressions of "bhakti",and who does not regard liberation as the best of all, is not satisfied on attaining liberation. Therefore after attaining
liberation, such sadhaks attain love of God. However, the aspirant who do not have past impressions and influence of devotion, and who regard liberation itself as the best of all, he remains always liberated, i.e. it is difficult for him to attain love of God. Having an insistence on ones own opinion and pride, these two are obstacles in the path of love.
Just as an astronaut, is able to break out of the earth's magnetic field, with his powerful rocket and enter the moons magnetic field, i.e. the rocket gravitates towards the moon.In the same way when the worldly relish subsides, then the "sadhak" gets out of the world's magnetic field, and then he automatically gravitates towards God. Liberation (mukti) is being free from the worldly attractions, and attraction for God is "bhakti" (love and devotion of God). In liberation there is constant bliss and in "Bhakti", there is ever increasing and infinite bliss.
Question - All differences arise due to egoism (sense of I-ness), therefore when egoism perishes, then how can there be separateness in the lover and the beloved?
Answer - In Essence,there is not the slightest bit of separation between the lover and the beloved. The separation between the lover and the beloved are only conjured for the purpose of "divine play" (lila).
"The duality before enlightenment is due to attachment. However for the devotee,on attaining enlightenment,the dualism is even more blissful than monism.The real essence is monism only, but for the purpose of love, devotion and worship, there is dualism. If there is such devotion, then that devotion is hundred times better than liberation.
The point is that before the sense of I-ness is wiped out, the dualism is binding, but after the egoism is wiped out, dualism is for love. In Jnana (knowledge) the dualism becomes monism.i.e. after being two, they become one and in "bhakti", devotion, the monism becomes dualism, i.e. after being one, they become two. When "jeev" and "Brahma" become one, then there is knowledge, and when the one "Brahm" takes on two forms, then there is devotion.
For the divine play of love,that monistic (non dualistic) Essence, Shri Krishna and Shriji - manifest in two forms. Of the two,who is the lover and who is the beloved,one does not come to know; because both are lovers and both
are beloved ! On becoming liberated, the loving devotee, becomes merged with Shriji, that is, his status becomes like Shriji's. The point is the attraction that God has for Shriji and that Shriji has for God, the same attraction God has for His devotees and the devotees have for God.
Narayana ! Narayana !! Narayana !!!
From Book in Hindi "Jin Khoja tin Paayiyaa" by Swami Ramsukhdasji
(Mukti aur Bhakti)