Bhakti higher than Moksha

Class notes | January 6, 2019

Lord Shiva is the original thinker of the Ramayana. He taught the Ramayana to Lomaharsha Rishi, who passed on this scripture to Rishi Bushundi, a crow, who in turn taught this to Garuda-ji, the vehicle of Bhagavan Vishnu. However, at the end of Ramayana, when Devi Parvati asked Lord Shiva how He knew all the details of Ramayana, He told her that He learned the details when Rishi Bushundi was teaching Garuda-ji. This shows how egoless Lord Shiva was, and did not mind listening to Ramayana again and again as He was always ready to learn.

Rishi Bushundi would engage in different sadhanas throughout the day under different kinds of trees:

• dhyana or contemplation in the morning under the Peepal tree,
• japa or chanting later in the morning under the Plaksha tree
• smarana later in the day under the Mango tree
• katha of Bhagavan in the night under the Banyan tree while all other birds gathered to listen

He engaged in sadhana all day with only the intensity changing, from contemplation to katha.

Vedanta: Even we should engage in sadhanas throughout the day without making excuses. We should also follow the same order of sadhanas, from nidhidhyasana in the morning to shravana in the night. Listening to Bhagavan’s katha in the night, sleeping with that thought, carrying it until morning and starting a new day is the right way to begin the day. The sadhanas we engage in first thing in the morning will dictate our attitude the rest of the day. If we see all work as sadhana, then work becomes worship.

Binu satasanga na hari katha tehi binu moha na bhaga

This is from a powerful doha highlighting the importance of satsanga. Without satsanga, there is no remembering Bhagavan. If we cannot bring Bhagavan into our lives, then moha cannot run away. The icon for moha in Ramayana is Ravana. With katha, moha runs away.

Someone who is suffering from confusion is dependent in life. More confusion, more dependence. Less confusion, less dependence and more independence. Through satsanga, through katha, we move from mumukshutvam to moksha, wanting to know God to wanting to be independently joyous. A person who doesn’t have mumukshutvam, two distinct signs in their lives are — a lot of blame and a lot of regret, which become priority instead of freedom.

What stops us from experiencing our true nature — Existence, Awareness, Joy? Our excuse is MAYA. Ma = Not, Yah = is present. That which is not, is Maya. So we are using an excuse that is not even real. But why is there Maya if there is only Sat, Chit, Ananda?

Bhagavan uses Maya to intensify our love. We experience this confusion about happiness out of Bhagavan’s compassion. Bhagavan makes us confused to erase all doubts and any distance between us and Himself, so that in the end we are enlightened, just like Prince Arjuna was at the end of Bhagavad Gita. If Maya is making me forget who I am, it is because Bhagavan Himself is facilitating this Maya to bring us closer to Him.

At a more practical level, Maya is the mind that creates the multiplicity in spite of the oneness. It is the mind that doubts that our nature is ananda. As Maya is run by Bhagavan, the Mayapati, we have to make the mind the dasi of Bhagavan, the server of God by going from tree to tree like Rishi Bushundi, and engaging in different sadhanas — from satsanga to katha to moksha.

A person who is engaged in the pursuit of freedom, and not caught up in blaming and regretting, is never shaken. If we use our mind to serve God, we will know we are less shaken. But what shakes us in life? Chinta or worry burns a body that is alive just like “chita” or pyre burns a body that is dead. So a person who is shaken, worries constantly as his mind is not engaged in satsanga, katha, moksha. If we have knowledge & clarity then there is never maya. Knowledge is like the sun who has never seen darkness. If we are living the Vedanta in Ramayana, then there is only the sun, only knowledge. Bhagavan Rama is called suryavansha, the epitome of the sun. So there is no darkness, there is no Maya.

Our Creator cannot tolerate ego nor pride. He uses Maya to break our ego, to erase our pride. Every time we face hardships in life, it is nothing personal against us, but something personal against our ego. He uses Maya solely out of compassion for us. Ramayana did not happen once, but happens again and again and again as our Creator comes each time to help us erase our egos. When a person loves Bhagavan, Joy, the way Rishi Bushundi did, when someone makes Moksha the sole purpose of their life, they gain all. There is only one purushartha, which is Moksha and with that comes dharma, artha, kama.

Pride can destroy everything. No pride means one is like Bhagavan. Bhagavan Rama loves all jeevas, but He loves humans the most as humans can have the most pride or the least pride.

• Amongst humans, He loves teachers the most, sacred teachers.
• Amongst sacred teachers, He loves those who are knowledgeable even more.
• He loves those who are responsible even more, those who are living that knowledge.
• He loves those who are disciplined even more, those who are trying to find Joy inside rather than outside.
• He loves those who are experienced even more, those who are enjoying their own company, their own nature as they have experience of the Self.
• But He loves the most those who are dependent on Him and in Rama Gita, Bhagavan Rama had shared with Sri Lakshmana that Bhakti is dependence on Him.

So Bhagavan is telling us that Bhakti is even more transcendental than Moksha. Bhagavan is not partial to anyone, but is only partial to love as His own nature is love. If we live for love, love will live for us and then there will be no blaming in our lives.

Love for God initiates Kripa or grace. Grace pulls with it Jnana or knowledge. Knowledge then pulls Shraddha or faith, and faith pulls Bhakti. Only through dependence on Bhagavan, can sadness be erased. Sadness is one of the three fears that humans have along with the fear of death and the unknown. We are studying the science of love every Sunday which is also the science of fearlessness.

Rishi Bushundi is now telling Garuda-ji at the end of Ramayana, what is going to happen in the age of Kali yuga, the age of selfishness. Here are some highlights. Let us decide for ourselves if this is happening or not -

1. Irresponsibility
2. Being an atheist
3. Knowledge is sold
4. People are moody
5. Hypocrites
6. Shishyas are deaf, Gurus are blind
7. Parents teach their children that religion is “udarabharayi”, that which fills our stomach. Lack of sacredness in their upbringing
8. If one is doomed, one makes sure others are doomed too
9. Greater trend of famines and droughts
10. People contend with others for no reason at all

This shows that the spirit of selfishness is strong in Kali yuga which leaves us with minimal hope. We need Ramayana and Bhagavatam more now than ever. However there is one blessing that comes out of this period of selfishness — our Creator has lowered the expectations a whole lot!

During Satya yuga, when the mind and the intellect were totally integrated, Dhyana was the sadhana for Moksha as everyone was strong enough to contemplate. Then mind and intellect started to separate and disintegration or adharma started taking place. So in Treta yuga, the period of Ramayana, people engaged in Yagas, macro-rituals instead of Dhyana. Then came Dvapara yuga, the age of Bhagavan Krishna, when people moved to micro-rituals and started engaging in Puja as sadhana for Moksha. And now in Kali yuga, the age of selfishness, when there is total disintegration between the mind and the intellect, people are unable to even engage in Puja. So Japa is the sadhana for Moksha. The weight of our selfishness is so heavy that we cannot do without help. We are no longer strong enough to free ourselves. So by asking for Bhagavan’s Kripa, we are freed of Maya.

Japa is a catalyst to Bhakti. How do we become a bhakta? How do we become the highest, even past Moksha? By being with other bhaktas. When bhaktas meet bhaktas, they talk about Bhagavan. When bhaktas meet Bhagavan, they talk about bhaktas.

With this thought, we now transition from Ramayana to Bhagavatam!

The word Bhagavata is made up of 4 compounds

• Bha — means joy, light
• Ga — means to go — to go to that light, that knowledge
• Va — means best — the best way to go to light
• Ta — means boat — the best boat to go to light

The best knowledge to go to Joy is Bhagavata!

Bhagavata also means -

• The nature of Bhagavan
• The Path to Bhagavan — just like the ayana to Rama, this is the “Ta, Va, Ga to Bha”
• The one who belongs to Bhagavan

Srimad Bhagavatam is a total of 18,000 verses in Sanskrit whose only purpose is Bhagavan, bhakti, bhakta. There are a lot of similarities between Ramayana and Bhagavatam particularly about Japa.

When we remember Bhagavan through His name, His heart melts. Imagine God’s name as an atom that has so much energy to ignite all that which is physical. Imagine how much more energy the Creator of that atom has! With His power would come His grace, and with it would come knowledge, and with it would come faith, and with faith would come dependency and then there would be no more sadness!

The selfishness within us and around us is going to become 3 times more intense, but Bhagavan knows we are not perfect. So all we have to do is ask for help through Japa and not let our pride stop us from asking for His help as Bhagavan cannot tolerate pride.

Vedanta in Bhagavatam — another once in a lifetime journey like Ramayana, a time of reflection for all seekers so that all will change. Bhagavan’s compassion deludes us so that we are closer. His compassion brings listeners to a speaker, brings the Bhagavad Gita to us, brings the Ramayana to us. Bhagavata is to be Bhagavata, to belong to God!

Discussion Question for later — What are practical ways to remember that all experiences happen to erase our ego?