[Advaita-l] ’upAsana' and 'bhakti'

[V Subrahmanian]

On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 2:26 PM, Bhaskar YR <bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com> wrote:

> There is pure awareness of the deity beyond any bhAva. Beyond love and
> hate.
>
> praNAms Sri Satish prabhuji
> Hare Krishna
>


>   IMHO, upAsana can not be carried out  without an element of love/bhakti
> towards his/her upAsya devata,
>


In Vedanta, bhakti is perhaps best characterized thus in these verses of
the Tenth chapter of the Bhagavadgita:

 अहं सर्वस्य प्रभवो मत्तः सर्वं प्रवर्तते ।
इति मत्वा *भजन्ते मां बुधा भावसमन्विताः* ॥

 भावार्थ *:*  मैं वासुदेव ही संपूर्ण जगत्‌ की उत्पत्ति का कारण हूँ और मुझसे
ही सब जगत्‌ चेष्टा करता है, इस प्रकार समझकर श्रद्धा और भक्ति से युक्त
बुद्धिमान्‌ भक्तजन मुझ परमेश्वर को ही निरंतर भजते हैं॥8॥

  मच्चित्ता मद्गतप्राणा बोधयन्तः परस्परम्‌ ।
कथयन्तश्च मां नित्यं *तुष्यन्ति च रमन्ति च* ॥

 भावार्थ *:*  निरंतर मुझमें मन लगाने वाले और मुझमें ही प्राणों को अर्पण
करने वाले (मुझ वासुदेव के लिए ही जिन्होंने अपना जीवन अर्पण कर दिया है उनका
नाम मद्गतप्राणाः है।) भक्तजन मेरी भक्ति की चर्चा के द्वारा आपस में मेरे
प्रभाव को जानते हुए तथा गुण और प्रभाव सहित मेरा कथन करते हुए ही निरंतर
संतुष्ट होते हैं और मुझ वासुदेव में ही निरंतर रमण करते हैं॥9॥
//10.9 Maccittah, with minds fixed on Me; mad-gata-pranah, with lives
(pranas) dedicated to Me, or having their organs, eyes etc. absorbed in Me,
i.e. having their organs withdrawn into Me; bodhayantah, enlightening;
parasparam, each other; and nityam, always; kathayantah, speaking of; mam,
Me, as possessed of qualities like knowledge, strength, valour, etc;
tusyanti, they derive satisfaction; and ramanti, rejoice, get happiness, as
by coming in contact with a dear one. //


  तेषां सततयुक्तानां *भजतां प्रीतिपूर्वकम्‌ *।
ददामि बद्धियोगं तं येन मामुपयान्ति ते ॥
 भावार्थ *:*  उन निरंतर *मेरे ध्यान आदि में लगे हुए और प्रेमपूर्वक
भजने*वाले भक्तों को मैं वह तत्त्वज्ञानरूप योग देता हूँ, जिससे वे मुझको
ही
प्राप्त होते हैं॥10॥

//10.10 Tesam, to them, who, becoming devotees, adore Me in the manner
described earlier; satata-yuktanam, who are ever devoted, ever attached,
who have become free from all external desires; and bhajatam, who worship-.
Is it because of hankering for possessions? The Lord says: No, (they
worship) priti-purvakam, with love. To them who worship Me with that
(love), dadami, I grant; tam, that; buddhi-yogam, possession of wisdom-
buddhi means full enlightenment with regard to My real nature; coming in
possession (yoga) of that is buddhi-yoga; yena, by which possession of
wisdom consisting in full enlightenment; upayanti, they reach, realize as
their own Self; mam, Me, the supreme God who is the Self. Who do so? Te,
they, who adore Me through such disciplines as fixing their minds on Me,
etc.'For what purpose, or as the destroyer of what cause standing as an
obstacle on the way of reaching You, do You bestow that possession of
wisdom to those devotees of Yours?' In reply to such a query the Lord says:


  तेषामेवानुकम्पार्थमहमज्ञानजं तमः।
नाशयाम्यात्मभावस्थो ज्ञानदीपेन भास्वता ॥

 भावार्थ *:*  हे अर्जुन! उनके ऊपर अनुग्रह करने के लिए उनके अंतःकरण में
स्थित हुआ मैं स्वयं ही उनके अज्ञानजनित अंधकार को प्रकाशमय तत्त्वज्ञानरूप
दीपक के द्वारा नष्ट कर देता हूँ॥11॥

//10.11 Anukampartham, out of compassion; tesam eva, for them alone,
anxious as to how they may have bliss; aham, I; atmabhavasthah, residing in
their hearts-atmabhavah means the seat that is the heart; being seated
there itself; nasayami, destroy; tamah, the darkness; ajnanajam, born of
ignorance, originating from non-discrimination, the darkness of delusion
known as false comprehension; jnana-dipena, with the lamp of Knowledge, in
the form of discriminating comprehension; i.e. bhasvata, with the luminous
lamp of Knowledge-  *fed by the oil of divine grace resulting from
devotion, fanned by the wind of intensity of meditation on Me, having the
wick of the intellect imbued with the impressions arising from such
disciplines as celibacy etc., in the receptacle of the detached mind,
placed in the windless shelter of the mind withdrawn from objects and
untainted by likes and dislikes, and made luminous by full Illumination
resulting from the practice of constant concentration and meditation*.//

[In a recent short talk Vidwan MahamahopAdhyAya Dr..R. Krishnamurti
ShastriNah of Chennai presented the above bhashyam and said this is one of
the 'sweetest' expressions of the BhashyakAra bringing out the poet in
Him.  The verse has the simile  of a lamp to denote the Liberating
Knowledge.  Shankara brings out the full import of the simile :

-- तेषामेव कथं नु नाम श्रेयः स्यात् इति अनुकम्पार्थं दयाहेतोः अहम्
अज्ञानजम् अविवेकतः जातं मिथ्याप्रत्ययलक्षणं मोहान्धकारं तमः नाशयामि,
आत्मभावस्थः आत्मनः भावः अन्तःकरणाशयः तस्मिन्नेव स्थितः सन् ज्ञानदीपेन
विवेकप्रत्ययरूपेण भक्तिप्रसादस्नेहाभिषिक्तेन मद्भावनाभिनिवेशवातेरितेन
ब्रह्मचर्यादिसाधनसंस्कारवत्प्रज्ञावर्तिना विरक्तान्तःकरणाधारेण
विषयव्यावृत्तचित्तरागद्वेषाकलुषितनिवातापवरकस्थेन
नित्यप्रवृत्तैकाग्र्यध्यानजनितसम्यग्दर्शनभास्वता ज्ञानदीपेनेत्यर्थः। ]

Regards,
subrahmanian.v