The Alchemy of Love: Understanding Narada Bhakti Sutra with Raghuramji

In this insightful session, Yogashree Raghuram NV explores the profound philosophical foundations of Bhakti Yoga, moving beyond traditional rituals to define it as an "enriched form of love" (Parama Prema). Rather than focusing on an abstract or external deity, Raghuramji emphasizes that love is an innate human quality present from birth in all living beings. The discussion delves into how the ego often corrupts our natural capacity for compassion and friendship, and how Bhakti Sadhana serves as a discipline to dissolve these barriers. By shifting from complaint to tolerance, and ultimately to appreciation, practitioners can reach a state of self-realization where they perceive the divine in all of creation.

Speaker Bio: Yogashree Raghuram NV

Yogashree Raghuram NV is a globally recognized expert in yoga philosophy and spirituality. He is a Founding Member of SVYASA Yoga University in Bengaluru and serves as the Founder and Spiritual Guide of Yoga Bharati at VAYU USA. A prolific author, he has penned numerous influential works, including highly regarded commentaries on the Patanjali Yoga Sutras and the Narada Bhakti Sutra. With decades of experience, Raghuramji is dedicated to making abstract spiritual concepts experiential and accessible, helping practitioners navigate the emotional and intellectual aspects of the yogic path

Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Alright. So Namaste, everybody, welcome to this two-part webinar on bhakti. Our text of interest is Narat Bhakti Sutra. So today we are going to talk about the Bhakti Siddhanta. And we have with us our speaker, NV Raguramji. So I will just give a quick introduction and then hand it over to him. So Raghuramji is Yoga Shri Nvi Raghuramji. He is the founder and spiritual guide of Yoga Bharati USA. He has been a student of yoga and spirituality from early childhood. He is the founder chairman of Disha, which is a nonprofit organization for value-based education in schools and colleges in Bengaluru. He is currently a professor at Vayu, Vivekaranda Yoga University in USA, and also at SVasa, which is Swami Vekaranda Anu Sandran Kindra in Bengaluru. He is one of the founding members at SVasa and he serves as the international coordinator and senior yoga teacher at Bengaluru. He has been traveling around the globe for he has traveled to more than 50 countries for the past three, four decades. And he has taught research projects, teacher training projects, and retreats in England, Germany, Turkey, Japan, China, and the US. His most fascinating work is in a Muslim country, Turkey, where he had more than 300 yoga teachers, and they have all been trained into mantra meditation. His scientific research is also fascinating. He has explored the effects of yoga on breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. And he has also authored several books, the latest of which are the commentaries on Patanjali Yoga Sutra and the Narat Bhakti Sutra. So today we will be uh listening to him tell us about the Narat Bhakti Sutra. And with that, um I will just give everybody a quick head that we will have it for about an hour. Um, Ragramji will you know give his uh talk and share uh his wisdom with us for about an hour and then we'll have about 10-15 minutes for questions. If you have questions as the uh talk is going, please feel free to type it in the chat. We we can pick it up at the end of the webinar. Um, and if it is something really urgent, we can always ask him to uh answer it. So with that, I will hand it over to Ramri.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Namaste, everyone. Very nice to see all of you on this uh first of this series of talks. The first one is that yoga siddhanta, the second one is yoga sadhana. Bhakti Siddhanta, bhakti sadhana. Like any practice, there is always a philosophy behind it, and then the practice that is the following the Siddhanta. The same thing about the bhakti, also. Many times people think bhakti means going to the god, going to the temple, going to the puja, or attending some puja ritual that's going on. These are the things people call it as bhakti or take it as bhakti, but they really do not know what is that behind it. Another thing is when we want to call it as yoga, like all the other yoga benefits, whatever that uh purpose of yoga is there, the same thing should be applied for the bhakti yoga also. So let me share my PowerPoint so that I can explain about this aspect of it. Bhakti sadhana, bhakti siddhanta, followed by the sadhana. One person who has written eloquently about the bhakti is Narada in his Narada Bhakti Sutras. The subject bhakti is such an abstract subject, and it's a subject that one has to feel, it's not something that you have to intellectualize the thing. Therefore, it is very difficult to write anything about this bhakti. Something like writing a formula for the beauty of the rules. You cannot write any formula for the beauty of rows, the same way that bhakti is something on which that you cannot write in a formula, sutra is like formula, but extraordinary effort Narata has done. While doing this, Nardha also says at one place that Anirvachani Yampre Maswaru, it cannot be explained. There is no nirvachana, there is no explanation available for that. Such a subject that we are taking up, and but experience is there, yes, experience is there. He says that mukaswada Navatu, like the way that the dumb you give some sweet, how can he explain how sweet it is? He can only jump and show his joy, so it is like that. Bhakti is like that. So writing a commentary on Narada Bhakti Sutra or writing a text on Narada Bhakti Sutra, Narda's extraordinary wonderful effort at that. Therefore, this book becomes very important for us to understand about the bhakti. Especially, he has given very important aspect of Siddhanta aspect of it, so that bhakti sadhana becomes easy. Now, many times what happens is bhakti is always associated with blind faith or have some God, and your God is different from my God. All these things are there. It happens because that we don't know the Siddhanta, the philosophy behind it. So that's the reason why we thought we should go for bhakti siddhant and understand what is bhakti, and then later on we'll see what is called as bhakti sadhana. Actually, the definition of yoga is given by Patanjali very clearly. Tata Drashuhu Sarupya avastanam. When you are in the state of yoga, you are established in yourself. Vritti takes you away from yourself. Vritti sarupa mitaratraha, virti nirodha, that's what is yoga. Drashuhu Sarupya Vastanam. You are established in yourself. And in order to go to that self, though we are interacting in the object outside, we still have to be the world outside for various needs and activities and all that. But in spite of it, we can go back to ourselves and establish there. And for that, we can use these are different bases that we have to go towards that particular state. All the practices of yoga are divided into two different categories. One is called as the abdhasa, disciplining oneself, and second thing is vairagya. Vairagya is non-attachment. So broadly, whether it is Krishna or Patanjali Yoga Sutras or Yogavaswita, all the yoga texts are divide. The texts of the broadly these practices of yoga into these two categories, abhyasa and vairagya. Under the abhyasa method of discipline, we have two different exclusive practices which are supposed to be willpower-based practice called as Raja Yoga. And then our activity-based is the Karpa Yoga. We still have to be doing the activity, and then we can still reach the concept of yoga within ourselves. And in fact, Bhagavad Gita is an extraordinary wonderful text because Arjuna is explained by Krishna explains to Arjuna everything. And he pushed, he makes him to go back to the, with all that wisdom, go back to the battlefield. If war can be fought in a yoga way, I think life can be lived in a yoga way. That's the message of Karna Yoga. Under the method of Ayragya, the non-attachment, these are the two prominent practices that we have. One is the intellect base. We have the wonderful tool called intellect. We can use intellect to take you to build so many things, so much of advancement in the material world outside. If intellect can do all these things, can that not intellect help us to go back to our nature, ourselves? That's what is jnana yogha. Using the intellect, how can you go back to your own nature? That's what is jnana yogha. Apart from this intellect, we have another wonderful faculty within us. We are born with. That's what is love. That's what is bhavana. In Sanskrit, we call it bhavana. In English, we call it as emotion, but I don't want to use that word emotion because there's so much stigma attached with the emotions. In fact, I have heard many talks saying that don't be emotional. I mean, as if emotion is a cursed human being. But we are born with that bhavana called as love. In Sanskrit, we have used this bhavana eloquently by various texts in a very positive sense, in a very elevating kind of a sense. That's why I call it bhavana base that we have, and that's what is bhakti yoga. So now you understand then bhakti yoga. What is the most important thing is the bhavana or the feeling that we have, and what is why why is it so important? Three, four reasons are there why this bhakti yoga becomes important is that if you take this culture which survived for 10,000 years or more, it's not because of all these philosophers, etc. etc. It all survived because of the number of bhaktas this culture has seen. You look at the number of bhaktas we had produced, hundreds of them all over the place have these bhaktas. And people like Shankaracharya, stalwart intellect, he becomes a bhaktha the moment he goes to Annapurneshwari temple. He sings Matana Purneshwari, Bhikshandehi Purpava. Ajanami yogam najana mantram najanami tantram. If Shankara could say that he doesn't know Mantra or Tantra, who are we so claim that we know all these things? Do you mean to say that somebody has to have that light intellect to become Bhaktara? No. We have such people who have absolutely totally illiterate. Like a watchman, Narsi Meta, became an extraordinary wonderful saint. Similarly, from royal family, Mirabai comes. And what is her knowledge of spirituality? Nothing. But you don't look at the way that she has risen. She has even competed, uh, she has even replaced the idea of Radha by her birthday. Extraordinary. Stalwarts like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He was a staunch intellect. Wherever he would go, he would raise the discussions with the intellectuals there and defeat them intellectually in the discussion. People would run away wherever he would go. This was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Such a person who was so such a strong intellect. When he went to a most illiterate place called as Badipada, he saw all the children there playing nicely, happily, and then people are dancing. He said, With all my intellect, I can't do that. But these people are enjoying life. So then he could realize that all that is because he is so much burden of intellect. So he put away all that burden, picked up only one mantra of the tot thing. That one mantra, he came out and started dancing, singing that. And when he started dancing and singing, people used to follow him like Pai de Pai Pai. And that is an extraordinary thing. He shot a when I was intellect, people would run away from that. Whereas when I picked up bhakti, the emotion or the bhavana of love, then people follow me. Later on, he is the one who created the soul of Hare Krishna movement. Such an extraordinary contribution given by him in the Bhakti Yoga. So, right and left, you see that people have become bhaktas, and they are the people who maintain this culture. Sanatana Dharma for vibrant all these years. Therefore, bhakti is an extraordinary wonderful technique. Because it's a wonderful technique, it is necessary that we need to understand what is meant by bhakti. So he the Narda gives the definition. He starts with that sutra and then the second sutra itself, he gives the definition. He gives the definition as enriched or enobled form of prema love is bhakti. Parama prema rupaha bhakti. This is what Shak Krishna Narda very clearly gives. So Parama Prema is enriched form of love, is Bhakti. But unfortunately, many translators they gave this as your supreme love for God is Bhakti. They use that word called as God. Though originally in Narada Sutras it is not there. And some people were a little more conservative, so therefore they put that word God in brackets, but then they still have that word God because they can't understand without the word God about this bhakti. Whereas Narda did not use that word called as God. Why he has you did not use it that way? Because if you say that you divine, you give the definition of bhakti in terms of God, like your love for God, supreme love, forget about it. Even ordinary love for God, if I tell somebody you love God, he will say, first of all, show me where God is, then I can love. I can't love something which I don't even know if it exists or not. If God is somebody who is responsible for all this creation for 10,000 years, you must be really old person now. And you want me to love that old person? Horrible. I want to love somebody who is young. Show me somebody. Give me some email contact, some contact so that I can love it. Without any of those things, I can love God. And the God that I think of is my own imagination. I don't have anything beyond my imagination about God. That's why Swami Vekanda said, a dog imagines God to be a big dog. An elephant imagines a dog to be a big elephant, a God to be a big elephant. So it's our own imagination. So therefore, basically, your imagination is always shorter than you because you are bigger than your imagination. That's your creation. So therefore, it is not about the God what you love, but the love itself is something which is in our experience. God we don't experience, and I can't love something which I don't have inexperience. You can't introduce me the word called as bhakti in terms of an in terms of a term which I don't know. That the God term I don't even know at all. Everybody believes so I also believe. That's all. I really don't have any idea about God. But then one thing that we all go through the experience is the experience of love. And that he says that definition of bhakti in terms of that love, he says parma prema rupa, which is supposed to be an enobled form of love. That's what is bhakti. Now, this prema love is something we all are familiar with. In fact, not only are we familiar, we are born with the love itself. Look at the child, three, four days old, child looks at your face, smiles. Why the child has to love, has to smile? Because the child feels love looking at your face. And you also reciprocate. The moment you look at the child's face, you also love. There's no reason for why the child smiles. Loves. That's a simple thing. Because the reason belongs to intellect, love belongs to the bhavana. And the child has bhavana. Intellect is not yet born. Usually, intellect is born only when the child grows to five, three, or four, five years old. That's why you can see even that child is four to five year old, starts questioning because intellect functions by question. The child starts questioning. Mother says to the child, go and take shower. The child says, Why? Because the questioning ability has come. Because we have to go for shopping. Why? See, again, the question says there is no milk in the house, we have to get the milk. Why? There's no milk in the house. See, every sentence converted into question because the child has now developed intellect. It's only when the child is three to four years old that develops this intellect. Before that intellect is not there. So actually, when you look at all the content of intellect, it is what it has given by the world outside. Whereas emotion or the love, prema you are born with. So, therefore, basically, love belongs to us. Intellect belongs to the world outside. And now he says that this love, intellect that we are born with, not only that we have that love, even the animals have love. Look at the way that the animals respond to your love, or that they have that love. If you have a pet dog or a cat, you need that how much they love you. If you have gone out for some days, and then when you come back, the moment you see that when you come back, you see the love of God, how it spills out of that dog. The dog loves you. In fact, I used to have two dogs in our house. No, of course, they are not there, but when they were there, it was such a wonderful thing because particularly my dogs are very special. Everybody says that way, but I also say that because what happens is every other dog actually, when the person of love appears in front of the dog, the dog wax the tail. Whereas my dog, the tail wax the dog, the tail is so powerful. That's what is the difference in my dog, and it doesn't bother, it just you can see when the dog tail, it's in the supreme sense of satisfaction, supreme sense of happiness. That's what is the thing. Love gives you supreme sense of satisfaction, supreme sense of fulfillment when you are in the state of love. That's an especial gift of love for us, and we are all born with that love. And love, the dog's love, is very unconditional. Why dog's love? Every love itself is unconditional. Dog does not love you because you are rich, because you're intellectual, young or old, nothing. The dog simply loves. How many times that you see that a beggar sitting on the street has a dog, and that dog loves that beggar so much, it doesn't have any discrimination. Mullah Nasuddin brought his dog to the vet and said to the vet, cut off the tail of this dog. It looks so beautiful, so nice, and this variety of dog always carry the tail. And then vet asked, then mullah asked the vet, is there any danger if the tail is cut off? The vet said, No, no, no, there is no danger. But as a vet, I would like to know why you want to cut off the tail of dog. Then the mullah told the vet, it's a secret between you and me, don't tell anybody. Next month, my mother-in-law is coming home, and I have removed all the welcome signs in our house for mother-in-law. But the dog tail wacks the moment the dog sees her. Dog loves you and also your mother-in-law. That's what the power of love is. Love is there for everything, your love, so that you get happiness. Actually, when you look at that love, it is like you are overflowing. That's what is love. A dog's joy overflows. That's in the form of wagging the tail. Not only the animals love you, even the plants love you. That's what you can see. That I go come across everywhere. Jagdish Chandrabo said, plants have love. I go to everywhere, I say the placard saying that don't touch plants. 500 rupees, fine. That's cruel. Whereas a friend of mine in Hyderabad, he has a garden where he has several places, he put the placard saying, Please touch my plants, they love me or touch. Because that place like that, people will go and hug the plant, kiss the plant, water the plant. Now they don't pluck the flowers. They love the plants. Plants have love, animals have love, human beings definitely have love. And we have seen world wherever that life is there, there is love. Life is called as pranaspandana, love is called as Radeya Spandana. We all have that love. Born with that. Love. All that what we need to do is to enrich this love. That's what Narda says. A noble form of prema is bhagti. We are all born with the bhavana, prema, love. Intellect comes later. And the prema. We have so many different varieties of prema. We all, the child is born, gets love from so many different varieties. That's why a Western psychologist said that everywhere else the child grows by vitamins and carpohydrates. Whereas in India, every child grows by love. Because such a variety of love the child is exposed to. Mother's love, parents' love, and father's love, which is anywhere there. Siblings' love is also there. Not only that, many houses have this grandparents, their love is also there. And your servant lady, servant maid, and teacher, everybody loves you. Love is so many different ways that you get it. Brothers and love, sister's love, which what a wonderful richness of love that we have. When I was telling about that in China, my translator was translating to Chinese. And then when I said brothers love, sisters love, uncle's love, wants love, she stopped me and said, Raghuramji, they don't understand what you're talking. I said, Why? Because China is with a policy, one part one child per family. That means no child will have brother or a sister. Brother and sister are there, uncle and aunt also were not there. What an unfortunate thing. The social instability. I was thinking that they don't have an experience of what is called as brother's love, sister's love. Whereas in India, we are so rich because we have so many different varieties of love that you get. And that is what basically every time you are in the state of love, it elevates you. And prema is something that we are born with. And prema with all those things, it is something which is so extraordinary because our own experience of prema, when we have it, has all these wonderful abilities. One is that it's a true experience of livelihood, living. You know, you feel that you are really vibrantly alive when you are in the state of love. Love makes you to feel that life is a celebration. Just being loved, our love itself will make you feel that life is a celebration. That's what is the experience of love. It's like the whole milk is overflowing the cup when you know when you are entering into the house, you boil the milk, it just overflows. So love is something which is overflowing, like the way that you see a plant which is so full and it cannot contain its fullness, burst out its energy in the form of a bud, in the form of a flower. And similarly, buddha also cannot contain anymore its joy, therefore, it bursts out, spreading the fragrance everywhere. So, therefore, love is something which is totally expansive. So, expansion is the way that we always go through this love. So it gives true experience of love. That's what Swami Vekanda says, that life is expansion, death is contraction. Life is growing, and death is something where the growth is stopped, stunted. And we have that experience of growth. That's what is love. Another thing, important thing that happens in the state of love. The moment that when you are in the state of love, Siddhavati, you are completely fulfilled. And then Amrithobhavati, you have a nectar-like experience. Tirtta Bhavati, you're satisfied. Whenever you are in this experience of love, you feel that you are supremely satisfied in that state of love. Nakama Yamanaha. It's not in the nature of any demand. You are full. You don't want anything. Everything is attained the moment when in the state of love. It's a joy element. That's what when you are in the state of love. That's our experience of love. Nothing that you want. And that's another thing is that no desires, no regret, no hatred, no joy, no excement, excitement when you're in the state of love. Love is so much stable, stable, complete in itself. And when you are in the state of love, you are directly transported. See, because basically this experience of bhavana emotion is beyond the level of intellect. Because we are born with that love, it's beyond the level of intellect. Intellect cannot reach there, intellect cannot explain the beauty of the rose. Intellect cannot explain the smile of a child. Intellect cannot explain the wonderful wind, actually swinging the blade of grass. All those things are there, which is beyond the level of intellect. And love is experience of that beyond the level of intellect. So, therefore, no desires, no regret, no hatred, no rejoicing, no excitement. Triptovati, Atma Ramu Bhavati. And another thing is when you're in the state of love, you are in the state of intoxication beyond rest in the self-experience. That's what he says. Atma ramo bhavati. Triptovati. Atma ramo bhavati. These are the things which are in the state of love. We all go through this experience of love. Every individual, young or old, intellect or non-intellect, everybody experiences that. That's what is our experience of love. When you are in the state of love, you are immediately transformed to the level of the self consciousness. There are only two such experiences of being self. One is the experience when you go to deep sleep state. After really tiring work, when you hit the pillow, bed, and you see that you are pushed into that deep sleep state, and that's what is the state of love. That's a state of self. You are one with the self, but you are not consciously there. The second experience you are in that state of self is when you are in love. That's what is the experience of love. It takes you towards the self. No desires, and it is in the form of nirotha. You see, all that what we do with the help of yoga is to nirtaha of the chitta vrti. That means to say Vrutti that's happening, we try to come out of the chitta vrti. That's what we want to go to. Whereas in love, Chittavriti stops by itself. There is nothing else like Chitta Vrutti because you're so satisfied. Every satisfaction is nothing but transcending beyond the level of Vrutis. And that is the extraordinary experience of love. Nakinchitvanchati, you don't want anything when you are in the state of love. And another thing is love. Anything is okay. You know, you have all the specifications. Specifications belong to intellect. I want this this way, I don't want that way. All kinds of specifications are there. But the moment when you are in the state of love, all the specifications drop off. Anything is okay. You really wonder. How can anything be okay? You have so much specifications. But you know, it is not that you've made up your mind, but it just definitely happens by itself. That's why it is called as Punmat Tobati. It's like a madness in madness that you are. You know, you go to the restaurant, a friend, and whenever you go to the restaurant, you have all the specifications about the items that are there, and you take so much time to select the item because you have specifications. The same thing when you go to your somebody who you love, and then that person says, Sweetheart, what can I order for you? Anything is okay. It's not that you are making up your mind, but literally that anything can be okay. Banana is okay, banana peel is also okay. Not for us, even for the Krishna. Look at the way that Lord Krishna, when he went to negotiations in Astinapur, it failed. Then he went to Vidra's friend's house, who is supposed to be a servant child, and he went to his house. Vidra was confused that Krishna is here. Is it real or is it a dream? Krishna said, Is it real? I'm hungry. Vidra's wife hears this and says, Vidra, why are you standing, making him to stand at the toaster bring him in? And he says, Hungry. And she advances the plate of banana and says, Please offer him this banana. Meanwhile, let me prepare the dinner table. So she goes inside, and Krishna, in that ecstasy, he peels the banana, throws the fruit out, and they give the peel to Krishna, and Krishna is happily eating. And Vidra's wife comes and says, My God, what's happening, Krishna? Is being offered by the banana peel and is eating. And she thought that nobody has seen it, but actually somebody has seen it. And that's what is Purandaradasa has said that. And he put a nice he actually did it in a very nice song to saying that what a kind of Krishna he is. He enjoys the banana peel. So that's what it happens out of love. What looks ordinary? Looks extraordinary when you are in the state of love. That's what is the power of love. It enriches your perception. When Majunus dad says to Majunu, what is this you have seen in Laila? She's an ordinary girl. I can parade in front of you, more beautiful girls in front of you. You can choose one of them. Majunu replies to Dad. You should see Laila through Majunu's eyes. Then you see, she's the most beautiful woman on this earth. She's an angel, and that's what is your perception will make. Love can make your perception extraordinary, and we all have love. So the moment that when you are always in the love, that means enjoying the divinity all the time. You are celebrating every moment. That's what basically happens in the case of love. Another thing is that love, ananyata, there is no question of anyatwata, no other. You become assimilating. That's why love is an expansion. You know, very ordinary simple thing of love that you are experienced, expansion. That means you are nice into the others. There is no other, but you are that. That's what is the experience of love. That we all have that. Like, for example, some simple thing. Like in Bangalore, that you are going on the road, you're driving your car. You know, very funny thing is that Bangalore, I don't know when they will learn about it. You drive all the way up the road to the end. At the end, then you see that they said that road is cut, a pair work is there. There is no truth. True way, thorough way. Oh my god, after going there, you feel cursing, and then with great difficulty, you reverse the car and then coming back. At that time, somebody else is going in that direction. You know, don't you stop the car and say to them, Bhivasab, the road is cut there. Please don't go there. You will have suffering. Why did you say that? Because other suffering becomes your suffering. Others' joy becomes your joy. This can only happen out of love. We don't want others to suffer. In fact, we can give to the others, you serve and get happiness. That's what is the aspect of love. And happiness is in giving, it pervades in all activities our love. Therefore, happiness is in giving. You give somebody and you get happiness. In fact, if you don't give, you feel miserable. And love is a strength in itself, it does not require any other support. Your love makes you strong. That's what is the power of love. It doesn't depend upon anybody, anything else, a support. Even the expression itself is a support. So you don't even have to suppress that I love you. I love that love is my experience. Love is that which can really make me fulfilled. So that experience is yours and you can go for that. Wherever that you can become one with the others, that's what is ananyata. Where you cannot have that ananyata, then you let go. That's what Narada says in Bhakti Sutras. Wherever that you cannot practice this ananyata, then you just leave it alone. Don't fight with that. That's what is the idea of yoga. That's the prema bhakti. And prema we all have. Why it happens like this in the prema that you give and get happiness? All these things happen in prema because one thing is that the ego dissolves. Ego dissolves in love. When you are in the state of love, ego dissolves. When the ego dissolves, your specifications dissolve. Ego dissolves, your importance dissolve. A failure is also okay. Success is also okay. Don't you see that? You know, when the dad is playing with the child, fighting, and the child he throws the dad on the ground, sits on the dad, and says that I won it. And more than the child, dad enjoys that. See, your defeat itself you can enjoy. That can only happen when you are in the state of love. There's another very important aspect of love is what otherwise you cannot tolerate. Love makes you to tolerate it. When you are in the state of love, you can tolerate. Child is making noise, normally you would not have tolerated. But because it is a child making the noise, you accept it, you tolerate and tolerate level to acceptance. So this way, love can make you to grow to a higher level. This is what is the going into the higher level. Vairagya, that means growing it to the higher, not giving up. I always give the example when long time ago, 40-50 years ago, Prashantya or Vivekandhara Center. It was remote in the village, and there was no approach roads, and we had to walk through the fields. And once bus from the city comes in the morning, the same bus goes back in the evening, it comes back, and the night it goes back. So there is only one bus which is to go. And on Friday evening, I would finish my office, go to the go to the go home and dress up nicely, neatly because I would like to wear the nice dress and then come to the bus stand to catch the bus. And that's the only bus that will take us to the village. So therefore, the TT knows the director, conductor knows that I'm going by this bus. He provides a nice seat for me. I sit down on that seat, and then now the bus is ready to go. You know, that's the only bus which goes to the village. It covers about 20, 30 villages. So all the villagers who came to the city for selling their produce, vegetables, etc., now they come back into the bus. And you know what happens? The rural buses. If there are 50 seats, there are 80 people always overcrowded. So naturally, this also there's so much of overcrowding is there. So somebody comes and villager comes and sits next to the moment so far. It was good, but the moment somebody comes and sits, now you look at him. I'm so clean and neat, just took bath. And this fellow spent his whole day in the city market, gathered all the dust, smelled everything. He sits next to me. Look at me, what happens? I feel miserable. Not only that, I have to breathe. When I breathe, I can get all the smell from him, all the dust that is there, he gathered at him. Ah, miserable. I do no pranayama, but I can't hold the breath till we read that place. So moment I see him, his clothes is dirty, his dressing is dirty, his smell is dirty, this, that, and all those things. The more and more that I have complaints, the more unhappy I am. And because I'm unhappy, I try to shrink. And when I shrink, this fellow spreads himself much more. Wow, another misery. Suddenly, I thought, every week the same story. And the story is that I'm miserable. I'm miserable not because of that fellow, not because of the bus, not because of the travel, but because of complaints. So I realized one day, let me rise above the level of complaint. I tolerate him. Love can make you tolerate anything you can tolerate when you are in the state of love. So the moment I tolerate him, and I have no more complaints, I'm sitting down. He's also sitting, and we are traveling. What used to be eternity travel now, because I tolerate him, it's about one hour we reach there. But then one day I thought Ram Krishna Paramusa gave uh Satsang to the students over there. He said we must tolerate every religion. Suddenly, everything something hit him on him. He went into trance. And when he came out trance, he said that. No, Divine Mother says in my samadhi, divine mother says, You must accept, not tolerate. Wow, that's the wonderful truth. Love can make you not only to tolerate, but to accept. The moment I read that, then I get into the bus, I sit down, the villager comes with a smile. I ask him, please come here, sit next to me. I accept him. At once, acceptance comes when you're in the state of love. Yes, after all, he is from the village. He spent the whole time in the city market. He gathers just it's so natural. I don't have any more complaint. I not only talk, not only not the level of talent, but I can accept him. The moment I accept him, I start talking to him and I said, How much? So where are you coming from? Kept the village and all that. What did you bring? Vegetables, how much did he make money? He says that I made what is there these days so much. You don't get it, so I made soon. Tell me, he says about seven one thousand rupees or something like that. Wow, you are so rich. I don't even have 200 rupees with me. I mean those days, and you have 1,000 rupees, you are rich. Now he feels happy. He smiles on his face. Wow. So what are you going to do with all that 800,000 rupees? I said, you are going to drink it? No, no, no. I never drink. I said, no. Last week I've seen you coming out of that liquor shop. Oh, that's only one time. See how beautiful he is, innocent the village are. You start appreciating it. Acceptance leads you to appreciate love, can make you to appreciate. When you had complaints, it was hell. And you start appreciating, it's like a heaven. Therefore, a Chinese proverb says, heaven and hell, they are not in attitudes, they are in attitude. But don't stop there at the level of acceptance, appreciation, but will go one step ahead. You can see the divinity. A saint was sitting in a hermitage, middle of the night, overlooking through the window, the full moon being reflected in the pond that is there in front of the window. Full moon, you know, and the sky. Everything is being reflected by the pond. He knows that the moon is so big, sky is so big, pond is so small. But in spite of it, pond reflects the whole moon and the sky. Though it is reflecting all those things, the moon does not disturb the water. It is still. And then wind God is also blowing so flow because he doesn't want to disturb the vision of the saint who is sitting and watching that. Such a wonderful, beautiful scenery. Whole darkness and the water being reflecting the moon and the sky, and the saint is sitting watching there. I don't know how much time it went on. But when somebody, a thief walking around, he saw that this is one particular hermitage, doors are open. He can lay hands on any booty, enters inside that, and then goes around various places. He did not see anybody there in that hermitage. But then also there is nothing. He felt, oh God, you know, all the trouble I've taken to write this, there is nothing, no advantage. He was feeling cursing himself, but suddenly, when he looked around, he saw a man sitting there and two open, very wakeful eyes are looking at him. You know, when somebody is looking at some looking at you, you feel really immediately guilty. And this robber immediately feels so guilty because the saint is looking at him. And then he was just arrested there. When he was arrested there a minute looking after that, the saint says, Wow, what a great day it is. And the Salo didn't understand what they meant by the saint. What a great day today it is. He said, You know, I always hear that robbers entered into the palaces, and today you entered into this hermitage. Making this hermitage look like a palace, and I felt a king, emperor. For a moment I felt emperor. What a wonderful gift you have given me. Make me feel that I'm an emperor by entering into this hermitage. And such a wonderful gift you have given me. People call you a robber, but you are not a robber, you see. Robbers are supposed to take all the valuable things, but you're not taking anything. You left my pond here, you left my moon here, everything is intact here, and then we had it. You are going back. How can I call you a robber for the gift you have given me that I'm an emperor? But still, I feel very poor. I can't have anything to give you. But still, I have one more thing to give you. I remember that. And then he says that you are going in the open sky, open night, whereas I'm sitting here inside this Hermitage Petty. You require this shawl much more than myself. Took out that shawl and covered him up with that shawl. And the robber thinks this is where you see the divinity. Love can make you see the divinity. So raise above the level of complaint to tolerate, accept appreciation to divine. All our unhappinesses are because of complaint. So let us raise above the level of complaint with the help of love, with the help of bhakti. And that's what is very important. Bhakti is a sadra that we need to do it. See that we create a heaven. In fact, what else is there in this world? Is it not everything God? God alone is there. But only thing is unfortunately, we cannot see that God. But then what happens? Why is this problem there? It's because that the main experience of love is that it dissolves ego. Ego expands, no boundary. And there is no specifications when you are in the state of love when the ego dissolves. So that's why you experience the joy of love. Love itself is wonderful. But then what happens is that that momentary experience of love, next moment it falls off, it gets corrupted. What corrupts that prema, what corrupts that love is our ego, ahankara. Ankara comes into the picture, immediately you expectations will come, therefore it deserves you. And then what is that ankara? This is what. Why it comes? Because we have trained that. And the moment I comes, expectations come. Look at the way in this world, moment you see anything, that what is there for me? What do I expect? Expectations come. You know how suddenly these expectations come into us without even our knowledge. Like I go for walking in the morning in Lalbah, early morning, 5 30. I leave and then go to the walking. And then I go for walking early morning because it's dark, hardly anybody is there. But I saw somebody who came also for walking, but then he had some probably phone call, very serious phone call, seriously replying that phone call. He kept sitting on the stone bench, kept his hand, and then he was seriously talking. By the time I went there, he got up and then started going. When he got up and started going, I saw that under his hand there were keys. He forgot to pick up those keys, he left it there. I know that these keys belong to him, and if he goes home without these keys, he will miss the whole fun. So therefore, I wanted to just help him. You know, my intention is just to help him out of compassion. Karuna, let me give this key to him. So I ran, I picked up the keys and fast walked. I went in front of him. I said, I stopped him. He's still busy on the phone. I gave him the keys. He looked at the keys, his own keys, and he kept it in the pocket, continued to talk and go. I stood there watching him. He said, What is this? I gave him the keys, he did not even tell me thanks. See, my expectations come into the picture. I gave only to help him, but then expectations come. See, that's why expectation is nothing but ego. This love has so many different varieties of love that we have. When the love comes, when somebody is suffering, it comes in the form of karuna. Prema becomes karuna, compassion. When somebody elderly comes, it is shraddha, and it is like you like your respect for him. Somebody who is friendly who comes, Sneha, their friend. So there are so many different varieties of love. Brother's love, sister's love, uncle's love, aunt's love. So many different varieties of love. Unfortunately, this love has been so misunderstood in the various parts. The only thing of only conjugal love, sex love. But love has nothing to do with the sex. One small little aspect is what is sex, but such grand experience of love, which is the form of compassion, etc. etc. Appreciation is also another form of love. And we have because one ego comes up, destroys the whole thing. Therefore, any of these experiences, when you are in compassion, or when you have a sense of appreciation, or when you are the brother, sister, and all that, you are elevated and you are directly in touch with the self, with the consciousness. But that we gets corrupted because of one thing called as ego. Why does ego come up? Because we have nurtured all the time this ego. So much we have nurtured the ego. Look at the simple language. When you write every other letter, you write in the lowercase. When I comes, you write in uppercase. Why should I be in uppercase? How can I be in a lowercase? See, it's a simple argument. This is how we pampered this ego. I am great, I am important, I am extraordinary, I should be recognized. I, I, I all the time comes into the picture. This I is a simple structural facility that you're given, but it becomes unfortunately so big that is what corrupts ego. So therefore, bhakti sadhana is not finding God actually. Bhakti sadhana is dissolving oneself. If you dissolve yourself, what else is there in the world outside? Is it not God's creation? We can't see God in this God's creation. Where else can we see? You don't have to think of a God separately, some name you give it, and all that, some form you give it. And God is there all around you. You can't see that. God's creation, we say God is a wonderful creator, but creation is horrible. It's like saying a painter that you are a great painter, but only thing is your paintings are horrible. A musician, you say that you are a great musician, but your songs I can't hear. They are boring. This is what it is. Why it happened like this? Because that we have a big veil called as ego. The whole bhakti sadhana is supposed to be surrender the Siddhur so that God alone exists. Nothing else exists. That practices of surrendering the Siddhur is what is called as so far. What we have seen is the Bhakti Siddhantha, and what we are going to see is the bhakti sadhana. Extraordinarily wonderful sadhana. However, people have done that sadhana. Several examples we will quote, we will see that and see that how we can go further ahead. In the next class, that we continue these discussions. Wish you all the happiness. Thank you so much. Um