Devotion, Awareness or Silence
Background: Some of us wondered why at times Mahaprabu melts in Devotion and urges us to Surrender while at other times he urges us to practice Awareness every moment. As if he were reading our minds, the following words came out of him one day.
The 3 Aspects of the Supreme
There are 3 aspects of the Supreme indicated by the words Sat, Cit, Anandam. These 3 aspects of the Supreme Power cannot be separated. And then there is Nama and Rupa: Name and Form. We should put aside Name and Form since they keep changing. Our attention needs to be on the three. Sometimes Anbu (Love or Ananda) dominates. At that point Arivu or Cit takes a back seat, so to speak. Similarly when Arivu (Cit) dominates, Anbu will take a back seat. When Arivu and Anbu both take a back seat, it is the Sat Nilai: State of Existence.
When Mahaprabu is dominated by Love and Ananda, his talks focus on Devotion. He asks us to give importance to Devotion. (Feels like this is a response to a question that has been with me for long: Why does Mahaprabu sometimes say Devotion is the way and sometimes say Awareness is the way? Thank you Mahaprabu.) When Cit, Arivu raises its head, Mahaprabu talks about Awareness. And when it goes really high it comes out as Unarvu Nilai Dhyanam (a guided meditation that comes out of him sometimes). At some point, both Cit and Ananda fade into the background and what remains is a total Nisabdham, Silence. In total Silence can you feel Love and Arivu interfering? No.
So these 3 aspects are inseparable. They just manifest in different ways at various times. So it is not either or. (Definitely he is answering my doubts about which path to follow). THAT which you are trying to attain is expressing itself as Love sometimes, as Awareness sometimes, and as total Silence sometimes. Therefore the approach to feeling it should also correspondingly be in sync. So no confusion at all.
Celebrate, Be Happy
We are proceeding on the right track. Mahaprabu repeated this a couple of times. (Referring to the path of Atma Jnana and having a Guru in this life). Celebrate it. Be very happy and grateful. How many people are not even on the track? And there are crores who don’t even know that there is a track. Compared to them, God has selected you and put you on the track. Are you showing him your gratitude and happiness: “I am in the Track. That itself is enough God.” Do you have that attitude? In every small thing, you need to show gratitude and happiness. If you are not happy now, will you be happy when you attain the so-called destination? No. IT will know that no matter what IT gives, you aren’t going to be happy. Then IT stops giving. See how important that attitude is!
Nee jnanathha adaiyaharadhukkana padhaila illa. Nee payanikkira paadhayae Jnana padhai dhan.
You are not on the path to Jnana where there is something called Jnana at the end to attain. The path itself is Jnana. The path itself is made of Jnana. Just walking it will give you it. Day to day, moment to moment is the practice. Second to second, IT moves. Being with it is the key. Not doing something now outside of it, to finally get it at a later point.
Note: This reminds me of the four chilra kasu (pennies) talk he gave long ago. Keep on collecting the 4 pennies at every step. In the last step also the same 4 pennies alone are there. There is no pot of treasure in the end. If you miss collecting those 4 pennies at every step, then in the end you will end up a pauper. But if you earned those 4 pennies at every step, the last 4 will put you over the top!!!)
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