“‘Prema Bhakti - The Ultimate Path’.”

‘Prema Bhakti - The Ultimate Path’. As you are all aware I am talking on different dimensions of bhakti for last one week and we have bhakti spurana. I was talking about the sacred sentiments, bhakti from different dimensions and angles. Today I will talk one of the important dimension of bhakti, sacred sentiment; prema bhakti. I have some of the, some sacred sentiments from different great masters; something from Akkamahadevi from Karnataka, something from Narada Bhakti Sutra, something from Baul songs, something from Manikyavasagar from Tamil Nadu.

All disciples of Ramana Maharishi again and again pressed him, please talk about the Aksharamanamalai you wrote. He wrote a beautiful song ‘ Marital garland of letters – Akshramanamalai’ on Shiva and premabhati and madhura bhava. Again and again people were pestering him - please give meaning for it, you explain. He said there are something if it is spoken, it is degraded; that’s all. The very word will make it dirty. Either you should just understand and keep quiet about it or just deny the very existence of it. But if you start speaking verbally the whole joy will be lost; the whole thing will become dirty. It will be reduced to words which can be given any meaning. So again and again and again Ramana Maharishi avoids talking about his great ecstatic love with Shiva. Then one disciple asks him, if it is so sacred, if it so secret, why did you sing it out? Why did you share it with us? Then Bhagavan says, I did not sing it for public. I sang for Shiva, only few people who were around me, around me were there when I sang. But those few people I felt they are my very extension. They are not different. Just because those few were very my extension only they were around me. I sang to Arunachala.

Same way when Manikyavasagar was asked to give meaning for Thiruvasaram he smiled and showed Nataraja, just climbed those steps of the garbha mandir of Chidambaram Nataraja and disappeared into Nataraja. I can understand. Surely you can’t reduce it by verbalizing. It’s too much; too sacred. Even I cannot verbalize exactly what is that great ecstatic prema bhakti. Maybe I can inspire you all by talking few things about and sharing one or two techniques and definitions; that’s all. So I wanted to make it very clear, in satsang today, I am not defining prema bhakti, I am not talking about prema bhakti. I am only giving some techniques for you to achieve prema bhakti. So whatever I am talking should be taken in the sense of inspiration or technique because it is too sacred.

Nelada mareya nidhanadante phalada mareya ruchiyante tilata mareya tailadante marata mareya tejitante bhavata mareya brahmanakishta Channamallikarjunanu nilavanaru ariyavaru. It’s from Akkamahadevi. Like the treasure hidden in the ground, taste in the fruit, gold in the rock, oil in the seed, the absolute is hidden away in the heart. No one can know the ways of Channamallikarjuna. Akkamahadevi one of the great prema bhakta lived like a child in ecstasy. She sings it is hidden so deeply you can’t sing about it, you can’t tell about it. That’s a truth. Manikyavasagar very beautifully says Karandabal kannalodu negalandarbola sirandadiyar sindanayul tenuri nindra. Karandabal kannalodu negalandarbola sirandadiyar sindanayul tenuri nindra.

Ramakrishna says if you go to a feast, before the food was served there will be lot of talking. When the food is served the noise will come down. You will hear only the noise of asking ‘Eh one more vada, one more laddu, little more rice’. Only those few words will be heard. But after few minutes even that will not be heard. Ramakrishna says very beautifully only the sound chup chup chup of food being tasted in the mouth or the sound of the curd in the leaf plate; only that will be heard. I can say these great sacred sentiments, they are neither the noise of gossip, nor the noise of get the laddu, get the jiggery, get the vada. No! It is the noise of chup chup chup.

Akkamahadevi has nothing to tell but she has something to sing. It is too much. See if you are too much in stress you may not want to tell anything to anybody, to show that you are weak or stressed but your face will show. You will do something like that, sometime……oh god! Your face will show it. Same way Akkamahadevi doesn’t want to tell anything. She can’t; it is too much. But same way she can’t keep quiet. It is too much inside. She is just singing. She has nothing to tell but lot to sing. That is why she is singing nelada mareya nidhanadante phalada mareya ruchiyante tilata mareya tailadante marata mareya tejitante bhavata mareya brahmanakishta channamallikarjunanu nilavanaru ariyavaru. Like the treasure hidden in the ground, taste in the fruit, gold in the rock, oil in the seed, the absolute is hidden away in the heart. No one can know the ways of Channamallikarjuna. She is not telling anything in this. No meaning. Final conclusion of this whole statement is the ultimate is hidden in your heart. Nothing can be told. Arey! tell that in two words. Why do you need a big poem? Because it is too much to be told in two words; you can’t do anything. When you are possessed with that experience, anything you do is poetry.

Andal every day she will wear the garland which is made for Krishna; Vishnu. One day the father; of course who brought her up, we don’t know who is the physical father or the biological father. We only know somebody who brought her up Nammalvar, Periyalvar, Periyalvar. So he caught her. Then all of you may be knowing the story that he made a new garland and took it to Vishnu and Vishnu doesn’t want to wear and it fell again and again and he asked get me the garland worn by her. Then he realizes her glory and somebody asks her what do mean by wearing the garland for Krishna. She says very beautifully No, I am wearing it for his pleasure. I am beautifying my body because he is going to see me. He is going to enjoy me. He is going to experience me. No more independent identity. Even the body is offered to him, Krishna; Krishna prasada or naivedya kept for Shri Krishna. That is why Krishna could not feel that is a different body. He said let me wear the garland put on her body; achala murthy and sachala murthy. The statue was achala murthy and Andal was sachala murthy; because there was nothing inside Andal except Krishna. Dressing up because Krishna will see me; this belongs to him.

So akkamahadevi has nothing to tell, but she has to tell something. So that she expresses her extraordinary ecstasy. When you are in bhakti, you don’t possess bhakti; bhakti possesses you. It’s not like one more thing you will have it in your house. Oh this, this, this, this, this, this objects, I have bhakti also. No. Bhakti will own you. You can’t own bhakti. As long as you own bhakti it is not bhakti; its managed bhakti. When bhakti owns you, is real bhakti; prema bhakti.

Karandabal kannalodu negalandarbola sirandadiyar sindanayul tenuri nindra piranda pirrapparakum yengal peruman. He sings - just like the milk, sugarcane juice and ghee if all three are added how sweet it will be. Same way you are sweet constantly in the heart of the devotees; just by remembrance, joy and ecstasy such light being; such an ecstatic being. Sometime I go on avoid the subject by smiling. Now that’s what I am doing, because the subject is too much. How will you explain the word sirandadiyar sindanayul tenuri nindra. The exact translation means in the heart of the devotees, like a honey you go on oozing out. You can’t explain. Either you experience it or just do not know the existence of it. It’s like having the eye or not having the eye; that’s all. Somebody who doesn’t have eye, who is born blind, you go on singing about the glory of colors, Oh how the rainbow looks! First there is a violet, then there is this, then there is a green, then there is a yellow. That fellow will naturally get irritated and start throwing stones at you; persecution. That is why so much religious persecution.

And this kings with so much of wealth, harem of women and palace and everything they are so deeply depressed and insecure and this beggar fellow, singing in this street, this Gnanasambandar, Appar and Thirunavakarasar, Manikyavasagar, Sundar, all these guys singing in the streets namarkum gudiyallom namanakkum anjomemambo midarpadom; looks making fun of king. That is why that guy gets completely threatened and frightened and puts him in the prison. And in the prison also this guy is not depressed. Sitting there he is singing maasil venayum malai madiyamum veesudendradum mingila venilum moosuvandarai poigayum ondrade eesan endai enayadi neelale kachunai puttiyod kadali paichinum nachunayavada namachivayame. He is not keeping quiet.

Sometime singing about bhakti becomes dangerous. Because it is actually, I tell you bhaktas are aliens. That is the truth. Bhaktas are aliens. They don’t belong to this planet. See it is some non mechanical parts of the brain gets awakened. I tell you once the bhakti gets awakened you can’t even talk to common man. I know thousands of our devotees who can’t go to any party and who can’t talk to anybody else any other subject. All the old relatives, friends, everything has disappeared. It’s not that you renounced them; they renounced you because there is nothing in common to talk. What will you do? Instead of talking about the same thing; what about share? What about market? What about your business? How about this sari? Where did you get this jewelry? But here you don’t know anything of that. The jewel which you wear is a energy bead from Dhyanapeetam. The sari which you wear is ashram sari; white sari. And all you know about is Swamiji and what is the next program; what was the last program you attended; difficult; not for us for others.

Just understand somebody is thinking he is the king of the whole country and ordinary guy Thirunavakarasar, old guy, all he holds, his whole property is one small uruvarapadai, English I don’t know the name; just a small weapon to clean the, tool, not even weapon, tool to clean the grass in the ground. That’s the only job he will do. He will go to all temple and clean the floor and do some service in the temple, sing about Shiva. But this guy is so charismatic and ecstatic; wherever he goes thousands gather. Come on put him in the prison. But again nothing can be done. This guy is sitting there in ecstasy and joy.

Bhakti is awakening of the non mechanical parts of your brain. Till the end neither I nor somebody can explain to you the meaning of sirandadiyar sindanayul tenuri nindra. No! I can give you the translation but I can’t give you the meaning. Translation says in the heart of the devotees you ooze out like a honey. What do you understand? You understand the word honey, heart of the devotees, oozing out and you try to fix all that and create visualization. There is a heart and like puss usually oozes out from the wound, the honey oozes out from the heart. If really honey oozes out from the heart what do you need, you need a bypass surgery or open heart surgery. How will you describe? How will you explain? It is only the ecstasy which can sing.

For prema bhakti explanation is not possible only experience is possible. Maybe how my eyes expand when I utter this words, how my throat chokes when I sing this words, the joy my body language expresses when I recite this verses and the courage my being radiates with this great words, this sacred sentiments; maybe I hope that can transmit this into you. The experience may be transmitted into you. That is the only reason I do go on singing, talking, every morning. Otherwise there is no other way, there is no other reason, why so many words should be used to sing about something which can never be sung, to explain about something which can never be explained.

Maybe I will try to define one or two things from the Narada Bhakti Sutras. I have read thousands of books in at least three four languages which I can read and understand. Only one book in my experience does not talk about the subject at all about which the book is supposed to talk. If it is yoga sutra it talks completely about yoga. If it is Brahma sutra it talks completely about Brahma. There is one book, does not talk about the subject which is supposed to be talking which that book is supposed to be talking. That is Narada Bhakti Sutras. The title is bhakti sutras but till the end Narada is not able to touch one inch of bhakti. He goes on beating around the bush because the bush itself can’t be beaten.

He just stands in this corner and takes a photograph. Oh this looks nice and jumps that corner and takes one more snap, oh this looks nice. But till the end he is not able to create a portrait of the person. Understand no one can create a portrait of bhakti. You may take different snaps from different corners and say that this is the most authentic snap; photograph. No. Here is a one snap from one corner from Narada’s Bhakti Sutras. Naradasthu tatharpathe kilacharath tattismarane paramavyeparamavyakulateti. The essential characteristics of bhakti are the consecration of all activities by complete self surrender to him and extreme anguish if he were to be forgotten. O god! He is describing a deep patience and passion in this one sutra; self surrender and extreme anguish if he were to be forgotten.

Complete patience; surrender and intense passion; the seeking, is the essence of prema bhakti. Again I am also beating around the bush because the bush cannot be beaten. It can only be different directions, different sides, different explanations.

But experience has to happen by the proper process. Bhakti spurana is the process. Go through the process you will experience real prema bhakti.

My blessings to all of you let you all experience and radiate prema bhakti. Let you all experience and radiate enlightenment. Let you all achieve, experience, live, express, radiate, the eternal bliss, Nithyananda.

Thank you.