Pyari ji....Gyan, karam, yog and bhakti (part 4)

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Namaste all.

 

Jagadguru Sri Kripaluji Maharaj often enlightens the sincere seekers

through his discourses by quoting many verses from Srimad Bhagavatam,

Ramayan,BRS, CC, Gita, declaring the supremacy of Prema Bhakti over

Jnana as well as Karma.

 

Let us never forget this beautiful statement.

 

muktAnAnamapi siddhAnAM nArayaNa parAyaNah

sudurlabhah prazAmtAtmA kotisv api mahAmune

 

Bhagavatam 6.14.5

 

O great sage, among many millions of liberated souls and

perfected yogis, one may be a pure devotee of Lord Krishna

Such an elevated, fully peaceful soul is extremely rare.

 

The Brahma jnanis from birth, God-realized saints, the foremost

acclaimed Jnanis of heavenly abodes, the four saintly Kumaras, have

looked down upon their Brahmananda while enjoying the Divine bliss of

Prema Bhakti.

 

SB 3.15.43: When the breeze carrying the aroma of tulasi leaves from

the toes of the lotus feet of the Personality of Godhead entered the

nostrils of those sages, they experienced a change both in body and in

mind, even though they were attached to the impersonal Brahman

understanding.

 

They prayed to the Lord that to receive the blessing of Divine Love

devotion, they would rather go even to hellish planets, what to speak

of liberation and Brahma-ananda!

 

SB 3.15.49: "O Lord, we pray that You let us be born in any hellish

condition of life, just as long as our hearts and minds are always

attached in loving devotion to Your lotus feet, our speech is made

beautiful by speaking of Your blissful deeds, like the tulasi leaves

which are sanctified when offered unto Your lotus feet, and as long as

our ears are always filled with the listening of Your Divine

attributes."

 

Their father, the cosmic creator Lord Brahma himself offered prayers

to Lord Krishna praising the Lord's associates in Divine Vrindavan and

their selfless Divine Love.

 

zreyaH-sRtiM bhaktim udasya te vibho

kliSyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye

tesSAm asau klezala eva zisSyate

nAnyad yathA sthUla-tusSAvaghAtinAm

 

SB 10.14.4:

 

"My Lord, loving devotion unto You is the best path for Divine Bliss.

If one gives up that path and engages in the subtle knowledge, one

will simply undergo a troublesome process and will not achieve the

desired result, just as a person who beats on an empty husk of wheat

cannot receive grain, His gain is nothing but trouble."

 

Who could claim to be a better 'Jnani' than Lord Brahma to whom the

original Vedic knowledge was imparted directly by Lord Himself!

 

SB 10.14.29: "My dear Lord, if one is favored by even a slight trace

of the mercy of Your lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of

Your personality. But those who speculate to understand the Supreme

Personality of Godhead are unable to know You, even though they

continue to study the Vedas for many years."

 

SB 10.14.30: "My Lord, I therefore pray to be so fortunate that in

this life as Brahma or in another life, wherever I take my birth, I

may be counted as one of Your surrendered souls. I pray that wherever

I may be placed, even among the animal kingdom, I can be dedicated in

loving devotion to Your lotus feet."

 

SB 10.14.34: "My greatest possible good fortune would be to take any

birth whatever in this sacred forest of Gokula and have my head bathed

by the dust falling from the lotus feet of any of its blessed

residents. Their entire life and soul is the Supreme Lord, Mukunda,

the dust of whose lotus feet is still being searched for in the wise

words of holy Vedas.

 

The compiler of Vedas, the author of Brahma sutras, Puranas, and

Mahabharata admitted:

 

"na tapobhir navedais ca na jnAne nApi karmaNA

harirhi sAdhyate bhaktyA pramaNaM tatra gopikAH"

 

(Padma Purana, Uttara Khanda, Chapter. 2, verse.18)

 

Sri Hari can be won neither by means of austerities nor through

the acquirement of subtle knowledge nor by the study of Vedas,

nor even throgh righteous action of Varna Ashrama dharma.

He can be won ONLY through Divine Love.

The cowherdesses of Vraja bear testimony to this.

 

SB 10.9.21: The Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, the son of mother Yashoda

is accessible to devotees attached to Him in spontaneous Divine Love,

but He is not as easily accessible to jnanis, nor to self-realized

yogis nor to those karmis who are in the bodily concept of life.

 

Lord Krishna declared the same again to jnani Uddhava:

 

"na sAdhayati mAM yogo... "

 

"bhaktyAhamekayA grAhyaH..."

 

(Bhagavatam 11.14.20,21)

 

"O My dear Uddhava, neither Yoga, nor Subtle Knowledge, nor

Piety, nor Austerity, nor Renunciation CAPTIVATES Me so much as

the spontaneous loving DEVOTION to Me."

 

"I, the Supreme Soul of all dear souls, am ATTAINABLE by Prema

Bhakti alone, which is the outcome of unalloyed faith and

attachment. The spontaneous LOVE for Me purges even the most

fallen outcasts of their inherent impurities."

 

In treta yuga, King Janaka, the well known 'videha' - God-realized

Brahmanandi had renounced his bliss to enjoy higher mellows of Divine

Love, when he was blessed by the vision of Lord Ramacandra.

 

>From Bala Kanda of Rama Carita Manas:

 

sahaja viraaga roopa manu moraa,

thakita hota jimi chanda chakoraa,

taa te prabhu poochhaum sati bhaavoo,

kahahu naatha jani karahu duraavoo.

 

My MIND, which is BY NATURE DISPASSION ITSELF,

is ENRAPTURED at Their sight as the patridge (Chakora bird)

at the sight of the moon. Therefore, lord,

I beg you to tell me in ALL sincerity,

and to CONCEAL IT NOT from me.

 

inhahi bilokata ati anuraagaa,

barabasa brahmasukhahi manu tyaagaa,

 

kaha muni bihasi kahehu nripa neekaa,

bachana tumhaara na hoyi aleekaa.

 

Overwhelmed with LOVE (Prema-anand) at Their very Sight,

I am CONSTRAINED to RENOUNCE the JOYS of ABSOLUTE Brahman

(Brahma-anand)."

Said the sage Vishvamitra with SMILE,

"You have SPOKEN WELL, O king,

your WORDS can NEVER be UNTRUE."

 

muni tava charana dekhi kaha raavoo,

kahi na sakaum nija punyaprabhaavoo,

sundara syaama gaura dovu bhraataa,

aanandahu ke aanandadaataa.

 

"When I behold your feet, O sage," added king Janaka,

"I cannot tell HOW richly I am REWARDED for my former good deeds.

These TWO handsome Brothers, One of whom is DARK and the Other Fair,

BRING bliss to Bliss Herself!"

 

In Dwapara yuga, jnani Uddhava whose teacher was celestial Brihaspati,

the Guru of heavenly personalities, had expressed the profound

greatness of Prema Bhakti and wished to be a speck of dust in the

sacred

abode of Divine Love, Vrindavana.

 

AsAmahO carana renu jushamahaM zyAM

vRndAvane kimapi gulma latauSadhI nAM

yA dustyajaM svajana mArya pathaMca hitvA

bhejur mukunda padavIM zRti bhirvi mRgyAM

 

continued...