Thursday, September 6, 2007

Merging of Wisdom and Devotion

2 days ago, all Krishna devotees celebrated with splendor 'Krishna Janmashtami' - the happening of their beloved Lord Krishna in their lives. Although, in most of our previous posts our attempts have been more towards connecting with the intellectual mind, here I would like to put a post on devotion - something that is possible only through the heart, and something beyond.

If you see, there are broadly two categories of people: the first category uses the mind to communicate, the second through the heart.

Most of us brought up in the western way of thinking independently can relate to the first category. We are normally trained to use logic as a tool to reason out everything that we do and bring clarity. However, the problem with this is we do not know how to use logic reasoning fully. Unfortunately, we think through a filter made of past conditionings. This same weapon of logic if used with skill can be used to kill logic itself! However ironic it may sound, all spiritual practices are all about techniques to drop the intellect, drop logic, transcending logic into the no-mind zone. The greatest of the intellectuals like Sri Sankaracharya, Ashtavakra and Ramana Maharsi exposed the Truth using their razor-sharp intellect as a weapon to strip away intellect.

Then, there are great enlightened masters like Ramakrishna whose heart was so ripe that it used to melt at the mere mention of the divine. Just reading about Ramakrishna's life, about the divine emotion of that of a child that just flowed from his heart to the Divine Mother can put anyone to tears. Those who can connect through the heart usually feel one of these five bhava (emotions) for God: 1. Dasya Bhava (that of a servant, as Hanuman shared for Sri Rama), 2. Sakhya Bhava (that of a friend, as Arjuna shared for Krishna), 3. Maatru Bhava (that of a mother, as Yashoda shared for Krishna), 4. Vatsalya Bhava (that of a child that Ramakrishna shared for Kaali) and 5. Madhura Bhava (that of a beloved, as Radha shared for Krishna).

It is said that Krishna was a poornavatar - where all the 5 bhava come together. Many of Nithyananda's devotees feel the same way about Nithyananda, as they relate with him in all these 5 bhava.

Now an important question: If the Ultimate Truth is "Absolute", then how can there be differences in the path of the wisdom and devotion? Swamiji answers this beautifully:

"Let me tell you more about the Triveni Sangam. It is a confluence of the three sacred rivers - Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. While the former two are visible, the third flows underground and becomes visible only at the point of merging. Ganga is the river of Lord Shiva and stands for wisdom or gnana. All Shiva temples are on the banks of the river Ganga. Yamuna is the river of Lord Krishna and stands for devotion or bhakti. All Krishna temples, you will find on the banks of the river Yamuna. When Ganga and Yamuna merge, when wisdom and devotion merge, Saraswati (or knowledge) happens! That is the symbolic significance of Triveni Sangam. Unless this merging happens, you cannot see or experience knowledge. That is why Saraswati remains hidden until the point of merging."

In other words, the peak of wisdom and peak of devotion culminate with the same Truth. I bow in gratitude to all those Masters for their compassion to show us the Truth.

-- In Nithyananda,
Ma Nithyananda Arpana

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How to know the quality of one's being - intellectual or devotional ?

Ma Nithyananda Arpana and Sri Nithya Arpanananda said...

Dear Anamika,

I am sure each one of us can answer this question best for ourselves if we just become aware of how we respond to situations.. whether the attitude of questioning takes charge or a deep emotion from within. Then, its about channelising the intellect/emotion in the right direction.

Ofcourse, a master can see through us and tell us what our main energy is, whether intellectual, emotional or being-level. This is the beautiful idea behind a spiritual name, which contains the unique path of that person embedded in the name. :)

In Nithyananda
Arpana

prabhu.i.am said...

Nithyanandam Anamika...
If you are eager to find answer to that How-to-know question, then you are intellectual! :)