And he lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of love, and so the second, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around and everywhere, does He continue to pervade with heart of love, far-reaching, grown great and beyond measure . . . even so of all things that have shape or life, there is not one that he passes by or leaves aside, but regards them all with Mind set free and deep-felt love. (Tevijja Sutta.)*
It is in order that this Indian teaching of love should find some attention from English readers that the Nârada Sûtra has been translated. A modern commentary, for which the author alone is responsible, accompanies the text. His only qualification for writing it is a strong sympathy with the subject and the fact of having dwelt with actual devotees in the land of its birth—India.
The Vedânta Philosophy covers the three basic conceptions of
1. Duality, i.e., God and creature.
2. Non-duality, with a distinction, i.e., God, soul and not-soul, but Deity imminent in all.
3. Non-duality, i.e., all is One, but appears many through nescience.
Throughout these three divisions runs Bhakti, love and devotion, which by giving them their fire makes them living systems. Consequently various books have been written adapting Bhakti to these three views of the doctrine of the Upanisads.
It is in order that this Indian teaching of love should find some attention from English readers that the Nârada Sûtra has been translated. A modern commentary, for which the author alone is responsible, accompanies the text. His only qualification for writing it is a strong sympathy with the subject and the fact of having dwelt with actual devotees in the land of its birth—India.
The Vedânta Philosophy covers the three basic conceptions of
1. Duality, i.e., God and creature.
2. Non-duality, with a distinction, i.e., God, soul and not-soul, but Deity imminent in all.
3. Non-duality, i.e., all is One, but appears many through nescience.
Throughout these three divisions runs Bhakti, love and devotion, which by giving them their fire makes them living systems. Consequently various books have been written adapting Bhakti to these three views of the doctrine of the Upanisads.
The Sândilya Sûtra does for the non-dualist what the Nârada Sûtra does for the dualist. Since, however, all scriptures are written in such a form that according to the attitude of the mind they are capable of either the dualistic or non-dualistic interpretation, so the dualistic Nârada Sûtra can be read by a non-dualist. This is also the case with the Christian Scriptures.
For the non-dualist the lover becomes an ocean of love, the concrete becomes abstract; the true and permanent state of which our nature consists, but which we do not recognise through nescience. From nescience arises egoity (“I” and “mine”), and the very idea is a limitation of love. Merged in that ocean of love and bliss, all separation, all individualism vanishes. It is found existing—as it always in reality exists—alone, without a second (Ekâdvitiya).
Men often fall back from the grand abstraction of the adwaita—non-duality—through not having recognised along with it the corresponding fire of Bhakti.
Hence it appears a cold abstraction, admired by the head but leaving the heart cold—a mere intellectual gymnastics. That it is not so when properly understood is seen through those adwaiti devotees who, full of enthusiasm, fire and love, work ever for the redemption of themselves and others from the net of avidyâ—nescience. Indian philosophy cannot be mastered from one set of teachings. Out of the Upanisads have been evolved systems, as above enumerated, which cover the whole possible field of relationships between God and man. They do not deny, but only amplify each other when properly viewed, until in the adwaita we get the deepest expression possible to the mind of man. Buddhism, which must also be recognised as an Indian system, although it denied the authority of the Vedas of which the Upanisads are a portion, is nevertheless full of Upanisad teaching, and the difference between the Nirvâna of Buddhism and the Neti Neti (“not this, not this”) of Vedânta would be difficult indeed to distinguish. Both in passing beyond Kâla-deśa-nimitta (time, space and causation) accept the inevitable conclusion that all afterwards must be expressed by negations, since the conditions which make thought possible have been transcended.
For the non-dualist the lover becomes an ocean of love, the concrete becomes abstract; the true and permanent state of which our nature consists, but which we do not recognise through nescience. From nescience arises egoity (“I” and “mine”), and the very idea is a limitation of love. Merged in that ocean of love and bliss, all separation, all individualism vanishes. It is found existing—as it always in reality exists—alone, without a second (Ekâdvitiya).
Men often fall back from the grand abstraction of the adwaita—non-duality—through not having recognised along with it the corresponding fire of Bhakti.
Hence it appears a cold abstraction, admired by the head but leaving the heart cold—a mere intellectual gymnastics. That it is not so when properly understood is seen through those adwaiti devotees who, full of enthusiasm, fire and love, work ever for the redemption of themselves and others from the net of avidyâ—nescience. Indian philosophy cannot be mastered from one set of teachings. Out of the Upanisads have been evolved systems, as above enumerated, which cover the whole possible field of relationships between God and man. They do not deny, but only amplify each other when properly viewed, until in the adwaita we get the deepest expression possible to the mind of man. Buddhism, which must also be recognised as an Indian system, although it denied the authority of the Vedas of which the Upanisads are a portion, is nevertheless full of Upanisad teaching, and the difference between the Nirvâna of Buddhism and the Neti Neti (“not this, not this”) of Vedânta would be difficult indeed to distinguish. Both in passing beyond Kâla-deśa-nimitta (time, space and causation) accept the inevitable conclusion that all afterwards must be expressed by negations, since the conditions which make thought possible have been transcended.
A religion cannot remain for long more than a comfortable (or uncomfortable) theory after the possibilities of realisation have been removed from it, or by some kind of obstruction have been made so difficult to attain that only the few and strong can reach them.
This great possibility of realisation was, to a great extent, destroyed for Christianity with the decay of the monastic system, for now a man has to remain very much in the world however little he may desire to be of it. The struggle for existence becomes keener as the age rolls onward. There is legislation against mendicancy; we may not live without “visible means of support.” There is no facility offered to those who would devote their energies to fathoming the depths of the mind by the only practical psychology—deep abstraction from all external things, and concentration of the attention on the changes of the mind themselves. Only through the tranquillised heart and mind can Deity be approached.
The whole age is materialistic, so much so that few even have heard, much less believed, that there are still living systems in the world which do not claim any philosophical demonstration but the actual de
monstration through experience, gained, step by step, with the gradual training and purification of the mind. The aspiration to realisation (anubhūti) hardly enters the minds of modern Western people. So far are we from any kind of genuine devotion that the thought of such a thing is strange and startling to us. Yet what can any system be which does not point clearly to realisation as attainable here and now?
This great possibility of realisation was, to a great extent, destroyed for Christianity with the decay of the monastic system, for now a man has to remain very much in the world however little he may desire to be of it. The struggle for existence becomes keener as the age rolls onward. There is legislation against mendicancy; we may not live without “visible means of support.” There is no facility offered to those who would devote their energies to fathoming the depths of the mind by the only practical psychology—deep abstraction from all external things, and concentration of the attention on the changes of the mind themselves. Only through the tranquillised heart and mind can Deity be approached.
The whole age is materialistic, so much so that few even have heard, much less believed, that there are still living systems in the world which do not claim any philosophical demonstration but the actual de
monstration through experience, gained, step by step, with the gradual training and purification of the mind. The aspiration to realisation (anubhūti) hardly enters the minds of modern Western people. So far are we from any kind of genuine devotion that the thought of such a thing is strange and startling to us. Yet what can any system be which does not point clearly to realisation as attainable here and now?
It is not implied that modern Christianity holds out no hope of realisation, but it sounds far off, and in Protestantism especially points out no definite systematic and graduated steps. Too much is left to be accomplished through mere dying, since it offers no further chances by being born again in this world; but can dying teach any more than sleeping? Do we wake any wiser than we dropped asleep? There is only one kind of dying which is effective, that is dying during life: the change of bodies is merely incidental, and alters nothing except surroundings.
INTRODUCTION.
In these many methods to realisation the Eastern mind for ages has been intensely practical. In them the Western mind has become hopelessly unpractical; has, indeed, either forgotten about them or never thoroughly realised them: doesn't even now believe there are such systems, will not even try in most cases to understand them. That one who, here and there, may try, will at length find in the last words of the Sutra that: “He gains that dearest.”
The Bhakti Yoga is not the only path to this realisation. All systems merge more or less in each other: they are divided roughly as follows, and one or two verses out of many such have been quoted under each heading to exemplify them.
1. Karma Yoga—or devotion through works performed in the world entirely without “desire for fruit” or thought of reward either on earth or in any heaven. Duty fulfilled for its own sake, good done for the sake of the good and true.
INTRODUCTION.
In these many methods to realisation the Eastern mind for ages has been intensely practical. In them the Western mind has become hopelessly unpractical; has, indeed, either forgotten about them or never thoroughly realised them: doesn't even now believe there are such systems, will not even try in most cases to understand them. That one who, here and there, may try, will at length find in the last words of the Sutra that: “He gains that dearest.”
The Bhakti Yoga is not the only path to this realisation. All systems merge more or less in each other: they are divided roughly as follows, and one or two verses out of many such have been quoted under each heading to exemplify them.
1. Karma Yoga—or devotion through works performed in the world entirely without “desire for fruit” or thought of reward either on earth or in any heaven. Duty fulfilled for its own sake, good done for the sake of the good and true.
NARADA SUTRA.
Evam pravartitaṃ cakraṃ nānuvartayatiha yaḥ
Aghāyur indriyārāmo moghaṃ Pārtha jīvati.
“He who helps not this revolving wheel (of the world) to turn, sinful, revelling in the senses, lives to no purpose, Pritha’s Son.”
Bhagavad Gītā, III, 16.
Kāyena manasā buddhyā kevalair indriyair api
Yoginaḥ karma kurvanti saṅgaṃ tyaktvātmaśuddhaye,
“By the body, by the higher and lower faculties of the mind, even by the mere senses, Yogis perform actions for the purification of the soul after giving up all attachment.”
Bh. Gītā, V, 11.
2. Jñāna Yoga—through wisdom, by thought, meditation, and study attaining to viveka, the discrimination of the essential and permanent from the unreal and fleeting. Thence vairāgya, dispassion, indifference to all worldly joys and woes which are seen to have no real existence. From this follows mukti, release from all bondage, freedom and eternal peace.
INTRODUCTION.
Śreyān dravyamayād yajñāj jñāna-yajñaḥ parantapaḥ.
Sarvaṃ karmākhilaṃ Pārtha jñāne parisamāpyate.
“The sacrifice by knowledge is superior to the sacrifice by wealth. All acts in their entirety are contained in Knowledge.”
Bh. Gītā, IV, 33.
Yathaidhāṃsi samiddho’gnir bhasmasāt kurute ’rjuna
Jñānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi bhasmasāt kurute tathā,
Na hi jñānena sadṛśaṃ pavitram iha vidyate
Tat svayaṃ yoga-saṃsiddhaḥ kālenātmani vindati,
“As the kindled fire turns fuel into ashes, Arjuna! so the fire of knowledge turns all works into ashes.
“There is no purifier known like unto knowledge; perfected by Yoga, he finds it at length within himself.”
Evam pravartitaṃ cakraṃ nānuvartayatiha yaḥ
Aghāyur indriyārāmo moghaṃ Pārtha jīvati.
“He who helps not this revolving wheel (of the world) to turn, sinful, revelling in the senses, lives to no purpose, Pritha’s Son.”
Bhagavad Gītā, III, 16.
Kāyena manasā buddhyā kevalair indriyair api
Yoginaḥ karma kurvanti saṅgaṃ tyaktvātmaśuddhaye,
“By the body, by the higher and lower faculties of the mind, even by the mere senses, Yogis perform actions for the purification of the soul after giving up all attachment.”
Bh. Gītā, V, 11.
2. Jñāna Yoga—through wisdom, by thought, meditation, and study attaining to viveka, the discrimination of the essential and permanent from the unreal and fleeting. Thence vairāgya, dispassion, indifference to all worldly joys and woes which are seen to have no real existence. From this follows mukti, release from all bondage, freedom and eternal peace.
INTRODUCTION.
Śreyān dravyamayād yajñāj jñāna-yajñaḥ parantapaḥ.
Sarvaṃ karmākhilaṃ Pārtha jñāne parisamāpyate.
“The sacrifice by knowledge is superior to the sacrifice by wealth. All acts in their entirety are contained in Knowledge.”
Bh. Gītā, IV, 33.
Yathaidhāṃsi samiddho’gnir bhasmasāt kurute ’rjuna
Jñānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi bhasmasāt kurute tathā,
Na hi jñānena sadṛśaṃ pavitram iha vidyate
Tat svayaṃ yoga-saṃsiddhaḥ kālenātmani vindati,
“As the kindled fire turns fuel into ashes, Arjuna! so the fire of knowledge turns all works into ashes.
“There is no purifier known like unto knowledge; perfected by Yoga, he finds it at length within himself.”
Bh. Gītā, IV, 37, 38.
3. Rāja Yoga—a system partly physiological and partly psychological, which by intelligent control of the breathing, thinking, and nervous centres, by attention to food, postures, etc., preceded by restraint of the desires, and especially by the severest chastity, raises into activity certain powers
and perceptions lying latent in the ordinary man. From these it leads the consciousness from one plane of perception to another, until it either finds itself in the presence of Deity or identifies itself with It.
Yogi yuñjīta satatam ātmānaṃ rahasi sthitaḥ
Ekākī yata-cittātmā nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ.
Śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ
Nātyucchritaṃ nātinīcaṃ cailājina-kuśottaram
Tatraikāgraṃ manaḥ kṛtvā yata-cittendriya-kriyaḥ
Upaviśyāsane yuñjyād yogam ātma-viśuddhaye
Samaṃ kāya-śiro-grīvaṃ dhārayan acalaṃ sthiraḥ.
Samprekṣya nāsikāgraṃ svaṃ diśaś cānavalokayan
Praśāntātmā vigata-bhīr brahmacāri-vrate sthitaḥ
Manaḥ saṃyamya mac-citto yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ,
Yuñjann evaṃ sadātmānaṃ yogī niyata-mānasaḥ
Śāntiṃ nirvāṇa-paramāṃ mat-saṃsthām adhigacchati.
“Let the yogi, seated in a secluded place, devote himself constantly to the Self. Alone, with thought and body subdued, without hope and without belongings.
“Having sat down in a pure place with his body in a firm position, neither too high nor too low, with a cloth, deerskin and kuśa grass underneath.
“There, having concentrated his mind on one point, with the workings of the senses and thought controlled, resting on his seat, let him practise yoga for the purification of himself.
3. Rāja Yoga—a system partly physiological and partly psychological, which by intelligent control of the breathing, thinking, and nervous centres, by attention to food, postures, etc., preceded by restraint of the desires, and especially by the severest chastity, raises into activity certain powers
and perceptions lying latent in the ordinary man. From these it leads the consciousness from one plane of perception to another, until it either finds itself in the presence of Deity or identifies itself with It.
Yogi yuñjīta satatam ātmānaṃ rahasi sthitaḥ
Ekākī yata-cittātmā nirāśīr aparigrahaḥ.
Śucau deśe pratiṣṭhāpya sthiram āsanam ātmanaḥ
Nātyucchritaṃ nātinīcaṃ cailājina-kuśottaram
Tatraikāgraṃ manaḥ kṛtvā yata-cittendriya-kriyaḥ
Upaviśyāsane yuñjyād yogam ātma-viśuddhaye
Samaṃ kāya-śiro-grīvaṃ dhārayan acalaṃ sthiraḥ.
Samprekṣya nāsikāgraṃ svaṃ diśaś cānavalokayan
Praśāntātmā vigata-bhīr brahmacāri-vrate sthitaḥ
Manaḥ saṃyamya mac-citto yukta āsīta mat-paraḥ,
Yuñjann evaṃ sadātmānaṃ yogī niyata-mānasaḥ
Śāntiṃ nirvāṇa-paramāṃ mat-saṃsthām adhigacchati.
“Let the yogi, seated in a secluded place, devote himself constantly to the Self. Alone, with thought and body subdued, without hope and without belongings.
“Having sat down in a pure place with his body in a firm position, neither too high nor too low, with a cloth, deerskin and kuśa grass underneath.
“There, having concentrated his mind on one point, with the workings of the senses and thought controlled, resting on his seat, let him practise yoga for the purification of himself.
“Maintaining the body, head and neck in equipoise, unmoved, steady, looking steadfastly downwards (i.e., lit.: at the point of his nose), without looking about.
“With the soul pacified, and fear departed, firm in his vows of constancy, controlling his mind, let him sit, devoted, thinking on Me, intent on Me.
“The yogi thus constantly devoted to the Self, with his mind controlled, attains Peace, the Supreme Nirvāṇa that is in Me.”
Bh. Gītā, VI, 10–15.
Yathā dīpo nivātastho neṅgate sopamā smṛtā
Yogino yata-cittasya yuñjato yogam ātmanah.
“With the soul pacified, and fear departed, firm in his vows of constancy, controlling his mind, let him sit, devoted, thinking on Me, intent on Me.
“The yogi thus constantly devoted to the Self, with his mind controlled, attains Peace, the Supreme Nirvāṇa that is in Me.”
Bh. Gītā, VI, 10–15.
Yathā dīpo nivātastho neṅgate sopamā smṛtā
Yogino yata-cittasya yuñjato yogam ātmanah.