Love is My Religion: Quotes from Gita and Narada Bhakti Sutras

Love is My Religion: Quotes from Gita and Narada Bhakti Sutras

Meditation Sangat:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MeditationSangat
{"Do not live even a single day without inner
meditation." -- Baba Devi Sahab}

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/santmat_mystic?list=1

Devotion to God as Form (Sarguna), and Formless (Nirguna) Devotion

Note: Sant Mat is a school of spirituality in the "Formless" category or Nirguna Bhakti, meaning, love and devotion for a Formless God. One may notice an esoteric dimension in the Gita mentioning the possibility of Nirguna Bhakti. Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras in one place said that Krishna knew of Sants in his day. Sant Mat is a combination of Bhakti along with Surat Shabd Yoga (union of the attention-faculty of the soul during meditation with the Divine Light and Sound). The book, Satsang Yoga, Volume One, by Maharishi Mehi, published by Maharishi Mehi Ashram, has a nice compilation of passages from various Hindu scriptures including the Gita and Upanishads, from an esoteric or mystical Sant Mat perspective.

The Way of Love, Bhagavad Gita, from the Love Chapter (12) (Also see YouTube Video with translation and music below.)

Of those steadfast devotees who love you and those who seek you as the eternal formless Reality, who are the more established in yoga?

SRI KRISHNA:

Those who set their hearts on me and worship me with unfailing devotion and faith are more established in yoga.

As for those who seek the transcendental Reality, without name, without form, contemplating the Unmanifested, beyond the reach of thought and of feeling, with their senses subdued and mind serene and striving for the good of all beings, they too will verily come unto me.

Yet hazardous and slow is the path to the Unrevealed, difficult for physical man to tread. But they for whom I am the supreme goal, who do all work renouncing self for me and meditate on me with single-hearted devotion, these I will swiftly rescue from the fragment's cycle of birth and death, for their consciousness has entered into me. (chapter 12:1-7)


Chapter 12, verses 13 and 14:

That one I love who is incapable of ill-will, who is friendly and compassionate. Living beyond the reach of 'I' and 'mine' and of pleasure and pain, patient, contented, self-controlled, firm in faith, with all his heart and all his mind given to me----with such a one I am in love.



From the Narada Bhakti Sutras on the Way of Love (Bhakti):

Chapter 2

1. Bhakti is greater than Karma, greater than Jnana, greater than Yoga (Raja Yoga), because Bhakti itself is its result, because Bhakti is both the means and the end (fruit).

2. As a man cannot satisfy his hunger by simple knowledge or sight of food, so a man cannot be satisfied by the knowledge or even the perception of God until love comes; therefore love is the highest.

from Chapter 4:

9. Bhakti is the easiest way of worship.

10. It is its own proof and does not require any other.

11. Its nature is peace and perfect bliss.

12. Bhakti never seeks to injure anyone or anything, not even the popular modes of worship.

13. Conversation about lust, or doubt of God, or about one's enemies must not be listened to.

14. Egotism, pride, etc must be given up.

15. If those passions cannot be controlled, place them upon God, and place all your actions on Him.

16. Merging the trinity of Love, Lover, and Beloved, worship God as His eternal servant, His eternal bride -- thus love is to be made unto God.

Whosoever amongst us believes in this auspicious Gospel of Narada and has faith in it, becomes a lover of God, and attains the highest Beatitude and Goal of life. (Narada Bhakti Sutras)

Narada Bhakti Sutras Online:
http://www.geocities.com/athens/acropolis/1863/nbs.txt

Chapter 12, Gita, on Bhakti -- Music along with Text in Sanskrit and English -- YouTube Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjrWIxOFo3M


Ziggy Marley---Love is My Religion (Scenic Route -- Nice Video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwGPB1ha2g

Spiritual Principles of Sant Mat Mysticism

Spiritual Principles of Sant Mat

Radhasoami Reality:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Radhasoami-Reality
{"Radhaswami Dayal ki Daya Radhaswami Sahai:
"Grant Merciful Radhasoami Thy Grace and Protection"}

1. Ultimate Reality is beyond any beginning or end, infinite, beyond birth, beyond the senses, all-pervading yet beyond pervasiveness. It must therefore be understood as the Supreme Being. This Essential Element is known as the Lord of All and is the foundation of all things. This Being is beyond both the inanimate and animate aspects of nature. It is without qualities and beyond qualities. Its nature is infinite, imperishable, all-powerful. It is beyond time and space, beyond sound and beyond form. It is the One without a second. The Supreme Being is beyond the scope of mind, the intellect and the senses. This entire universe is powered by the energy of this Being. This Being is not human. It is not manifested in physical form. It has existence beyond the illusion of maya, and there is nothing that exists outside of it. It is the Being which is eternal, existing from the beginning. Santmat considers this Being as the Divine Reality and this [knowing or merging with] Being is the goal of all spirituality.

2. The individual soul is an inseparable part of the Supreme Being.

3. The physical world of nature was created. It has an origin and an end.

4. The soul bound by illusion (maya) remains in the cycle of death and birth. This is the cause of all suffering. In order to escape from this cycle of death and birth we must experience realization of this Supreme Being.

5. By practicing devotion through these four techniques: Manas Japa (recitation of the divine name [Simran]), Manas Dhyana (focus on the divine form or guru [Dhyan]), Dristi Sadhana (focus on the infinitesimal Point [Third Eye Center -- contemplating the inner Light, Yoga of Light]), and Nadanusandhana Yoga (concentration on the inner divine sounds [Bhajan, Nada Yoga, Surat Shabd Yoga, Yoga of Sound] -- the practitioner consecutively transcends the realms of darkness, light, and sound which cloak the Truth -- the Divine. Only through a human body is a person able to achieve unity with the Divine.

6. Lying, stealing, intake of intoxicating substances, adultery, and violence (including harming other beings) are the five sins to be avoided. Eating meat or fish is also considered to be a form of violence and should be avoided. The aspirants of Santmat must abstain from these vices.

7. Consider the following as the requirements to attain liberation:

Trust and belief in the Divine;

commitment to seek the Divine within;

devotion to a spiritual master;

listening to the teaching of the spiritual discourse [satsang] including study of the teaching of the saints and the scriptures;

and diligent meditation practice.

-- Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj, "The Harmony of All Religions"