Feb 6, 2004, 12.00am IST
SEEMA BURMAN.
Sage Narada had the knack of bringing about social change and spiritual growth wherever he went. Adored and respected by Lord Krishna , Narada employed different ways to bring people nearer to God . He convinced the dacoit Ratnakar to chant “Mara, Mara” — the reverse of “Rama, Rama” — helping him evolve enough to get transformed into a sage (Valmiki).
Narada taught five-year-old Dhruv how to meditate. The result? The Lord manifested Himself before Dhruv. Narada’s pointer that all eight children of Devaki could be a threat to King Kansa’s life led to Kansa being killed and liberated at the hands of God. Somehow, Narada brings all to God.
Narada once confided to Krishna that he yearned to experience maya or illusion. The Lord transformed Narada into a pretty girl, Naradi. A man falls in love with her, marries her and they have several children. Naradi is happy for a while, looking after her family. But when her child dies, she is inconsolable. Naradi weeps on the banks of a river when she hears someone asking for water. Looking up, she finds a smiling Krishna — at which point she realises that she is actually Narada, the sage. All that transpired was maya.
Maya is the Unreal that hides the Real. Man forgets his divinity due to ignorance. The Self is One with Brahman. But ignorance makes the Self and thinks itself to be limited, helpless and finite. The unchangeable atman superimposes upon itself the nature of changeable body and mind.
In the Narada Bhakti Sutra, Narada recommends various ways to come out of maya. One should give up attachment (sangam tyajati), serve the great (mahanubhavam sevatae) and be freed from ‘I and mine’ (nirmamao bhavati). To give up attachment one must restrain the senses and practise austerities. Krishna says in the Gita: “ A restless mind can be restrained by renunciation and practise” (10.35).
Narada recommends a life of solitude (viviktasthanam sevate) to enable cutting through worldly bondage (loka-bandham unmulayati), go beyond the three gunas (nistraigunyo bhavati) and depend on God for living (yogakshemam tyajati). Cutting worldly bondage is to see God in all and serve all with selfless love. Going beyond the three gunas is to be free of all moods. To depend on God means total surrender to Him.
Narada says that one who gives up fruits of action (karma-phalam tyajati), renounces all selfish activities (karmani sannyasyati), and passes beyond pairs of opposites (nirdvandvo bhavati), crosses maya. The Law of Karma says that all actions and thoughts yield fruits of happiness and misery and bind us further.
The greatest remedy of all ills is to surrender the fruits of karma to God. Work performed as worship crea-tes love and devotion. Such devotion leads to non-attachment freeing the devotee from cause and effect. One who accepts pairs of opposites (happiness-misery, heat-cold, success-failure) with equanimity is freed from ignorance and achieves immortality. In order to achieve all this, one has to love God unconditionally and cons-tantly — and it means living in constant Bliss. Only when one reaches such a stage, one becomes equipped to overcome maya. A true devotee never forgets God — not even for a moment, just like the gopis, says Narada.
Narada assures that God reveals Himself to the devotee who worships Him day and night, whose voice chokes while speaking of Him, who is moved to tears by merely hearing His name, whose hair stands up on end in ecstasy. When God reveals Himself to such an evolved devotee, maya is dissolved.
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