Bhakti in VedAntic sAdhanA

[ken knight]

--- Hemant <reachhemant at ETH.NET> wrote:
Namaste again,
> This verse is addressed to Siva.
>          O Lord ! Forgive my three sins. Knowing
> that Thou art omnipresent I came to kAsI to see you.
> Knowing that Thou art formless I worshipped you.
> Knowing that Thou art beyond words I spoke of you.

This sounds like SivaanandalaharI but I could not find
it.  Any more help as to location please?

There are some verses in the Kaivalya Upanishad on
this. As you will know the apsirant begins by
approaching the teacher to enquire into the Highest
purusha and is told that this is known through faith,
devotion and meditation. Then from verses 6-10 we have
instructions upon meditation upon the nirguna and
saguna Brahman:
The Unthinkable, the Unmanifest, the One of endless
forms, the peaceful, the Immortal, the Origin of the
very Creator, the One without a beginning, a middle
and an end, the Only One, the All-pervading; the
Knowledge-Bliss, the formless, and the wonderful.
By meditating upon Lord Parameswara consorted by mothe
Uma, the Highest Lord, the All-powerful, the
Three-eyed, the Blue-necked and the ever tranquil, a
true man of reflection reaches Him who is the source
of the manifested world, the Witness of all, and Who
is beyond all darkness.
He is Brahma, He is Siva, He is Indra. He is the
Immutable, the Suprem, the Self-luminous. He alone is
Vishnu, He is Prana, He is Time and Fire. He is the
Moon.
He alone is all that was, and all that will be, the
Eternal.  Knowing Him, one goes beyond the sting of
death. There is no other way to reach complete
freedom.
Experiencing one's own Self in all beings and all
beings in the Self, one attains Highest Brahman...and
not by any other means.'

To me then this is the fulfilment of the devotion,
faith and meditation. However this devotion is not
that of the dualist prostrated at the feet of an
object of worship, but a singleness of mind, a
one-pointedness, arising out of a moment of
revelation. That moment of revelation, pratibha, is
the impulse of grace.
The mystical experience as defined by Western students
of such experiences has the following qualities:
Transience..it is a fleeting experience
Passivity...the person plays no part in the revelation
of the moment
Ineffability....it cannot be described in common
language
Noeticity....one knows as never before, past knowledge
fall away.

In that last part is the jnana and I see that as
essential if one is to have the singleness of mind
implied by the use of the word bhakti in the Kaivalya
Upanishad.

>           Then again comes the issue of grace.

I do not have a problem with this concept. The One
desires to be many. And that is how it is, the Many
issue out of/in the One. This union of Self in Itself
produces love in the Prema level. Somehow, and we need
not chase how or why at the moment, illusion/delusion
arises to cut off one of the many from the One.  Now
that original desire to be many, to experience Itself
cannot be realised so a mechanism arises out of prema,
one aspect of which is grace. This is mirrored in our
own lives when compassion arises when we see someone
in deep pain or despair.
Starting from the point of view as one deluded by
attachment to material things or ideas then the
pleasure/pain cycle will always conclude in a heavy
dose of the pain part. As a reflection of the original
desire we now desire unity as opposed to
separation...we may not use this language but that is
what it is. However our reaching out for love is now
at the 'lubh' level of grasping.
> verse from katha is often quoted in favour of the
> idea of grace. He attains the Self whom the Self
> chooses. But this Self is the summit of his own
> being!  Moreover the Upanisad declares nAyamAtmA
> balahInena labhyah!

Is this 1.1 23 ????
nAyamAtmA  pravachinena labhyah?
I could not find one with 'bala'.  The Self cannot be
known through the grasping of meaning in the texts.
This must be so because seeing the Self as other than
one's self is like reaching out for (grasping) a
mirage. The only way is to renounce all dharmas and
become still and silent. Now the original desire that
powered everything is realised and 'stasyaisha aatmaa
vivrnute tenum svam'.( sorry if the transliteration is
a mess)


This is a bit of a jumble again but you may be able to
pick up on my queries please,
Peace


Ken Knight


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