para-bhakti

[ken knight]

Namaste Again,

Further to my reply of this morning re: chapter 6,
verses 18 and 23 of Svetasvatara Upanishad, I would
like to also point to an earlier sloka.

I will try to get the transliteration correct this
time but can someone please correct mistakes that I
will undoubtedly make. The reference is 4.17:

eSha devo vishvakarmA mahAtmA
sadA janAnA.n hRidayesanniviShtaH
hRidA manIShA manasA'bhiklpto
ya etad viduramRRitaste bhavanti

'The Cosmic Self is the creator of this world (in the
sense that it has projected itself as such).  It is
the Supreme Self and it lies hidden in the heart of
everyone.  Those who know this Self attain immortality
(that is they overcome the fear of death.'

It was this verse that set me questioning the place of
bhakti in advaita some years ago as at that time I was
still separating heart and intellect.....this I would
not now do.

There is a particular statement that appealed to me..a
translation of Adishankara's commentary on this verse.
Swami Tyagisananda quotes it in his lengthy comment on
this verse and the third line:
'They become immortal, to whom this Atman is revealed
through direct experience, which is of the nature of
thought, and which is gained through the faculty of
intellection (buddhi) that regulates the activities of
thought and resides in the heart.'

It was the statement:
'...revealed through direct experience which is of the
nature of thought' that appealed to me.
Swami Tyagisananda gives another version in line with
the 'neti, neti' discriminative process;
'revealed by direct experience born of negation of
phenomena, and of discriminative cognition of Atman as
distinguished from the phenomena thus negated.'

The swami prefers to enlarge the 'hRRid, Manit and
Manas' to include all the inner faculties of man like
feeling, thinking, willing and imagination.

Swami Lokeswarananda in his translation of Shankara
gives us:'When we practise negation and discrimination
and when we are able to concentrate on Brahman
(manasA) then Brahman reveals itself to us.'

I would see this concentration on Brahman as bhakti
and the discriminating process of neti,neti as the way
for the jnani so they are combined here.

If we are able to follow this direction then 6.10
comes into play:
'As a spider hides itself by its web, similarly the
Lord,though one without a second,hides Himself
effortlessly by the projections of His MAyA, such as
names, forms and actions. May He kindly unite us with
Brahman.'

If you have further comment on 4.17 I would appreciate
your insights,

Om sri ram

Ken Knight
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