Beyond R

 

The Confidential Secret Beyond Renunciation and Knowledge

The Supreme Lord said: 'One does not ascend to Me by mysticism or analysis, common piety or the study of the scriptures, by penances, renunciation, pious works or charity, by respecting vows, ceremonies, Vedic hymns, pilgrimage, by general discipline or the basic rules. One rather closes Me in one's heart by the sat-sanga with My devotees that drives away all attachment to sense gratification.  By associating with My devotees many living beings in every age achieved My refuge like the sons of Diti, the malicious ones, the animals, the birds, the singers and dancers of heaven, the ones of excellence and of perfection, the venerable souls and the treasure keepers, the scientific ones among the humans and the merchants, laborers and women, the uncivilized ones and the ones of passion and slowness. So also did Vritrâsura, the son of Kayâdhu [Prahlâda, and others like them, Vrishaparvâ Bali, Bâna, Maya as also Vibhîshana [brother of Râvana], Sugrîva [leader of the Vânaras] and Hanumân, Jâmbavân, Gajendra, Jathâyu, Tulâdhâra, Dharma-vyâdha, Kubjâ and the gopîs in Vraja, the wives of the brahmins  and others. Not having studied the sacred scriptures, nor having worshiped the great saints, they, without vows and not having undergone austerities, attained Me by association with My devotees. Only by unalloyed love indeed the gopîs, just as others of a limited intelligence like the cows, the immobile creatures, the snakes [like Kâliya] and more animals, managed to achieve perfection and quite easily attained Me, I who cannot even be reached by greatly endeavoring in yoga, analysis, charity, vows, penances, ritualistic sacrifices, exegesis, personal study or taking to the renounced order. When Akrûra took Me and Balarâma to Mathurâ they, [the inhabitants of Vrindâvana] whose hearts were attached [to Me] with the deepest love, suffered greatly because of the separation as they saw no one else to make them happy  All the nights they in Vrindâvana spent with Me, their most dearly Beloved oh Uddhava, seemed to take but a moment to them, but again bereft of Me they became as long as a kalpa.   Just as sages fully absorbed lose the awareness of names and forms - like they are rivers entering the water of the ocean - also they whose consciousness was intimately bound to Me had no awareness anymore of their bodies, their present or their future The hundreds and thousands [of women] who desired Me as their friend and lover, had no knowledge of My actual position and attained Me by associating with Me, the Absolute Supreme Truth. Therefore oh Uddhava give up the [religious] precepts and prohibitions, denial and routines and what you should listen to and have listened to. Choose for Me alone, the actual shelter of the Soul within all embodied beings. With that exclusive devotion you will enjoy My mercy and have nothing to fear from any side 

Srî Uddhava said: 'Hearing Your words, oh master of all yoga masters, has not dispelled the doubt in my heart that is clouding my mind.'

The Supreme Lord said: 'He, the living being in person [the Lord], is manifest within along with the prâna. He after all entered the heart and has His place in the subtle sound vibration that fills the mind with the grosser form of the [word sounds that are] different intonations of short and long vowels and consonants. Just as fire confined within wood, with the help of air, kindled by friction is born very tiny and increases with ghee, I similarly manifest Myself in this [Vedic, inner] voice. Speech, the function of the hands and legs, the genitals and the anus [the karmendriyas], smell, taste, sight, touch and hearing [the jñânendriyas] and the functions of one's determination, wisdom and self concern [or 'mind, intelligence and false ego'] as also the primary cause of matter [pradhâna or the 'thread',  and [the gunas] rajas, tamas and sattva, are thus [to be understood as] transformations [of My nature]. (This living entity, one and unmanifest, that is concerned with the threefold [nature of the gunas], constitutes the source of the lotus of creation. He who is eternal, in the course of time divided [therewith] His potencies in many divisions, just like seeds do that fell on fertile soil. The complete of this universe, expanding long and wide like cloth expanding along the threads of its warp and woof, is situated in Him [on His thread, Since time immemorial there is this tree of material existence [samsâra] that, blossoming and producing fruits, is naturally inclined to fruitive action [or karma].  Of this tree extending in the sun there are two seeds [sin and piety], hundreds of roots [the living entities], three lower trunks [the modes], five upper trunks [the elements], five saps produced [sound, form, touch, taste and aroma], eleven branches [the mind and the ten indriyas], two birds having a nest [jîva and âtmâ], three types of bark [air, bile and mucus] and two fruits [happiness and distress]. Those who fervently desiring live a household life [the 'vultures'] enjoy one fruit of the tree [that of sin], whereas the other fruit [of piety] is enjoyed by the swanlike [sages] who live in the forest. He who with the help of the worshipable ones [the devotees, the gurus] knows the Oneness of Him who by dint of His mâyâ appears in many forms, knows the [actual meaning of the] Vedas.  The sober soul who thus with unalloyed devotion honors the spiritual master and with the axe of knowledge cuts with the subtle body of attachment entertained by the individual soul, attains with the greatest care [living spiritually] the Supreme Soul and then abandons the means [by which he attained,