Inner Organ and Heart - Part 1 of 10

Even though the word ‘inner’ (*antaH*) is there in ‘Inner Organ’ (*antaH-karaNaM*), instead of looking inside it is always turned outside. It is termed ‘inner organ’ because it is subtle inside and not concretely visible from outside like arms, feet, eyes, nose, etc.

Its subject matter is the dualistic world and dualistic experiences. Generally it is so with all jIvas.

It thickens by the dirt of experience and stays like the dirty and greasy stain attaching itself to cooking vessels. This is a matter of the inner organ.

The heart that I speak of, on the other hand, is again not the physical organ on the left side of the chest of the human body.

Nor is it the anAhata-chakra, located in the dead centre of the chest, in the suShumnA nAdi that is within the spine.

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What is Love? - Part 2 of 2

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The attachment to the other being that we develop for this very purpose is what is called Desire. This is wrongly thought to be Love.

Love is what arises when our internal organ (*antaH-karaNaM*) is at its noblest height.

Then it is that the mind and intellect are drawn into the Ego, and the antaHkaraNaM changes its location to the heart and works from there.

At this point, the collator of this material, Shri R. Ganapathy has this note: “As far as I know, this thought and the consequent thoughts that follow this seem to be new. Except on this occasion, even the Mahaswamigal is not known to have spoken about these. Regarding this, when he was asked to add further details, he said: ‘Whatever was said that day, that is all’ and thus put an end to any further discussion”

Mother Goddess is Love personified.

So in Her creation, even the most cruel beings have been blessed to show Love some time.

And for those who have refined their mind by SAdhanA there arises the possibility of the sprouting of Love all the time.

And that is when the heart becomes the permanent location of the antaHkaraNaM.

What is Love? - Part 1 of 2

What is Love?

The same Supreme Self has become all the souls. When thus there is a multiplicity of lives, the mAyic drama of mutual distinctions takes place.

And at the same time, in the opposite direction, there is a welcome supreme force dispensed by the Grace of the Almighty, that helps to unify all the distinct elements; this is what is called Love.

Usually human tendency is to gain something from the other person. The opposite cure for this is Love, that produces a sense of fulfilment by giving oneself to others. This is the difference between Desire and Love.

When we like something it means that we obtain a satisfaction/happiness for ourselves from it. But when we love something or some one it means we give satisfaction/happiness to that something or some one.

Desire implies receiving; Love indicates giving.

Our happiness happens only when the other being has some treasure of either form (rUpa) or of quality (guNa), or, even, of money; only when the other being has one of these or something similar that we may acquire, we get the happiness that we expect.

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What is Bhakti? - Part 3 of 3

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Because, at their stage, it is not true that love sprouts only towards a form with attributes and glorious deeds.

On the other hand it is a stage where love needs no object of love; it sprouts by itself.

If that sprouting is not followed in reality, even in that refined state, all that SAdhanA will be swallowed by a burst of ego.

He will certainly get his MokSha because of all the SAdhanA he has done; but that will happen perhaps after crores of years when the total universe goes through the Grand Dissolution.

What is this Ego that I am speaking of here? What is this Grand Dissolution?

I shall revert to these topics later.

But right now we should know what this Love is that I am talking about.

What is Bhakti? - Part 2 of 3

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Love is Bhakti.

Among all expressions of Love, it is the highest Love shown towards the Lord that is termed as Bhakti.

It is easy to express Bhakti which is nothing but Love towards a Divinity with form, that has attributes pleasing to the mind.

Whereas, to show Love towards a formless attributeless ParamAtmA that is incomprehensible even by the mind, is certainly difficult.

Maybe it is difficult for us at our level. Let it be.

Left to us, let us be content with a divinity with form, a PujA and a pilgrimage to pilgrim centres.

But to those sAdhakAs who are refined by their progress in SAdhanA-chatushTayaM (SAdhanA-set of four), it is easy to place their Love on something which has neither form nor attributes.

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What is Bhakti? - Part 1 of 3

A well-known general opinion about Bhakti is that it is to think of the ParamAtmA as a ‘devatA murti’ (form of a divine) with name and attributes and to lovingly worship that form.

It is difficult to keep that love at the mental level only; so we have added to it certain actions like PujA (Ritual worship), darshan (of the deity) in the temples, and recitation of devotional hymns.

There is nothing wrong here.

But at the higher grade level of bhakti, one need not have to think of the Almighty as a Divinity with a form: one should get into the habit of showing love to the Almighty even when the latter is formless.

When the deity of devotion has a form with eyes, nose, ears and hands – four hands, eight hands -- with decorative dress materials visible to the eyes, when we get to know their attributes, glories, infinite compassion and grace through the various puranas and hymns, it is easy to direct and focus our love on such a divine form.

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Bhakti and its place in jnAna mArga- Part 3 of 3

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In the same way it is well known that, in advaita tradition, jnAna is the internal SAdhanA-component for mokSha, and for that jnAna to arise, the internal components are shravaNa, manana and nididhyAsana, and, though not to that extent internal, but still to be included as ‘internal’, the four of ‘SAdhanA-chatushTayaM’. Outside of these are the ‘external’ components, namely karma and bhakti.

When such is the case, the prime-most proponent Acharya of advaita declares the external component Bhakti as a very important accessory (*sAmagryAM gharIyasI*) and makes it get the status of an ‘internal’ component. How is that? Why so?

You might have expected a Swami of advaita mutt to talk only of advaita; but it appears I have been talking too long elaborately and in this process of my extensive talk, only some of you might remember what I told you long ago: namely, the matter about the two ‘grades’ – ‘lower’ and ‘higher’ – in both shraddhA and bhakti.

The Bhakti that was spoken of as a component for attaining one-pointedness of mind, is the ‘lower grade’ bhakti -- a subject at the high school level. In that context it is an ‘external’ component of advaita-SAdhanA. Now we have come to the level of a post-graduate Ph.D. level; at this point, the bhakti that is spoken of as *sAmagryAM gharIyasI* (the heaviest component) belongs to the ‘higher grade’. Mark it; there is ‘the highest’ also. That bhakti is what is done by a JnAni who has attained Enlightenment.

Why he does it, for what purpose and in what manner – these are questions for which answers are known only to him! Maybe even he does not know. Only the Almighty who makes him melt in that Love knows. That matter is outside of our expositions.

What comes within our exposition is the bhakti which is an ‘internal’ component-SAdhanA for mokSha and which is spoken of *sAmagryAM gharIyasI*.

In order to know why the Acharya brings it in this fashion, we have to first understand what Bhakti is.