Daily Devotion - Sep 14, 2025 (English)- Narad Bhakti Darshan - Part 5

Sutra 6 - Yajjñātvā matto bhavati stabdho bhavati ātmārāmo bhavati।

Shri Maharaj Ji is explaining 'yajjñātvā' in the sixth sutra. Yajjñātvā - "by knowing Whom", that is, tattvajñāna (philosophical knowledge), which consists of only three aspects - i) sambandh (relationship) ii) abhidheya (means) iii) prayojan (goal)

Here, the explanation of sambandha jñāna (knowledge of relationship) is being given. With whom is our relationship?

1. Can the word 'relative' apply to mother, father, son, wife, husband? (continued...)

Our worldly relatives are -
i) Temporary.
ii) They remain relatives only as long as there is compatibility. Just one dangerous sentence uttered carelessly - wife to husband, husband to wife, son to father - and complete chaos erupts.
iii) They are not well-wishers, but are bent upon destroying your welfare. If someone in the house turns toward God, the rest of the family creates an uproar. They themselves do not even know where one's welfare lies, so how will they do any good for you? What guidance can one blind person give to another? It is as simple as that.

1. Can the word 'relative' apply to Shri Krishna?
   Countless waves rise in the ocean - some very high, some moderately high, some small. These waves also meet each other. Similarly, Shri Krishna is like the ocean, and within Him are high waves -

yadyadvibhūtimatsattvaṁ śrīmadūrjitameva vā

All souls are waves - whether they are superior powers of the celestial realm, humans, or lower-class demons, and the like - all are waves. The relationship of one wave with another is not eternal. One wave arose, and it ended. Two waves arose, and one by one, both ended. But having ended, where did they go? With whom is their relationship? With the ocean, the eternal relationship. A wave cannot exist separate from the ocean. The ocean permeates the wave completely.

Similarly, there can be no relationship between one soul and another, or between the soul and māyā. Only the soul and Parabrahm have an eternal relationship.

sarve vedā yatpadamāmanaṁti, vedaiśca sarvairameva vedyovedāntakr̥dvedavideva cāham ॥

All the scriptures and Vedas declare that very Parabrahm as the supreme truth and describe the soul's relationship with Him. And not just with souls alone - infinite divine realms like Goloka, Vaikuntha-lok, Saket-lok, Shiva-lok, etc., also have an eternal relationship with Shri Krishna. And in the material realm, infinite universes also have an eternal relationship with Shri Krishna. Even the inert elements - earth, water, fire, air, space - all have an eternal relationship with Shri Krishna. And it is not just an ordinary relationship. The relationship is so profound that without the power of that Shri Krishna, nothing else exists, nothing can remain. The soul, which is the intermediate power, is also His power, and Narayan of the divine realms, who is the presiding deity of Vaikuntha and other realms, is His svāṁśa, His personal expansion -
kimataadvastu rūpyatām
There is nothing apart from Him. Then how can any entity exist that does not have a relationship with Shri Krishna but has a relationship elsewhere?

yo'sau paraṁ brahma gopālaḥ। tamekam goviṁdam saccidānanda vigraham। kr̥ṣṇo ha vai paramaṁ daivatam।
All Vedic mantras declare - Shri Krishna alone is Parabrahm, and your relationship is with Parabrahm alone, with no one else, nor can it ever be. It is an eternal relationship. And it is not an ordinary relationship - your relationship with God is -

• Anādyānanta, nitya - beginningless, endless, and eternal.
• A relationship full of grace. Just as a mother has a relationship with her child - she constantly worries about the child's welfare - such is this relationship.
• We are His fragmental parts.
  mamaivāṁśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ, cinmātraṁ śrī hareraṁśam, and we are also His children - amr̥tasya vai putrāḥ. And not just children -
  eko ha vai devo nārāyaṇo mātā pitā bhrātā nivāsaḥ śaraṇaṁ suhr̥t gatiḥ (Veda)
  He alone is your everything. Not "also," but "only." The foremost knowledge is this - you are the soul, not the body. When you accept this fact, then what mother, what father, what brother, what sister, what wife, what world - everything ends because you are not the body at all. These are merely people related to the body.

If someone's son in the world becomes wayward, you say, "Let it be, what do I have to lose? My son is fine."
So, just as you consider the body as 'I' and have attachment to your son, if you consider the soul as 'I', then you will have no anxiety about the body - all tension would end. You are not the body at all.

So you have all relationships with God, but you do not know it.

You have turned away from God since eternity, with your back towards Him, having forgotten Him. But if some saint tells you - "Hey! He is yours, they are not, understand this - "

1. During the great dissolution (mahāpralaya), the jīvas (souls) were in a pending state. Your relative Shri Krishna – He alone created this world.
2. Then - yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante -
   From Him, everything - the five gross elements and all souls were born. Then Shri Krishna pervaded them.
   That means Shri Krishna and you - father and son - appeared together. It is not that the son was born and then the father said, "Alright, now I am coming." It did not happen like that. There was not even a gap of one second; otherwise, the relationship would break. Then it would not be called a samyak bandhan - a complete, perfect bond.

That means when creation occurred, all the subtle prakr̥ti and all subtle souls that were merged in God manifested. God manifested simultaneously, and they remained together always. The one God, assuming infinite forms, sits within infinite souls.

1. And after manifesting you, He protected you in the mother's womb. Then, after that, He arranged for your food. After birth, He created milk in the mother's breast, then arranged for all kinds of grains and other things in the world.

Even for those who hurled hundreds of abuses like Shishupāl and Rāvan, He did not say, "If you drink the water from this earth, it will turn into poison." No. He says, "Son, drink water, go ahead." Rāvan, Kumbhakarna, and all others drank that same water of this earth, consumed its grains, moved about in this same atmosphere, wandered in this very sky, and God showed no enmity. In the world, if someone creates even a little trouble, whether it is one's mother, father, wife, or son, they say, "Get out!" But He is our complete relative, meaning even when one has contrary feelings toward Him, He remains favorable to them. What greater relative could there be than this?

1. You have forgotten Him, yet He is helping you so much. He is omniscient, therefore He can never make a mistake. He considers you His relative, so He remains with you every moment, always and everywhere. And wherever you go, He also remains with you -
   eko devaḥ sarvabhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ sarvavyāpī sarvabhūtāntarātmā।
   karmādhyakṣaḥ sarvalokadhivāsaḥ sākṣī cetā kevalo nirguṇaśca॥
2. Yena jātāni jīvanti yatprayantabhisaṁviśanti। tadvijijñāsasva। tad brahmeti। (Taittirīyopaniṣad)

yena jātāni jīvanti -
He not only created you - but your very life, your existence, cannot remain for even a moment without the power of God. That means He is the one who gives you the power of consciousness -
cetanaścetanānāmekobahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān ।
He is the one who gives life to souls. Then, when dissolution occurs, you merge together with Him again.

1. He gives power to your senses to perform their respective functions.
   yanmanasā na manute yenāhurmanomatam tadeva brahma tvaṁ viddhi -
   The power you have received in your senses, mind, and intellect to perform various actions has been received from God.
2. He also gives a push from within. A push? Before doing any wrong action, you receive an inner prompting once from within that says, "This is wrong, don't do it." God alone does this.
3. He also notes our actions.
4. He bestows the fruits of those actions.

And every part -
i) is a servant of the whole.
jīvera svarūpa haya kr̥ṣṇera nitya dāsa ।
Gauranga Mahaprabhu said that the soul is naturally an eternal servant of Shri Krishna.
ii) has a natural tendency toward its source. Just as the flame of fire has a tendency toward the sun; just as the water current has a tendency toward the ocean; similarly the part has a tendency toward the whole. That is why you desire divine bliss, knowledge, existence, and eternal life. It is your nature.

So you must know this relationship and accept it. To know is itself a very great thing, but the real meaning of knowing is –
i) To accept.
ii) To accept always.
iii) To accept everywhere.

How did a disturbance in that relationship occur?

From eternity, the soul, jīva, has turned away from Shri Krishna, and has forgotten Him - this is because of māyā. If this māyā were not there, you would have known your relationship, and as soon as you knew, you would have attained Him.

People blame māyā and get angry at her. But it is not like that. Nothing belonging to God can ever be inauspicious. Māyā is the power of God; therefore, she cannot be bad. For your welfare, there are two parties - one, the mahapurush, the saints, and the other is māyā. A worldly mother corrects her child in two ways -

• With love, affection, by explaining and making the child understand.
• If the child does not listen, then by scolding and if needed, sometimes even slapping.
  Her slapping does not mean she is the child's enemy.

Similarly, saints want to lead you toward God with love, by explaining and imparting tattvajñāna. If you still do not listen and go toward māyā, then māyā scolds and drives you away: "What are you doing here? Go there." When you get slapped, you come to your senses a little and realize, "Oh, everyone in the world is indeed selfish, Maharaj Ji was right." A little knowledge dawns for a short time. A little knowledge dawns for a short time. And then when you turn toward the world again, māyā slaps you again. From these slaps, you gradually develop detachment and knowledge of the world, which keeps the hunger for bhakti alive within.
Therefore - nr̥mātrasyādhikāritā।
The scriptures have said that every human being is qualified for the path of Bhakti.

So māyā is not an enemy but a well-wisher. Being the power of God, she is equal to God. You too are equal - there is only one veil, if that veil is removed, then that will be all -

tasmiṁstajjane bhedābhāvāt। (Sutra 41)

There is no difference between devotee and God. Whatever God has - existence, omniscience, supreme bliss - He gives all of that to the soul, hiding nothing. And He gives so much that wherever there is need, God Himself has to accept defeat. In all of history, a devotee has never been defeated. Wherever a devotee has made a vow - "This will happen," and God has said, "This is My law," the devotee says, "Let the law go to hell, I have made a vow." Then God says - "Alright, brother, your word will prevail - I lose, you win."

So māyā is the power of God; therefore, she has God's power; thus, she is equal to God. Māyā is so powerful that she cannot be conquered even by the power of Brahma and other deities. Great yogis and sages have all been defeated - they attain all kinds of siddhis - mystic powers, but they cannot conquer māyā.

māmeva ye prapadyante māyāmetāṁ taranti te।
Whether one is a jñānī, karmakāndi, yogi, or has perfected many mantras, only by surrendering to Shri Krishna, only by His grace, can māyā be overcome.

Therefore, never consider māyā an enemy. She punishes you to correct your mistakes. The same One presides over her and over you, too.

So, know that relationship - the advayajñāna tattva, Shri Krishna.
advaya jñāna tattva vraje vrajendrananada।
Gauranga Mahaprabhu said - advayajñāna tattva, the supreme truth, Parabrahm is only Shri Krishna and no one else. īśāvāsyamidaṁ sarvaṁ - Just as ghee pervades milk, just as oil pervades sesame seeds, no particle is empty - similarly, Shri Krishna pervades everywhere.

Your relationship with Him is eternal, and by adding 'only' to that relationship, your knowledge becomes complete.

(To be continued)

Recommended books by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj related to this topic:

Narad Bhakti Darshan - Hindi