Ishavasya Upanishad: Mangalacharana

change by Swami Tapasyananda 14. Japa or repetition, recitation:mananāt trāyte yasmāttasmān mantraḥ prakīrtitaḥjapāt siddhir japāt siddhirjapāt siddhir na saṁśayaḥ“That which, from manana (thinking, reflection) gives trāṇa (liberation from bondage of the phenomenal world) is called mantra. That is, with the japa (repeated utterance or recitation of a mantra according to certain rules) of which a sādhaka is protected or liberated is called mantra. With persistent japa a sādhaka undoubtedly obtains siddhis.” (Mantra-yoga-saṁhitā, 64.1)manaḥ saṁhṛtya viṣayānmantrārtha-gata-mānasaḥna drutaṁ na vilambenajapen mauktika-hāravat“Withdrawing his mind from worldly objects, one, perfectly following the meaning of the mantra, should perform its japa, neither with a fast nor with a slow, but with a medium speed with a smooth movement like that of pearls in a garland.” (Mantra-yoga-saṁhitā, 64.2)japaḥ syād akṣarāvṛttirmānasopāṁśu-vācikaiḥsva-karṇa-gocaro yas tusa japo mānasaḥ smṛtaḥ“Repeated utterances or recitation of a mantra is called japa. Japa is of three kinds, that is to say, mānasa, upāṁśu and vācika. Mānas-japa is that which is inaudible even to the person performing japa. Upāṁśu-japa is that which is audible only to the person performing the japa,” (Mantra-yoga-saṁhitā, 64.3)mantrān uccāryed vācāsa japo vācikaḥ smṛtaḥuccair japād viśiṣṭaḥ syādupāśur daśabhir guṇaḥijihvā-japaḥ śata-guṇaṁsahasro mānasaḥ smṛtaḥ“And, vācika-japa is that in which the mantra is audibly recited. The upāṁśu-japa is ten times and mānasa-japa a thousand times more fruitful than vācika-japa…” (Mantra-yoga-saṁhitā, 64.3)Japa is the meditative repetition of a mantra, which can be verbal or vācika-japa; semiverbal or upāṁśu-japa; or mental, which is mānas-japa. It is usually performed with a mala. Repeating a mantra that we have learned from a book has no great effect, as it lacks spiritual potency. Instead, the mantra must be received directly from an authentic spiritual master. In the beginning japa is combined with dhyān, so japa in the 14th limb is followed by dhyāna or meditation in the 15th limb. Meditation continues to be practiced along with the repetition of the mantra, until at a certain level we spontaneously abandon the mantra, and only dhyāna remains.

“Om Salutations to param-atma. Om salutation to Shri Ganesha. Om salutations to Shri Gurudeva.”

 

atmanandasya vetta namarthata bhasita vai

samsarasaratam sah jñatva 'bhavad brahma-rupah

bhakto vishuddho yatha syat sakshad ishasya chaya

divyacaryam nato’ ham tam bhaskarananta-diptam

 

“He, alone, who is permanence within the permanent and consciousness within the conscious, fulfills the desires of the many. Knowing that original cause, that Divinity, which can be reached through Sāṅkhya-yoga, one attains freedom.”

The “I” solidifies with the sensation of “mine”, and the more “mines” there are, the greater the illusory substantiality with which we perceive ourselves. Therefore, if enlightenment is our disappearance, it is evident that the desire to possess is a great obstacle for religious and spiritual life and for meditation in particular.Our efforts to possess originate in our search for security, whereas life is uncertainty. Therefore in accumulating, we are disconnected from life. Aparigraha implies accepting life as it really is, as insecurity.Although many long for enlightenment, their concepts about it constitute their main obstacle. They believe that by abandoning everything, they will obtain God; they think that by renouncing this world they will acquire the other. The path of religion does not lead to our gaining anything, or obtaining something that was missing, but to making ourselves accessible, divesting ourselves of everything and allowing ourselves to be possessed. A drop can never contain the ocean but must be contained in it, and accept dying as a drop in order to be reborn as the infinite ocean.2.        Niyamas or observances.śauca-santoá¹£a-tapaḥ-svādhyāyeśvara-praṇidhānāni niyamāḥ"Cleanliness (śauca), contentment (santoá¹£a), austerity (tapaḥ), study of the Vedic scriptures (svādhyāya) and surrender to God (īśvara-praṇidhāna) are the observances (niyamas)." (Yoga-sÅ«tras 2.32)2.1.                Åšauca: Cleanliness and purity, interior and exteriorThe Yoga-sÅ«tras affirm that śauca is appropriate for one who aspires to the realization of the Self, although they do not explain clearly what śauca entails. In sÅ«tras 2.40 and 2.41, it is mentioned that cleanliness must be maintained in the body as well as in the mind; it must be both external and internal.śaucāt svāṅga-jugupsā parair asaṁsargaḥ"Purity of the body leads to disillusionment with our own body and a reduction in the desire for all physical contact with others.”sattva-śuddhi-saumanasyaikāgryendriya-jayātma-darśana-yogyatvāni ca“From purity arises mental clarity, joy, concentration, control of the senses and the readiness for the realization of the Self.

In addition, great determination, sincerity and surrender are required on the part of the disciple. Indeed, in speaking of the guru-disciple relationship, we can never forget the central importance of the disciple’s readiness, without which there can be no development or advancement.  There are innumerable spiritual techniques and practices within yoga, and the majority of them are thousands of years old. One of the roles of the spiritual master is to help us to choose the proper practices for our sādhanā. Through the development of a relationship with the master, it is possible for him to grasp our character and personality, and receive indications and guidance in different aspects of our particular sādhanā according to our individuality. The guru indicates to us which mantra or mantras to repeat, and how often, what types of techniques to use, and for how long, and what aspects of our practice we should put our emphasis on. For example, he recommends the amount of time we should dedicate daily to haṭha-yoga, and which āsanas we should emphasize, as well as how much time we should dedicate to daily study and the topics we should focus upon, in general indicating to us in what proportion we should practice the different paths. Another of the many different ways in which the spiritual master assists his disciple is that the guru takes on the disciple’s karma, and decides to voluntarily accept a large part of the accumulated reactions of sinful acts committed by the disciple in this life or in past lives, as well as some of the sinful reactions of humanity on the collective level. In the Bhagavad-gītā (18. 66) we read…sarva-dharmān parityajyamām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajaahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyomokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ"Abandon all the varieties of dharma and surrender to Me. Have no fear, because I will liberate you from all the results of our sinful reactions.”Kṛṣṇa is promising here to absorb all the karma of anyone who surrenders to Him. Therefore, at the moment of initiation, the spiritual master, who is the representative of Kṛṣṇa, accepts the results of all the sinful reactions of the disciple.

“I bow to Shri Swami Viditatmananda, who sheds light on the meaning of his name: ‘Knower of the bliss of the Self’. By recognizing the futility of the world, he has become the very form of Brahman. Being the purest devotee, he is like the image of the Lord Himself. I bow to this Divine Guru who has the radiance of countless suns.”

His Holiness Tri-daṇḍi-bhikṣu Swami Bhaktiśrīrūpa Rādhānti Mahārāja

 

vedantadvaita-siddho dvaitasya nirmula-kari

shriman antahprakasho dhvantapaharyashritanam

karunyardra'sya drishtir lokeshu sarveshu divya

vande padmanghri-yugmam tasyamritam jñanadam tam

In his Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (2. 9-10), Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, refers to a verse from the Viṣṇu-yāmala-tantra which clearly defines dīkṣā:divyaṁ jnānaṁ yato dadyātkuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayamtasmād dīkṣeti sā proktādeśikais tattva-kovidaiḥato guruṁ praṇamyaivaṁsarva-svaṁ vinivedya cagṛhṇīyād vaiṣṇavaṁ mantraṁdīkṣā-pūrvaṁ vidhānataḥ"Dikṣā awakens our transcendental wisdom and provokes the destruction of all sins. Therefore, masters who are experienced knowers of the Reality call itdikṣā. Therefore, prostrating before the guru and offering him all that you have, take a vaishnava mantra through initiation, according to the requirements of the scriptures.”And the same Sanātana Gosvāmī who by referring to the importance of initiation as the beginning of a true transformation cites the Tattva Sagara in his Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (2. 12) in the following way:yathā kāñcanatāṁ yātikāṁsyaṁ rasa-vidhānataḥtathā dīkṣā-vidhānenadvi-jatvaṁ jāyate nṛṇām"Just as in alchemy, bronze is transformed into gold, simply by the process of dīkṣā (initiation), a person, even without being pure, can be transformed into a brāhmaṇa or dvi-ja."Initiation is a phenomenon of tremendous karmic influence that must be taken seriously. Therefore, one should never change his guru, his iṣṭa-devatā, or chosen deity, or the mantra in which he has been initiated.It is advisable to pray to God for guidance, to petition the Lord to show by His causeless mercy the path to find the true guru.Only by Divine mercy it is possible to find our eternal master, or that way heaven has chosen to manifest Itself and guide us in our lives.Japa-yogaThe Sanskrit word japa comes from the verbal root jap that means “repeat, pray or implore in a low voice or murmur the name of a deity or a passage from the holy scriptures". The way of the repetition of the mantra is called japa-yoga, which is considered a very important type of meditation and an authentic invocation of God.

The Purāṇas related to Lord Śiva are: the Śiva-purāṇa, Liṅga-purāṇa, Skanda-purāṇa, Agni-purāṇa and Vāyu-purāṇa.

It is the prāṇa that pumps the blood from the heart through the blood vessels. Moreover, prāṇa is the power that connects the physical body with the astral. Alimentation and respiration are two of the functions that renew the pranic energy in our body. Prāṇa is our true food, while the conductors of this energy, or the different vehicles that transport it, are water, nutrients, vitamins, oxygen, and sunshine.Types of prāṇa Just as the same electricity can generate cold, movement, light, sound and heat, prāṇā can manifest in an infinite number of ways, according to its different functions such as seeing, speaking feeling, moving, thinking, etc.According to the sāṅkhya system, prāṇa is divided into five major prāṇas (pañca-prāṇas) and five minor prāṇas (pañcopa-prāṇas).The pañca-prāṇas are the five principle directions in which the prāṇa circulates. Each fulfills a different function.1. Prāṇa: Regulates the respiration and specifically circulates in the pectoral zone.2. Apāna: Cleans and purifies the organism during the elimination of urine, semen and feces. It flows between the anus and the lower abdominal zone.3. Samāna: Governs the digestion, it stimulates the separation of the gastric juices and is in charge of the appropriate distribution of nutrients in the organism. It flows around the navel and moves in the central region of the body.4. Udāna: Controls the vocal cords, as well as the food and windpipe. Also it elevates the energy. For this reason, when one is sad or depressed, one must concentrate the attention on the area of the throat, where udāna circulates.5. Vyāna: Permeates the entire body. Frequently it is called the aura, since it is the energy that protects the whole surface of the body.The second group- the pañcopa-prāṇas-, comprises:1. Nāga: alleviates pressure in the abdominal zone through belching.2. KÅ«rma: Regulates the size of the iris of the eye according to the intensity of light in order to facilitate vision. Also controls the movement of the eyelids to protect the eyes from any damage which might be caused by the penetration of foreign bodies.

 

However, the marvelous truth that Yajnavalkya is telling us is that no one loves anyone or anything for the person or the object in itself, but only for the love of ourselves. If we observe the universe from the perspective of the objects themselves, they do not exist as objects. That is to say, from their own viewpoint, nothing and no one is an object. From the perspective of our own experience about ourselves, the only thing that exists is the subject.Consciousness or God manifests in every living being as subjectivity. When we experience an attraction towards a particular person or thing what is really attracting us is not the object in itself, because in the light of our direct perception, it is no longer an object; its essence is subjectivity or universal consciousness.It is here that we understand the true meaning of Kṛṣṇa as “the supremely attractive one”. The sages refer to this by saying ātmanastu kāmāya sarvam priyam bhavati or “it is for the Self that all is loved.” This is universal love. One who believes that his individual soul is to be found only inside himself, cannot understand how it is possible that love for another is loving one’s own self.Only by realizing that the soul or spirit in each and every being is subjective consciousness, can we understand that we are referring to universal love. This great upanishadic truth is found in the Old Testament, in (Leviticus 19: 18): “ be ahavta le reacha kamocha” or ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ It is interesting to notice that in the Hebrew, et or ‘to’ is not used as it would normally be. Instead, le or ‘towards’ is being used here, which implies that in giving love ‘towards’ our neighbor, we are loving something that lies both within ourselves, as well as in our neighbor.Love manifests in all its purity and splendor only after we have renounced all our ideas, opinions, concepts and conclusions about love. Only by transcending the mind through the heart, is love revealed as our presence beyond ourselves. It is transcending oneself as a “person”; as “someone”, it is to go beyond the subject-object platform.

“Kūrma-purāṇa, Matsya-purāṇa, Garuḍa-purāṇa, and then Vāyu-purāṇa. These 18 purāṇas that have been listed are considered universal.”

यज्ज्ञात्वा मत्तो भवति स्तब्धो भवति आत्मारामो भवति। ६yajjñātvā matto bhavati stabdho bhavati ātmārāmo bhavati |Translation:Knowing this, the devotee becomes intoxicated; he experiences silence and enjoys the beatitude of the self.Commentary:The forth verse refers to "gaining that" or ladbhava, emphasizing the in this way the revelaing aspect of Divinity, the divine grace... the fifth "acquiring that" or prapya, emphasizing the effort through sadhana on behalf of the aspirant... and now these sixth sutra talks about "knowing God" or yaj jnatva...The previous sutra talks about "the acquisition of the ego", where the symptoms that are mentioned are negative expressions... "He does not desire anything", "he does not hates", "he does not rejoice for anything", "he does not act egoistically" in order to teach us that in religion, acquiring divine love consists in an emphatic "no". It is an undoing of ourselves more than adding or acquiring...It is noteworthy that in the previous sutra "this" refers to the divine love, pure love, in this sutra "this" refers to God...In this sutra several symptoms are mentioned with positive expressions... "Knowing this, the devotee becomes intoxicated; he experiences silence and the beatitude of the self..."Authentic religion is "knowing this", knowing God is knowing the ego... which is a synonymous of disappearing... knowing that is being it... is to discover ourselves...Generally bhakti is considered the path of love, while the path of knowledge or knowing is jnana... however, in this verse it is said "knowing this" or "knowing God"...Love is not exempt from wisdom, in other words, bhakti and jnana can seem different in their basic states, however, they come closer and fuse one with the other at advanced levels...You only really know what you love. Bhakti, in its most elevated level is direct wisdom and knowledge of the Self... many think that bhakti and jnana are two paths in conflict, however, far from contradicting each other there are paths that complement each other, as devotion is wisdom and wisdom is devotion.

“He has perfected the wisdom of Advaita-vedanta and destroyed the roots of duality. Endowed with auspicious glory and inner light, he removes the darkness in those who take refuge in him. His divine vision is moistened with tears of compassion for all. I bow to his pair of lotus feet, which bestow the nectar of immortal wisdom.”

Out of ignorance, the seemingly beneficial may be nothing more than a misguided whim, causing only damage and harm. Any activity or effort projected by a mental idea cannot be karma-yoga. Only service according to the Vedic scriptures and in compliance with the specific order of our spiritual master is karma-yoga. It must be approved by the revealed scriptures and meet with the explicit approval of an authentic guru. 3. Combined karmaśukla-kṛṣṇa bahiḥ sādhana-sādhyātatra parapīḍānugraha-dvāreṇaiva karma-śaya-pracayaḥ“The white-black is accomplished by the external means. So there, the accumulation of the latent-deposit of karma is caused by means of injury and kindness to others.” (Yoga-sūtra-bhāṣya of Vyāsa on sūtra 4.7)Combined or mixed karma is action which contains a mixture of the positive and negative. Mixed karma can be both beneficial and harmful, such as for example, stealing to buy medicine or food for the poor, or building a hospital with illegally obtained funds.We tend to encounter mixed karma in daily life, because in reality, action is never completely good or completely bad. In every negative action, goodness is concealed, just as in any positive action, something negative is hidden. When we enter the field of action we are speaking of the relative world and setting foot on the dual terrain of the mind.As long as we continue to create karma – whether positive, negative, or combined – we will continue to be chained to this world of birth, sickness, old age and death. Positive karma is like a costly metal such as gold or platinum; mixed karma, a less expensive metal, such as silver; and negative karma, a cheap metal. However, it matters little what metal has been used to craft the bars on the windows of the cell that restricts our freedom. It is not the quality of the chains that is responsible for our suffering, but the chains themselves. As long as our actions are only an escape from the disagreeable and a pursuit of the agreeable, our enslavement by karma will continue.

Imagine that after thirty years, we become aware that only our limbs have grown or that just our head, tongue or ears have developed. Both individually as well as collectively, humanity is advancing, developing, growing and evolving. The problem is that this is happening in an uneven way. Hence, there is the curious phenomenon that the more we advance, the more we suffer. The greater the development, the greater the pain and disharmony. The greater the growth, the greater the problems.

 

Only one in whose heart friendliness has arisen, can experience friendship with the Whole, or sakhya , the transcendental mystery of a friendship with God. 9. Ātma-nivedana: means the surrender of oneself to God, the surrender of all that we consider ourselves to be and possess, to the Lord. It is the final and most important step in the devotional process.Surrender is not defeat, and it is important not to confuse them. For one who raises the white flag and lifts up his hands to express his powerlessness before the enemy, yielding is the act of a defeated person with no other alternative. But the one who surrenders is victorious when he chooses to cease to be his own property and is willing to renounce any alternative, however promising it may appear. Defeat always implies frustration and enmity, while surrender is related to love.It may appear that one who surrenders to the Lord loses. However, by surrendering to God, one only gains, because all that belongs to the Lord belongs as well to His pure enlightened devotee. As it says in the Śrīmad-bhāgavatam (11.29.34):martyo yadā tyakta-samasta-karmāniveditātmā vicikīrṣito metadāmṛtatvaṁ pratipadyamānomayātma-bhūyāya ca kalpate vai"The person who abandons and renounces all fruitive activities and offers himself completely to Me, desiring to serve me, is liberated from the cycle of birth and death and enjoys My own opulence.”In his famous Bhakti Sandharba, Jiva Goswami classifies ātma nivedana as being of two different types: ordinary, or bhavam vina, and extraordinary, or bhava vaisistenaca. The ordinary or common type is defined as lacking sthayi bhava, or a constant nectarian taste, while the extraordinary is permeated with a continuous nectarian taste of loving devotion.In the Bhakti Sandharbha (309 anuccheda), Jiva Goswami says:Tad etad ātma-nivedanaṁ bhāvaṁ vinā bhāva-vaiśiṣṭyena ca dṛśyate“Self-surrender is of two types - without a specific temperament of love, and that imbued with such feelings.”With the aim of giving an example of bhāvaṁ vinā, Jiva Goswami cites the following verse of the Bhagavata-purana (11.

We are an adventure that begins and ends in ourselves, in our reality. We are a path that starts and finishes here.

Fully stretching the back, hold the big toes with the index fingers and pull the elbows backwards (Photo Number 103). Keep the posture for at least twenty seconds, and gradually increase its duration up to three minutes.12. The triangle or trikoṇāsanaStand straight, erect and very firm (Photo Number 107). Separate the feet a little wider than the shoulders, creating thus a triangle between the legs and the ground (Photo Number 108). Rotate the sole of the right foot ninety degrees to the right (Photo Number 109). The hips remain oriented forward. Raise the arms laterally until they create a horizontal line, parallel to the ground, with the right hand palm facing downwards, and the left facing upwards (Photo Number 110). As you inhale, raise the left arm, and let it touch the left ear, elongating the left side of the body from the hip to the fingers (Photo Number 111). Bend the trunk and incline laterally to the right (Photo Number 112). Slide the right hand until it reaches the calf (Photo Number 113), the ankle (Photo Number 114) or the ground beside the foot (Photo Number 115), according to your capacity. The left arm should stay parallel to the ground, and the right, vertical. While inhaling you can then return to the vertical position and relax the left arm to repeat the āsana, following the same sequence on the left side.Stay in the final posture at least 20 seconds. Slowly increase the duration up to three minutes consecutively. Practice the same posture on the other side. You can repeat the posture up to three times.Prāṇa, the vital energyThe etymological meaning of the Sanskrit word prāṇa, composed of the root an and the prefix para, is “respiration”. However, its semantic meaning is "vital energy", as respiration is the expression of prāṇa that is closest to our experience on the physical level.According to that great master and saint of Rishikesh who was His Holiness Swami Śivānanda, in his very important work entitled The Science of Prāṇāyāma: “Prāṇa is the sum total of all the energy that manifests in the universe. It is the sum total of all the forces of nature.

I dedicate this book with all my respect and appreciation to my beloved spiritual master, His Divine Grace Shri Shri Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati.

”This way of jñāna-yoga is an invitation to lift the veil of illusion. As he walks this path, the aspirant finds within himself that which he has sought for so long.Jñāna and AjñānaJñāna —also pronounced gñāna —and ajñāna, are Sanskrit terms which refer to “knowledge” and “ignorance”, respectively.Jñāna comes from the verbal root jña, which means “to know, grasp, perceive, understand, or comprehend”. The term ajñāna is preceded by the prefix “a”, by which is meant “no”, and therefore it means the absence of knowledge or “no-knowledge”. To define the term in this way is just as if we have named “light” and “darkness” as “light” and “no-light”, respectively. Hinduism is not referring to ignorance as something that exists in itself, but as the absence of something.Jñāna is to know oneself as Brahman, to realize one’s own reality as the transcendental Self, beyond time and space. Jñāna is to know oneself without any type of intermediary. It is existential in character, inasmuch as it is not about acquiring more knowledge about oneself, but about renouncing the knowledge one has already acquired. More than providing us with information, explanations and answers, this path inspires us to inquire, urges us to doubt, and impels us to investigate ourselves and our own essence… Ajñāna means that we believe ourselves to be the doers of what is happening to us. It consists of a misconception, a false identification with the physical body, the mind, the senses, the prāṇa, and in general, with the illusory vehicles.Ajñāna is to live and act according to this erroneous conclusion that we have about ourselves and which clearly cannot lead us to a happy life.Ajñāna refers to the mind that tries to define what it perceives and, in order to do that, splits the indivisible, thereby creating an illusion or fantasy, called māyā in Sanskrit. Māyā consists in the false appearance of multiplicity, the illusory perception of diversity, of that which is in fact, "One without a second”.

Yoga is not the creation of a limited and imperfect human mind, but emerged as transcendental revelation in the ancient sages. These sages, called ṛṣis or ‘seers’, were visionaries, poets and completely enlightened beings who transcended illusion. They cannot be considered human beings, but are practically God Himself.

drupado draupadeyāś casarvaśaḥ pṛthivī-patesaubhadraś ca mahā-bāhuḥśaṅkhān dadhmuḥ pṛthak pṛthak

kāśyaś ca parameṣv-āsaḥśikhaṇḍī ca mahā-rathaḥdhṛṣṭadyumno virāṭaś casātyakiś cāparājitaḥTranslation:The great archer, the king of Kasi, the great warrior Sikhandi, Dhrstadyumna, Virata, and the unconquerable Satyaki.

 

The name of this text can be translated as “the dynasty or lineage of Lord Viṣṇu (Hari)”. It is considered a complementary appendix to the Mahā-bhārata, and is also known as the Hari-vaṁśa-purāṇa. It was recited for the first time to King Janmejaya by the sage Vaiśampāyana, and later by Sauti, who was present on that occasion and who recited it in his turn to the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya at the request of Śaunaka. The pastimes of Kṛṣṇa after the battle of Kuru-kṣetra are described throughout its 16,374 verses. The work is divided into three parts: the Harivaṁśa-parva which consists of 55 chapters, the Viṣṇu-parva composed of 128 chapters, and the Bhaviśya-parva Bhaviṣya-parva with 135 chapters.

From our first day on this planet, we began to hear different ideas about ourselves. Slowly we have come to accept them, since they come from persons whom we consider to be infallible authorities. In this way, over time, we have been accumulating concepts and conclusions about who we are, beliefs which stem from our parents, brothers, uncles and aunts, grandparents, friends, neighbors, classmates, teachers, colleagues, employers...The ego is this collection of external ideas and opinions about our identity; it is the subject we believe ourselves to be, but not who we really are.

Religion lives and thrives in the reality of the individual; it is not part of the public domain. Therefore, any authentically religious organization or mission must function, first and foremost, by and for the individual.

नारदस्तु तदर्पिताखिलाचारता तद्विस्मरणे परमव्याकुलतेति। १९nāradastu tadarpitākhilācāratā tadvismaraṇe paramavyākulateti |Translation:Narada muni is of the opinion that the essential characteristics for devotion are the consecration of all activities, complete surrender to God, and an immense sadness from forgetfulness of God.Commentary:After exposing the views of scholars like Vyasa, Garga and Sandilya, Narada Muni here gives us his own point of view ...In this verse he emphatically declares that the bhakti consists in self-surrender ...This is the conclusion that is exposed in the Bhagavad-gita, chapter 18, verse 66:Sarvar-dharmān parityajyamām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ Vrajahaṁ tvāṁ Sarvar-pāpebhyomokṣayiṣyāmi MĀ śucaḥ"Abandon all varieties of practice and duties and just surrender to me. Do not be afraid because I will free you from all sinful reactions."Krishna say that we should not have any fear or apprehension, because that is the main obstacle for surrender...We believe that by surrendering we will lose something meaningful ...In fact, surrender is nothing else than surrendering our misery and illusion, our beliefs and ideas about ourselves, our concepts and conclusions about what we are ...Do not surrender anything real ...Always remember that nobody can separate himself from what is his, this means that if something is removed or is lost it only means that it never really belonged to you…This text reads as follows ... "are the consecration of all activities and complete surrender to the Lord" ...Love is the acid that vanishes the ego...It is the surrender without expecting anything in return ... to be less ...To the extent that you love you feel you disappear ... love is dying a little ...To consecrate all your activities at all levels includes the consecration of the doer ... meaning — you ...The consecration of all activity is the surrender of you as the principal doer, because the ego, or the doer, is the barrier between the individual and the Supreme Being ...This illusory wall or sense of separation that falls with self-surrender of the ego, of the I, in this state that the individual becomes an instrument in the hands of the divine .