Passage 5

In English

After listening to the divine voice, Narada went and sat under a tree. Soham, which is giving out and taking in of the breath, is an aspect of God. Although Narada had no complete knowledge of the Vedas, he regarded the taking in of breath as the aspect of Sama Veda and the giving out of breath as that of Rig Veda. In this manner, while he was practising what was prescribed in the Vedas, he came to the end of his life. The breathing stopped and he joined the eternal. Narada then acquired a new life form. Our Puranas tell us that Narada uses a tambura and moves about in the universe singing the glory of the Lord. This is only symbolic; and we should regard Narada as taking the spinal column as representing his veena, the nerves or the nadis as strings of this veena and the breathing in and breathing out of the Harinama Smarana, and the new form of Narada is pictured as continuously uttering the names of Govinda and Narayana and moving all over the space. Narada does not signify an ordinary human form. We should regard the continuous breathing in and breathing out of our life system as the celestial form of Narada. The word Nara means water and it connotes Prajnana. As the entire water of a river goes and merges in the sea, all the rays of prajnana, that emanate from Narada, go and merge in the ultimate form of Brahman. Prajnana comes from Brahman and since these rays merge into Brahman, it has been said “Prajnanam Brahma” in the Maha Vakya. Narada was establishing the truth that this aspect of Brahman should always be present in our spinal column in the form of Omkara. This is the natural sound and is not something that you get by producing an artificial sound.