5. Devotion and Karma-yoga

[The following conversation took place in October 1987 at the Sringeri Shankara Math, Bangalore. When I went to Acharyal during His morning āhnika to offer my namaskāras, I saw Him wiping tears of joy.]

Acharyal: I just completed the japa of the Narasiṁha-mantra. Suddenly, I remembered what happened when Acharyal graced Me with initiation into the Narasiṁha-mantra subsequent to His giving Me saṁnyāsa. The memory brought tears of joy to My eyes. During the initiation, when Acharyal was about to start voicing the dhyāna-śloka, I found Myself spontaneously visualising Narasiṁha in My heart. As I heard and repeated the dhyāna-śloka, I realised with surprise and happiness that the form of Narasiṁha described therein and the one I was seeing matched.

{The dhyāna-śloka concerned is:

I worship Lakṣmī-nṛsiṁha whose essential nature is absolute existence, consciousness and bliss, who is immaculate, who is established in yoga, whose countenance is very pleasing, who is glorious with numerous ornaments, who has three eyes, who bears (in His four hands) the (sudarśana) cakra, the pināka (bow) and the signs of granting fearlessness and boons, who is lustrous like the sun, who is fair in complexion like the moon, who has (the set of hoods of) the king of snakes (Śeṣa) serving as an umbrella over Him and who dwells in the middle of the ocean of milk.

In 1976, in the course of His evening walk, Acharyal casually chanted this verse and then told me, “God who is formless and of the nature of absolute existence, consciousness and bliss (saccidānanda-svarūpaḥ) appears as Śiva, Viṣṇu, Ambā and so on for the sake of His devotees. The form of Narasiṁha described in this dhyāna-śloka is itself suggestive of the actual non-difference between Śiva and Viṣṇu. That Narasiṁha is an incarnation of Viṣṇu is well known. Here, He is spoken of as being with Lakṣmī, the consort of Viṣṇu, as bearing the cakra, the weapon of Viṣṇu, and as having the hoods of Śeṣa as His umbrella, like Viṣṇu. Further, He is said to be in the middle of the ocean of milk. This too fits Viṣṇu. However, Narasiṁha is presented here, like Śiva, as three-eyed. He bears the pināka, the bow of Śiva. Further, like Śiva, and unlike Viṣṇu, Narasiṁha is described as very fair.”}

(Acharyal:) The words relating to the pañcopacāra-pūjā (following the dhyāna-śloka) took only some seconds for Acharyal to utter and for Me to repeat. Yet, I experienced no shortage of time in elaborately worshipping the Lord mentally in My heart with offerings of sandal paste, flowers, incense, lamp, food and so on. I can attribute only to divine grace the irresistible urge that led Me to begin the worship. During naivedya, I served the Lord a variety of dishes in a jewel-studded golden plate, put a little food into His mouth, waited for Him to masticate and swallow and only thereafter offered another morsel. It was as if the several seconds miraculously became extended to over half an hour from My perspective. Even while performing the worship with concentration and dedication, I was able to see Acharyal and repeat His words without delay.

{The words about the pañcopacāra-pūjā are:

Laṁ (bīja of pṛthvī)! I present sandal paste to Him who is the essence of pṛthvī (earth). Haṁ (bīja of ākāśa)! I offer flowers to Him who is the essence of ākāśa (space). Yaṁ (bīja of vāyu)! I submit the fragrance of incense to Him who is the essence of vāyu (air). Raṁ (the bīja of agni)! I show a lamp to Him who is the essence of agni (fire).

Vaṁ (the bīja of āpas)! I serve an offering of divine food to Him who is the essence of ambrosia. Saṁ (the bīja of jagat)! I offer worship with all articles of homage to Him who is the essence of all.} (Acharyal:) When Acharyal started to utter the Narasiṁha-mantra (after the pañcopacāra-pūjā), He placed His right palm on My head. He did not do this when He initiated Me into other mantras such as the Medhā-dakṣiṇāmūrti and Śrīvidyā.

{The Mantrarāja of Narasiṁha is:

I salute Nṛsimha, the fierce, heroic, great one who pervades all (Mahā-viṣṇu), the lustrous one with faces everywhere, the fearsome one, the auspicious one and the destroyer of death.

Acharyal once told me, in 1976, “Every word of this mantra is deeply significant. I shall illustrate this by briefly considering three of the words. A term describing the Lord is ‘jvalantaṁ’. That Narasiṁha is lustrous is a simple meaning. Consciousness is the light of lights; but for it, no luminary like the sun or a lamp would be visible. Narasiṁha ever shines as the light of consciousness. This is a deeper meaning.

“Another term of the mantra is ‘sarvatomukhaḥ’. This literally means that He has faces on all sides. The Upaniṣads teach that though devoid of all organs, the Supreme grasps everything everywhere. In this sense, Narasiṁha is ‘sarvatomukhaḥ’. The mantra speaks of the Lord as ‘bhīṣaṇaṁ’. The word literally means, ‘fearsome’. The Bhāgavata-purāṇa conveys that when Narasiṁha slew Hiraṇyakaśipu and continued to be fierce, the devas and even Lakṣmī feared Him. The term fits the Lord in another way too. The Supreme ordains and enforces order in the universe. The laws of nature are His. It is said, ‘Out of fear of this One, the wind blows. Out of fear of Him, the sun rises (Taittirīya-upaniṣad 2.8).’ In this sense, Narasiṁha is ‘bhīṣaṇaḥ’. The Nṛsiṁha-pūrvatāpanīya and Nṛsiṁha-uttaratāpanīya upaniṣads deal extensively with this mantra.”}

(Acharyal:) The moment Acharyal chanted the mantra once and, following Him, I too did so, an amazing event occurred. Acharyal abruptly withdrew His hand from My head, joined His palms and gazed at Me silently with deep reverence. My breathing stopped. The form of Lakṣmī-narasiṁha that I was seeing within Me vanished. However, I began to experience the Lord as My Antaryāmin (Inner Controller), refuge and intimate well-wisher as clearly as one can see a fruit in one’s open palm. I ceased to regard the body, prāṇa, organs, mind and intellect as Mine; everything was just His. I do not know how long I remained thus, motionless and immersed in bliss. All along, I did see Acharyal keeping His palms joined and looking in My direction.

Then, the form of Narasiṁha reappeared and My breathing resumed. My mental state reverted to what it had been during My chanting of the mantra but with the difference that I now felt extremely intimate with Narasiṁha. At the same time, Acharyal lowered His hands. He then recited the mantra two more times, giving Me time to repeat His words. After completing the initiation, He said, “After You had said the mantra once, I saw just Narasiṁha in Your place. That is why I jerked back My hand from Your head and offered My salutation to Him. When His form disappeared and You reappeared, I proceeded with the initiation. Dedicate everything to Him.” All this came to My mind a short while ago.

{Acharyal stopped speaking and continued with His āhnika. I prostrated before Him three times. As I did not wish to disturb Acharyal and take His time further, I did not ask Him about the short-term and long-term impacts of the experiences. As I was starting to leave, He smiled and Himself provided the answer.}

(Acharyal:) Throughout that day, offering everything to Narasiṁha was extremely easy. For instance, when I had My afternoon bath, I automatically felt that I was performing abhiṣeka to Narasiṁha who abided within Me. During bhikṣā, I straightaway visualised Him as accepting from within and eating whatever I put into My mouth. When I read a book after bhikṣā, He appeared to be listening from inside My heart as if I were reading to Him. As I walked, it spontaneously seemed that I was taking Him, who was within Me, for a stroll. The next day onwards, however, I needed to consciously practise dedicating all My activities and their fruits to Him. I also started spending some time every day just for offering Him mental worship. The experiences of the day of initiation greatly facilitated both these and served as models. In a few months, karma-yoga became natural. From the time of initiation, Narasiṁha became very dear to Me. As I have told you on several occasions, He takes care of Me like a child, guides Me, provides clarifications and sets right all the foolish things I say and do.

Before My saṁnyāsa, Acharyal had told Me about the gracious role of Narasiṁha in the lives of Bhagavatpāda and Padmapāda and about the devotion of My Parameṣtiguru (H.H. Nrisimha Bharathi Mahaswamigal) and My Paramaguru (H.H. Sacchidananda Sivabhinava Nrisimha Bharathi Mahaswamigal) to Narasiṁha. He had also instructed Me to memorise some hymns on Narasiṁha such as Bhagavatpāda's “Lakṣmī-nṛsiṁha-karuṇārasa-stotra”. After saṁnyāsa, He extraordinarily initiated Me into the Narasiṁha-mantra as I just told you and then imparted to Me the Narasiṁha-kavaca. It is to Him that I owe My intimacy with Narasiṁha.

{In 1977, when I submitted a manuscript to Acharyal, He opened it at random and read the following verse, which is from Bhartṛhari’s Vairāgya-śataka:

I have no conception of difference between Maheśvara (Śiva), the Lord of the universe, and Janārdana (Viṣṇu), the inmost Self of the universe. Nevertheless, I am attached to the One who bears the moon in His crest (Śiva).

Then, Acharyal conveyed that Śiva was the iṣta-devatā of Paramacharyal by saying, “This verse applied to My Guru. Because of My fondness for Narasiṁha, He sometimes humorously remarked to Me, ‘You are a Vaiṣṇava!’,” added Acharyal.}

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APPENDIX

[The following is an exposition of karma-yoga by Acharyal through parables. It had been penned and included by me in “Edifying Parables” published by the Sri Vidyatheertha Foundation in 1995.]

Three brothers went on a vacation to a hill station and stayed there in a cottage booked by them. One night, when they were fast asleep, a powerful earthquake wreaked havoc in the region. The roof of the cottage fell and would have crushed them to death had not a portion of the roof-beam come to rest on a piece of wooden furniture in the bedroom. From the creaking sounds that the brothers heard, they realised that, in moments, the roof would descend on them. There was simply no question of their remaining where they were till help arrived.

They turned towards the two doors that led out of the room. Due to an electric short-circuit, a fire had started near one of them. The flames were spreading. The way to the other door was strewn with glass pieces from the shattered window panes. One of the brothers ran towards the door where the fire was. He managed to escape through it but suffered severe burns and had to be hospitalised for weeks. The second brother recognised the danger of passing through the flames and so moved as swiftly as he could to the second door. His soles were pierced at several spots by the glass pieces on the way. He had to be hospitalised for two days.

The third brother thought, “It is madness to remain here. Heading towards the spreading flames is foolish, for severe burns will be inevitable. So, I must escape through the other door. However, I must first do something to protect my feet from the glass pieces.” He tore his bed-spread and wrapped a piece of cloth on each foot. He worked fast and so the whole process took only seconds. Then, he headed for the door chosen by him. He escaped unhurt.

A person cannot remain without performing some action or the other just as the brothers were not in a position to remain where they lay in the bedroom. All his acts do have consequences. If he engages in adharma, he will experience much suffering in future, in hell or on earth. His behaviour would be on par with that of the brother who headed towards the door engulfed by fire. He who performs meritorious deeds experiences happiness for some time in heaven or acquires a good birth on the earth. In any case, he has to be reborn. Thus, even the acquirer of puṇya does suffer the bondage of transmigration. His conduct is comparable to that of the second brother. The path to the fiery door was easy to tread as is the path of evil; the way to other door was difficult as is the path of dharma, to go along which one has to restrain the mind and the senses.

The Lord has explained how a person may perform actions but avoid being bound by them. A person should dedicate all his actions and their fruits to God and discharge his duties without hankering for the results. This means of performing actions but escaping bondage is called karma-yoga. The performer of karma-yoga is like the third brother, who escaped through the very door through which the second brother had left (without suffering any injury). The most intelligent of the brothers protected his feet with bandages; the karma-yogin protects himself by dedicating his actions and their fruits to God.

A person had the practice of performing pūjā to God and offering Him fruits and other eatables. After his worship, he used to partake of an offered fruit as God’s prasāda. An agnostic friend of his mockingly told him, “Your practice of performing naivedya is silly. The fruit that you place before your God remains exactly at the same spot where it was kept. It undergoes no physical change either. Further, it is not the God you worship but you who consumes it.”

The devotee responded with a smile, “I submit a fruit to God with the firm conviction that, in keeping with His statement in the Bhagavad-gītā, He will accept it. Having received it, He is free to do whatever He pleases with it. Since He is omnipotent, He is perfectly capable of making it vanish or leaving it behind in its entirety after having consumed it. I believe that it is He who leaves behind the fruit for me after partaking of it in a humanly-inconceivable way. As far as I am concerned, what I consume after naivedya is the remnant of what God has eaten.

“Recently, when your political leader came to your town, you and numerous others received him and offered him garlands. He certainly did not and could not wear all of them. He then gave you one of the garlands that he had received and you accepted it joyfully. As he walked through the large crowd of his supporters, he tossed some garlands to them and the crowd cheered. It is possible that a supporter got back the very garland that he had given. Just because your leader does not retain the garlands presented to him, you people do not abstain from the practice of garlanding him; you derive joy in honouring him and do not tell him what he should do with the garlands that you give him. Why then are you uncomfortable with my sincerely offering God fruits and feeling happy? When your leader can return a garland to you, why should God not be free to give me back the submitted fruits with His blessings? A karma-yogin, in fact, offers to God not just eatables but all his thoughts, words and deeds.”

A man had two servants. One of them was particular about eulogising his employer but not in executing his master’s instructions. The other sincerely carried out the tasks assigned to him; he also held his master in high esteem. The employer obviously preferred the second servant to the first. A devotee who, like the second servant, sincerely performs the duties ordained for him by God and specified in the scriptures and, further, does so in a spirit of dedication, pleases God greatly and receives His grace in abundance. By the Lord’s grace, his mind becomes very pure. In due course, he realises the Truth and gets liberated.

A woman doted on her young son and took great care of him. One day, she woke up with an intense headache, fever and nausea. Nevertheless, she attended to the child’s morning requirements without any laxity. That day, she found the rice prepared by her to be slightly overcooked. Promptly, she started to cook some more. Her husband noticed this and told her, “You are sick and in pain. Why do you want to strain yourself? The rice that is ready is quite eatable.” “I want to give my son only the kind of rice that he is used to and likes. As for the overcooked rice, I shall consume it,” replied the wife. Out of deep love for her child, the woman did her very best for him. Likewise, a karma-yogin, by virtue of his devotion to God, performs his duties to the very best of his ability and refrains from adharma.

Two students appeared for an examination. In spite of having prepared well, they fared badly because the questions were very tough and some of them fell outside the scope of the prescribed syllabus. One of them, who did not practise karma-yoga, became highly dejected because of his inept performance. When he went home and sat down to prepare for the next day’s subject, his mind kept reverting to that day’s question paper. His worry greatly hampered his preparation. The other boy, being a practitioner of karma-yoga, did not experience the least anxiety. This is because, in the examination hall itself, he had dedicated his performance and its fruit to God. After returning home, undisturbed by worry, he focused his attention on the next day’s subject.

On the following day, the first boy became flabbergasted on encountering a tough question. The karma-yogin read the question carefully and answered it to the best of his ability without getting perturbed in the least. It is hardly surprising that the first boy secured a lower rank than his friend. This example shows that the efficiency of a karma-yogin exceeds that of a person who acts with a longing for the fruits of his actions.

The Lord has declared in the Bhagavad-gītā, “Perform your prescribed duties, for action is superior to inaction. Moreover, even the maintenance of your body will not be possible through inaction. Man becomes bound by all his actions except those done by him for the sake of God. O son of Kuntī, perform actions for the sake of God, without being attached... By performing his duty without attachment, a person attains liberation (through the purification of his mind).”

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