Vedic Literature | Ekamsat | Uddhava-Gita | Means of Spiritual Fulfillment
2. Oh Lord! You have instructed that communion with Thee through love (bhakti),
in which one is to abandon desire and attachment for everything else and
concentrate one’s mind whole-heartedly and constantly on Thee, is an independent
path requiring the help of no other path.
4. Brahma taught it to Swayambhuva, his son, and his group of seven sages known as the Saptarishis learned the Veda from Swayambhuva.
5-6. From these seven rishis, their off-spring consisting of Devas, asuras, guhyakas, men, siddhas, gandharvas, vidyadharas, charanas, kimdevas, kinneras, nagas, rakshasas and kimpurushas learnt it. According to the preponderance of the three gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas in them, they were of very diverse dispositions.
7. Because of the diversity of disposition, the forms, characters and ways of beings varied very much. So, following their own nature, their interpretation of the Vedas, too, is divergent.
8. Thus, because of the diversity of disposition in beings, their ways of thinking also vary. Some of them, though not instructed in the Vedas and their interpretation, hold to views inherited from ancestral traditions; while others, following their own nature, take to atheistic ways of thinking.
9. Oh noble one! Under the infatuation of My Maya, they speak divergently as to what constitutes the ultimate good of man according to their past karma and present tendencies.
10. Dharma, fame, enjoyment, truth, self-control, prosperity, eating, evacuating, yajna, austerity, charity, vows, etc are all among the divergent human ends and means, conceived by people according to their tendencies.
11. All aspirations and endeavours in these directions will lead the Jiva only to realms that are karma-borne, fleeting and productive of subsequent suffering. Founded in ignorance and yielding only pseudo-pleasure, they are bedeviled even at the time of enjoyment itself with defects like vindictiveness, jealousy, etc.
12. Oh Uddhava! In the case of a devotee who is free from all worldly desires and who has offered himself heart and soul to Me, I shine in his heart as his very self. The joy arising from this experience is something that a sense-bound creature can never realize.
13. The world respects one who is without any attachment, controlled in mind and senses, equipoised and even-sighted, and finding complete satisfaction in Me.
14. A devotee who has completely resigned himself to Me does not desire anything apart from Me, even the position of an emperor, the state of Brahma, the attainment of all yogic powers or even liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
15. Neither Brahma My offspring, nor Shankara My own emanation, nor Balarama My brother, nor Sri My consort, nor even My own Self is so dear to Me as you (devotees) are.
16. I always follow the footsteps of the sage who desires nothing, who is always tranquil and who has enmity to none, in order that all the worlds within Me get purified by the dust of his feet.
17. None else – including aspirants for salvation – can experience that state of desire-less bliss attainable by those devotees who have no wealth except Me, who have deep attachment to Me, who have universal love for all beings, and whose minds are free from the stain of lust.
18. Though a devotee of Mine might be under the domination of the senses at the beginning of his spiritual life, with the gradual growth of devotion, he is able to overcome them.
19. Just as a flaming fire reduces all fuel to ashes, so does devotion to Me destroy all sins obstructing its development.
20. Oh Uddhava! Neither yoga, nor philosophy, nor karma, nor Vedic study, nor austerity, nor renunciation attracts Me as intense bhakti does.
21. I, the very soul and the dearest love of all holy men, can be attained through intense faith and unswerving and whole-hearted devotion to Me. Steady and deep-rooted devotion to Me purifies and elevates even a man of ignoble birth in a society given to unclean ways of life.
22. Any dharma (religious or moral discipline) though it may be inculcating practices of truthfulness, compassion, learning, austerity, etc fails to purify a mind that has no place in it for cultivation of devotion to Me.
23. Where is bhakti, without the liquefaction of mind expressed though horripilation all over and the flow of tears of joy from the eyes? And without this kind of intense devotion, how can total purification of one’s being be effected?
24. A devotee whose words falter owing to excess of joy, whose heart melts owing to the tenderness of love, who weeps from the grief of separation from Me, who now and then loudly laughs at the thought of the mysterious workings of My Maya; and who sings and dances in joy without any inhibition thinking of My play in creation, and as Incarnations, verily purifies the worlds.
25. Just as gold regains its natural brilliance on its impurities being removed by subjection to heat treatment, so too, through bhakti, a Jiva is able to overcome all impurities and attain to Me.
26. As the mind becomes more purified by the discipline of hearing the holy accounts of My deeds and excellences, it becomes more and more capable of understanding the very subtle truth of the Atman, just as the acuteness of eyesight to see subtle things is enhanced by the application of collyrium made of powerful medicinal herbs.
27. The mind of a man who always thinks of sense objects becomes attached to such objects, while the mind that thinks of Me gets dissolved in Me.
28. Therefore, concentrate on Me your mind purified by the practice of devotion to Me, abandoning all thoughts which are on par with the content of dreams and reveries.
29. Abandoning objects exciting sexual passion and persons who indulge in them let a seeker sit indrawn and resolute, in a place pleasing and secluded, and meditate on Me without lethargy.
30. Nothing can make a man spiritually bankrupt and wretched as sexual
association with women and with persons addicted to such association can.
34. Like a fine thread of lotus stalk and like a continuous peel of a bell, the mystic sound AUM is extending from the muladhara up. By the regulation of the prana, this mystic sound should be raised to the heart and made clearly manifest there.
35. In this way, pranayama with pranava (AUM) should be practised ten times during the three sandhyas – morning, noon and evening. By practising that way for a month, one gains sufficient control over breath.
36-37. The aspirant should meditate on the lotus of the heart drooping on its stalk with its tip down, as now blooming upward with eight petals and a pericarp in the centre. In the pericarp, meditate on the sun, moon and fire as arranged one over the other. In the middle of the fire, let My Form, so auspicious for meditation, be invoked.
38-39. Let the Form be meditated upon with the following features: well proportioned limbs, extremely calm, tranquil and beautiful; four long and well-formed arms; the neck well-proportioned and handsome; shining cheeks illumined by a charming smile; fish marked pendants be-decking the ears; and gold-coloured cloth covering the body looking blue like a rain cloud, in the background of the habitat of Sri and Srivatsa.
40. The Form is to be meditated upon as equipped with conch, discus, mace and play-lotus, and decorated with a wreath of wild flowers, with shining anklets on the feet and the resplendent jewel Kaustubha on the neck.
41. The Form is to be visualized shining with diadem, wristlets, girdle, armlets, lovely in every limb, heart-bewitching, and with eyes radiating peace and joy.
42. The resolute seeker should withdraw the senses from the objects into the mind, and the mind, directed by the intellect, should be made to dwell on My Form in its fullness.
43. The mind thus made to dwell on the total Form is to be directed to concentrate exclusively on one limb or part, preferably on the face illumined by a smile. When the mind is so fixed, there is no need to think of the rest of the Form.
44. When the mind has thus got one-pointedness of attention, it gets transcended and dwells on Me as the Absolute Being, in a state of thoughtlessness.
45. The seeker who is in this state of consciousness will realize Me, the Supreme Brahman (Paramatman) in the Self, and the Self in the Supreme Brahman, without any difference, even as a minute point of light merges in a very luminous light.
46. For, a yogi who strives assiduously to practise meditation will soon overcome the erroneous view of the distinction among the seer, the seen and the act of seeing.