Thus Spake the Divine - Penultimate Stage of Mukti is Bhakti

Thus Spake the Divine

Penultimate Stage of Mukti is Bhakti

A father wants to get his daughter married. He makes his best efforts and finds a suitable bridegroom. At the time of Mangalya Dharanam (tying of the sacred thread), the father is engrossed with mixed emotions. He is happy on one hand to have this worthy bridegroom. On the other, he is upset that his daughter, whom he has groomed all these years pouring his love and affection, is going to leave him and join a new family. It was he who wanted a suitable groom for his daughter; it was he who had taken all efforts to find one; it was he who accumulated finance with great difficulty for the wedding. But despite all this, at the time of wedding, he is almost in tears.

What is the moral of this story? It is a metaphor to explain the stage of an individual who is striving hard to attain the state of Mukti.

One who becomes eligible to attain the state of Mukti is known as a Mumukshu (Mumukshu is a Sanskrit term for one who is focused on attaining liberation, a seeker of knowledge and truth). A Mumukshu reaches this state with incessant Bhakti towards God. At the very moment, when Mukti comes very close to his reach, he is also engrossed with a feeling of sorrow, as that of the father of the bride. It is he who exerted himself strenuously towards attaining the Mukti; it is he who strictly followed the codes of Bhakti; as a result his mind is cleansed and he has attained the stage being immersed with Paramatma. Once immersed with Paramatma, there is neither God nor Bhakti. This is why a Mumukshu feels the sorrow at missing his Bhakti to God.

Such sorrow is beautifully expressed in the form of a Shloka by a poet as follows:

“Lord Parameshvara is pleased with my Bhakti and is about to grant me Mukti and Moksha. Hereafter, I will not need anymore to apply the sacred ash, wear Rudraksham and do the Pooja or Japa! Hey Sacred ash! Hey Rudraksham! Adieu to you both! Hey, the steps of Bhakti, I am parting from you with a heavy heart. I disown you all who have bestowed me with the feeling of Bhakti and attributes of God. You immersed me in this blissful Universe for the sake of attaining the state of Moksha, which I am most ‘obsessed’ with”.

Moksha or Mukti is one which liberates a person from obsession (Moha). But Mumukshu, who has aspired for Moksha and has attained it, has to disown the happiness arising out of Bhakti and its associated aspects, though Moksha itself appeared as an obsession for him!

There is a similar verse in Krishna Karnamrutha by Sage Leela Shuka. It denotes dwindling down of Karmas as Bhakti keeps expanding. Thus, Sage Leela Shuka could not focus on rituals, such as Sandhya Vandanam or Tarpanam, as he is deeply immersed in Bhakti towards Lord Krishna and there he bids adieu to the Karmas.

At stage one, one has to necessarily adhere to Karmas as ordained by Shastras without questioning whether he has to do them or not. This clears the attitude of bias at heart; it cleanses the mind. Once the mind purifies, it gets engrossed with God and immerses into Him as one. This is Bhakti at the second stage. Once Bhakti matures, wisdom occurs and that is the ultimate stage. It is not necessary that we renounce Bhakti or Karma of our own will. Both Bhakti and Karma drop off from us once they become fully matured, like the fruit that falls off from the plant once it is fully ripe.

Therefore, we must not directly aspire for Mukti without adhering to Bhakti. Continuing Bhakti will automatically pave the way for Mukti. Hence, let us pray to God Almighty for Bhakti instead of Mukti!

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.