Narada Bhakti Sutra

Veda Vyasa · Higher Ethics and Devotion Series · 16 pages

A sixteen-page recension of the Narada Bhakti Sutra, described in the editor's note as the doctrine of devotion or bhakti in the light of Theosophy, excerpted from C.A. Bartzokas (comp. & ed.), Compassion: The Spirit of Truth, Gwernymynydd: Philaletheians UK, 2005 — the first of the Major Works, where the esoteric character of Nārada is sketched and the triune hypostasis of bhakti unravelled as divine, worldly and devotional. A closing section gives the whole sutra on two pages.

The aphorisms are arranged under nine headings, each a protreptic — an exhortation to a way of life rather than a proposition to be assented to. The first calls the reader to listen to the Voice of the Heart Doctrine, addressing him as Lanoo. The second is the injunction that recurs across this section: give it all away or you will lose it. The third asks that the student's life become an example to unbelievers, and the fourth states that true life can only be found through devotion to all. The fifth and eighth are addressed in the voice of the deity — with subdued heart place all thy works on Me, and with unfettered mind throw every deed on Me — so that the sequence alternates between what the disciple is to do and to whom the doing is referred. The sixth calls for rising above the trappings of personal life and the seventh for feeling the Great Heart within. The ninth closes on attitude rather than action, asking the reader to intoxicate himself with the right attitude and ethic. Giving the full text again on two facing pages at the end lets the sequence be read straight through once the headings have been worked over.

Read the full text (PDF, 1.4 MB, 16 pages)