108 words for Gurudev – Page 2

What is ānanda?

ānanda [pleasure, happiness, ecstasy, joy, bliss, transcendental bliss]

In classical Indian thought the word ānanda appears quite commonly to describe the blissful qualities of the demi-gods in a way that resembles our own mundane happiness.

But in the writings of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas ānanda has an entirely different flavour and purpose. It is not a quality that is had, but the result of an action, not a property but a movement, not a gift, but a giving. It is the experience of pleasure that comes alive the through the energy and action of devotional love and service.

In the Śrī brahma-saṁhitā, so revered by Śrīman Mahāprabhu, ānanda is described as the extraordinary, transcendental bliss enjoyed by God when all the emotional and spiritual experiences of the world are concentrated into one experience.

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What is audārya?

audārya [generosity, magnanimity, benevolence, compassion, nobility]

In Western society we learn that generosity is a virtue. We consider it praiseworthy to give: to give gifts, to give food, or to give money. And yet, what are we giving when we give these material things?

What is it we have that can be given? We enter this material world with nothing, and we leave it with nothing. We have nothing and therefore we have nothing to give.

This is because to ‘have’ anything at all means to live in the knowledge that we will will one day not have it, and that we once in the past did not have it. To have is to understanding that having is temporary. Paradoxically, to have is to not have. How can we give what we don’t have?

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What is ruci?

ruci [desire, interest, pleasure, relish, taste, wish]

In the Gaudiya tradition we meet the term ruci in Rūpa Gosvāmī’s famous explanation of the nine stages of Bhakti.

The process begins with faith (śraddhā). Faith grows through association with other devotees (sādhu-saṅga), and through patient devotional practice (bhajana-kriyā). This then leads to decreasing material attachments (anartha nivṛtti) and increasing steadiness (niṣṭhā). These experiences then awaken taste for bhakti (ruci). By means of this taste we can then increase or attachment to divine sentiments (āsakti), increase our mood of loving, and finally reach pure love of God (prema), the highest stage of Bhakti Yoga.

In this way ruci corresponds to the moment when our experience of flavour turns from external experience and becomes more internal, more directed toward the heart and toward our feelings. It’s the moment when our basic faith in the truth of Bhakti, and in the value of good association and bhajan open a door to our first experience of the spiritual pleasure of Bhakti. We feel the attraction and the energy of Bhakti through the pleasure it brings to our hearts.

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What is hlādinī-śakti?

hlādinī-śakti [energy, ability, strength, effort, power that brings pleasure, bliss, happiness]

The Upaniśads tell us that the divine, the soul, the self (ātma) existed even before the universe. Cosmic creation took place when that divine substance expanded into matter in order to create all existing things. The vehicle for that expansion—which is still going on everywhere and at every moment—is energy (śakti).

Energy is not soul, but without energy the soul has no being, no life, no relation, no attraction, no longing, no desire, no zeal. In short: no love. Energy is not the divine itself; it is what brings the divine into being through potency of love.

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What is anurāga?

anurāga [affection, attraction, attachement, feeling, pleasure]

Feeling flows. This is the simplest thing we can say about it.

Feeling is not like like still water in an urn. Feeling moves or it is not feeling.

And where does it flow? It flows from something capable of producing feeling to something capable of receiving feeling: from a heart to a heart, from a soul to a soul.

The essence of feeling is to be of a soul and for a soul. If there is feeling it is because there are (at least) two souls, one to give and one to receive.

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What is bhāva?

bhāva [mood, sentiment, spiritual emotion, way of being]

Attention to bhāva is the miracle of Bhakti Yoga. It is both mystery and perfect clarity.

From the ego point of view it is nothing: trivial, superficial, meaningless: a passing mood, a fickle feeling. But from the soul point of view it means a way of being, a way of living, an attitude, an understanding of, well, everything.

For the soul-being bhāva is the calm of the heart, the sigh of the soul, the feelingless feeling that brings us, without effort, without strife, without pain, closer to ourselves, which is to say, closer to the divine.

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What is rasa?

rasa [juice, nectar, transcendental taste]

Bhakti Yoga begins and ends with feelings. There is no other pure source of meaning and guidance. The path of Bhakti, through teaching of guru or others is always to find and follow the narrow path of pure feeling.

Therefore the guiding question is not ‘what should I feel?’ It is rather ‘what is this that I feel and where does it lead me?’ Thought will never lead to feeling, feeling will lead to thought and then transcend it.

In the ‘Southern Section’ of Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu, Rūpa Gosvāmi defines rasa as ‘the indescribable wonderful relish that is beyond the power of human thinking and arises in the pure heart brightened by goodness’ (2.5.132).

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What is a līla?

līla [divine activity, sports, play, pastime]

We cannot know God by his words, only by witnessing his activities. Līla is the name of the activities of God done in order to be understood—and realised—by jīvas

In Vedic philosophy, God’s līla is the way that the truth about the universe can be communicated, not through high and mighty talk, but by frolicking, loving play. The Truth of the universe is a not a word, it is a feeling: love. It cannot, should not, must not be left to cold and hollow words, it must be seen in action, put into play. That is why stories are told of the pastimes of God.

Līlas can be found in religious and spiritual traditions throughout the Indian Sub-continent. The Vedas are filled with tales of divine līlas, from the Ramayana to the Puranas.

Wherever there are līlas, there is a lightness, playfulness, effortless movement, and natural emotion. Līlas are always graceful, joyous, and whimsical. They embody the way that God, the Absolute, effortlessly governs the universe, and the pleasure and happiness he takes in doing so.

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