Page 37 - Bhakthinivedana-English-January-2022-Magazine.pmd

Sr i : V a c h an a B hu :s h an am
Sri: Vachana Bhu:shanam
sarana:gathi. It’s a firm belief of heart – an unconditional regard to the other upa:yas, we ourselves have to try
surrender to God. So it is not an upa:ya. to cultivate karma jna:na and bhakthi and make them

Aphorism 57 the upa:yas to attain the goal – Bhagava:n.
Whereas Bhagava:n Himself takes us to Him, it
Upa:yam thannai pporrukkum. is good to call Him the upa:ya. As this involves none

Upa:yas are of two types. The upa:ya/means that of our efforts, He is the Siddho:pa:ya.
can be achieved with our effort is called ‘sa:dhyo:pa:ya’. ‘upa:yo:payathve: thadiha thava thaththvam’.

If the upa:ya is a natural one that needs no ‘Heh! Bhagava:n! You yourself is the upa:ya for
effort, it is called ‘siddho:pa:ya’. the che:thanas to attain You. It is Your original nature.

Karma, jna:na and bhakthi are sa:dhyo:pa:yas. All know that Sarve:swara is the upa:ya and he is the
Karma must be practiced. Jna:na has to be earned. One attained.
Bhakthi is incessant contemplation with love. In all In Bhagavad Gi:tha Lord says, “You do karma,
those, our effort is required. Without our trials we acquire jna:na, contemplate continually on Me,” and
cannot act or get jna:nam. Only when we do karma continues, “You have to try for them and cultivate
and have jna:na, there will be incessant contemplation them” and he finally concludes in the last slo:ka,
on God which is bhakthi. It will not be there on its advising us all to acknowledge to him, “I don’t want
own. So it is called ‘sa:dhyo:pa:yam’. The upa:yas all those. I have been thinking they are the upa:yas
achieved with our effort. till now. Now I realized You alone are the upa:ya. So I

To save us - for the a:thma to reach Bhagava:n, leave them all as upa:yas, and accept You alone as the
karma, jna:na and bhakthi are the upa:yas. But the upa:ya.”In the last slo:ka, He advises all the che:thanas
main upa:ya is Sarve:swara himself. Bhagava:n is to to do this as the final resort.
be attained but to attain him we need not seek any We should not mistakenly think He is some
body’s help but have to take his refuge and attain sort of upa:ya as he is the siddho:pa:ya. Lord
him. The One who is to be attained is the One who is Sri:manna:ra:yana is the siddho:pa:ya. As it is natural
also facilitating us to reach him. The means to reach for Him to be the one attainable, it is also natural for
Bhagava:n is called the upa:ya. To make us attain Him to help us in attaining Him. So upa:yathvam
him without our efforts is Bhagava:n’s nature. That is and upe:yathvam are His nature. They are not his
Bhagava:n’s form. attributes. They cannot be acquired by any one any

We don’t get him as the upa:ya with our trials. He day. Our elders said,
himself becomes the upa:ya /means to reach him and “ye:cha ve:davido: vipra:h ye:cha:dhya:thma
takes us to him. The One to be attained is the one who vido:jana:h|
makes us attain him. Goal and means are one and the
same. Thus Bhagava:n is the upa:ya and the upe:ya. the:vadanthi maha:thma:nam krushnam
So he is the siddho:pa:ya, means without our trials he dharmam sana:thanam||”
becomes the upa:ya to attain him. Sarve:swara himself
who is the siddho:pa:ya, gets ready to provide what Scholars who were well versed with the earlier
we desire and eliminate what we detest. He has not part of Ve:da (pu:rva bha:ga) and also the realized
become the upa:ya with our efforts like the other ones. souls of the true form of a:thma, pronounced that
Sri:Krushna is the ‘sana:thana dharma’ the eternal
Upa:ya is the one that takes us to the goal. With dharma. - Continued in page 39

Jan 2022 Bhakthi Nivedana 37