The learned say that Hari Narayana has thousand heads, a thousand feet, a thousand eyes, a thousand arms and a thousand bright faces. They further say that he is the great refuge for everyone; he is smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest.

Q. You mean to say that in this world there is nothing but Narayana. The material, the ethereal, the visible and the invisible – all are Narayana. Whatever one can hear or feel (by touch), or whatever one can see, smell or taste are all Narayana. Is that correct?

A. Whatever is accepted by the mind or perceived by the various senses like eyes etc. or whatever is comprehended by the intellect, all that form is yours. Whatever there is in form or without any form, in this or in any other world – all that is His body.
The Gods, the human beings, animals, birds and reptiles are all the different visible forms of the Ananta (infinite) Vishnu.

Q. Prana is the body and the Lord of Prana is Atma. Whatever is in motion in Prana and whatever is motionless is the Lord of Prana. Is this correct?

A. Yes, it is correct.

Q. You mentioned that Bhagawan Ramanujacharya said steadfast remembrance to be Bhakti. You have told me much about Bhakti but I would like to hear more of it.

A. Sri Shankara told Narada, “Oh the best of Brahmins, single-minded bhakti of Sri Vishnu is called prema. That bhakti is of three types. I am going to tell you all that, hear me attentively.
The unbroken and eternal steadfastness of mind towards Hari, who is in the heart of everyone is called jnana-mayi bhakti i.e. bhakti which comes from jnana or bhakti mixed with jnana. This bhakti is even better than direct vision of God. When all the Indriyas (senses) naturally focus themselves on Sri Vishnu, the Lord of the universe, the bhakti which grows out of such karma for the service of Sri Hari and which is devoid of any desire, including the desire of mukti is called Bhagwati bhakti. That fine bhakti which grows from satsanga and hearing and singing Hari Leela without thinking of anything else is called bhakti full of prema.

Q. Sātvata Tantra has divided this single bhakti into three kinds i.e. Jnana-mayi, Bhagwati and Prema-mayi?

A. Yes.

Q. What is the difference in the sadhana i.e. practice of these three forms of Bhakti?

A. The sadhana of Nirguna or Jnana-mayi Bhakti consists of carrying out the functions of one’s varna as laid down in the rules of Varnashram dharma, to offer all work to Vasudeva, to give up violence (hinsa), to see, touch, worship and sing bhajan of God, non-attachment to property, to serve one’s Guru, to subdue one’s desires, to hear readings from the shastras, to nurture feeling of forgiveness, to cultivate friendship with those who are equals, kindness to the poor and distressed, to concentrate one’s mind on the image of God, to hear and sing God’s fame and glory and to see God in every creation. The bhakti gains steadfast attachment to Hari, who lives in the heart of everyone, by doing all this sadhana. He thus attains jnana-mayi bhakti.

Q. What is the sadhana of Bhagwati Bhakti?

A. The foremost sadhana is to have deep bhakti for all instructions by Sri Guru. Further sadhana consists of serving God’s feet with all one’s senses, to sing Harinam constantly by mouth, to hear His deeds with one’s ears, to clean and do other forms of service to the bodies of the deities with one’s hands, to take Bhagawan’s prasad with one’s tongue, to smell with one’s nostrils the sweet scent of flowers, tulsi, chandan, etc. offered at Sri Bhagawan’s feet, to remove flowers etc. from the body of the deity with one’s hand, to look with love in one’s eyes at those who are bhaktas of Sri Vishnu, to think of God’s form and beauty with one’s mind, to do shashtanga pranam with one’s head, and to earn money for the seva of Bhagawan. If one serves God’s feet with all this sadhana constantly, he develops Bhagwati Bhakti in Sri Krishna. The steady attachment of all one’s senses to Bhagawan is called Bhagwati. Such a bhakta has no desire, not even for Moksha. He gets the greatest pleasure in his heart by this bhakti.

Q. How can one gain prema-mayi bhakti?

A. After receiving instructions from a Sat-Guru, one should do satsanga with love, hear from the sadhus of Sri Bhagwan’s limitless Leela-maya karma, like creation, preservation and destruction, sing kirtan in the presence of sadhus, think of Bhagawan’s Leela with deep devotion, obey the sadhus, always praise those who do seva to sadhus, do kirtan of Bhagawan’s name constantly or alternatively utter His name lovingly. With this sadhana, one can attain prema-mayi bhakti which destroys all fears of the samsara and which is very much sought after by the sadhus. By acquiring this bhakti, the bhakta crosses the sea of samsara quickly and attains shanti (peace) which gives him paramananda.

Q. In that case, if one does kirtan of Sri Bhagawan’s Naam incessantly without thinking of anything else, he can gain prema-mayi bhakti?

A. One should take only that much of food or put on that much of clothes as are necessary for the preservation of the body. If one asks for more than what is absolutely necessary; bhakti gets stalled and does not increase any more.

Q. Does bhakti get destroyed?

A. Yes, it does. If after attaining Nirguna Bhakti, one commits violence towards other creatures, if after attaining Bhagwati Bhakti one becomes proud, and whilst enjoying prema-mayi bhakti, if one is averse to sadhus, then bhakti is destroyed. All bhakti is destroyed if one does not respect one’s Guru’s words. If one shows anger to Guru, who is a bhakta of Bhagawan, he goes to hell. If one tries to find fault with Guru, he acquires those faults. If a person looks upon Sri Gurudeva as a human being, all his sadhana becomes fruitless.
The greatest of all sadhana is to do Guru Seva with devotion. A person then quickly acquires bhakti in Bhagawan which brings him joy. Therefore, one should make every effort to obey with love and devotion all orders of Sri Guru. This serves to increase one’s bhakti in Bhagawan.
Of those three types of bhakti, the chief sadhana for Nirguna Bhakti is kindness to all creatures. The main sadhana for Bhagwati Bhakti is performed through body, mind and word; and the main sadhana for Premamayi Bhakti is to love the company of sadhus and to hear praises of Sri Hari.

Q. The way to gain prema-mayi bhakti is to hear the praises of Bhagawan in the company of sadhus?

A. When Sri Bhagawan wanted to give a boon to Raja Prithu, he asked for one thousand ears to hear Bhagawan’s praise.

Q. By doing kirtan, does one do both hearing and singing?

A. Of course; so long as death does not silence one’s tongue one should go on doing kirtan of Bhagawan’s Naam.
Say Narayana, do japa of Narayana, Sing Narayana Naam.

Narayana, Narayana, Narayana,
Narayana, Narayana, Narayana.