NAME 103

The One, who is free from all attachments. He can be known only through various yoga-s.  Yoga means union, the union of individual soul with the Supreme Soul.  The Brahman cannot be seen, but can only be realised. 

Sarvayogavinisrutah – He is attainable by many means

This can be interpreted in two ways:

He is free from all attachment.

He is achievable through all forms of Yoga.

The first meaning is explained by Sri Adi Sankara using the words ‘Sarvasambandha Vinirgatah Sarvayogavinisrutah – He is completely free from all forms of attachment; He is totally abstract and free from any material bondage’. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says ‘Asangohyaham Purushah – He is a detached Entity’.

The second meaning is explained as ‘NaanaaShastroktaad Yogaad Upagatatvaat Sarvayogavinisrutah – One can realise Him through the various Yogic practices described in the Shastras.’

The word Yoga can mean Union or also can be interpreted as a ‘means to attain’ something. Depending on which one of these is chosen, we get a different interpretation. Vinisrutah means gone forth or out, or escaped.

Using the first meaning for Yoga, we get the interpretation that He is free from any and all forms of bondage, and so He is Sarva Yoga Vinisruta.

Using the second meaning, Sri Parasara Bhattar’s interpretation is that He is attainable easily by all means. His interpretation is – Yogaih – upaayaih; vi – visheshena – veda parama guhyairiva; nissritah – praaptum yogyah, sugraha iti va.

Hence the Lord can be attained in many ways.

Srimad Bhagvatam elaborates nine forms of Bhakti which, if cultivated and practiced regularly will no doubt lead us closer to the lord.  The nine forms of Bhakti are:

Shravanam, Kirtanam, Vishnoh Smaranam, Paada-sevanam, Archanam, Vandanam, Daasyam, Sakhyam, Atma-nivedanam (Srimad Bhagvatam 7.5.23).  One of the easiest ways of attaining the Lord is through unflinching devotion or Bhakti.

Srimad Bhagvatam 7.5.23).

श्रीप्रह्राद उवाच

श्रवणं कीर्तनं विष्णोः स्मरणं पादसेवनम्

अर्चनं वन्दनं दास्यं सख्यमात्मनिवेदनम्

śrī-prahlāda uvāca

śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ

smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam

arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ

sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

Translation:

Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṇu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one’s best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words) — these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṇa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.

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103. ॐ सर्वयोगविनिःसृताय नमः।

103 Om Sarva-yoga-viniḥ-sṛtāya Namaḥ

 Sarva-yoga-vinissritah -Yoga is from Yuj ‘to join’; ‘to attach’, One who is totally free (vinissritah) from all contacts or attachments. Attachment to a thing is possible only when the object-of-attachment is other than the subject, In the One Infinite Reality there cannot be any attachment with anything, mainly because there is nothing here that is not the Infinite Itself. The Infinite is a Mass of Love; there is no attachment in It; for, attachment is Love with possessiveness and desire for gratification, “This Purusha is, indeed, unattached”, roars Brihad Upanishad (6-3-15), Lastly, the term, Sarva- Yoga- Vinissritah can also mean that He is beyond the reach of the various systems of Yogas taught in the Sastras. These systems are to quieten the mind, to end the misapprehensions-of- Truth, to annihilate the Maayaa, What is there left over in the seeker’s bosom is the Self-the Great Vishnu,

 Ameyaḥ (iyā niti paricchettuṃ na śakyaḥ) ātmā yasya saḥ He whose ātmā (nature) cannot be measured (determined) as of what extent by division.

Śrīmad Bhāgavata – Canto 4, Chapter 11

Avyaktasyāprameyasya nānāśaktyudayasya ca,

na vai cikīrṣitaṃ tāta ko vedāthambhavam. (23)

:: श्रीमद्भागवत – चतुर्थस्कन्धे, एकादशोऽध्यायः ::

अव्यक्तस्याप्रमेयस्य नानाशक्त्युदयस्य च ।

न वै चिकीर्षितं तात को वेदाथम्भवम् ॥ २३ ॥

The Absolute Truth, Transcendence, is never subject to the understanding of imperfect sensory endeavor, nor is He subject to direct experience. He is the master of varieties of energies, like the full material energy, and no one can understand His plans or actions; therefore it should be concluded that although He is the original cause of all causes, no one can know Him by mental speculation.

Salutations to him who can be obtained by any means whatsoever.

INTEERPRETATION GUIDED BY SANT VANI (WORDS OF SAINTS)

103. Sarvayogavinissṛtaḥ

i. The one devoid of all connections.

ii. The one revealed through all the yogas.

He who stands apart and is free from all bondage, devoid of all attachments. He who is ‘known’ through and is the goal of all paths, Yogas and Śhāstras. He who can only be “experienced” and therefore he is not the paths (that lead to him) but he who is beyond all these – unattached and pristine – the ever-shining Puruṣa.(Śaṅkara) He who can be attained by any of the paths/Yogas mentioned in the Śāstras and is easily attainable to those who approach him with pure minds and unalloyed Bhakti. He (Viṣṇu) is the ‘Lord of the Mantras” and is easily pleased before long with those who seek refuge in him, provided they have pure devotion and have meditated upon him (even if they may not have worshiped him in exactly the prescribed manner as per the Śāstras).(Parāsara Battar)

Yoga means sambandha, connection. Even though the Lord is everything, He remains

unconnected. It sounds contradictory but it is not. He is everything and sustains everything and at the same time absolutely unconnected to anything, like space. One of my favourite words in Sanskrit, आकाश: space, not sky. The definition of space is that which accommodates. When we look at it, what is it that space does not accommodate? Our bodies, plants and animals, huge oceans, the countless stars, our planet, the Milky way, other Suns and galaxies that have not yet been discovered. Space is in and through everything, but at the same time, remains unconnected to them. It transcends everything.

As human beings, we feel a sense of difference from the other, contributed in a large measure to the sense organ of touch, which is present all over the body. It is a blessing because we can come back in one piece after going out, and not wonder if we left one hand, back in the market! Because we see ourselves as different from the other, even close people, we seek a connection to

bridge the gap. When the connection is fractured or is not there, we don’t feel understood and again seek to build the connection by complaining, nagging and occasionally sharing what we need and want from the other person.

Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist suffered a brain stroke and has captured her journey, from the observation of her own brain deterioration to the eight years of recovery, in her book – A Stroke of Insight. In the parts of her brain that were damaged, one miniscule part was that which is responsible for us sensing difference between oneself and the other, and so she found herself having a sense of connectedness with everything and her own body, what we try to achieve by being in nature and with some people or in our happy moments. In her book she says ‘Knowing that I am a part of the cosmic flow makes me feel innately safe and experience my life as heaven on earth. How can I feel vulnerable when I cannot be separated from the greater whole? How I wish you could lose your emotional baggage, just like I did, and shift back into your natural state of joy! The secret to hooking into any of these peaceful states is the willingness to stop the cognitive loops of thought, worry, and any ideas that distract us from the kinesthetic and sensory experience of being in the here and now. Most important, however, our desire for peace must be stronger than our attachment to our misery, our ego, or our need to be right.” She also highlights the power of meditation and prayer to feel the sense of connectedness which is born of an understanding based on reality. And the refreshing news is that we don’t need to suffer a brain stroke to recognise and experience these things!

We recognise our undeniable presence as I am.

‘I am’ and hence I can think

‘I am’ is not a technique

‘I am’ is not a result of introspection

‘I am’ is not a result of meditation

‘I am’ is not a belief

‘I am’ inspite of my past

‘I am’ and hence my education and accomplishments

‘I am’ despite my less than satisfactory accomplishments

‘I am’ and hence my emotions

‘I am’ and hence the memories – good, bad or ugly

‘I am’ and hence I recognise connections

‘I am’ and hence I can have relationships

Really speaking, ‘I am’, the sense of presence is unconnected to all that I am associated with and at the same time is connected. Everything else depends on I. That I am is self evident, I don’t need any means of knowledge to say that I am. What I am, is discovered in Vedanta.

There are different types of sambandha, connections, like the connection of cause and effect, the connection of means and ends, the connection by relationship, the connection by time and place and so on. In spite of His being everything and all-pervasive, Parameśvara is free from all sambandha, connections. This is the nirguṇa aspect and shows His transcendental nature.

He is known through the yogas, disciplines told in the various śhāstras, He is known as Sarvayogavinissṛta.

The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad[4.3.15] refers to the Puruṣa as that which is outside the bounds of any attachment – beyond all attachment. This discussion and the statement below occurs as part of the conversation between Yājñavalkya and King Janaka of Videha on the nature of the individual ‘Self” and the Universal “Self” – The specific discussion where the following assertion comes, centers on the nature of that Brahman which is beyond fear and should be known as being different from the body – pure, self-effulgent and of the nature of superlative bliss, and beyond the duality of apparent existence:

असङ्गो ह्ययं पुरुष इति asaṅgo hyayaṃ puruṣa

Essentially, what this name tells us is that while all paths, practices, Yogas, and Śāstras lead to him, it is essential that at some stage one needs to go beyond mere practice and develop that discernment – Viveka between that which is ‘real’ and that which is “unreal” This is essential to attain to that highest state.

Sri Ramakrishna in his usual simple but profound style brings out this through a story as well as an allegory:

“According to Vedānta even the waking state, too, is unreal. Once a woodcutter lay dreaming, when someone woke him up. Greatly annoyed, he said: “Why have you disturbed my sleep? I was dreaming that I was a King and the father of seven children. The princes were becoming well versed in letters and military arts. I was secure on my throne and ruled over my subjects. Why have you demolished my world of joy?” ‘But that was a mere dream said the other man.’ “You don’t understand. My becoming a King in the dream was as real as is my being a woodcutter. If being a woodcutter is real, then being a king is real also.“

And…

“Jnana is the realization of the ‘Self’ through the process of ‘Neti, neti”, “Not this, Not this” One goes into Samādhi through this process of elimination and realizes the Ātman. But Vijnāna means knowledge with a greater fullness. Some have heard of milk, some have seen milk, and some have drunk milk. He who has merely heard of it is ‘ignorant’. He who has seen is a jnāni, but he who has drunk it is a Vijnāni – that is to say a fuller knowledge of it. After having the vision of God one talks to him as if he were an intimate relative. That is Vijnāna.“

Own Bhava

“Bhakta of this highest type and a rarity, you have discovered your own truth. Much like Tulsidas, Meera, Surdasa, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Guru Nanak, you have turned inwards. You still worship your deity’s Form outside but with your own bhava. Your acts of inward worship being projected outside are mistaken by onlookers as pure acts of outward worship. This leads to the creation of sects further confusing the seekers.

This bhakta has transcended the traditional rituals of external worship. Due to a highly virtuous life, and even higher righteous conduct, you have completely purified yourself. In essence, you have become the deity yourself. With child-like innocence and indifferent to the ways of the world, you spend your time in solitude. However, in solitude as well you are always in the company of your personal god. And even in the midst of the greatest crowd, you are perfectly alone with your deity.

Desires, therefore all vikaras, have completely left you, for, how can darkness and light coexist! You are the light, light of love, peace, bliss, and knowledge. Because you have found your God, you develop great dispassion (vairagya) — a natural by-product of self-realization. You are ready to work some miracles and your mere presence will transform bhaktas of the first two types as well as others from different walks of life.

Work ceaselessly towards self-purification. Along with, start bhakti if you believe in God and only if you can exercise surrender. Bhakti is rarely comparable to love-at-first-sight. It is more like a relationship where your love and bond with your deity grows over time. If you can not surrender, bhakti is not for you. In that case, you can start the practice of meditation and be prepared to bear the rigors of such practice. Only a strenuous effort is going to bring noticeable results.

Do not even attempt to curb your desires without understanding their intrinsic nature first. They will go away automatically in due course with either pure bhakti or right meditation; a combination of both will set you free in no time.

Do not abandon external worship till you discover the inner one. Let the truth unfold steadily. When you continue to tread the path with grace, resolve, and reverence, never foregoing truth, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion, you will certainly come to grace. I have no doubts about that.

Between slog and sloth, equidistant from indulgence and immolation, there lies the wondrous path of devotional service.”

– Om Swami

https://os.me/bhakti-devotional-service/

This name also completes the 11th couplet containing 9 beads and our garland now has 103 beads strung together.