Narada Bhakti Sutra

Bhakti Sutra
An Ancient Hindu Scripture on Spiritual Devotion Attributed to the Legendary Sage Narada


1. Now, with a favourable spirit, we shall expound on Bhakti – spiritual devotion.

2. The nature of spiritual devotion is the supreme love for God.

3. Its essence is the nectar of immortality.

4. Obtaining spiritual devotion, a person becomes a perfected one, beyond death and fully satisfied.

5. When spiritual devotion is achieved, all desires such as grief, hate, fleeting happiness or desire for personal gain drop away.

6. Spiritual devotion is the realization of one’s true Self. The spiritual devotee becomes intoxicated and overwhelmed with the bliss of union with the supreme.

7. This bliss does not arise from desire, but from one’s inmost nature, which is stillness.

8. Inner stillness consecrates the required functions that arise from one’s position in life.

9. Inner stillness, furthermore, requires a single-hearted intention, and disinterest in what is antagonistic to spiritual devotion.

10. When one is single-hearted, one relinquishes finding security in anything other than God. This does not mean that one abandons one’s duty in the world but that one does one’s duty as an act of worship for God.

12. During the performance of required duties and responsibilities the devotee must stay committed to righteous living.

13. To do otherwise is to risk a fall from grace.

14. In addition to performing one’s required duties, the spiritual devotee should also do what is necessary to maintaining a healthy body.

15. There are different points of view on how one should approach spiritual devotion.

16. Sage Vyasa described it as an intense longing to perform ritual worship.

17. Sage Garga taught that it is expressed through the discussion of spiritual themes.

18. Sage Sandilya explained it as the perpetual delight in knowing one’s true Self.

19. However, Sage Narada teaches that spiritual devotion is truly expressed by sanctifying all activities and by experiencing supreme anguish at forgetting the Beloved even for a moment.

20. There do exist examples of this spiritual devotion.

21. Such as the gopis of Vraja – the shepherdesses who were completely filled with love for Krishna.

22. Even in the highest level of spiritual devotion one should remain mindful and not forget the glory of the Beloved, in order to avoid degrading the relationship.

23. If that mindfulness is forsaken, what exists is selfish passion.

24. In selfish passion, one’s personal happiness is independent of the happiness of the Beloved.

25. Spiritual devotion is superior even to all other forms of yoga.

26. For their ultimate aim is to produce spiritual devotion.

27. Spiritual devotion is superior because the Supreme Lord is attracted to humble love and is repulsed by egoism.

28. Some teach that spiritual devotion is a product of wisdom.

29. Others claim that wisdom and devotion depend on one another.

30. According to Narada, spiritual devotion is its own fruit.

31. King, food and home can be used as images.

32. Not by wisdom is one made a king, is one satisfied, or is hunger appeased. Knowledge of itself is not a path to satisfaction.

33. Therefore, those who aspire to liberation regard spiritual devotion as the only goal worth attaining.

34. Great teachers sing of the means of developing spiritual devotion.

35. It is developed through non-attachment to the material world and its desires.

36. By unceasing worship while in the world.

37. As well as by singing and listening to the attributes of God.

38. This leads to the greatest of blessings.

39. Oneness with the seed of all existence is difficult to attain, for it is incomprehensible and without fault or error.

40. Only by God’s grace is it attainable.

41. The grace of God allows the devotee to achieve oneness and to understand that there is no separateness from God, but only the illusion of separateness.

42. Cultivate that grace alone; cultivate that grace alone.

43. Cultivate the grace of oneness and avoid the illusion of separateness from God.

44. Separateness from God is the root cause of selfish desire, anger, forgetting the true Self and the loss of all that truly matters.

45. What begins as a small wave of delusion becomes an ocean of illusion.

46. Who can cross this great ocean? Only the one who can forsake all attachments can cross the great ocean of illusion and become a servant of the great source of all souls.

47. When one embraces inner solitude with God and breaks free from the threefold bondage of the world (impurity, lust and laziness), only then can one be free from the delusion that owning things causes happiness.

48. By avoiding attachment to personal gain and the bondage of the ego, the devotee becomes free from the illusion of dualities.

49. Breaking free from the limited view of organized religion is the key to supreme and unceasing longing for God.

50. Only then can he cross the great ocean of illusion and help the world to cross also.

51. The essential nature of love surpasses description.

52. It is like a person who cannot speak but can taste fine foods.

53. Love abides where it is made welcome.

54. Impurity, lust and laziness crowds out true love. By removing earthly desires, the devotee makes room for the limitless love of God to rush in as an exquisitely subtle experience that expands forever.

55. After achieving the boundless love of God, the devotee sees only love, hears only love, speaks only of love and is consumed by the love of God.

56. There are three types of devotion that appear to be real but end in distress.

57. The first is the selfishness of organized religion. It has a form of godliness but leads to conflict. A better path, but still inferior, is the fervent ones who battle evil for God.

58. They seek to right wrongs but ultimately they are frustrated.

59. Better still is the devotion of the compassionate ones who seek peace and happiness for all.

60. But the ultimate devotion is the total submission to God. Its superiority is self-evident for it is free from all distress and is filled with supreme joy.

61. A devotee can be in the world but not of the world. This is accomplished by performing one’s social duties as acts of devotion to God. In this way there can be no anxiety about worldly losses.

62. The devotee does not become anxious free by forsaking duties but by performing duties without attachment to their fruits. It has been said: “before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.”

63. The devotee is in the world but in order to remain undefiled by the world the devotee must avoid being entertained by stories of sex, power and wealth.

64. Additionally, egoism, pride and impure thoughts must be avoided.

65. Surrendering to God involves rising above all of these as one performs social responsibilities, even when selfish desire, anger and egotism are present.

66. The devotee must rise above the three inferior forms of devotion mentioned before, and worship God as an eternally devoted servant would.

67. Foremost among devotees are those who are one-pointed.

68. They purify themselves and their communities by their tear-choked conversations. So devoted are they that their hair stands on end and tears course down their cheeks.

69. Their holiness establishes sacred sites and inspires holy scripture.

70. They are full to overflowing with the Love of God.

71. Their ancestors rejoice, angels dance and the world is blessed by a master of truth.

72-73. Since they belong to God, they transcend distinctions of ancestry, intellect, appearance, class, wealth, occupation, and other social realities.

74. Intellectual explanations should not be relied upon to achieve oneness with God.

75. They can go on forever and achieve nothing definite.

76. Sacred scripture should be consulted and meditated upon. The purpose of spiritual texts is to inspire the student to spiritual practice. Knowledge of scripture, however, is not to be considered a substitute for dedicated devotion to God.

77. Non-attachment to happiness or sadness, pleasure or pain, worldly gain or personal concerns with inspired constancy will cause the devotee never to experience a useless moment.

78. Non-violence, truthfulness, purity, compassion, faith in inspired scripture and personal integrity are to be cultivated rigorously.

79. One can be free of anxiety by worshipping God alone.

80. Through sincere veneration, God swiftly becomes manifest in the awareness of the devotee.

81. In all the threefold reality, spiritual devotion alone is of the greatest significance.

82. Spiritual devotion is singular, though it manifests as eleven forms: cherishing the glorious qualities of God, cherishing the spiritual forms, cherishing ritual worship, cherishing constant remembrance of the Beloved, cherishing selfless acts of service, cherishing God as a dear friend, cherishing God with parental affection, cherishing God like a loving wife, cherishing knowledge of the true Self, cherishing oneness with the Supreme Lord, cherishing the supreme surrender to God.

83. There are thirteen teachers who have taught the Bhakti path of spiritual devotion without fear of ridicule.

84. Those who fully believe and follow these divinely inspired teachings as taught by Narada will achieve the goal of being one with the Beloved. Follow these teachings and become one with the Beloved.

Translated by Prem Prakash