Nivritti Marga
Every question on the site tagged Nivritti Marga, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
The path of complete detachment from the material world, seeking only Shivaloka or Moksha.
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Why should the sacred-thread-wearing chant Panchakshari without Pranava?
Adding Pranava (Om) to Panchakshari — making it Shadakshari — is prescribed only for Nivritti Marga (renunciation, liberation); it is not for material, Pravritti Marga desires, and shouldn't be adopted without a Guru's specific instruction.
The jeevan-mukta stands under a different rule, as Shukdev did when he set out for tapasya
Those who are jeevan-mukta — who have in their heart entirely abandoned every kind of relation, in whose mind there is no vikara of any kind and no relation of any kind at all. If they go in such a state, he says, their case is different. As an example he gives Shukdev ji as the puranas describe him, speaking with his mother while setting out for tapasya, when she stops him and he says it cannot be, we will not stop.
What was Shukdev's reply when his mother asked him to continue the lineage?
His mother told him to stop, to increase the lineage, that his marriage should take place, and that without producing a son there is never sadgati. Shukdev Muni replies that if sadgati came merely from producing offspring, then a bitch gives birth to several pups at one time — why is there no sadgati for her? This reasoning, the speaker stresses, is for those who are jeevan-mukta.
What kind of person, living in a family, still stands under the other rule?
Those who have attained that kind of bodha of mukti — who may be living within a family, but whose state is such that they have no greed of any kind, and on whom honour and dishonour make no particular impression. Had Shukdev forgotten, the speaker notes, he would have had to start afresh like an ordinary jivatma, as you and I do; the boon was given and then he took birth.
What does the arising of vairagya signify for a householder?
What is being told here, the speaker says, is that everyone's time is fixed. After sporting for a certain time, after fulfilling one's desires, vairagya ought to arise in the mind. This is what has always happened in the grihastha ashram in sanatan; this passage is its indicator.
What did Sati ask Shiva when vairagya arose?
Bhagavati asks how her further life should be lived now that vairagya has arisen. She puts the question to her own Shiva, who assumes a body at will and whose chitta is detached from bhoga through yoga: which is that gyan by which a jiva bound by vasana becomes freed at once?
What did Shiva answer as the means of liberation?
Bhagavan Shiva explains that the mother of vigyan is bhakti of him alone, which gives both fruits, in the form of bhoga and of moksha. He declares bhakti to be the highest, and sets out nine kinds of bhakti — what we call navdha bhakti — saying that the Supreme can be worshipped in nine ways. Of that bhakti, apart from those nine, there are also many kinds.
Which Saptashati mantra is used for extreme vairagya?
The 22nd mantra, whose meaning is that the son and the wife, out of greed for wealth, have driven him out of the house. For those who wish that extreme vairagya should come, he says, as an example one may say that you can do the japa and paath of this separately.
Why must fulfilment of desires come before detachment?
Shri tattva will be obtained, desires will be fulfilled, and then detachment will come within you — that yes, we must go upon the divine path, the speaker says. If desires are not being fulfilled at all, then from where shall we become detached? This too is true. So for the sake of the fulfilment of desires as well, sadhana will have to be done. There is that capacity in a mantra, that it can give everything — dharma, artha, kama, moksha; all four purusharthas will be obtained from it, but only if one does it.
It is the fear that a person may go onto the nivritti marga that makes the family pull him away from worship
That you may not go away onto the nivritti marga — it is this fear on account of which they are pulling you away from it, and then that becomes a separate subject. To do pujan and path while living our life and living the nitya karmas that there are is a very great subject; and they will put an obstacle in it.
Is any woman allowed to use a copper vessel?
Yes — a woman who is a widow, the speaker says. If you go into tantra, a widow has somewhere been held to be in the Dhumavati swaroop, in the dhoom swaroop; and there, for some reason he cannot state clearly, she has the right to a copper vessel and may use it. Somewhere in it, one may say, the condition of vairagya has come. Therefore no fortunate woman and no kunwari woman should give water to the sun from a copper lota or a copper vessel; men may give it, but women should not.
Why does the mind of a sadhak keep wandering?
Sadhaks say the wish to do sadhana does not arise, that the mind wanders greatly and the restlessness will not end. How will it end, he asks. When you have enjoyed the bhogas, then nivritti from them comes about. When you eat food that pleases the mind, whole kachoris, rasmalai, rajbhog, and become fully satisfied, then if you are given more to eat you will not eat, or you will vomit.
How should worldly enjoyment be taken at all?
Worldly joy will certainly decay at some point, he says, so take worldly joy in order to become free of it. If you drink, then drink and be done with it; but if you are becoming an addict, a ganja-smoker, then that is your ruin — and a sadhak, after all, ought not to do it.
What does Shani in the twelfth bhava give?
In the twelfth bhava he is the karak of moksha and makes one detached: the more sadhana you do, the more detached you will become, he says. This is positive too — but if your time and circumstance are not right, if you are running away, then it is not right. If, however, you have the sense of what is proper and improper and you are doing sadhana, then the virakti you get is a paushtik virakti. One who has gone into this cannot fall: he went detached, and maya will be present in his life saying yes, give up the path of sannyas — but he will not give it up; he will remain nourished.
Nourished mantra sadhana can carry a person to the avadhut and paramhansa state, needing nothing further.
That level of nourishment remains, he says, in which a person becomes as if equal to a deva and, at the capacity of a paramhansa, says: brother, we have now gone up to that level, we have no need at all of any of these things, neither of maya nor of wealth. We have attained the state of an avadhut, we have attained the state of a paramhansa. Mantra sadhana, if it is nourished, carries a person up to that level.
If nam alone sufficed, why did the mahapurushas keep the practice?
If everything should have happened by the nam alone, then why was no such conduct kept by the mahapurushas, he asks; this is being done newly. Why was this subject kept in former times? Sudama ji was so poor, but why was he doing his sandhya by nitya-niyam? No one's destitution can have been greater than his; still he was doing his sandhya by nitya-niyam and did not abandon it. As for those who attain the paramhansa state, who have gone to the divine state and have no awareness at all — they are not performing pakhand of being a bhakta; they have no consciousness left now, in devotion to the Lord. They have become Krishna-filled, Radha-filled; whatever they do now, they are simply in the divine state, gone into the avadhut state, and their subject is different.
Why should Shiva's Panchakshari mantra be paired with Parvati's Saptakshari mantra?
Because we are in the Pravritti path rather than the Nivritti path and carry desires — so alongside the male power we should also serve the female. Both mantras can be done by anyone; take them again from the Guru when Bhagavati's grace brings one. The Panchakshari alone is all-capable.
What attitude brings a shakti quickly?
If you do it having become surrendered — saying that I am attempting to perfect you but I will walk according to your order; look at the sufferings of my life according to your own will and please remove this suffering; and my chief aim will be, through your kripa, spiritual advancement and going toward Bhagavati; show me the path, let me advance in the spiritual life and do paropkar — then, he says, she will be perfected quickly. But this does not happen within anyone.
Why does a newly married sadhak feel dryness in his japa?
He tells a listener by name that the matter is this: at present you are newly married, and somewhere or other you are in adhyatma, so this dryness will keep coming and going. When you have completed all the works of your householder life, then the vairagya that comes after that will be the best of all.
What is the final aim of sadhana?
A listener asks what the final aim of sadhana is for people like them — whether, by doing bhakti and obtaining moksha, we become brahmalin, or whether we go to the lok of our own ishta. Calling it a very good question, he answers: among the four purusharthas, moksha comes last of all; and through the sixteen sanskaras this thing is brought down into our life, from birth until death. His only saying is this, he says: moksha gati or mukti is not entirely in your hands or mine. To our capacity we should do only this much — do bhakti according to whatever capacity there may be.
What should one do while leaving the question of moksha aside?
Becoming free from moha and maya in all the bonds of the world, he says, cooperate with people as much as you can and do paropkar as well. But keep advancing. For the rest — whether one is to become brahmalin, or whether the attainment of moksha will happen, or whether there will be a next birth — leave it upon your own aradhya.
Wanting to live like Bhairav or Datta means leaving home and family, not keeping their symbols
If you have a great wish to become Bhairav, a great wish to become a Bhairav sadhak, a great wish to become like Bhagavan Datta, he says, then adopt a life like theirs — leave home and family, and after that keep what you like.
For whom is it true that there is no difference between a dog, a pig and Ganga?
If he has attained the avadhut state, he says, if he has attained the divine state, then no difference between dog, pig and Ganga ji will appear to him. But you have to remain in discipline for now; you have not yet attained that grade of nivritti. If you now go about carrying a pig in your hand, you will be play-acting — saying we are doing it because baba ji said so. That, he says, is folly, great folly.
What is the state of one who has done heavy purashcharana?
Yes, he says, if you have already done a very great deal of mantra purashcharana, you are no longer within your own limit: by reason of the purashcharana of the mantras you have gone into an intoxication, not from drinking any liquor. Jagadamba's kripa has come upon you. In such a state, if a person who drinks or a ganika collides with you, you will have no awareness at all of who is before you — you will see Jagadamba everywhere.
What should one do when marital trouble is pushing one toward vairagya?
A listener writes in English of much trouble in his material and marital life, asking for his kundali to be checked. On account of all this trouble you are going toward vairagya, the speaker says. Know one subject: very well, you are going toward vairagya and you also want to remain in married life; in your own place you are right. But there is a divyata here — do not take what follows upon yourself.
Young sadhaks asked which path they want say they want the sadhana marg, because they know they would fall
When discussion takes place among sadhaks, the speaker says — among the young and some who have reached middle years, some whose marriage is about to happen, on the phone or by other means — they ask what will happen. He asks them which path they want to go on, and they say they want to go on the sadhana marg, because one has to enter the grihastha in any case, and in the grihastha we are not in a position to be such great detached sanyasis holding so hard a brahmacharya vrat. We know we will fall. This is not a matter of writing and reading. There is not that much capacity, nor is there such powerful vairagya. So we do want to be vairagi, but through this ashram, after entering it, so that no matter of falling may occur through us.
What should be done if the wife does not stay with one on this path?
They ask, suppose the marriage happened and the dharmapatni who came did not stay with us — then what? The speaker says: if the wife came and afterwards it did not go well for you, then just become a vairagi like this and come into this very path. Come along, we will take a kamandal and both brothers will sit happily on the bank of Ganga ji — Har Har Mahadev, what is the difficulty? And if a good wife has come, bring her along too; she also Har Har Mahadev, she will do japa and you will do japa. If she turns out good, come; if she turns out bad, come alone. In every condition look at your own condition and how you are to get through.
Is vairagya born of suffering a real vairagya?
If you are understanding vairagya in this way — that your virakti is arising because of suffering — then it will not be a powerful virakti, the speaker says. This is a true thing, and there is a reason for it.
Why does vairagya born of suffering bring a person back to the grihastha?
The speaker gives the example. Suppose trouble came in married life, one grew mentally dejected, took one's own wife for the kamini, the mind turned away from the kamini, and one went off into the path of sadhana. When by that sadhana the tapobal increased — since the tapobal will increase and this chintan will remain in the mind — then by its effect this attraction too will be formed again. The vairagya within you will end and you will come into the grihastha again, without fail, whether with her or by some other arrangement. In one way or another, maya will bring you back here again. That is why this is a kshanik vairagya; do not be disturbed by it. Prabal vairagya is always through the attainment of jnana.
What happens to a renunciation adopted because of suffering when comfort returns?
So far as the subject arises in life that trouble has come into the body and life and so we are now becoming detached — the speaker says that when pleasure comes, you will become detached and then attached again. Understand this subject too.
A heart gone to Girnar while the body remains a householder leaves the mind unsettled and sleep broken.
He tells the listener that his information is always very strong, and that this is exactly why he remains in a state of uchchatan. The actual matter, he says, is this: the mind is not settling, sleep is not coming — the fact is that your heart has gone away to the Girnar mountain, near Bhagwan Datta. Your experiences too are tremendously divine. And now you have to remain here to complete your physical life, your grihastha life. So you are able to be neither of this side nor of that. That is the difficulty.
What should a householder aiming at moksha keep primary?
But if you are a householder and have kept as your life's purpose that you must go towards moksha, towards mukti, then here keep bhav primary, the speaker says; here kriya will not be primary. He says again and again that in tantra kriya is primary — bhav is not primary, bhakti is not primary — and there, if anything goes wrong, trouble comes at once.
Small experiences give motivation, then better practice, then fulfilment, then virakti
These things happen, he says. In a yantra you are not seeing the swaroop of Bhagavati, but when you do their abhishek and archan they are pleased and certainly do grace. From these small experiences you will get motivation; when motivation comes you will then do it better; when you do it better, the fulfilment of your desires will take place; when the desires are fulfilled, only then will you become virakt; and when you become virakt, only then will your further progress happen.
The motion runs upward for moksha, and the Kaul-Shakta view takes the downward
Two kinds of motion have been held: upward and downward. When it goes upward, the path of our moksha is formed. In the Kaul, Shakta and the like, the downward too has been held to give moksha; bhoga has been shown above moksha. But when one is a householder and is walking on a path of sadhana of this kind, then for him it has been said that all these things happen only because of the chemicals being made inside the body, in our brain, the chemical changes taking place, the hormones being made.
What should be done when one is settled in dvaita bhaav?
If you find yourself settled in dvaita bhaav, then make the request of your own aradhya, your ishta, the speaker says. And remember one thing: when you begin to advance on the sadhana marga, the feeling of dvaita slowly begins to come to an end of itself. It may be that for some time you have become fixed in one place, but that will not remain always. There will be onward motion, and that very labour will turn into advaita.
Why do siddha rishis and munis use mantras so little?
The speaker says punya will prevail only when you have done many akshaya punyas; if you have done one and he has come having done an akshaya sin, your akshaya punya too will be destroyed here — because you are performing a work joined with adharma, interfering directly in another's prarabdha. That is why the siddha rishis and munis use mantras very little. They take the Lord's name and his sharanagati in everything, they will go on suffering distress and weeping but will not quickly do prayoga; they are destitute and impoverished but will not do prayoga straight out.
Is shav sadhana done for mukti?
What is done in shav sadhana for the sake of mukti becomes a wholly pure sadhana, the speaker says, and that is a different thing altogether — people simply do not do the sadhana for that. People do not do shav sadhana for the sake of mukti; where do they do it for the sake of the pure sadhana? They do it for obtaining kautuk vidya; they do it for obtaining siddhi. For moksha, he says, read the Ling Puran — leave aside the tantra granthas, or the discourses and lectures of tantra, or even everything he himself is saying, and read the Ling Puran, where you will find a good description of what the vidhan of shav sadhana is, how it should be done, and what mukti results.
One who reaches that state passes half the day with no capacity to speak
If we became so great a siddha, the speaker says, then he knows that we would not be able to say anything on YouTube or Facebook — the mouth does not open. When a person attains that state, half the day passes just so, and the state to do or say anything does not even arise. Those who are doing sadhana of that kind can see this themselves: the wish arises to leave it all, to stay in solitude, to meet nobody, even to leave off work and trade; a different kind of bhav manifests in the mind.
How does a person actually come to detachment?
This thing, the speaker says, will only happen when, after knowing the truth, its practice is done. And according to him, life itself teaches it. When blows of every kind fall in life — when the very one for whom you have put down your life insults you, or humiliates you in that way — then it will seem to you that yes, this world is perishable. As for how people move toward adhyatma: when something happens with a beloved and they become detached, when deceit is received in love they become detached and they go; they go toward vairagya where deceit has been received. If this thing happens of itself, it is a very great matter — in today's times a person does not become steady without taking a blow.
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