Yoga Of Inner Light And Sound

Author(s): Achyutanand Swami, Praveshkumar Singh
Publisher: Santmat Sangh Samiti Chandrapur

Page 51

"To put the restive deer-mind in fetters, the nāda works as the trap (laid by the hunter).
To the mind in the form of a sea-wave, the nada acts the coastline."
Practice of 'dama' or control of senses and of 'shama' or control over mind is essential not only for yoga but also for bhakti. There is an excellent reference to it in the Aranya Kanda (Forest Section) of the famous epic Ram Charit Manas of Goswami Tulsidas Ji. When Lord Shri Ram pays a visit to the cottage of the extremely devout tribal lady, Shabri, who has been waiting for a very long time for his visit, the latter very poignantly prays to Lord Shri Ram:
"I am the worst of the sinners of all ladies; And know not how to offer prayer to you!"
To this Lord Shri Ram says,
"Listen, O beautiful & gracious lady, Shabri!
I attach importance to the relationship of bhakti only...
And have nothing whatsoever to do with one's clan, caste or creed, fame...
Or the might of wealth & health, family status, other qualities or intellectual attainments one may command.
Do you know, how does a person sans bhakti look like? As hollow & graceless as the clouds bearing no water look!" Proceeding further, Shri Ram preaches the nine-fold path of bhakti to Shabri:
"I relate the nine-fold bhakti to you.
Listen with undivided attention and fix it in your mind. The first bhakti consists of keeping the company of sants. The second is listening to tales of God's glory. Third bhakti entails rendering service pridelessly at the lotus feet of the Guru.
The fourth bhakti consists in singing praises, sans deceit, of my virtues.
I have resolute faith in the power of chanting mantra. That is the fifth bhakti that has been acclaimed in
Vedas."
Having described the first five categories of bhakti, Lord Shri Ram now enlists 'dama' and 'shama' as the sixth and seventh type of bhakti:
"The sixth bhakti has to do with restraining the senses, abstaining from many (proscribed) acts...
And always remaining absorbed in noble conducts. The seventh bhakti consists in training the mind to treat all equally and as contained in me.
And regarding sants as greater than me."
Laying great stress on the importance of 'dama' and 'shama' Goswami Tulsidas Ji writes in another of his book of hymns titled "Vinay Patrika" that unless one practiced 'dama' (restraint over senses) and 'shama' (mind-control), his efforts won't bear fruits and he would not be able to realise God: