Knowing Love, One Becomes Intoxicated and Still
On realizing this love the devotee becomes as if intoxicated, transfixed, and absorbed — rejoicing in the Self.
Sutra 6 continues the portrait: 'Yat jnatva matto bhavati, stabdho bhavati, atmaramo bhavati' — 'Knowing which, one becomes intoxicated, becomes still, and rejoices in the Self.' Narada uses the striking image of intoxication (matta) to convey the overwhelming joy of divine love that transcends rational composure. The devotee becomes stabdha — transfixed, struck still — like one stunned by beauty too great for words. Finally, atmarama: the soul takes its delight within, no longer dependent on outer objects for joy. These three states describe the ecstatic dimension of bhakti, where love becomes its own reward and the lover is lost in wonder. The mystics of every tradition have used the same metaphor of sacred drunkenness to point toward this love beyond reason.
Knowing which, one becomes intoxicated, becomes still, and rejoices in the Self.
The image of divine intoxication links Narada directly to the Sufi poets Rumi and Hafiz, for whom the 'wine of love' symbolizes a joy that overthrows the sober calculations of the ego.
Narada Bhakti Sutras
Written about in
- What the Narada Bhakti Sutras say about loneliness
Sutra 6 says the one who knows this love becomes atmarama — taking delight within, no longer dependent on outer objects for joy. That is the nearest thing to a direct answer in the text: not company, but a self that needs less of it.