Crossing Maya by Dwelling in Solitude
The seeker crosses illusion by retreating into solitude, uprooting worldly bonds, and rising beyond the three gunas.
In Sutra 47, Narada continues his answer: the one who crosses maya is the one 'who dwells in solitude, who uproots worldly bonds, who goes beyond the three gunas, and who renounces the desire for acquisition and preservation.' Periods of solitude allow the heart to turn fully toward the Beloved without the distraction of worldly company. By cutting the bonds of attachment and rising above the play of the three gunas — sattva, rajas, and tamas — the devotee is freed from the mechanism of illusion itself. The renunciation of yoga-kshema, the anxious drive to acquire and keep, releases the soul from the endless treadmill of want. This counsel honors the value of sacred retreat alongside engaged devotional life.
He who dwells in solitude and goes beyond the three gunas crosses maya.
The transcendence of the three gunas links Narada to the Samkhya philosophy underlying the Gita, where liberation is described as becoming trigunatita — beyond the three constituent qualities of nature.
Narada Bhakti Sutras
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- What the Narada Bhakti Sutras say about loneliness
Sutra 47 lists dwelling in solitude among the things that carry a person across maya, alongside cutting worldly bonds and giving up the drive to acquire and keep. This is solitude entered on purpose; Narada nowhere claims it is the same thing as the loneliness that arrives uninvited.