Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Story 30 - Song sung by Lord Siva – 3
Srimad Bhagavatham - A Spiritual Insight - Story 30 - Song sung by Lord Siva – 3
Lord Siva continued:
Unto him, who is in the heart of all beings, just be of worship always extolling and meditating the Lord. Praying to the ultimate reality of Lord, all fortune will be there for all, O sons of the King who have given up own duty with all faith unto the Lord.
All of you, over and over read this instruction of yoga keeping it in your heart; take to the vow of silence of always with intelligence being fixed within, practicing with the greatest reverence.
Lord Siva thus concluded by saying that whoever goes through this prayer again and again will be benefited by the grace of the Lord.
Explanation
Lord Siva ends his song in this part. He ends up by telling that whoever sings the songs daily will be benefited by the grace of the Lord. It is but evident that when the seeker seeks the reality of Lord, the Lord takes care of the welfare of the seeker. This has been shown by the Lord himself in many cases. This is why Lord Krishna asserts in the Gita thus:
Ananyaaschintayantho maam ye janaah paryupaasathe
Teshaam nitya abhiyuktaanaam yoga kshemam vahaami aham
Whoever worships me at all times without any other thoughts, for such a steadfast person, I take care of his good & bad.
Sarva dharmaan parityajya maam ekam sharanam vraja
Aham tvaa sarva paapebhyo mokshayishyaami ma shuchah
Renouncing all dharmas, seek ME alone – I will take care of all your sins, don’t worry (you will be liberated).
The only condition for realization of the ultimate reality of Lord is constant remembrance of the Lord. There is no other condition like space, time, activities etc. which are essential for yoga, karma, bhakthi, jnaana etc. All these different paths lead to the ultimate reality of Brahman through “constant remembrance of the reality”. Thus what is important is constant remembrance alone which is achieved through the different paths of karma, yoga etc. If a person follows these paths but still forgets the underlying reality of non-dual Brahman of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute – then the path becomes of no use as it doesn’t lead to the goal of liberation.
When a person constantly remembers the Lord, then there are no likes and dislikes as he sees the Lord everywhere. Since there are no likes and dislikes, there is neither anger nor attachment. When there is no attachment or aversion, there is no sorrow or happiness arising out of them. Thus when a seeker constantly remembers the Lord, there is no sorrow at all for the seeker. Sorrows are what cause problems in the world – thinking that there is duality and this duality causes sorrow is called bondage. The moment a person realizes that everything is the Lord alone; there is no sorrow at all. This is what is called as liberation or realization.
The singing of the glories of the Lord, learning the scriptures – all these are means to constantly remember the Lord. If the Lord is constantly remembered then there is nothing else that is required from the seeker to realize the reality of Lord. We have to always remember that there is only the Lord alone, one without a second. Whatever is seen as the dual world is nothing but the Lord alone – the duality is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord. When the dual perception vanishes, then the underlying substratum of non-dual Lord is realized as one’s own very nature. At that time, there is nothing but the Lord alone. Thus the seeker rejoices in the eternal bliss inherent in the seeker. As Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says “Fear arises out of dual perception”. Fearlessness is what is called as bliss or anandham. This fearless state removes all sorrows arising out of fear – this state is the state of realization when the seeker realizes the Lord & Lord alone exists. We all daily experience such a state while sleeping – deep sleep state when there is no dream at all. We have only bliss in that state as there is no duality but only ONE exists. But that state is associated with ignorance as the seeker is unable to experience the bliss at that time. The state of realization is when the seeker knowingly rejoices in the bliss – this is the state when the seeker through constant contemplation of the reality of Lord overcomes ignorance of his own very nature of Lord thereby realizing his own very nature of the ultimate reality of Lord.
We are daily searching for bliss in the external world of temporary and illusory objects. We can get only sorrow from the external objects. We can get bliss only from the ultimate reality of Lord because that alone is eternal. That which is temporary can give only temporary bliss – it cannot give eternal bliss. Thus we are searching for bliss in the wrong place – the moment we turn towards the reality of Lord, we will realize the reality of Lord and get the goal that we are searching for each and every moment. Realization of one’s own very nature of Lord alone is the way to getting eternal bliss.
We come to the end of the story of the song sung by Lord Siva.
Lord Siva continued:
Unto him, who is in the heart of all beings, just be of worship always extolling and meditating the Lord. Praying to the ultimate reality of Lord, all fortune will be there for all, O sons of the King who have given up own duty with all faith unto the Lord.
All of you, over and over read this instruction of yoga keeping it in your heart; take to the vow of silence of always with intelligence being fixed within, practicing with the greatest reverence.
Lord Siva thus concluded by saying that whoever goes through this prayer again and again will be benefited by the grace of the Lord.
Explanation
Lord Siva ends his song in this part. He ends up by telling that whoever sings the songs daily will be benefited by the grace of the Lord. It is but evident that when the seeker seeks the reality of Lord, the Lord takes care of the welfare of the seeker. This has been shown by the Lord himself in many cases. This is why Lord Krishna asserts in the Gita thus:
Ananyaaschintayantho maam ye janaah paryupaasathe
Teshaam nitya abhiyuktaanaam yoga kshemam vahaami aham
Whoever worships me at all times without any other thoughts, for such a steadfast person, I take care of his good & bad.
Sarva dharmaan parityajya maam ekam sharanam vraja
Aham tvaa sarva paapebhyo mokshayishyaami ma shuchah
Renouncing all dharmas, seek ME alone – I will take care of all your sins, don’t worry (you will be liberated).
The only condition for realization of the ultimate reality of Lord is constant remembrance of the Lord. There is no other condition like space, time, activities etc. which are essential for yoga, karma, bhakthi, jnaana etc. All these different paths lead to the ultimate reality of Brahman through “constant remembrance of the reality”. Thus what is important is constant remembrance alone which is achieved through the different paths of karma, yoga etc. If a person follows these paths but still forgets the underlying reality of non-dual Brahman of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute – then the path becomes of no use as it doesn’t lead to the goal of liberation.
When a person constantly remembers the Lord, then there are no likes and dislikes as he sees the Lord everywhere. Since there are no likes and dislikes, there is neither anger nor attachment. When there is no attachment or aversion, there is no sorrow or happiness arising out of them. Thus when a seeker constantly remembers the Lord, there is no sorrow at all for the seeker. Sorrows are what cause problems in the world – thinking that there is duality and this duality causes sorrow is called bondage. The moment a person realizes that everything is the Lord alone; there is no sorrow at all. This is what is called as liberation or realization.
The singing of the glories of the Lord, learning the scriptures – all these are means to constantly remember the Lord. If the Lord is constantly remembered then there is nothing else that is required from the seeker to realize the reality of Lord. We have to always remember that there is only the Lord alone, one without a second. Whatever is seen as the dual world is nothing but the Lord alone – the duality is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord. When the dual perception vanishes, then the underlying substratum of non-dual Lord is realized as one’s own very nature. At that time, there is nothing but the Lord alone. Thus the seeker rejoices in the eternal bliss inherent in the seeker. As Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says “Fear arises out of dual perception”. Fearlessness is what is called as bliss or anandham. This fearless state removes all sorrows arising out of fear – this state is the state of realization when the seeker realizes the Lord & Lord alone exists. We all daily experience such a state while sleeping – deep sleep state when there is no dream at all. We have only bliss in that state as there is no duality but only ONE exists. But that state is associated with ignorance as the seeker is unable to experience the bliss at that time. The state of realization is when the seeker knowingly rejoices in the bliss – this is the state when the seeker through constant contemplation of the reality of Lord overcomes ignorance of his own very nature of Lord thereby realizing his own very nature of the ultimate reality of Lord.
We are daily searching for bliss in the external world of temporary and illusory objects. We can get only sorrow from the external objects. We can get bliss only from the ultimate reality of Lord because that alone is eternal. That which is temporary can give only temporary bliss – it cannot give eternal bliss. Thus we are searching for bliss in the wrong place – the moment we turn towards the reality of Lord, we will realize the reality of Lord and get the goal that we are searching for each and every moment. Realization of one’s own very nature of Lord alone is the way to getting eternal bliss.
We come to the end of the story of the song sung by Lord Siva.
# posted by vedanta : 9:48 AM
