Srimad Bhagavatham

Shuka thus started explaining the dialogue between Yudhisthira and Narada. When Yudhisthira was doing Rajasuya yajna, Lord Krishna had killed Shishupala. When Shishupala was killed, Yudhisthira saw a light going from Shishupala’s body and merging into the Lord. Shishupala and his brother dantavaktra were enemies of the Lord and so how did they attain Saayujya (merging into the Lord) with the Lord after death? This was what Yudhisthira asked Narada. Narada started explaining to Yudhisthira about the same thus:

Praising, cursing, killing etc. all are related to the body alone. These are the plays of Prakrithi or Maya which is the illusory power of the ultimate reality of Lord. These are experienced only due to ignorance. These are illusions created by the mind and have no reality whatsoever. All these actions are based on “I” and “Mine”. When that which is considered great and “mine” dies, the jeeva is thought to be dead. There is no ego and such thoughts for the Lord because he is ever free from the illusion of world. But the jeeva seems to be under the delusion of Maya. When this “I” and “mine” or Ego is destroyed, the jeeva merges into the ultimate reality of Lord. This is known as Saayujya or moksha.

It doesn’t matter in what way the seeker worships and seeks the Lord. But it only matters how strong is the contemplation of the Lord in the mind of the seeker. Bad people like Shishupala and Kamsa worshipped the Lord through vidvesha or anger or hatred. But the contemplation of the Lord was so strong that they totally merged into the ultimate reality of Lord as a result of that vidvesha itself.

Thus what a seeker needs to do is to contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord thereby merging into the Lord through anger or love or devotion or knowledge (whatever be the means).

Explanation

Realization or moksha is merging into the ultimate reality of Lord. In fact, what exists is only the Lord but due to ignorance there seems to be duality. Thus the individual Self or jeeva considers himself as different from the Lord. As long as there is this difference, there will be seeking the Lord. Cessation of sorrow or liberation or realization of one’s own nature of eternal bliss is merging into the Lord thereby destroying the ignorance that seemed to exist.

Realization doesn’t have many criteria like singing or sitting in meditation etc. There is one and only one criteria for realization which is constant contemplation of the Lord. If a seeker is devoted to the Lord and loves the Lord but gives secondary importance to Lord as his primary love is his wife & family, then such a devotion is not pure & hence will not lead to realization. Instead if a person is able to contemplate on the Lord through anger or aversion or detachment or hatred, such a person will very soon realize the Lord because he thinks of nothing but the Lord alone. As the Lord himself promises in Gita, he takes care of the welfare of such a person who is to be considered a devotee as he constantly thinks about the Lord alone.

Shishupala was such a devotee who was constantly contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord but just that this contemplation was by anger or hatred or with the desire to kill the Lord. Since shishupala was totally immersed in the Lord, thereby when the ego or the individual was destroyed through knowledge and grace of the Lord shishupala merged into the Lord.

Realization dawns only when the individual feeling of a seeker vanishes. So long as a seeker considers himself as the limited body-mind complex, he cannot realize the ultimate reality of Lord – that which is infinite and beyond all illusory names and forms. If the ego is so strong in the seeker but still devotion to the Lord is also strong and there is constant contemplation of the ultimate reality Lord, then the Lord himself takes care to destroy the ego thereby making the seeker realize his own very nature of Lord.

Destruction of Ego is nothing but removal of seemingly appearing ignorance and dual perceptions through realization of one’s own very nature of Lord. Ego is destroyed when the seeker either surrenders totally to the Lord or the seeker seeks the source of the Ego by negating the Ego and realizing the source of Self or Lord. Vedanta speaks about the famous path of neti, neti or “not this – not this” to realize the Lord. This is the process of negating all that is objectified which would then leave us with the Subject of Self alone.

What Bhagavatham is emphasizing in this part is constant contemplation of the Lord whether it be through devotion or anger.

We will continue with the dialogue of Narada and Yudhisthira in the next day.

How strong a mind can contemplate on the Lord through anger and thereby merge into the Lord, such merging is not possible (to that level) through devotion.

Explanation

Narada here is comparing contemplation on the Lord by devotion and anger. The words of Narada might seem to be incorrect but if we analyze it in depth, we will find that it is perfectly true.

What should a seeker do to realize the ultimate reality of Lord???
A seeker has to constantly contemplate on the Lord at all times. As the Lord himself says in Gita that a seeker should seek the Lord at all times and through all actions. Whatever be the action that we do, if we are able to remember the ultimate reality of Lord and offer the actions unto the Lord (or just remember the reality that everything is but the Lord alone) then very soon we will occur all bondages and addictions thereby getting liberated from the ocean of samsaara.

Lord says thus:

Yad karoshi yad ashnaasi yad juhoshi dadaasi yad
Yat tapasyasi kaunteya tad kurushva mad arpanam

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever you give to others, whatever austerity you do – do it as an offering unto me.

What is the result of such an offering???
Shubha ashubha phalairevam mokshyase karma bandhanaih
Sanyaasa yoga yuktaatma vimuktho maam upaishyasi

Thus he overcomes good and bad fruits thereby getting rid of the bondage of action – as he has renounced the action by offering it to the Lord & constantly established in the Lord, he attains Me.

What if a person does bad actions???
Api chet suduraachaaro bhajathe maam ananya bhaak
Sadhureva sah mantavyah samyak vyavasitho hi sah

If a person does the worst action but still remembering me as the ultimate reality of Lord, then he is to be considered as a saint as he is ever established in me.

How does such a person get liberation from the bondage of the bad action???
Kshipram bhavathi dharmaatma shashvat shaanthim nigachhathi
Kaunteya prathijaanihi na me bhakthah pranashyathi

Soon he becomes a dharmaatma (one who is established in the ultimate dharma of Lord) and soon attains eternal peace (bliss). O Arjuna! Know for sure that my devotee never perishes.

A real devotee is one who is constantly established in the ultimate reality of Lord or one who is very much attached to the ultimate reality of Lord. Generally worldly person is totally attached to sense objects and sensual pleasures but a seeker should be completely attached to the ultimate reality of Lord. Here the attachment should not be to any particular form but it should be to the Lord who is all-pervasive, beyond all names and forms and is the substratum of all temporary existence.

We generally find that the attachment to a person we hate is more than to a person we love. Hatred can cause stronger bonding to a person than love. The more and more we think of the person whom we hate, our attachment to that person gets stronger. The bonding is thus created more in the case of hatred or anger than in the case of love. It is because of this that in the world we find people splitting because of anger and hatred more than people getting closer due to love.

The emotion of hatred is so strong that it can very easily lead a person to realization. It is these very emotions which lead kamsa among other asuras to realize the ultimate reality of Lord. We find the story of Hiranyakashipu seeking the Lord to conquer and take revenge for killing of Hiranyaaksha – we also find the story of Prahlaada mentioned in Yoga Vasistha wherein prahlaada took to revenge by conquering the Lord through constant contemplation and thereby making the Lord a prisoner in his very heart.

How can a person even though hating the Lord realize the ultimate reality of Lord through that very hatred itself??? As explained earlier, the action really doesn’t matter. Whatever be the action, the seeker has to constantly remember the reality while doing the action. It maybe that a person is addicted to drinking tea or coffee but instead of trying to avoid it, a seeker has to add the thought of the ultimate reality of Lord to the act of drinking tea/coffee. Slowly the seeker will find the addiction falling away. When a seeker adds the thought of the ultimate reality of Lord to any action, he gets rid of likes-dislikes and attachment-aversion which is the main cause of all bondages & sorrows-sufferings. Once this is overcome by remembering the ultimate reality of Lord at all times as the substratum of all illusory names and forms, then there will be neither likes nor dislikes. Thus the seeker will be seeing everything as an illusory manifestation of the ultimate reality of Lord. For such a seeker, there is nothing apart from the Lord.

Here Narada doesn’t mean to say that devotion is not good but just that it is important to get one-pointed contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord. This one-pointedness or attachment is very easy in the case of hatred whereas in the case of devotion, it is tough unless there is pure and unconditional devotion. Thus what a seeker needs to do is constantly remember the ultimate reality of Lord while performing all actions and offering those actions to the ultimate reality of Lord who is the substratum of all illusory names and forms in the world.

A real seeker will seek the Lord with strong devotion and hatred as well. A seeker will have anger towards the Lord for the Lord has hidden himself from the view of the devotee not letting the devotee realize the Lord in his very heart. The Lord who is passionate and all-pervasive doesn’t reveal himself to all beings. Even though the Lord is ever present but still it is the duty of the Lord to destroy the ignorance of the seeker thereby making the seeker realize the Lord. The Lord doesn’t do this – so rightly, we should be angry towards such a Lord & thereby seek the Lord to take revenge!!! (we need not worry about this attitude thinking this is false and we shouldn’t take revenge towards the Lord because once the Lord is sought, there will be nobody apart from the Lord to take revenge). If a seeker could only get this attitude, then he would very soon realize the ultimate reality of Lord even as a policeman who will lose the job until he catches a particular thief searches with all his might the thief thereby catching him very soon.

Let us all try to get strong contemplation of the Lord with the strong desire to realize this very moment itself.

Narada continued:

Shishupala as a result of his previous birth punyaas was able to know intellectually that the ultimate reality of Lord is Krishna. Thus whenever he got hatred towards Krishna, this thought that the Lord is only present here would also rise. Thus shishupaala was able to merge into the Lord. Thereby after death, shishupala totally merged into the ultimate reality of Lord.

As a hunter who constantly thinks about the animals to hunt verily merges into the animals, similarly if a person is able to get vidvesha bhaava towards the ultimate reality of Lord in the human form of Krishna (Mayamaya roopam), he will verily merge into the Lord. Thus through kaamam (attraction), dvesham (hatred), bhayam (fear) and sneham (love), bhakthi (devotion) respectively there have been many people who have attained sayujyam or merging into the ultimate reality of Lord.

The gopis attained sayujya through kaamam, kamsa through bhayam, Shishupaala through dvesham, vrishnis through sneham and the various rishish through bhakthi.

Therefore what you have to do is constantly add the thought of the ultimate reality of Lord while doing any other activity.

O Yudhisthira! Shishupala and Dantavaktra who are your relatives were in fact the dvaarapaalakaas of Vishnu in Vaikunta guarding the entrance to Vaikunta. Their names are Jaya and Vijaya. Once when the Sanakaadi sages (sanaka, sanandana, sanatkumaara and sanatsujaatha) went to meet Vishnu, Jaya-Vijaya thought these were some small boys (who were naked) and hence stopped them from entering Vaikunta to meet Vishnu. The sages cursed the dhootas saying that you are fit to be in the Vaikunta loka and therefore let you be born as asuras. The sages also said that with three births, you will attain sayujya unto the Lord. Thus they were initially born as Hiranyaaksha and Hiranyakashipu who were killed respectively by the varaaha avataara and narasimha avataara of the Lord. Then they were born as Raavana and Kumbakarna both killed by Lord Rama. Lastly they were born as Shishupaala and Dantavaktra thereby being killed by Lord Krishna. Within these three births, they got constant contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord. Hence they attained sayujya unto the Lord and again became the guards of Vaikunta.

Explanation

Narada is again emphasizing that what is really required from a seeker to realize the ultimate reality of Lord is constant contemplation of the Lord with the knowledge that whatever is present is really nothing but the Lord alone. There is nothing other than the Lord here – whatever is there, whatever was there & whatever will be there are all mere illusions in the ultimate reality of Lord. The Lord alone is real and other things are only unreal appearances in the Lord.

A seeker has to constantly remember this ultimate reality and thereby contemplate on the Lord at all times. What activity a person is doing doesn’t matter – what matters is the attitude and whether the seeker is remembering the ultimate reality of Lord. If this attitude is maintained, such a seeker very easily attains liberation by merging into the ultimate reality of Lord.

Vedanta speaks about four types of moksha (types or levels). These are:
1. Salokya mukthi – liberation wherein the seeker goes to the world of the particular Lord.
2. Sameepya mukthi – liberation wherein the seeker attains a place very near to the Lord.
3. Saroopya mukthi – liberation wherein the seeker attains a form similar to that of the Lord.
4. Sayujya mukthi – liberation wherein the seeker merges unto the Lord.

All bhakthi granthas mention that the ultimate state of devotion is that wherein the devotee merges into the Lord – this bhaava is called atma nivedanam or offering oneself to the Lord. That mukthi wherein the difference between the devotee and the Lord exists is not real and ultimate. That mukthi alone is ultimate wherein the seeker merges into the Lord & the Lord alone exists, one without a second.

This mukthi is called sayujya and a seeker has to strive for this moksha alone. Sayujya is attained only through constant contemplation of the Lord at all times. This constant contemplation is what Vedanta calls as anusandhaana or nidhidhyaasana and bhakthi granthas call as para bhakthi or ultimate devotion.

Narada here quotes examples of different people who have attained the Lord through different bhaavas like hatred, love, devotion etc. This is to show that the bhaava or the way in which a person seeks the Lord is not important. What is important is constant contemplation of the Lord. Whether this contemplation is as a lover or as a enemy, the ultimate aim is constant contemplation which leads to sayujya or liberation.

Narada before entering into the story of Prahlaada mentions about Jaya Vijaya who were born as asuras who were constantly contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord through hatred and anger. This very contemplation alone lead them to realize the Lord in three births itself. It doesn’t matter how many births it takes to overcome the illusory bondages of the world & realize the Lord but it matters whether we have started on the journey or not. A person who has started towards the goal of liberation will reach the goal surely – the time that will take for him to reach the goal might vary but he will definitely reach the goal. But that person who hasn’t yet started towards the goal of the Lord will never realize the Lord. Thus Bhagavatham is pointing out to each one of us to constantly seek the Lord from this very moment itself so that we may realize our own very nature of Lord thereby rejoicing in the eternal bliss inherent in the Lord.

We will continue with the dialogue between Narada and Yudhisthira wherein Yudhisthira poses a question which brings up the story of Prahlaada tomorrow.