Srimad Bhagavatham

Whatever is achieved by humans through praana, wealth, karma, words, body and children all those lead to sorrow alone. Whatever action a person does without any notion of difference and with the knowledge (thought as well) that everything is the Lord alone, those actions will lead to experience of the TRUTH (which is that there is nothing here apart from the ultimate reality of Lord). Action performed in this way is like watering the root of the tree which will circulate water to all the parts of the tree.

The devas who were did the action of churning of the ocean with the knowledge/thought that everything is the Lord alone thereby attained immortality.

Explanation

We have come to the end of this beautiful story of the churning of the ocean denoting action performed with the right attitude and devotion to the ultimate reality of Lord.

As we have been discussing in the last few days, amrita or immortality or eternal bliss can be achieved only through realization of one’s own very nature of Lord. There is no other way than this to eternal bliss. Realization of one’s own nature of Lord is possible only through constant contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord with the knowledge that there is only the Lord alone, one without a second. All actions which are performed without this knowledge and devotion towards the reality of Lord will lead only to sorrow.

Actions will either give good or bad fruits. Good fruits also will finally end up and hence lead to sorrow only due to remembrance of the good and non-enjoyment or non-attainment of the bliss currently. Hence actions will lead only to sorrow. Actions are limited and finite. Hence the fruit of the action also has to be limited alone. Such limited fruits cannot give unlimited and eternal bliss. Hence if a seeker wishes to get eternal bliss, he should stop seeking things through actions. The only entity capable of giving eternal bliss to the seeker is the ultimate reality of Lord because the Lord alone is infinite, unlimited and eternal. The Lord will be capable of conferring eternal bliss only when the seeker comes out of the delusion of maya which causes differences and dual notions in the world. A seeker in order to overcome Maya has to constantly contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord offering all actions unto the Lord. A seeker should ever remain with the knowledge that there is no duality whatsoever here; whatever really exists is the ultimate reality of Lord alone. This knowledge combined with pure devotion characterized by total and complete surrender alone will lead a seeker to the ultimate reality of Lord. When a seeker thus follows knowledge and devotion, the ignorance that the world of plurality is real and that “I” am limited is removed. Through this, the seeker will realize the ultimate reality of Lord as one’s own very nature of Consciousness. The seeker as the individual and limited to the body-mind-intellect complex will cease to exist; instead the seeker will merge unto the ultimate reality of Lord thereby the Lord alone would exist, one without a second. Since the Lord is blissful in nature, there will be bliss and bliss alone.

Thus the way to eternal bliss is constant contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord. This doesn’t mean that the seeker should refrain from doing actions because actions are inevitable in the world. The seeker should do all activities but as an offering to the ultimate reality of Lord with the knowledge that everything is but the Lord alone. The seeker should think that the doer is the Lord, the bestower of fruits is the Lord, the equipments with which the action happens is the Lord and the witness of this activity as the illuminator is also the Lord alone. Thus the seeker will be ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord though he might be doing activities at the empirical level.

An action done with such an attitude is like pouring water on the roots of the tree. The attitude mentioned here is the attitude of knowing everything as the Lord alone and offering the action unto the Lord. Water when poured on the roots will go to each and every place of the tree – unlike water poured on the branches or any other parts of the tree. An action performed with the right attitude will lead the seeker to realization of the ultimate reality of Lord which is giving life to the tree (gaining eternality or ever living). If a person on the other hand does mere actions without the right attitude, it will not be fruitful. It will seem to be giving happiness but will finally lead to sorrow alone. And such actions will never lead to satisfaction, contentment and eternal bliss for which all activities are being performed.

If we have to gain success in our life by making our life fruitful, we have to constantly contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord knowing that everything is the Lord alone and offer all activities unto the Lord. The devas had this attitude and hence were able to get amrita whereas the asuras were not able to get amrita because of lack of remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord at all times.

We will see a summary of this story of Srimad Bhagavatham in the next day and continue with the next story.

We come to the end of this story of the churning of the ocean. Let us today try to summarize the story and the imports that has to be implemented in life from the story.

Devas and asuras denote the good and bad thoughts of the mind. The Ego (seeker) can be said to be the Indra – the controller of the devas. The ego and the devas-asuras seek bliss. The mind always seeks bliss. The search of life itself is for ever-lasting and eternal bliss. It is but a fact that man searches for bliss in the external world but fails to get it from the diverse world. This is because the world is temporary and changing. Anything that is not eternal cannot give eternal bliss. Therefore the world and its objects cannot confer eternal bliss. Eternal bliss is what Bhagavatham denotes in the story as amrita or immortality. With immortality comes bliss and satisfaction. The Upanishads proclaim that man fears death or loss of his own existence. Bliss is achieved when one transcends the ocean of samsaara characterized by birth-death and sorrows-sufferings. Thus immortality or ever-present state is nothing but bliss alone.

Bliss or amrita can be achieved only by realizing the eternal entity of Lord. There is no other way to immortality than this. Bliss since is the very nature of Lord cannot also be achieved without the grace of the Lord. Even though the grace of the Lord is ever present but a person will be able to apprehend the grace only through knowledge and pure devotion characterized by total and complete surrender. Thus if a seeker seeks eternal bliss, he has to surrender completely unto the ultimate reality of Lord knowing the Lord as the one and only real entity present amidst the illusory world and its objects. Surrendering completely means constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord at all times and offering all actions unto the Lord with the knowledge that there is nothing here but the Lord alone, one without a second.

Churning of the ocean is overcoming the ocean of samsaara characterized by sorrows and sufferings. A person will be able to overcome the ocean of samsaara only by gaining equanimity of the mind through seeing everything as the Lord alone. Such a person will maintain the thought of the Lord in the mind always. Thus his mind will always be steady and constant – this denotes the devas and asuras working together for churning of the ocean. A seeker has to remember the ultimate reality of Lord even amidst good and bad thoughts. When a seeker does that, good and bad thoughts cease and whatever remains in the mind is only thought about the Lord associated with illusory activities of the world.

Thus the way to overcoming the ocean of samsaara thereby gaining immortality is through constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord as present in the entire world and knowing the world to be a mere illusion in the Lord.

When a seeker follows the spiritual path of constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord, he will get many siddhis or spiritual powers. It is very easy to get deluded into small and big powers of the world (which denotes wealth, money, fame etc.). A seeker will be able to get eternal bliss only if he doesn’t stop in the path when these siddhis are achieved. The seeker just accepts these siddhis as the wish of the Lord and continues in the spiritual path unaffected by the achievement of the siddhis. This is what the devas and asuras did – they got many things out of the churning but they didn’t stop until amrita. Thus when a seeker continues in the spiritual path without any stop, he finally gets amrita in the form of realization of one’s own very nature of Lord.

The saints mention the path of spirituality as walking along the edges of a razor. It is not as easy as we think. We will be tested at each and every stage. Jesus Christ considered as the son of God was tested by the devil!!!! If Christ himself was tested, what to speak about other human beings???

A seeker has to constantly remember the ultimate reality of Lord and thereby continue in the spiritual path passing over all the testing through the single solution of “constant remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord”.

The final testing for the devas and asuras came in the form of Mohini. As we have seen, Maya cannot be said to come in just one form. It is indescribable and can appear in any form. A seeker shouldn’t get deluded into anything and be fixed in the goal of ultimate reality of Lord. Such a seeker gets amrita by the grace of the lord – for such a seeker, Maya becomes a boat to cross over itself instead of being an obstacle. The way to thus overcome Maya is constant remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord and complete surrender unto the Lord.

The spiritual path though is tough to tread, it alone can give eternal bliss – that which we all are seeking each and every moment. It is upto the seeker to decide as to whether he wants eternal bliss which is his own very nature of Lord or the temporary happiness from the world which is the seed of sorrow-sufferings and causes a person to again and again immerse in the ocean of samsaara.

Bhagavatham through this story tells all of us to see the Lord everywhere, have complete surrender unto the Lord and offer all actions to the lord; thereby proceeding in the spiritual path until Maya is overcome through the grace of Lord and immortality as the very nature of oneself is realized as nothing but the Lord alone, one without a second.

We will continue with the next story in the coming days.

Asuras started fighting amongst themselves that “I want amrita first”. This way they were fighting to get hold of the pot of nectar. Suddenly a very beautiful lady appeared in front of them. The asuras got deluded into the mohini form of Hari. They gave the pot to mohini so that it can be divided properly amongst them. Bhagavan after deluding the asuras gave the amrita to devas who drank it. Coming to know that the Lord was giving the amrita to the devas, the asura Rahu took the form of a deva and tried to drink amrita. Surya and Chandra pointed this to the Lord. Bhagavan cut the head of Rahu with his chakra. But since Rahu had drank amrita, the head and body became immortal and remains as stars in the sky. The head portion is now called Rahu and tail portion is called Ketu. It is quite famous that in order to take revenge, Rahu eats up Surya and Chandra which is known as Surya Grahana and Chandra Grahana.

With the asuras looking, Mohini vanished from the place. Even though asuras and devas worked together to get amrita, because of dual notion and attachment/aversion the asuras were not able to get the fruit out of the action.

Explanation

We have to constantly remember that amrita or eternality alone is the goal of human life. Whether a person is rich or poor, learned or not-learned etc. still the goal of human life is eternal bliss alone. Eternal bliss is that state from which there is no return; the state where there is no sorrows and sufferings; the state where there is no fear; the state where there is bliss and bliss alone. We all are searching for this eternal state alone.

Many saints from vedic times have tried to find out the way to the eternal state. If we study the growth of philosophy and systems regarding the same, we will find progressive growth. Thus arose the systems of nyaaya, vaisheshika, sankhya, yoga, mimamsa and Vedanta as well as the systems of charvakas or materialists, bauddha and jaina. All these systems have the same final goal of eternal bliss. These systems are perspective and analyze the way to eternal bliss from a particular level. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that all this search of eternal bliss and philosophy in itself ends in Vedanta. Veda means knowledge & antha means end – Vedanta is that philosophy wherein ends the search for knowledge. It is by getting infinite and unlimited knowledge that a person becomes perfect and blissful. Thus eternal bliss can be achieved only through Vedantic study and following the path propounded by Vedanta.

Vedanta bases itself on the scriptures. Since scriptures are bit tough to apprehend and understand, therefore the Lord himself propounded the truth of the Vedanta to Arjuna through the Bhagavad Gita portion of the Mahabharatha. Veda Vyasa further logically proved Vedanta through the Brahma Sutras. All these might be tough to apprehend for the normal person and hence Vyaasa wrote the various puranas and Mahabharatha. As we have learned in the beginning of the Srimad Bhagavatham that Vyaasa didn’t get satisfaction after writing the puranas and the Mahabharatha. Hence he was advised by Narada to write the Bhagavatham giving emphasis to the ultimate reality of Lord alone.

It is in Bhagavatham that we find the ultimate reality of Lord being stressed in each and every story. Eternal bliss can be achieved only through realization of the ultimate reality of Lord as one’s own very Self. The path that Vedanta puts forth for realization is constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord as one’s own very nature of Consciousness. A seeker has to always remember the ultimate reality of Lord offering all actions unto the Lord. When the devotee is ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord, he gets over the dual notions of like-dislike which leads to attachment/aversion that in turn leads to happiness/sorrow. The very aim of human life is eternal bliss characterized by complete cessation of sorrow. This is only possible when the seeker realizes that there is nothing here apart from the ultimate reality of Lord and that Lord is his own very nature of Consciousness. The seeker thus realizes that there is no duality whatsoever here. The duality that is seen is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord. A seeker has to get rid of the duality through seeing the Lord everywhere and in everything. Thus the seeker’s mind will ever be immersed in the reality of Lord alone. The seeker has to follow equanimity in all actions and experiences. This is what is signified through the devas and asuras working together to get amrita. Devas denote good qualities of the mind & asuras denote the bad qualities of the mind. When the seeker merges both and directs towards constant contemplation of the Lord, then the churning becomes fruitful by proving the output of eternal bliss in the form of realization of one’s own nature of Lord. This is what is termed as moksha in Vedanta and the goal of each and every human being.

If we want to attain amrita or eternal bliss, we have no other means than to constantly contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord whatever be the action we are doing, whatever be the thoughts we are thinking and whatever be the knowledge that we are intellectually ascertaining.

Here we find the devas and asuras ever immersed in the reality of Lord thereby getting amrita out of the churning of the ocean. We will see the brief analysis of Maya and mohini form of the Lord in the next day.

We will discuss Maya and the mohini form of the Lord today. Maya is indeed a very interesting yet indescribable entity. Maya is the power of the Lord through which the Lord creates the world, protects the world & destroys the world. The Lord was in the starting (before creation) one without a second. Then arose all of a sudden the power of Maya. The Lord with the power of Maya thought that let me multiply – thereby started creation.

Thus creation can be attributed to the power of Maya. Maya is not a real power of the Lord because the Lord is one without a second; everything apart from the Lord is only an illusion and not real. Hence Vedanta says that Maya is the illusory power of the Lord. The power of Maya is without any beginning and hence cannot be really described as “this” or “that”. Maya is without any beginning because we cannot apprehend the Lord who is beyond Maya through the intellect which itself is a product of Maya. In order to apprehend the place where Maya is not there, we have to get rid of Maya through knowledge or jnaana. Since the intellect itself is a product of Maya and Maya is an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord, we cannot speak about Maya in any way. The water seen in desert (mirage) can never be spoken about because there is no real water at all. Similarly since Maya is only an illusory power of the Lord, we cannot speak about it. Thus Sankara defines Maya as that which is beyond yukthi or logic or the intellect. Maya as it is an illusory power creates things that cannot be imagined or proved through logic. The world itself is a product of Maya. If we try to analyze as to where from this world came, why the world came, what is the purpose of the world; we will end nowhere. Maya and its effects can never withstand logic even as the water seen in desert cannot withstand logic as it is only an illusion in the desert.

It is due to Maya or avidya that we seem to have forgotten our own very nature of Lord. This ignorance cannot really be proved through logic because there is no real ignorance – only illusory ignorance is there. Ignorance can only be mentioned as present through one’s experience that “I don’t know; I am ignorant” etc. This ignorance of our own very nature of Self or Lord is what causes us to think and believe that we are the body-mind-intellect complex. This thought thereby leads us to get associated and identified with the changes in the body-mind-intellect complex. When the BMI (body mind intellect) complex undergoes good changes, we become happy. When the BMI undergoes bad changes, we become sad. The association with the BMI is so strong that we not only get associated with our own BMI but with other BMI’s as well. Therefore if something bad happens to “my friend”, I also become sad. Thus the ignorance of one’s own nature of Lord causes a person to suffer in the ocean of samsaara filled with sorrows alone.

In order to come out of this illusion of Maya through crossing over of the ocean of samsaara, we have to seek the ultimate reality of Lord through constant contemplation and total surrender accompanied with knowledge about the ultimate reality of Lord as the one and only real entity.

The Lord thus speaks about Maya and the way to overcome Maya in Gita:

Devi hi esha gunamayi mama maaya duratyaya
Maam eva ye prapadhyanthe maayaam ethaam taranthi te

My Maya made up of the three gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas is tough indeed to conquer. But those who take refuge in Me alone, they easily overcome this delusion of Maya.

Thus if a seeker withes to overcome the delusion of Maya which is the main cause of sorrows and sufferings in the world, he has to seek the ultimate reality of Lord. There should be pure devotion in the form of total and complete surrender unto the Lord. Pure devotion is not different from knowledge – devotion becomes pure only when we know the nature of Lord as Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Thus knowledge and devotion are not different but one and the same only. A seeker who is endowed with pure devotion towards the ultimate reality of Lord, he overcomes this delusion of Maya. Asuras denote the negative tendencies of the mind which lead us away from the ultimate reality of Lord. The asuras didn’t have any surrender or devotion towards the Lord. Hence the power of Maya in the form of Mohini deluded them and took them away from amrita or immortality. But the devas were totally devoted to the Lord as they had completely surrendered to the ultimate reality of Lord. Hence the devas were not deluded by Mohini; instead they achieved amrita through devotion.

Maya in this story is depicted as a beautiful woman. This way of depiction is just to show that Maya easily lures a person. We all know that the weakness of most of the people is woman (which denotes lust – man in the case of a woman). Hence Maya is depicted in this way. It is not necessary that Maya will appear in the form of lust alone. Maya can appear in any form – maya might be deluding a person through money and another through fame. We can never find out how we are deluded. Instead if we seek the ultimate reality of Lord through pure devotion, we will not be affected by Maya; instead the illusory power of Maya will pave way to constant contemplation of the Lord thereby leading us to immortality. A devotee will see the entire world which is an effect of Maya as the glory of the Lord. He will see the world as not the world but as the Lord alone. For such a devotee, there is nothing apart from the ultimate reality of Lord. Thereby he overcomes the delusion of Maya that causes dual notion and realizes his own very nature of eternal bliss.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Both devas and asuras became happy by the drinking of the poison by Lord Siva. They then started the churning again. Many things started coming out continuously out of the churning. Kaamadenu came out of the churning. The rishis, keepers of the Vedas, accepted it. Ugrasravas, the while horse, and the white elephant Airavatha also came out of the churning. Indra took over them. Next was the kaustubha jewel which the Lord Vishnu took and wore around his neck. Next came kalpavriksha and apsaraas. Devas accepted these to keep in the devaloka. Then came lakshmi devi showering brightness in all the four directions. Everybody was attracted to Devi. Everyone took something or the other and went to lakshmi devi to marry her. But she didn’t find perfection in anyone. If lakshmi devi could find someone perfect in all aspects, he was not seeking lakshmi devi. Finally lakshmi devi decided to marry mukunda even though he was not at all attracted or attached to lakshmi devi.

Explanation

Bhagavatham enumerates the various things that came out of the churning. As we have already discussed, a seeker who is in the spiritual path will be gifted with all things and siddhis. Whatever will be sought out by the seeker, he will get it without doubt. A real devotee as we have discussed is one who has totally surrendered to the ultimate reality of Lord or to the Guru who is but the embodiment of Lord.

Mundaka Upanishad says thus:

Yam yam lokam manasaa samvibhaathi
Vishudhasattvah Kaamayathe yaamscha kaamaan
Tam tam lokam jayathe taamscha kaaman
Tasmaat atmajnam hi archet bhoothikaamah

Whatever world or desires arise in the mind of a realized saint (vishuddha sattvah is one whose mind is pure), that all are achieved. Hence a person who seeks any desires or world achievement should seek such a person and surrender unto him.

Sah veda etat paramam brahma daam
Yatra vishvam nihitham bhaathi shubhram
Upaasathe purusham ye hi akaamaah
Te shukram etat athivarthanthi dheeraah

He who knows the ultimate reality of Brahman attains that place which is pure, bright and where the world is supported. He who seeks and surrenders unto such a realized being (devoid of any desires), that wise person crosses over the bondage of body (birth and death).

The above slokas mention that a seeker who seeks either the Lord or a realized saint will have all his desires fulfilled. Fulfillment of desire is not the final aim of life. Desires will go on increasing. Manu mentions in Manu Smrithi that if a person thinks of eliminating desires by enjoying them, then it is similar of trying to extinguish fire by pouring ghee. The fire will not get extinguished instead will burn more vigorously. Similarly if a person thinks that desires can be eliminated by enjoying them, he is wrong. Desires will go on and on without any end. There can be an end to desires only if the seeker realizes his own very nature of the ultimate reality of Lord. It is only through this way that the seeker overcomes the illusory bondages of the world. When bondages are removed, the seeker realizes his very nature of perfection. Desires arise out of the goal of achieving perfection. This is only due to the ignorance of one’s own perfection and thought that “I am imperfect”. We all are in reality the ultimate reality of Lord alone – perfect in all aspects as there is nothing apart from the Lord here. Imperfection can be caused only when there are two things & one limits the other. But, there is nothing apart from the Lord & hence the Lord is perfect. As there is nothing apart from the Lord, we all are the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Sat Chit ananda. It is only ignorance of our very nature of Lord that causes us to seek perfection thereby giving rise to a number of desires.

The various desires will of course be fulfilled for a devotee as he seeks none other than the ultimate reality of Lord – the controller of the illusory world. But along with desires being fulfilled the devotee will also be made to know about the reality behind the world. When the devotee thus realizes the world to be but a mere illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord, he stops seeking temporary and illusory things of the world. Thus ends all desires through proper knowledge about the illusory nature of the Lord and the ultimate reality of Lord as the non-dual reality.

Through the mentioning of various things coming out of the churning, Bhagavatham is emphasizing on one hand the fact that a devotee will get everything he wants & on the other hand indirectly saying that desires will have to be ended in order to get immortality. This is symbolized through continuing the churning even after getting many great and valuable things. Similarly a seeker has to stop not until the ultimate reality of Lord has been realized whatever be it that he gets in between should be known as temporary and illusory. Enjoyment of desire is not wrong but it should be associated with the knowledge that the enjoyment is temporary as the entity which gives the enjoyment is temporary. Everything apart from the ultimate reality of Lord should be known and kept in mind as mere illusions in the ultimate reality of Lord. Only for the seeker who continues the spiritual journey until realization of the Lord happens, there will be immortal bliss in the form of realization of his own very nature of Lord.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

The devas and asuras continued the churning. Finally a divine being arose with a pot in his hand. He was ayurveda acharya and an amsa avatar of Vishnu known as Dhanwanthari. Immediately the asuras took the pot from dhanwanthari. Being helpless, the devas took refuge in Vishnu. Bhagavan consoled them by telling that he would get the amrita from the asuras by Maya and give them the same.

Explanation

The devas and asuras continued the churning even after getting many things out of the churning. Finally they were rewarded with amrita. A seeker who wants immortality should not stop until he reaches the final goal of realizing the ultimate reality of Lord as his very nature of Consciousness. This process or path till the final goal is very tough. Hence saints proclaim that spiritual path is like walking along the edges of a razor. There will be all sorts of obstacles in the spiritual path. The seeker should constantly remember the goal of the ultimate reality of Lord and thereby offering everything to the Lord progress further. This is what is indicated in the churning over here wherein the devas/asuras didn’t stop until amrita was attained.

A real seeker is one who has his mind completely set on the ultimate reality of Lord. Since the seeker has his mind set on the goal, he will always work towards the goal. Whatever happens in the path to the goal, the seeker will not stop; instead he will take everything as a blessing from the Lord and continue in the path. We all have to be real seekers seeking the ultimate reality of Lord and keeping the mind fixed unto the goal. Nothing should divert the attention of the seeker from the goal. It is only for the seeker who has the goal fixed always on the ultimate reality of Lord that amrita or immortality will be achieved. In order to realize the ultimate reality of Lord, there is nothing else but constant contemplation of the Lord alone is required. This contemplation should be such that the seeker always remembers the Lord whatever be the situation or surrounding or environment. Pure devotion is always fixing the mind unto the Lord. This is called love and the love that a lover has towards his love & that a mother has towards her children. Though such pure love cannot be found even in mothers of today – these were present in ancient times. These days pure love can only be found in real devotees and jnaanis. All other people have their own interest as the first preference. Such selfish attitude arises out of ego and ignorance of the reality behind the illusory world. It is only when a seeker identifies himself with the body-mind complex that he becomes attached to his own body. Thereby he gives high preference to the body-mind complex than others. But for a devotee everything is but the presence of the Lord only – hence he sees everything as the Lord. He doesn’t differentiate between anything. Such a devotee who knows the Lord as the underlying reality amidst the illusory world alone constantly contemplates on the ultimate reality of Lord. Such constant contemplation alone can lead a person to the final goal of realization of one’s own nature of Lord.

When amrita came out of the churning, the asuras caught hold of the amrita. This is what generally happens. Whenever something good happens or a person is progressing in the spiritual path, asuric tendencies overtake the mind. Thus the seeker who is progressing in the spiritual path will be put to test by the asuric tendencies of the mind in the form of jealousy, attachment, aversion etc. It is very tough indeed to control the mind by getting rid of these asuric tendencies and focusing on the Lord. It is during these times that a seeker has to understand the state of helplessness and seek refuge in the Lord. We have seen that the Lord saves those who take refuge in him. Therefore the devas took refuge in the Lord. When a seeker is overcome by asuric tendencies, his good tendencies which include devotion, knowledge etc. leads him to take refuge in the Lord. When the seeker takes refuge in the ultimate reality of Lord, the Lord saves the devotee through destruction of the asuric tendencies. This is with the help of the illusory power of Lord termed as Maya. The Maya is that power which deludes a person into the ocean of samsaara – but for those take refuge in the Lord, his power of Maya will be used to save the devotee and lead the devotee towards the goal (removing the obstacles in the spiritual path).

Thus whenever a seeker gets asuric tendencies, he should immediately surrender to the ultimate reality of Lord and seek refuge in the Lord. It is tough to seek the Lord during bad times; hence the scriptures mention the seeker to always seek refuge in the Lord by total surrender at all times. Such total surrender and refuge in the Lord alone can easily save the seeker from asuric tendencies and make him focused on the ultimate reality of Lord.

Let us all like the devas seek refuge in the ultimate reality of Lord at all times thereby ensuring that the Lord is there to save the seeker from the asuric tendencies.

Vasuki, the great serpant, was used as the rope for the churning. Bhagavan with the devas got hold of the head part of Vasuki. The asuras did not like this. Seeing that the asuras did not like this, Bhagavan along with the devas caught hold of the tail of Vasuki. In all the places, asuras (denoting asuric tendencies) are always unsatisfied whereas the devas are ever ready to sacrifice and compromise. The churning of the ocean was started. But mandara parvatha was very heavy and it slipped out of the churning of the devas and asuras. Devas and asuras suddenly became very sad & worried. All of a sudden, Bhagavan took the shape of a huge tortoise and supported the mandara parvatha from below so that the devas and asuras were able to churn the ocean.

Explanation

We again find in this part of Srimad Bhagavatham the compassion of the Lord in saving those who have taken refuge in him. This is the promise made by the Lord at the end of Bhagavad Gita that “renounce everything and take refuge in me; I will take care of your good and bad; do not worry”. This promise of the Lord is not like the general promises that we make daily which is broken at one point of time or the other; this promise of the Lord is an eternal one and kept by the Lord at all times.

When the mandara parvatha went down into the ocean, the Lord took the avatar of kurma or tortoise and supported the parvatha on his back. This is the compassion of the Lord. From the seeker’s side, the seeker just needs to completely surrender unto the Lord in order to feel the presence of the grace of the Lord. A seeker who has completely surrendered unto the ultimate reality of Lord is a pure devotee of the Lord. The Lord as we have been seeing in the various stories in Srimad Bhagavatham is a servant of the devotee. The Lord is helpless in that he cannot but help the devotee from anything and everything. This is the greatness of devotion towards the ultimate reality of Lord. A devotee doesn’t need to bother about anything because he has the omni-present and omni-potent Lord to take care of him. Whenever the devotee is in a situation of helplessness or trouble or sorrow or suffering, the Lord comes there to protect and save the devotee. A devotee sees the presence of the Lord in everything. Whatever the devotee sees is but the grace of the Lord. Whatever the devotee experiences is but the grace of the Lord. For a devotee, there is nothing but the Lord alone.

For the Lord, there is nothing but helping the devotee. Does the Lord help the devotee only in worldly pursuits? No, the Lord finally makes the devotee realize his own very nature of Lord. This is but the height of compassion of the Lord. A person following the path of scriptural learning without proper devotion of the Lord has to learn a lot with sharp intellect and struggle in the world to overcome the passions and attachments in the world. But for the devotee, everything is taken care of by the Lord. The Lord ensures that the devotee gets knowledge through a proper Guru when required. If the devotee is not willing to accept knowledge, then the Lord sees to it that the devotee takes knowledge and realizes the ultimate reality of Lord. This is either through sufferings or through beatings like the beating of a mother towards her child when the child is naughty and doesn’t hear to the mother’s words.

This avatar of kurma symbolizes the supporting of the world of burdens that we have by the Lord. When we encounter sufferings and sorrows, both the devas (good tendencies) and asuras (bad tendencies) are dormant. We enter into such a situation where we will not be able to think as to what to do – we will be totally down. It is in such situation that the Lord supports us through carrying of all those burdens thereby reducing the burden on us. For a real devotee, there is no burden because he totally offers them to the Lord. For a devotee who is still progressing in the spiritual path, he might encounter tough situations wherein he will not be able to control himself as well as offer the burdens unto the Lord. It is in such situation that the Lord takes the form of kurma through supporting of the burden. The Lord might not come in the same form of Vishnu or Siva, instead he will be there to support us in one or the other form. It is this that is openly shown through the various avatars of the Lord which are different in each case. Whatever help that a devotee gets at times of distress is but the hand of the Lord alone.

To see the churning of the ocean, all Gods including Brahma and Siva had come there. The ocean started shaking. Because of the poisoned breath of Vasuki, the asuras and devas lost their energy. But due to the grace of Bhagavan, they were able to continue their work. In order to get amrita, they had to churn the ocean and cannot stop in between as well. When they were thus churning the ocean, halaahala poison came out of the ocean. The poison started darkening all the four directions. Devas along with others became afraid. They then approached Sadasiva and praised him. They prayed to the ultimate reality of Lord in the form of Sadasiva to save the world from this big danger.

Sadasiva with permission from Devi who occupied half of his body decided to have the poison. Compassionate Lord thus took the poison in his hands & drank it. Since the poison was stopped at his neck, even today Siva is called as Nilakanta (one whose kanta or neck is blue in color because of the poison).

Explanation

It may seem that we are again and again coming towards the same essence of the Lord saving the devotees who have surrendered to him – this is but a fact that all the various stories of the Lord propound the Lord being compassionate towards his devotees. These re-emphasizing and repetition of the compassionate nature of the Lord is in order to cultivate the sense of pure devotion in each one of us. There is no way out of the sorrows and sufferings in the world unless the seeker develops pure devotion towards the ultimate reality of Lord. Pure devotion is that in which there is total and complete surrender. If there is total surrender, then the Lord will be there to protect the devotee whatever be the situation. We see here Siva drinking the poison in order to save his devotees of devas who had completely surrendered to the Lord.

There are only two ways to liberation from the bondages of the world – one is the path of knowledge wherein the intellect is used to ascertain about the reality of Brahman amidst the illusory world & the second is the path of devotion where the devotee totally surrenders to the non-dual reality of Lord. Both these are not separate ways but they lead to the same goal of realization of one’s own nature of Lord. It is this realization which is termed by Sankara as jnaana or brahma atma aikya jnaana in his bhashyas and by Narada as paraa bhakthi or ultimate devotion.

The path of scriptural learning is dangerous in that it gives ample opportunity for the ego to dominate thereby making the seeker a mere intellectual person rather than making him humble and give him realization of the ultimate reality of Lord. The ultimate reality of one’s own nature of Lord can be realized only when the ego is vanquished. It is the ego which causes association with things and people – it is this association that causes attachment and aversion. These attachments and aversions lead to sorrow and sufferings. Thus the basic problem for a seeker is out of the Ego alone. Through scriptural knowledge, the seeker learns that the ego is only an illusion in the subject of atman or Self. Thus contemplating on one’s own nature of Consciousness, the seeker becomes a mere witness to the ego and its activities. This is tough because it requires one’s own effort to conquer the ego. In the path of devotion, the devotee totally surrenders to the ultimate reality of Lord. This surrender automatically vanquishes the ego. Thus there is no scope of ego for a pure devotee.

Once a devotee progresses in the path of devotion, he knows the nature of the Lord as the non-dual reality of Consciousness (that which is propounded in the scriptures as nirguna parabrahman). This is knowledge. Thus a devotee gains knowledge as well about the Lord towards whom he is devoted. The devotee with the help of knowledge completely merges into the Lord – thereby the Lord alone exists, one without a second.

In the case of a seeker who is following the path of knowledge, he knows the ultimate reality of Brahman as different from the ego and as the Self or Subject of everything. Knowing the nature of Brahman as the witness of all activities, the seeker develops devotion towards Brahman. This devotion in turn makes the seeker realize his own nature of Brahman. Thereby what remains behind is the seeker alone of the nature of the ultimate reality of Brahman.

Thus both the path of devotion and the path of knowledge lead to realization of the non-dual reality of Lord (which Sankara terms as jnaana or knowledge).

It is for a seeker to decide as to which path to take. Whatever be the path, he will be made to get devotion and knowledge both. As we saw in the previous days, the Lord himself will make the devotee learn the scriptural truth through a Guru thereby making him realize the ultimate reality of Lord as his own very nature.

For normal people in the world who are ignorant about scriptural knowledge and whose intellect is not that sharp to apprehend the logic in the scriptures, the path of devotion is the best. Such seekers need to develop pure devotion through total and complete surrender unto the ultimate reality of Lord. The Lord himself will then take the devotee from the illusory world to the ultimate reality of Lord. This is what is denoted in this part of the story through Siva’s drinking of the poison. The poison denotes worldly problems and bondages. For a seeker who is inflicted with these and who has surrendered to the ultimate reality of Lord, the Lord takes care of his problems drinking the poison of bondages. Thus the Lord liberates the seeker from all the bondages of the world making him realize his own nature of Lord (who is ever blissful and non-dual Consciousness).

We will continue with the story in the next day.

The Lord being happy with the devotion of the devas spoke thus:
O Devas! Listen carefully what I am going to say. Temporarily you should come to an agreement with the asuras. Time is favoring them now. It is essential during some times to go hand in hand with enemies as well. You need to get amritam or nectar. That will make you eternal and without death. You should churn the paalaazhi. Make the mandara parvatha the support for the churning. Vasuki (the great snake) will be the rope. I will stay with you as your supporter. The asuras will lose out and you will get amrita. You may get lot of things which churning but your goal should be amrita alone, you shouldn’t get attached or averted to anything else which comes out of the churning.

Explanation

The advice given by the Lord is in fact an advice to each and every seeker. It is not a specific advice related to getting of amrita for the devas but it is a generic advice to each one of us to attain immortality. Immortality or amrita is becoming eternal. So long as a seeker is associated with the limited body-mind complex, he cannot become eternal because the body and mind are non-eternal having a beginning and an end. The one and only way to become eternal by getting rid of the wrong notion that “I am the body, I am the mind” thereby realizing one’s own very nature of eternal Lord.

When a seeker seeks amrita in the spiritual path, he will come across various siddhis or powers. These powers are also mere illusions in the ultimate reality of Lord. A person whose focus is not fixed unto the ultimate goal of eternal bliss as the Lord will be deluded into these siddhis. These various siddhis include the power to create things, the power to imagine/predict things, the power to travel to difference places etc. All these are illusions and temporary alone because they are limited by the limitations of time, space and causation. The ultimate reality of Lord alone is real and eternal – everything else whether it is Lord Brahma or Vishnu or any other siddhi is temporary only. Real seekers will always be focused on the ultimate reality of Lord and never get deluded into the various siddhis.

The Lord here cautions the devas that there will be many things coming out of the churning but they shouldn’t get deluded into it. Seekers should thus not get deluded into the various siddhis and material benefits that are attained while he is progressing in the spiritual path. The goal of ultimate reality of Lord should never be forgotten – it should be remembered all the while. It becomes easy to remember the goal of ultimate reality of Lord if the illusory nature of everything apart from the Lord & eternal nature of the Lord is kept in mind. Thus the Lord is here advising the seeker to constantly remember the two aspects of the reality that everything is only an illusion & the Lord alone is real-eternal. If a seeker remembers these two aspects, he will never be deluded into anything apart from the goal of realization of one’s own nature of Lord.

Once a person gets deluded into the various siddhis, he will forget the goal of ultimate reality of Lord. Moreover he will become attached to the siddhis & ego attitude will be developed towards siddhis. The siddhis are as eternal as any sense object & hence will lead to sorrows/sufferings alone. It will lead the seeker more and more deeper into the ocean of samsaara. Thus a seeker should always try to be focused unto the goal of realization of one’s own nature of Lord and never get deluded into the siddhis as well as worldly pleasures.

We will try to see the spiritual symbolism of the churning of the ocean in the next day.

We will today see the import or essence behind the churning of the ocean. Whatever be the action, there has to be goal which is sought or desire while performing the action. The goal to be achieved through churning of the ocean was amrita. This is the very aim of each and every one of us. The ultimate goal of eternality or immortality is what we are seeking in the form of eternal bliss. Irrespective of caste and creed, everybody is searching for eternal bliss alone. We are searching for eternal bliss but in the wrong place of worldly objects. Eternal bliss can be got only from an eternal entity. The eternal entity is none other than the ultimate reality of Lord – there is one and only one eternal entity as everything else is a mere illusion in the reality of Lord. The Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute alone is real. Everything else is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord. Thus realization of the ultimate reality of Lord alone can give us eternal bliss associated with satisfaction and contentment. This realization alone can take us to the state where we will not seek anything else & there will be perfection at all times.

Realization of a Lord different from oneself can never give eternal bliss because there will still be difference between the seeker and the Lord. As long as difference or duality exists, there cannot be eternal bliss because of the limited feeling caused between both the entities. It is for this reason that the Upanishad proclaims that there is no duality whatsoever here & whoever sees duality as existing will go from death to death.

Thus eternal bliss or immortality can be achieved only when the seeker realizes the non-dual reality of Lord as his own very nature of Consciousness. This is the goal of all activities that a person does in the world. Knowingly or unknowingly we all are seeking the goal of realization of the ultimate reality of Lord. Seekers in the spiritual path seek the goal in the right place through scriptural learning and constant contemplation of the Lord whereas worldly people seek the goal in the illusory world never to find it instead getting sorrows/sufferings alone.

Devas denote the good thoughts or practices of the mind. Asuras denote bad thoughts of the mind. Bad thoughts are those which tend to make the seeker indulge into sensual pleasures with forgetfulness of the Lord. It is not the thought that makes it bad or good but the attitude behind the thought. If the seeker is able to remember the Lord all the while enjoying sensual pleasures, then it is a good thought alone as it leads him towards the goal of Lord. This was the case of kings like janaka, ambariksha etc. in the puranas who were indulging always in sensual pleasures but still jeevan mukthas as their mind was completely fixed on the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus we can redefine devas as those thoughts which are accompanied by or are helpful in the remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord. Asuras are those thoughts which lead the seeker away from the ultimate reality of Lord.

When the asuras are powerful and the seeker is constantly drawn by the asuras, he should take refuge in the Lord or the various saints in the world. This is what is indicated by Brahma going to the Lord (Brahma denotes the ego or ahamkaara which seeks eradication of itself by merging unto the ultimate reality of Lord). The Lord then instructed Brahma to take the help of asuras and thereby churn the ocean to get amrita. This means that we have to take the help of both devas and asuras in order to get amrita. As long as a seeker is living in the world, sensual pleasures & indulgence will always be there & cannot be avoided. Instead of fighting to get rid of those which will in turn lead to more and more complications, the seeker should even direct those towards the ultimate goal of eternal bliss. This is done through associating the thought of the Lord even while indulging in sensual pleasures. When a seeker is thus eating sweet laddoos, he should remember the Lord & offer the eating as well to the Lord. This is how the asuras can also be made to help the seeker in the progress towards the ultimate reality of Lord.

Churning of the ocean denotes churning of the ocean of samsaara which is nothing but getting rid of the ocean of samsaara by the fire of knowledge. The puranas speak about baadava agni as the fire which dries up the ocean (this is an exception to the general rule wherein fire is vanquished by water). The fire of knowledge through constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord dries up the ocean of samsaara. Thus churning here denotes constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord. The mountain based on which the churning is done denotes steadfastness. It is essential for a seeker to be steadfast in the spiritual path all the while living in the world. A seeker has to be strong and stable like the mountain which doesn’t shake even by the force of storms. Thus even if strong storms of worldly problems arise, the seeker will still remain stable on the ultimate reality of Lord like the mountain. The rope with which churning is done denotes the thought of the Lord – positive thoughts like chanting, meditation etc. which help in the final process of constant contemplation of the Lord. The rope is essential to get a grip of the mountain as well as to achieve the process of churning. The rope of thoughts conducive to the Lord is essential to remain steadfast in the spiritual path thereby aiding in constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord through drying up of the ocean of samsaara.

When the process of churning is done, the seeker will come across various siddhis and materialistic benefits. But the seeker shouldn’t get lost in those as that will hinder his progress towards eternal bliss. We find Yama trying to lure Nachiketha in the Katha Upanishad through promising of long life, good children, money etc. but Nachiketha who was clear and steadfast in the goal didn’t get lured in those. Thus Nachiketha could proceed further and thereby realize the ultimate reality of Lord in the form of eternal bliss & immortality.

Indra did as he was instructed by the Lord. He then took the asura chakravarthi Mahabali into his confidence. Thus the asuras and devas started lifting mandara parvatha into the ocean. On the way, they became very tired & the parvatha fell out of their hands. At that time, not only that the Lord came running to help them, he removed their tiredness through his grace as well as helping in the lifting of the parvatha with garuda.

Explanation

We find in each and every part of Srimad Bhagavatham, the emphasis on the ultimate reality of Lord. We have to constantly remember and keep in our mind that the moment the Lord is forgotten, we enter into a world of illusion. The Lord alone is the independent and eternal entity. Forget the Lord and we enter into the various names/forms which are mere illusions in the Lord. This is the same as getting deluded into the names and forms of gold ornaments all the while forgetting the reality of gold. If we don’t remember the reality of gold behind the ornaments, we are into trouble. The names and forms are temporary and will surely vanish one day. If we forget the reality of gold, we will get either attached or averted to the names-forms. This attachment or aversion will cause a problem when the names-forms vanish. Thus forgetting the reality of gold will only lead to problems in the form of sorrows and sufferings.

It is the same case with the world of names-forms and the ultimate reality of Lord. The moment we forget the Lord, we enter into the illusion of names-forms. Names-forms will lead us to sorrows and sufferings alone. The water seen in desert should be known as an illusion in the desert & desert itself. If we forget the water to be nothing but desert, we will run behind the water expecting water. Once we find that there is no water, we will become sad that we didn’t get water & that we ran for the water which was not at all there. Similarly if we forget the ultimate reality of Lord, we will be led to sorrows and sufferings alone. This is the reason why we find many people being devoted to the Lord and well-versed in the scriptures but still unable to be happy. This is because they forget the ultimate reality of Lord instead seeking just a form God getting attached to the particular form. Scriptural knowledge is knowledge of the ultimate reality of Lord as beyond all names and forms and the as the non-dual reality of Consciousness. Similarly pure devotion is constant remembrance of the Lord at all times beyond everything. Our devotion shouldn’t be part-time devotion thinking about the Lord only during troubles or once a week while going to the temple; we should remember the Lord at all times. A real devotee is one who cannot forget the Lord & his every breath is spent in remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord. This is possible only when there is total and complete surrender to the Lord.

If there is pure devotion through total surrender, the Lord will be there at all times to protect and help the devotee. This is what we find in this part of the story. The devas and asuras were tired of lifting the mountain and couldn’t move it. At that time, the Lord himself comes to help them with garuda. This is the compassion of the Lord. The Lord is ever ready to help everyone. The Lord cannot but help everyone because he is the very nature of each and every individual. We all are in essence the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Consciousness. But we tend to forget our nature of Consciousness and get deluded in the various names-forms. The Lord has to make us remember this because only then we will realize our nature of the Lord. Thus the Lord is ever willing to help us. But we have to become eligible to get the help and grace of the Lord. We will not be able to get sunlight if we close the doors/windows and sit inside. We have to open the doors of our heart & then we will be able to apprehend the ever present help and grace of the Lord.
A real devotee who has totally surrendered to the ultimate reality of Lord can feel the presence of the Lord at all times. In each and every activity in the world, the devotee sees the presence of the Lord. Whatever be the activity and whoever be it doing the activity, the devotee knows that it is the Lord who is working through the person. The Lord as the essence of all beings is the illuminator of all activities. Even as the Sun is the cause of all activities on earth, the Lord is the cause of all activities in the world. Any activity is not possible without the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Consciousness. As we all know clearly that without Consciousness no activity is possible as a person has to be conscious to perform an activity. The Consciousness in each individual is none other than the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus without the Lord, no activity is possible. The devotee knows clearly this that everything in the world is nothing but the Lord alone. When we see the diverse names-forms, we find it to be different from the Lord. But when we see the underlying substratum of all beings, we will find the ultimate reality of Lord.

For a person who sees the Lord as present everywhere and as the illuminator of all activities, everything is but the grace of the Lord alone. Even if something bad happens for a devotee, he considers it as the will of the Lord & for the good alone. Thus there is neither good nor bad for the devotee who sees everything as the Lord alone. This is called sama bhaavana or equanimity in everything. The devotee sees and perceives the Lord alone – slowly the devotee will finally merge into the ultimate reality of Lord. This merging is what Vedanta calls as moksha or liberation from the illusory bondages of the world. Moksha is nothing but realization of one’s own nature of Lord as when the devotee merges into the Lord, there is the non-dual Lord alone. Since the Lord is of the nature of bliss, the devotee experiences bliss alone – the same bliss which we all are seeking in the external world.

If we have to get eternal bliss, we have to seek the Lord through pure devotion. While following the path of spirituality, the seeker might encounter difficulties in one form or the other. These difficulties will easily be overcome when there is total and complete surrender. For such a person, the Lord himself will come to help the person out of the difficulty as is shown in this particular part of Srimad Bhagavatham. We all thus have to gain pure devotion through total and complete surrender unto the ultimate reality of Lord.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Brahma praised Vishnu who is the ultimate reality of Lord.

Avikriyam satyam anantham aadhyam guhaashayam nishkalamapratarkyam
Mano agrayaanam vachasaa aniruktham namaamahe devavaram varenyam

We prostrate the Lord who is without any activities, of the nature of Existence, without any beginning and end, first person, residing in the heart of all beings, devoid of any impurities, unconceivable, who is beyond words and thoughts, dear to everyone.

Explanation

Vedanta which speaks about the indescribable ultimate reality of Brahman not objectified through words and thoughts, is tough indeed to apprehend and assimilate in life. Hence we find in the various Upanishads and other literature repetition about the ultimate reality of Lord in one way or the other. Here we find Bhagavatham once again emphasizing on the nature of the ultimate reality of Lord. Vedanta puts forth the three steps of sravana or listening to the import of the scriptures as non-dual reality of Brahman, manana or reflecting on the ultimate reality by proper usage of logic and nidhidhyaasana or contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord as one’s own very nature of Consciousness – as the way to realization. A seeker has to constantly contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord. Contemplation is possible only when the seeker knows the nature of that which is to be contemplated upon. Contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord is possible only when the nature of such a Lord is known.

Even though the Lord is beyond words and thoughts still he can be pointed out through words as the subject of all objects, witness of all activities and the indwelling Self of all beings. It is these ways of explaining about the Lord that Vedanta and the various puranas follow. In this part of Bhagavatham, we find Brahma prostrating the ultimate reality of Lord in a single verse. Let us try to see the nature of the Lord who is being prostrated by Brahma so that we may be able to contemplate on such a Lord as our very nature thereby leading us to liberation from the bondage of sorrows-sufferings in the illusory world.

The Lord is avikriyam or without any activities. Activities are all propelled by one or the other desire. Activity is not possible without desire. Desire is present when there is something lacking and a seeker strives towards perfection. The Lord is infinite and hence perfect in all aspects. As the Lord is perfect, there cannot be any desire in the Lord. Since there is no desire possible for the Lord, there is no activity possible in the Lord. Thus the Lord is devoid of attachment to activities either as the doer or as the enjoyer. It is only the individual jeeva who identifies himself with a particular activity through doership and enjoyership. As there is no activity possible in the Lord, there is no activity possible in each one of us as well as we are not different from the Lord. Activities which we do are only activities of the ego or ahamkaara. The identification of the individual with those activities is what causes the problems of enjoying happiness and sorrow. When we realize our own nature of Lord as the mere witness to all activities, the happiness & sorrow arising out of those activities vanishes. Thus we will ever rejoice in our very nature of Consciousness and Bliss absolute.

The Lord is satyam and anantham. The Lord is described in the scriptures as sat chit ananda or existence consciousness and bliss absolute. The Lord is sat because he never ceases to exist. The Lord is beyond the three times of past, present and future. Hence the Lord is Sat or existence. The Lord is not insentient like a rock because the Lord is conscious of his own very existence thereby giving existence to even insentient objects like a rock. Thus the Lord is Chit or Consciousness in nature. Since the Lord is sat and chit, he is anantha or infinite as he is beyond all limitations. Any object in the world is bound by the three limitations of time, space and causation. The Lord is beyond time as explained. The Lord is also beyond space because he is all-pervasive and the scriptures speak about space being created from the Lord. The Lord is also beyond causation because he is the cause of all causes as the substratum of all illusory causes-effects of the world. Thus the Lord is infinite. Since the Lord is infinite, therefore he is blissful in nature. Bliss is possible only when there is no limitation else it becomes limited happiness. As the Lord is infinite, therefore he is blissful.

The Lord is aadhyam or first being – the Lord is the first being because he is beyond causation and ever present. The Lord himself becomes the illusory cause of the world and other beings. Hence he is called the first being. In fact, the lord is the only being as he alone exists beyond all limitations. The Lord is called the first being from the perspective of all other limited beings we see in the world.

The Lord resides in the heart of all beings as existence and consciousness. The Consciousness that is present in each one of us and pulsates as “I exist, I exist” is none other than the Lord. The Consciousness seems to be limited by the body-mind complex and hence seems to be suffering at times & different from the Lord. When the limitations of body and mind are known to be of the ego alone and not of the real “I”, we will realize our own very nature of Lord who is the very nature of all beings.

The Lord is devoid of all impurities because impurities are caused by external things. We say a cloth is impure when other things (different from the cloth or threads of the cloth) stick to it. The Lord is pure because there is nothing apart from the Lord. The Lord is also pure because he is devoid of parts. A cloth becomes impure because it has parts. Only that which has parts will be able to make conjunction with other entities. Any object with parts is subject to birth and death like the body and cloth. Since the Lord is devoid of birth & death, he is partless. Since the Lord is without any parts, there cannot be any conjunction with anything else. As there cannot be any conjunction of the Lord with other things, he cannot have any impurities – therefore the Lord is ever pure.

The Lord is dear to everyone as bliss. It is bliss that we all are seeking each and everyone. We seek things when we know that it gives us bliss. We don’t seek fire because we know it will burn us thereby giving us sorrow. We seek partners and children thinking that they give us bliss. They don’t give us bliss instead give us sorrow alone. The Lord alone is blissful and hence is dear to all as we all seek the Lord alone.

Thus the Lord as bliss and as one’s own very nature is dear to everyone. Some know that what they consider as dear (their own Self or existence) is none other than the ultimate reality of Lord – some don’t know. A seeker should know the Lord alone as the indwelling Self of all beings thereby seeking the Lord devoid of all impurities and limitations. Such a seeker will disengage himself from the limitations of body and mind thereby realizing his own very nature of Kutastha atman (witness Self) or the ultimate reality of Lord.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

The Lord became happy hearing the essence of the Upanishads as praise. He appeared before the devas even as thousands of Sun had taken form. The brightness of the Lord was so strong that they couldn’t differentiate between space or earth. They experienced only the ultimate reality of Lord Vishnu. Seeing Vishnu’s form, Brahma realizing that it was Parabrahman alone taken the form of Vishnu started praising again. The Lord became happy with the devotion of the devas.

Explanation

As we have learned many times, the Lord alone is the reality amidst all empirical realities in the world. The world itself being an illusion in the reality of Lord is but dependent on the Lord for its existence. As the Lord alone is independent, the limited individuals that we are identified with have to take refuge in the Lord alone. Seeking the ultimate reality of Lord alone can save us from the illusory bondages which causes sorrow and suffering in the world. The infinite and unlimited Lord alone is blissful in nature & hence realizing the Lord alone can give us eternal bliss, that which we have been seeking each and every moment in the illusory world.

In this particular part of Srimad Bhagavatham we find as to how we can become eligible to experience the ever present grace of the Lord. Experiencing the grace of Lord is nothing but experience of one’s own nature of eternal bliss as the Lord himself. This is what Vedanta calls as moksha or liberation. If we want to seek liberation or eternal bliss, we have to become eligible to apprehend the grace of the Lord. This is achieved through pure devotion to the ultimate reality of Lord. As we have seen again and again, devotion is not different from knowledge. As Narada mentions in the bhakthi sutras that in pure devotion, there is no forgetting of the glory of the Lord – glory of the Lord is knowing the real nature of Lord as the non-dual reality of Consciousness.

We saw in the previous mail Brahma praising the Lord by propounding the nature of the ultimate reality. Real devotion is complete and total surrender to the ultimate reality of Lord knowing the nature of such a Lord. The Lord is propounded in various ways in the upanishads. The very nature of Lord is Sat Chit Ananda (existence, consciousness and bliss). The Lord is anantha or infinite. The Lord is beyond the three limitations of time, space and causation as he is unlimited. The Lord is ekam eva adviteeyam or one without a second – the Lord is non-dual and there is nothing apart from the Lord either internally or externally. Whatever is perceived is only an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus a devotee sees everything as the Lord alone. He sees everything in the Lord and the Lord in everything. This is pure devotion wherein the devotee doesn’t know anything apart from the Lord – the devotee himself doesn’t exist apart from the Lord, he merely merges unto the Lord.

When a seeker has pure devotion, he experiences that there is nothing here but the Lord alone. This is what devas experienced here. The devas experienced only the Lord undifferentiated by even space which limits everything that we can perceive. It is for this reason that the Lord is mentioned as beyond perception as he pervades everything and is formless. But when the mind becomes purified through devotion and knowledge, the devotee transcends space thereby seeing the Lord in his true form of all-pervasive non-dual Consciousness.

This is the realization that is achieved by the grace of the Lord. Through this, Bhagavatham is emphasizing that pure devotion (which is not different from knowledge) alone can lead a seeker to realization of the ultimate reality of Lord. There is no other way than this to get eternal ever-lasting bliss – that which we all have been seeking each and every moment.

Bhagavatham also beautifully says as to what would a devotee do if he sees the ultimate reality of Lord – the devotee will praise the Lord. Each and every word of the devotee is directed towards the Lord alone. This is a best way to identify a real devotee. A real devotee will always be speaking about the Lord whatever be the topic of discussion. The moment discussion goes away from the Lord, the devotee will not be interested in the same. This is exactly what Brahma did here – when he saw the Lord, he started praising the Lord again. We may get tired of doing things again and again but for a devotee, each experience of being of any service of the Lord or remembering the Lord doesn’t tire him instead it gives the devotee more and more power. The devotee is ever waiting to remember the Lord in one way or the other whether it is by praise or by doing service to his devotees.

Bhagavatham also is pointing out here that to constantly remember the Lord, one of the way is to keep praising the Lord all the time. By constantly praising the Lord, a seeker will always be fixing his mind unto the Lord all the while remembering the glory of the Lord as the non-dual reality of Consciousness.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Before we enter into the next story in Srimad Bhagavatham, it is important to remember that these stories are not just meant to be heard but are to be remembered all throughout our lives. These stories are not mere glories of the Lord but they explain the ultimate reality of Lord and the way to realization of our own very nature of Lord which alone can lead us from sorrow to eternal bliss. As we all are seeking eternal bliss each and every moment, it is but essential to remember the ultimate reality of Lord who is the import of each and every story of Srimad Bhagavatham.

Most of the people would already be knowing all the stories in Srimad Bhagavatham but in most of the places where the paarayana (chanting or telling of the stories in Srimad Bhagavatham) happens, emphasis is not given to the import of the ultimate reality of Lord. This is either because the person telling the story himself doesn’t know the ultimate reality or because the person wants a huge gathering. It is but true that if the ultimate reality of Lord is propounded the way it is in the scriptures without any glories, there would be very few who would seek it and still fewer who would understand it. Thus in many of the cases, we forget the ultimate reality of Lord but just remember the story alone. This is like throwing the banana all the while holding on to the banana peels. Without the ultimate reality of Lord, the stories are of no use. If we remove the ultimate reality of Lord from the stories, it is like removing Consciousness from the world which would lead us to a state of non-existence as Consciousness alone illumines all existences.

We have already learnt how Bharatha was engrossed in the form of the Lord alone heard through the various glories and hence had to take a couple of births to realize the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus if we forget the ultimate reality of Lord while listening to the stories of Srimad Bhagavatham, we would still be struggling in the ocean of samsaara. The Lord who is to be remembered and realized through the stories is in most of the cases forgotten. Here we are trying to remember the Lord through his glories – all the while keeping our focus fixed on the ultimate reality of Lord not deviating even a bit.

The ultimate reality of Lord alone is real – everything else, the duality that we perceive, is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord. The duality is only names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord even as various gold ornaments are names and forms in gold. Since the Lord alone is present here, we are also nothing but the Lord alone of the nature of Consciousness. It is only ignorance which has caused us to think that we are different from the Lord and are in bondage. In fact, as Sankara propounds in his Brahma Sutra Bhashya, we are the nitya shuddha Buddha muktha atma (ever pure, ever enlightened, ever liberated Self). We seem to have forgotten our own very nature of Lord – the same blissful Lord whom we experience during the state of deep sleep. Scriptural study as well as listening to the glories of the Lord all help in contemplation or nidhidhyaasana which is the way to realizing our own nature of Lord through removal of ignorance or avidya. When we always contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord and see the Lord alone present as/in everything, we get rid of the dual notions of the mind. When the dual notions of the mind are removed, we realize that the duality is a mere superimposition on the non-dual reality of Lord. When we realize that duality is a mere illusion, we come to know our own very nature of non-dual Lord thereby ever rejoicing in the eternal bliss which is our very nature. This is what Vedanta calls as moksha and what we all are seeking (eternal bliss).

Remembering the ultimate reality of Lord as the one and only real entity present, let us get into the next story of the churning of the ocean. In this story, we learn symbolically as to how to get amritam or eternality in the world. Amritam couldn’t have achieved just by devas alone but only with the help of asuras, the devas got amritam. Amritam here signifies eternality or realization or moksha. Moksha is not possible just with devas or good qualities alone. We need to transcend both good and bad qualities by becoming a mere witness to all qualities and activities. Until we are averted towards bad qualities, we still are attached to the bad qualities in the form of aversion. This aversion itself causes a negative attachment. So long as we are attached to things in the world (whether they are qualities or objects), we will not be able to realize the ultimate reality of Lord as the witness of illusory good and bad qualities. Good and bad are creations of the mind. A seeker needs to transcend both good and bad in order to become a mere witness to both of those. As long as good is there, bad also will be there. Both are mutual and one cannot remain without the other. If a seeker wishes to get rid of all attachments, he needs to go beyond attachment and aversion by becoming a mere witness to everything. This witness-hood is achieved through knowledge of one’s nature as a mere witness. Witness-hood is also achieved easily through devotion wherein everything is seen as the Lord alone – thus there is nothing to get attached or averted – there is no good or bad but the Lord alone exists, one without a second. Thus the devotee very easily transcends good and bad by knowing them as mere illusions in the Lord.

This story of the churning of the ocean has many imports to be learned and implemented in life. We will start the story from the next day.

Durvasa once gave a maala made out of the flowers of kalpakavriksha from devaloka to Devendra. Since Indra was traveling in Airavatha therefore he kept the maala on the head of airavatha and started tying up his air. Not able to withstand the trouble given by bugs attracted to the maala kept on its head, airavatha took the maala and threw it on the floor. Seeing himself insulted by throwing of the maala, Durvasa cursed all devas including Indra. The curse was that let the aishwarya of devas be lost. Thereby devas began suffering due to sickness and aging. They thus got together and took shelter unto Brahma. Brahma then took them to Vishnu.

Explanation

We find here Bhagavatham emphasizing a couple of things – one that we have to be very careful about our own activities as well as the activities of our subordinates or whoever is being controlled by us. The second thing is that whatever happens, we have to take refuge in the ultimate reality of Lord. It is better if we seek the Lord during good times instead of bad times which would be tough indeed to remember the Lord as our mind will be sad during bad times.

Durvasa was one of the saints who were known for getting angry soon. Most of the case, he used to get angry because of some valid reason. We shouldn’t really judge these saints by their activities. Still it is bad to get angry at a thing which is a sign of uncontrolled mind. It is the same anger which almost cost Durvasa his life when he became angry with Ambariksha, a realized jeevan muktha who was protected by none other than the Lord. Here in this story we find Bhagavatham emphasizing on the various activites done by a seeker. As different saints mention, the law of karma is so strong that no one can overcome it. The law of karma can be overcome only through knowledge as the Lord propounds in Gita that karma is totally removed through knowledge of the ultimate reality of Lord. The law of karma is mentioned by the Lord as eternal from the empirical view. Even the trinities of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva cannot overcome the law of karma. We find in the puranas the mention of many brahmas, vishnus and sivas convening together. We also find mentioned in the hanuma ashtottara shata naamavali that he will be the next brahma. We can consider Brahma, Vishnu and Siva as mere positions like we have in current day politics. As the current day prime minister has to resign when the next minister comes, similar is the case with the trinities as well. The more good karmas a person does, he becomes eligible for better fruits like svarga etc. The more bad karmas a person does, the more lower he goes (into the lower worlds like paathala etc.).

Until a person gets knowledge about the ultimate reality of Lord which alone can remove all bondages of karma, a seeker should ensure that he does good actions most of the time. If possible, a seeker should always offer all activities unto the Lord as an offering and do it without any sense of doership. If a person does activities being attached to the activity as the doer, he will be affected by the outcome of the activity as such. It is this that we find in this particular story. The activity of airavatha was not proper as it was insulting the sage durvasa and his gift to Indra. This activity done wrongly led the entire devas into trouble. As the wrong activity of airavatha led Durvasa to curse all the devas, similarly one bad activity from our side will lead the entire family and clan into bad fruits. Thus a seeker should always try to be aware of the activities that he is doing. He should always analyze the activities before doing them – think twice before doing any activity. The couple of questions to be asked before doing any activity are: will someone benefit from the activity and will the activity harm anyone in anyway. These questions are not out of selfish motive but for the welfare of the entire world. It is for this reason that during the chaturmaasya (the four months of rainy season), saints stay in a particular place (not roaming) lest they may kill some small creatures while walking. All our activities should be done keeping in mind the welfare of the world. When we do activities having a broad mind, our mind expands – such a mind becomes eligible enough to apprehend the Lord who is present in all the objects of the world. If a seeker doesn’t do his activities properly, it will lead him to all sorts of trouble.

All these limitations of actions are valid as long as the sense of doership is there. For a devotee who offers all activities unto the Lord & the jnaani who does activities as a mere witness, the activities and the fruits do not affect. For the bhaktha, the fruits of the activities are only blessings of the Lord whereas for the jnaani, the fruits are for the ego alone and not the Self with which the jnaani is associated. The attitude of a bhaktha is very easy. All seekers should strive to have this attitude. As the saying goes “everything happens for the best”, even if something wrong is done & bad fruits are achieved, they are for the good only. The bad fruits help in gaining more confidence on the Lord & seeking the Lord with full fervor. Even a curse is nothing but the grace of the Lord only. This is illustrated by the oft-quoted story by AMMA thus:

Once a king and his minister were going through a forest. All of a sudden, an accident happened & the king’s hand was injured and started bleeding. At that time, the minister replied saying that “everything is for the good”. The king didn’t like this & ordered the minister to be put in jail. The king continued and lost track of his soldiers. All of a sudden some tribal folks caught the king and were planning to make a dish out of him. They did all preparations for the same. They had to remove all the dress of the king for burning him. At that time, they found that there was a bruise in his hand. As per tradition, they were not supposed to take a person who had bruises – hence they took the king back to his kingdom safely. After reaching the kingdom, the king went running to the minister & hugged him after releasing him from the jail. The king then realized the minister’s statement that “everything happens for the best”.

Thus a seeker should always do activities without getting attached to the fruits. If something good happens, the devotee should take it as the grace of the Lord. If something bad happens, he should take it as the will of the Lord.

We will continue with the story the next day.

Bhagavatham is the purana which is filled with knowledge of the ultimate reality of Brahman or Lord in each and every story. All the various stories of the puranas are meant to create sense of devotion and attachment towards the ultimate reality of Lord. The scriptures clearly point out that knowing the ultimate reality of Lord alone is the sole way to eternal bliss or moksha characterized by complete cessation of sorrow. Knowledge of the ultimate reality of Lord is synonymous with pure devotion to the ultimate reality of Lord. Mere devotion without knowledge leads to duality notion of oneself being different from the Lord. Knowledge without devotion leads to development and nourishing of the ego or ahamkaara eradication of which is essential for realization. Thus a seeker cannot do without either knowledge or devotion. AMMA mentions that knowledge without devotion is like a hard stone which cannot melt. Knowledge helps to strengthen the intellect whereas devotion helps to open and develop the heart. Once both are perfectly developed and strengthened, the seeker merely merges into the ultimate reality of Lord knowing the Lord as the one and only non-dual reality in the illusory world. The various stories of Srimad Bhagavatham help in developing devotion to the Lord who is all-pervading and the only real entity known as Brahman.

This particular story of Gajendra primarily points out that devotion to the Lord is essential for a seeker to come out of the bondages of the world. As long as a seeker is entangled in sensual pleasures, he will not be able to seek the ultimate reality of Lord. Even as the pig finds filth as heaven, a seeker also finds the various sensual pleasures of the world as heaven. But the sensual pleasures of the world will lead a person to sorrow and sufferings alone. Only when sorrows and troubles arise in our lives, will we be able to get away from the attachment to sensual pleasures. It is for this reason that Kunti Devi asked the Lord to give her troubles at all times so that she will not forget the Lord. Gajendra thus was immersed in sensual pleasures and hence forgot the Lord. We also learn from this story that once a person gains knowledge and devotion to the Lord, he might fall back to sensual pleasures but still will be made to come back to knowledge by none other than the Lord. Gajendra had taken the particular form because of a curse – before which he was immersed in devotion of the Lord.

Any sensual pleasure might seem attractive and giving happiness in the beginning but it will only lead to sorrow in the long run. Gajendra was thus caught by the crocodile while he was happily immersed in sensual pleasures. Once we enter into any sort of troubles, we will remember the Lord. This is what happened with Gajendra as well. Once Gajendra was caught by the crocodile, he remembered the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus came out of the mouth of Gajendra, the beautiful explanations about the Lord in the form of a sthuthi. When a seeker realizes the glory of the ever present reality of Lord, he develops pure devotion and knowledge towards the Lord that he cannot speak anything apart from the Lord. We find Sri Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi among other saints always speaking about the ultimate reality of Lord alone. These saints are ever immersed in the ocean of amrita or Lord so that they cannot speak anything apart from the Lord even as the worldly people immersed in the ocean of samsaara cannot speak anything apart from worldly sensual pleasures. Thus we find Gajendra speaking about the ultimate reality of Lord – this sthuthi as we have been learning in the past days is filled with pure devotion and knowledge.

As explained earlier, pure devotion and knowledge are not different from one another. They are mutually contradictory. Both devotion and knowledge go together only. Wherever there is one, there will be the other as well. Wherever there is no devotion, there will be lack of knowledge as well.

These various stuthis help in putting forth the truth that the ultimate reality of Lord alone is real and everything apart from the Lord is only an illusion in the reality of Lord. The world that we perceive is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord. If we remove the Lord from the world, there will be no world at all. This is because the world has come from the Lord, is situated in the Lord and merges unto the Lord at the time of destruction. Thus the world is only an illusion in the Lord – therefore whatever is really present is the Lord alone, one without a second. Realization of one’s own very nature of Lord is the very aim of human life as this alone can lead to complete cessation of sorrow and eternal bliss, that bliss which we all are searching each and every moment. Realization of the Lord is only possible through constant contemplation of the Lord. Constant contemplation is remembrance of the Lord as the one and only non-dual reality of Consciousness and having pure devotion towards such a Lord. When a seeker develops pure devotion to the Lord, the illusory world vanishes & the seeker realizes his own very nature of the ultimate reality of Lord. He then realizes that there is nothing apart from the Lord here and that he himself is none other than the Lord alone. This is what Vedanta calls as moksha or liberation. It is this moksha which is the fruit of learning the various stories of Srimad Bhagavatham through developing devotion and knowledge of the ultimate reality of Lord thereby being ever immersed in the thought of the Lord.

We will continue with the next story in Srimad Bhagavatham from the next day.

Brahman of Vedanta, an analysis

Each and every person in the world irrespective of caste, creed etc. are seeking one and the same goal alone. A youth wants a love; a child wants some toys; a husband wants his wife; a mother wants her child; a professional wants good work and money; if we see from the outer perspective, the final goal of each person might seem to be different and distinct. But if we analyze this a bit deeper, we will realize that everyone is searching the same goal alone. The goal which we all are searching is ETERNAL BLISS. Eternal bliss is happiness which is everlasting and infinite. It is happiness qualified by complete cessation of sorrow that everyone is searching in wife, children, toys, money etc. We are thus searching for happiness alone in the worldly objects.

The world is ever changing and temporary. Sankara explains the world as so uncertain like the water in a lotus leaf. One moment the water will be in the lotus leaf and the next moment it will fall down. Similarly the world is full of uncertainty. This moment we see our friend and the next moment he passes away. This moment we see the house in which we are staying and the next moment it vanishes either through tsunami or a terrorist attack. We have to understand the temporary nature of the world. As the world is temporary and ever changing, it cannot give us eternal bliss. Eternal bliss can be achieved only from a permanent changeless entity. Such a permanent and changeless entity is mentioned in Vedanta as Brahman. The word Brahman means that which is huge and that which is seen as the world. Brahman is the ultimate reality of Consciousness from which the world comes, in which the world is situated and unto which the world merges at the time of destruction. Thus the world is only a mere illusion of names and forms in the reality of Brahman. Since Brahman alone is perfect, infinite, changeless and blissful, we can get eternal bliss only by realization of Brahman.

Brahman mentioned in the scriptures is mentioned in the puranas as Bhagavan or Ishwara or Lord. Brahman is of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss (Sat, Chit, Ananda). The scriptures proclaim that Brahman is not different from our own very nature of Consciousness but the real “I” in each one of us is Brahman alone. This seemingly limited individualistic “I” is called Self. The Self is not different from Brahman but the same alone.

All efforts towards eternal bliss can be achieved only through realization of our own nature of Brahman or the identity of Self and Brahman. It is towards this that all scriptures including the puranas proceed. If we forget the import of all scriptures as realization of the ultimate reality of Brahman as one’s own nature, then the scriptures become futile. Scriptures are the mirrors through which we can see our own very nature of Lord. But if we tend to get lost in either the intellectual arguments of the Upanishads or the mysterious stories of the puranas, we will not be able to realize the ultimate reality of Lord thereby unable to get eternal bliss. Such people who follow the path of spirituality but fall down are termed by the Lord as yoga bhrastas in the Gita (bhrasta means one who has fallen off or forgotten). As various scriptures point out that human life is very rare indeed because only humans are endowed with discriminating intellect to seek the Lord amidst illusory and attractive sensual pleasures of the world, we shouldn’t waste this birth by forgetting the ultimate reality of Lord.

It isn’t enough to merely listen the stories of Bhagavatham and being wonder-stuck; after that going home and doing the same old eating-drinking-sleeping activities like an animal. We should be able to imbibe the teachings in the scriptures which is realization of the ultimate reality of Lord through constant contemplation or nidhidhyaasana with the knowledge that whatever is present is the Lord alone, one without a second. This is what is the main import or real fruit of learning the stories of Srimad Bhagavatham. We have been repeatedly emphasizing on this in between each and every story of Bhagavatham. Emphasizing is really important because it is very easy to get lost in the story which seems really attracting and magical indeed. The mind is such that it gets lost into anything apart from the reality – thus we have to again and again remember the import of the stories of Srimad Bhagavatham as the ultimate reality of non-dual Brahman so that we are not lost and follow the right path to realization of one’s own nature of Brahman.

As we have been learning, each and every story of Srimad Bhagavatham is filled with the ultimate reality of Lord. Some stories point out the path to be followed to realize the Lord, some point out the path not to be followed and others point out the nature/characteristics of the Lord through beautiful explanation as we saw in the story of Gajendra.

All these stories are meant to develop pure devotion towards the ultimate reality of Lord knowing the Lord as the one and only real entity as the substratum of the illusory world. The world is an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. Instead of going after the temporary worldly objects, a seeker should seek the ultimate reality of Lord through constant contemplation of the Lord. Each and every moment, whatever is being done should be done as an offering to the Lord remembering the Lord alone as the real entity amidst the illusory objects of the world. Such a seeker who always remembers the Lord and does all activities will soon get rid of the illusory bondages thereby realizing his own very nature of Lord. This is what is termed in the Vedanta as moksha or liberation or realization of one’s own nature of lord. After realization, a seeker will ever be immersed in eternal bliss which is his own very nature. It is this bliss that we all are seeking each and every moment – it can be achieved only through realization of the Lord through learning of the stories of Srimad Bhagavatham without forgetting the import of the ultimate reality of Lord.

Remembering the import of ultimate reality of Lord, we will start with the next story of Srimad Bhagavatham from the next day.