Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Story 40 – Story of Ambariksha - 1
The next story that we are going to go through in Srimad Bhagavatham is the story of King Ambariksha. This story is quite popular and many of us would already know the story. We have also touched upon the story while dealing with other stories. This story is one different and important story in that it portrays as to how a jeevan muktha will be living in the world doing all actions as if he is a worldly person though ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord.
The Lord mentions to Arjuna as to how to live in the world doing actions though ever being immersed in the ultimate reality thus:
Sakthaa karmani avidvaansah yathaa kurvanthi bhaaratha
Kuryaad vidvaansasthatha aasakthah chikeershur loka sangraham
As an attached worldly person does activities being attached to worldly objects, similarly a learned wise person should perform activities but unattached to worldly objects and for the welfare of the world.
So long as a person sees the world or considers the world as existing, he should do activities without being attached to them and as welfare of the world. For a jnaani there is no world at all because he knows that there is nothing apart from the ultimate reality of Lord – he knows that the duality that is perceived is only an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. A seeker who knows that there is nothing apart from the Lord but hasn’t yet experienced this ultimate reality of non-dual Lord should do actions considering that they are for the welfare of the world. Actions can be performed only when duality is considered as existing – thus the person who sees duality should do actions for the welfare of the world.
We find in Janaka and Ambariksha such jnaanis who were ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord all the while performing activities for the welfare of the world. We recently learnt the story of Mahaabali where he was performing yajnas for the welfare of the world though he knew that there is nothing apart from the ultimate reality of Lord. This way of explaining that the activities of a realized saint are for the welfare of the world is only for the ignorant seeker who is asking the question. The ignorant seeker will not be able to understand and apprehend the state of the jnaani who is ever immersed in the non-dual reality of Lord thereby doing no actions (as there is nothing apart from the Lord for the jnaani). Therefore to pacify the seeker, the explanation given is that the realized saints do activities for the welfare of the world – many saints have explained that the very presence of a realized saint is beneficial to the world because bliss and peace emanate from such a saint. We all can feel the bliss and peace if we go and sit in the hall in Ramana Ashram, Tiruvannamalai where Ramana used to stay even though Ramana’s physical presence is not there now – so what to speak about going to saints who are living in physical body amongst us???
Thus the Lord propounded that “abhitho brahma nirvaanam varthathe viditha aatmanaam” – bliss emanates from a person who has realized the ultimate reality of Lord.
We find in this story another jeevan muktha in the form of Ambariksha – doing all activities but ever being immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord. We also find that the Lord protects such jnaanis though they don’t require any protection – for a person who knows that there is nothing apart from the Lord, what protection is required and from whom is protection required? But at the empirical level, the Lord is ever there to protect such a jnaani because the Lord is servant of such realized saints as we found in the story of Mahaabali. Thus we find an angered non-realized yogi of Durvasa conflicting with Ambariksha in this story – Ambariksha on the other hand was ever blissful as he was ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord. But when Durvasa tries to harm Ambariksha, the Lord protects Ambariksha through his sudarshana chakra which then goes behind Durvasa to kill him – Durvasa finally gets back to Ambariksha who being ever blissful forgets everything and saves him. We will see the story in the days to come.
As of now, we can know for sure that the Lord is ever there to protect the devotees who have surrendered to the ultimate reality of Lord and are always immersed in the thought of non-dual Lord. Thus we have to strive to be such a devotee so that the Lord is there ever to protect us from worldly troubles and lead us to eternal bliss – that which we all are seeking each and every moment.
We will start the story in the next day.
Let us all try to be real devotees of the Lord so that the Lord is there ever to protect us from worldly troubles and leads us to eternal bliss.
Ambariksha was the son of Naabaaga who was in the clan of Vaivasvatha Manu. He was a Brahmanista who was ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord. Therefore even the curse of Durvaasa couldn’t affect him. Though he had all the aishwarya at his mercy but still he considered them as similar to dream entities. He who had realized the advaita vasthu considered everything else as a mere illusion in the advaita vasthu. He knew that the entities of the world and the happiness derived from the objects in the world will lead only to darkness of ignorance (and thereby to sorrows and sufferings).
Ambariksha had knew and realized that the Lord and the jnaanis alone were real in the illusory world. Therefore he considered the jada drishyas (the insentient entities of the world) similar to pieces of mud.
Explanation
Who is a brahmanista???
A person who is established in the ultimate reality of Brahman or Lord is called Brahmanista – other words for such a person is jeevan muktha, jnaani etc.
Merely remembering the Lord alone is not jeevan mukthi – jeevan mukthi is when the seeker knows that there is nothing apart from the Lord. The jeevan muktha knows that the duality that is perceived in the world is merely an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. As a person who has woken up from dream doesn’t consider the objects in the dream seriously, similarly a person who has realized the ultimate reality of Lord doesn’t consider the objects of the world seriously. Such a person considers the worldly objects & the pleasure derived from worldly objects similar to mud pieces – as any person is not interested in mud pieces, such a jnaani is not at all interested in worldly pleasures. Once a person gets eternal bliss, why would he go behind worldly objects that can give only temporary happiness??? As the Upanishads ask “aaptakaamasya kaa spriha” – what desire can a person whose all desires have been satisfied by realization of the ultimate reality of Lord have???
There are only two entities in the world when we analyze it clearly – one is the ultimate reality of Consciousness which is sentient and can feel its own existence. The other is the insentient entities of the world starting from the objects, bodies, minds, intellects etc. – these cannot experience their own existence but depends on illumination of Consciousness for their existence. These entities are thereby called jada or insentient because they cannot experience their own existence. The monitor in front of us doesn’t have any existence of its own – it gets its existence only when the light of Consciousness falls upon it & “I” recognize it as existent.
The insentient entities which are dependent on Consciousness for their existence are mere illusions of names and forms in the reality of independent Consciousness. The Lord is termed in the scriptures as Consciousness. The saints who have realized the ultimate reality of Lord as their very nature of Consciousness are none other than the Lord – thus the Lord and jnaanis alone are real amidst the illusory entities of the world. When Bhagavatham says this, it doesn’t mean to say that the Lord and jnaanis are different from each other but they are one and the same Consciousness – hence they both are real. There is nothing real apart from Consciousness because Consciousness alone is self-existent thereby existing beyond time.
Once a person realizes this that the ultimate reality of Lord which is the same as one’s own nature of Consciousness alone is real, then he stops seeking pleasure from the illusory world. Sorrows and sufferings are caused only when the seeker considers the world as real and seeks pleasure from the world. Thus a seeker who has realized the reality of the Lord alone and everything else to be unreal will be ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord. At the empirical level, he might be doing actions and activities like an ignorant worldly person – but internally he is ever immersed in the knowledge that there is nothing here but the ultimate reality of Lord, one without a second.
We will see this state of the jnaani through the interaction between durvaasa and Ambariksha in the coming days.
The Lord mentions to Arjuna as to how to live in the world doing actions though ever being immersed in the ultimate reality thus:
Sakthaa karmani avidvaansah yathaa kurvanthi bhaaratha
Kuryaad vidvaansasthatha aasakthah chikeershur loka sangraham
As an attached worldly person does activities being attached to worldly objects, similarly a learned wise person should perform activities but unattached to worldly objects and for the welfare of the world.
So long as a person sees the world or considers the world as existing, he should do activities without being attached to them and as welfare of the world. For a jnaani there is no world at all because he knows that there is nothing apart from the ultimate reality of Lord – he knows that the duality that is perceived is only an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. A seeker who knows that there is nothing apart from the Lord but hasn’t yet experienced this ultimate reality of non-dual Lord should do actions considering that they are for the welfare of the world. Actions can be performed only when duality is considered as existing – thus the person who sees duality should do actions for the welfare of the world.
We find in Janaka and Ambariksha such jnaanis who were ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord all the while performing activities for the welfare of the world. We recently learnt the story of Mahaabali where he was performing yajnas for the welfare of the world though he knew that there is nothing apart from the ultimate reality of Lord. This way of explaining that the activities of a realized saint are for the welfare of the world is only for the ignorant seeker who is asking the question. The ignorant seeker will not be able to understand and apprehend the state of the jnaani who is ever immersed in the non-dual reality of Lord thereby doing no actions (as there is nothing apart from the Lord for the jnaani). Therefore to pacify the seeker, the explanation given is that the realized saints do activities for the welfare of the world – many saints have explained that the very presence of a realized saint is beneficial to the world because bliss and peace emanate from such a saint. We all can feel the bliss and peace if we go and sit in the hall in Ramana Ashram, Tiruvannamalai where Ramana used to stay even though Ramana’s physical presence is not there now – so what to speak about going to saints who are living in physical body amongst us???
Thus the Lord propounded that “abhitho brahma nirvaanam varthathe viditha aatmanaam” – bliss emanates from a person who has realized the ultimate reality of Lord.
We find in this story another jeevan muktha in the form of Ambariksha – doing all activities but ever being immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord. We also find that the Lord protects such jnaanis though they don’t require any protection – for a person who knows that there is nothing apart from the Lord, what protection is required and from whom is protection required? But at the empirical level, the Lord is ever there to protect such a jnaani because the Lord is servant of such realized saints as we found in the story of Mahaabali. Thus we find an angered non-realized yogi of Durvasa conflicting with Ambariksha in this story – Ambariksha on the other hand was ever blissful as he was ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord. But when Durvasa tries to harm Ambariksha, the Lord protects Ambariksha through his sudarshana chakra which then goes behind Durvasa to kill him – Durvasa finally gets back to Ambariksha who being ever blissful forgets everything and saves him. We will see the story in the days to come.
As of now, we can know for sure that the Lord is ever there to protect the devotees who have surrendered to the ultimate reality of Lord and are always immersed in the thought of non-dual Lord. Thus we have to strive to be such a devotee so that the Lord is there ever to protect us from worldly troubles and lead us to eternal bliss – that which we all are seeking each and every moment.
We will start the story in the next day.
Let us all try to be real devotees of the Lord so that the Lord is there ever to protect us from worldly troubles and leads us to eternal bliss.
Ambariksha was the son of Naabaaga who was in the clan of Vaivasvatha Manu. He was a Brahmanista who was ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord. Therefore even the curse of Durvaasa couldn’t affect him. Though he had all the aishwarya at his mercy but still he considered them as similar to dream entities. He who had realized the advaita vasthu considered everything else as a mere illusion in the advaita vasthu. He knew that the entities of the world and the happiness derived from the objects in the world will lead only to darkness of ignorance (and thereby to sorrows and sufferings).
Ambariksha had knew and realized that the Lord and the jnaanis alone were real in the illusory world. Therefore he considered the jada drishyas (the insentient entities of the world) similar to pieces of mud.
Explanation
Who is a brahmanista???
A person who is established in the ultimate reality of Brahman or Lord is called Brahmanista – other words for such a person is jeevan muktha, jnaani etc.
Merely remembering the Lord alone is not jeevan mukthi – jeevan mukthi is when the seeker knows that there is nothing apart from the Lord. The jeevan muktha knows that the duality that is perceived in the world is merely an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. As a person who has woken up from dream doesn’t consider the objects in the dream seriously, similarly a person who has realized the ultimate reality of Lord doesn’t consider the objects of the world seriously. Such a person considers the worldly objects & the pleasure derived from worldly objects similar to mud pieces – as any person is not interested in mud pieces, such a jnaani is not at all interested in worldly pleasures. Once a person gets eternal bliss, why would he go behind worldly objects that can give only temporary happiness??? As the Upanishads ask “aaptakaamasya kaa spriha” – what desire can a person whose all desires have been satisfied by realization of the ultimate reality of Lord have???
There are only two entities in the world when we analyze it clearly – one is the ultimate reality of Consciousness which is sentient and can feel its own existence. The other is the insentient entities of the world starting from the objects, bodies, minds, intellects etc. – these cannot experience their own existence but depends on illumination of Consciousness for their existence. These entities are thereby called jada or insentient because they cannot experience their own existence. The monitor in front of us doesn’t have any existence of its own – it gets its existence only when the light of Consciousness falls upon it & “I” recognize it as existent.
The insentient entities which are dependent on Consciousness for their existence are mere illusions of names and forms in the reality of independent Consciousness. The Lord is termed in the scriptures as Consciousness. The saints who have realized the ultimate reality of Lord as their very nature of Consciousness are none other than the Lord – thus the Lord and jnaanis alone are real amidst the illusory entities of the world. When Bhagavatham says this, it doesn’t mean to say that the Lord and jnaanis are different from each other but they are one and the same Consciousness – hence they both are real. There is nothing real apart from Consciousness because Consciousness alone is self-existent thereby existing beyond time.
Once a person realizes this that the ultimate reality of Lord which is the same as one’s own nature of Consciousness alone is real, then he stops seeking pleasure from the illusory world. Sorrows and sufferings are caused only when the seeker considers the world as real and seeks pleasure from the world. Thus a seeker who has realized the reality of the Lord alone and everything else to be unreal will be ever immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord. At the empirical level, he might be doing actions and activities like an ignorant worldly person – but internally he is ever immersed in the knowledge that there is nothing here but the ultimate reality of Lord, one without a second.
We will see this state of the jnaani through the interaction between durvaasa and Ambariksha in the coming days.
# posted by vedanta : 7:31 PM
