Monday, March 05, 2007

Story 41 – Story of Saubhari Muni – 07

Summary

We saw in this story of Srimad Bhagavatham as to where will a seeker be lead if there are desires in his mind and he goes after the desires. There will be no end to desires if we try to fulfill them without knowledge and contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord. Instead if we fulfill those desires into actions and fruits with remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord (and the knowledge that there is nothing here but the Lord alone), then we will not be bound by the desires. Life will become beautiful and blissful though there will still be sufferings, problems etc. The problems that a mother faces with her child when the child is naughty and playful are not problems in the eyes of the mother. Though we all face problems in dream, we never consider them as problems after waking up. An actor acting in a play doesn’t consider the problems that his character undergoes as problems; instead those are also blissful for the actor because internally he will always know that “I am not this character”. Similarly when a seeker is ever contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord knowing that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists and everything else is only an illusion of names-forms in the Lord, the seeker will not be affected by problems at the empirical level.

The problems that the seeker faces will be seen as nothing but activities in an illusory world. With this attitude of remembrance of the Lord and knowledge about the reality of the illusory world, we will be always happy and peaceful. Though externally we may act as if we are angry or attached, internally we will be always blissful. Sankara and yoga vasistha explains this beautifully through an analogy; such a seeker will externally be acting in the world whereas internally he will be stern and steady like the Meru Parvatha (mountain) – a seeker will be going through waves of thoughts but internally steady and thoughtless like the bottom of the ocean.

Finally what matters to a seeker is not whether he has learnt the entire scriptures or got a vision of the Lord or developed supreme devotion to the Lord; what matters is whether the seeker has got bliss and he is content, peaceful and satisfied. This bliss or contentment or satisfaction is what Vedanta calls as moksha – the ultimate goal of all beings irrespective of caste, creed etc. It doesn’t really matter whether we know the Bhagavatham or the Bhagavad Gita but it matters whether we are really happy and content. A person who would have learnt the entire scriptures but still is unhappy about things around him is surely in bondage – he hasn’t achieved that by achieving which there remains nothing else to be achieved. The very aim of scriptural study of Bhagavatham learning is eternal bliss. This eternal bliss is not something different from our very nature but it is our very nature of Lord. As long as we don’t realize our nature of Lord, we will be seeking bliss. But when we know that there is nothing here apart from the Lord and that “I am the Lord” through constant contemplation on the non-dual reality of Lord, we will be ever blissful – at that time, all seeking will end and there will be bliss, bliss and bliss alone.

If we don’t remember the ultimate reality of Lord who alone exists, we will be lead into the vicious circle of desires and actions. This circle will only give us sorrow because never will these end as we will still be seeking something or the other. Seeking will end only when we realize the ultimate reality of Lord knowing which nothing remains to be known or sought. Therefore a seeker has to constantly remember the Lord while desiring anything or doing any activities. What is important is remembrance of the Lord and not the activity that we are doing. Even if the activity is purely worldly, still if the thought of the Lord is associated with it – that action will lead to realization of the ultimate reality of Lord and the seeker will not be bound by the action.

Though initially Saubhari didn’t have any possession yet desire lead him into the ocean of samsaara because he didn’t remember the ultimate reality of Lord. But later he realized his mistake; then though he was living with his family of 500 people (including wives and children), he was realized and unbound because of the thought of the ultimate reality of Lord.

Therefore Bhagavatham through this story is telling us that desires are not by themselves binding but if they aren’t associated with thought of the Lord, then they will surely bind the seeker and lead him into the ocean of delusion. Hence a seeker should always remember the ultimate reality of lord and do all actions as an offering to the Lord; in this way, though there may be desires or actions, the seeker will ever be unbound by those and be rejoicing in the bliss inherent in the Self.

We will start the next story of Bhagavatham in the next day.

Focusing on the ultimate reality

We just finished a story in Srimad Bhagavatham. Before entering into the next story, we need to focus ourselves back onto the reality and remember that the ultimate reality of Lord is the main import of the stories of Srimad Bhagavatham.

As long as we don’t remember the ultimate reality of Lord, learning of the stories of Bhagavatham will not do us any help. We all irrespective of any limitations of caste, creed etc. are seeking the ultimate reality of Lord in the form of eternal bliss. We all are searching bliss in the external world each moment of our lives. It is only because we don’t get bliss that we go on seeking it again and again. This seeking never ends because we are seeking the Lord in the temporary world. This is like seeking water in the desert. There is no water and hence we will never get water in the desert.

The Lord cannot be found in the temporary world because the world is changing whereas the Lord is eternal and changeless. The Lord is not the world but he is the substratum of the illusory world composed of names and forms. The moment we split through the names-forms, we will realize the ultimate reality of Lord as the underlying substratum of the world and that the Lord alone exists, one without a second.

As long as we don’t know the underlying substratum, we will be deluded in the names-forms of the world. Thus we will keep on searching the eternal Lord in the changing names-forms. The various stories of Bhagavatham speak about names-forms but indirectly pointing out the substratum of Lord. As long as we don’t remember the substratum of Lord, we will be deluded into the names-forms of the stories. It is such people who try to analyze as to whether Siva is great or Vishnu is great; whether Vishnu did save a person from maya or is Vishnu capable of giving realization to a person. A wise person who knows the world to be an illusion and that the Lord alone exists will never get deluded into such arguments and thoughts. Instead he will always remember that the Lord alone exists. Such a person will remember and be focused on the reality of Lord even while learning the illusory stories of Bhagavatham.

Are the stories illusory???
Yes, everything apart from the Lord is an illusion. The Lord alone is real. Therefore even the stories of Bhagavatham and even Bhagavatham itself is only an illusion in the Lord. These stories and puranas are only meant to take us away from the delusion of samsaara and lead us to the ultimate reality of Lord. Even as the dream lion in dream makes a dreaming person to wake up, similarly the stories in the puranas and scriptures (though they are also illusory) help us in waking up from this long dream of illusory waking world.

This waking up alone can give us eternal bliss – that which we have been seeking each and every moment in our life. There is no other way than constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord in order to overcome the delusion of samsaara and rejoice in eternal bliss which is our very nature of Lord. It is thus very important that we don’t get deluded into the illusory names-forms in the story forgetting the ultimate reality of Lord. Such a study will be as useless as other worldly activities and will not lead us out of the bondage in the world. In order for us to get the real benefit of realization out of study of the stories of Bhagavatham, we need to always remember the ultimate reality of Lord as the main import of the stories. We have to remember the Lord while learning the story and be ever focused on the Lord. Before we start the next story, let us pray to the Lord that we be focused on the ultimate reality of Lord and not get deluded into the illusory names-forms so that we will realize our very nature of non-dual Lord.

We will start the next story from the next day.

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