Srimad Bhagavatham

Everything that is seen is an illusion in the reality of Lord (also termed as Brahman in the Upanishads). The Lord is the supreme cause of all beings that seem to be present. The Lord is of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. This Lord alone is to be sought by seekers of eternal bliss.

Any person who contemplates on the ultimate reality of Lord from this moment, he will definitely cross over the ocean of samsaara; for such a person, even the pleasures of svarga are tuccha or useless for he is ever immersed in eternal bliss inherent in the Lord.

Explanation

We come to the end of this short story of Srimad Bhagavatham. Bhagavatham through the words of Veda Vyaasa who winds up this topic by propounding about the ultimate reality of Lord and mentioning that any person who follows the path of contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord based on mental reflection will be ever immersed in eternal bliss.

The ultimate goal of all beings is eternal and ever-lasting bliss – happiness that stays forever. It is this eternal bliss that we have been seeking throughout our lives and this search has spanned many births. This search continues on and on until we direct our search towards the ultimate reality of Lord who is our very nature of Consciousness. Bhagavatham here thus says that by realizing the Lord alone will a person become satisfied and content with life. Such a person alone can claim to be ever blissful and unaffected whatever be the situation. Even when there are sorrows and when the entire world is about to be destroyed, such a realized saint alone will be unaffected and smiling. This attitude of being ever blissful is the highlight of the avatar of Krishna. Bhagavatham itself speaks about Krishna as the Lord himself (krishnaastu svayam bhagavaan). Krishna’s avatar is considered as a purna avatar or full descent for the same reason. Krishna was surrounded fully by sorrows and sufferings alone. The birth itself was in a prison and his parents had to struggle while giving birth to him – it didn’t stop there, the children who were born along with Krishna were killed by Kamsa. Once kamsa was killed by Krishna, still the sufferings didn’t end. Krishna who was tied up with Pandavas (as a relative of them) gave nothing but sorrow to them. Pandavas had to spend years in exile and fight for their own very right even though Krishna was with them. When the war of Mahabharatha ended, the yadavas started fighting amongst themselves in intoxication of liquor. Krishna had to see all his fellow-beings including his many children die in the fight. But amidst all these, he was ever blissful and smiling. It was as if there was nothing happening in the world. When Uddhava at that moment asked Krishna to advise him, Krishna explained in depth knowledge which is now found as the Uddhava Gita. And finally when the hunter hit him with an arrow thinking him to be a bird, Krishna happily left his mortal coil.

Thus in each and every activity of Krishna, we find him to be fully immersed in the ultimate reality. Never, not even for a second, was Krishna affected by the situations. He himself was blissful and imparted this bliss to those whoever came to him. This attitude of being blissful always is possible only when a seeker realizes that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists; and that the world is nothing but an illusory dream going on in the substratum of Lord. Such a seeker will be a mere witness to the illusory activities going on in the world.

Thus knowledge that the Lord alone exists and contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord alone will lead us from sorrows and make us ever blissful – giving us the happiness that we have been seeking and are seeking.

Once a person tastes this bliss through a glimpse while contemplating on the Lord, then all other pleasures will seem to be futile. Everything apart from the Lord will consider equal to mud and clay. This is how Khatvaanga through reflection came to be ever immersed in the Lord – this in turn lead him not to get attracted to the pleasures of heaven and reject the pleasures that was offered by the Devas. We all have the abundant bliss inherent in us but we just have to constantly contemplate on the Lord and open this treasure in our heart. This alone can give us eternal bliss.

With this we come to the end of this story. We will summarize the story in the next day and then start with the next story of Srimad Bhagavatham.