Srimad Bhagavatham

Introduction

Upon analysis, we find only two entities here - one is sentient Consciousness termed as Brahman or Lord and second is the insentient world consisting of illusions of names-forms. The insentient world is only an illusion in the reality of Lord. Thus whatever really exists is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord. The world thus is filled in and out by the ultimate reality of Lord. Constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord as the substratum and reality behind the illusory world alone will lead us to realize our nature of Lord. Realization of our very nature of non-dual Lord alone can give us eternal bliss - that which we have been seeking each and every moment in the illusory world.

If we forget the ultimate reality of non-dual Lord, then we will end up with illusory names and forms of the world. As any illusion will lead us only to sorrow and suffering, the moment we forget the ultimate reality of Lord we will end up with sorrow alone. Thus we have to remember to constantly remember the ultimate reality of Lord as the only real entity present here.

It is this Lord who is the main import of sruthi, smrithi and puranas. We find Puranas explaining about the ultimate reality of Lord through various stories so that we are able to easily remember the Lord through his illusory glories.

Are the glories of the Lord also illusory?

Anything apart from the Lord is an illusion. Thus the glory of the Lord which includes creation, protection etc. is also mere illusion in the Lord as the Lord alone exists, one without a second.

Remembering the non-dual Lord as the only reality and the import of all the stories of Srimad Bhagavatham, let us start with the next story of Srimad Bhagavatham. The story that we are going to discuss is the story of Rantideva. This story of Srimad Bhagavatham shows us that knowledge and intellectual conviction about the ultimate reality of Lord will make a person bold and strong enough to face anything and everything in the world. Such a person will neither fear anything nor crave for worldly pleasures. Such a person will be ever willing to part with whatever he has as possessions. This is possible only because he knows that the Lord alone exists and all other things are mere illusions in the Lord. This knowledge that the Lord alone exists will make him totally detached to worldly possessions include the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. All these basic needs are only for the body and not for the Self of the nature of Lord. The moment we realize our nature of Lord as distinct from the body, we will become detached to the body even as an actor is detached to the particular role he is playing in the drama. We all are playing our roles in this long drama of waking world. We may need to act accordingly as required by the role. It is foolishness to stay away from action saying that I don't need to do action. As the Lord proclaims in Gita, it is impossible to be without doing actions in this karma loka. We are bound to do actions. But we have the option of either getting attached to the action or being detached to the action. If we are detached to the action, then the outcome of the action will not affect us and we will be ever blissful. On the other hand, if we are attached to the action we will become either sad or happy depending on the outcome of the action. Such a person who is attached to action will have to do more and more action seeking eternal bliss in sensual pleasures. As we saw in the story of Yayati, there is no end to sensual pleasures. And hence such a person will be born again and again in the karma loka ever deluded in the ocean of samsaara. But the wise person realizing the futility of karma and knowing that the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists will be detached to everything including actions.

In this story, we find Rantideva totally detached to all possessions including his basic needs. We will see as to how he lived in the world in the next day.

Rantideva was a chakravarthi in the vamsha of Puru and was a daanaveera (known for his attitude of giving). The fame of Rantideva has spread not only here but also in Paraloka as well. Whatever was there with him and whatever he used to get, he used to give it to people seeking from him. He thus lived with the only possession of aakaasha (space).

Explanation

We have all heard about the giving nature of Karna who is very popular for it. But Karna was a total failure in the world as well as in spiritual life. We should remember that terming of qualities and character as either good or bad is not dependent on the quality in itself - instead it depends on the attitude behind such quality. It doesn't depend whether a person is doing good action or bad action - if the action is associated with the right attitude of remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord, then it is a good action; if the action is not associated with the right attitude, then it is a bad action. It doesn't matter whether the action is sandhya vandhanam or veda paarayana or even Vedantic study - if it is not associated with remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord, then it is a bad action.

What is bad action? What is the problem of doing bad actions?

Bad actions are those which aren't associated with remembrance of the reality of Lord. Such actions will lead us only to sorrow - since the goal of our life is nothing but eternal bliss, thus we have to always try to do good actions.

Though Dharmavyaadha of Mahabharatha was doing an adharmic activity of cutting and selling meat, still he was a jeevan muktha and was considered great by the Lord himself. This clearly shows that the attitude behind any action determines whether the action is good and will lead to eternal bliss or is bad and will lead to sorrow.

Though Karna was doing the action of giving everything to whoever sought it from him, still he wasn't doing a good action as there was no remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord. Moreover when we give emphasis to worldly relations instead of the truth, then it will lead us to our own destruction. This is what happened with Karna. He knew that Duryodhana was not doing the right thing by taking what was rightful for pandavas but still he was bound by the friendly relation with Duryodhana. There are many such people in the world who though know that certain things are bad and will lead only to sorrow, still do those actions because of bondage. What to call such people than FOOLS. Mahabharatha through the character of Karna tells us that it doesn't matter whether we give value to relations but it matters as to whether we are acting for the reality or not. If we aren't acting for the reality through constant remembrance of the Lord, we will end up in sorrow alone. Lord himself did many wrong actions in Mahabharatha including killing of Karna by Arjuna, killing of Drona etc. but still he was always immersed in the contemplation of Lord (as he was Lord himself). It is this knowledge that helped Krishna face all the hardships in his life with a smiling face and being able to give happiness to whoever came to him.

Here in this story we find in Rantideva another Karna but Rantideva was always contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord. The very remembrance of the Lord will make any action pure, sacred and blissful. As Bhagavatham mentions in many places, the very aim of life is to constantly remember the ultimate reality of Lord so that when our time to leave this mortal coil comes, we will be able to do it without any sorrow and crying. It will be as simple as an actor finishing his role in the play.

We will see as to how Rantideva was behaving in the world even during times of distress and sorrow in the coming days.

Summary

We have completed the story of Yayati as found in Srimad Bhagavatham. Let us today summarize the story so that we will be able to remember the main import of the story and implement it in our lives.

We found Yayati like most of the worldly people thinking that sensual pleasure will give us eternal bliss. It is this thought of ignorance which makes people go after worldly objects at all times. The maximum that a person is able to enjoy worldly pleasures is when he is in his youth. Thus we found Yayati craving for youth in order to enjoy sensual pleasures and satisfy himself. But in the end he realized the futility of sensual pleasures and that sensual pleasure will never lead a person to eternal bliss, peace, contentment and satisfaction. Sensual pleasures might seem to give us happiness but the happiness is short-lived and filled with sorrow. The more and more a person enjoys sensual pleasures, the craving only gets more and more. It is like drug addiction where a person thinks of ending his craving for drugs by intake of drugs but finally ends up unable to end up drugs and in utter distress. Thus we found Bhagavatham mentioning that if a person thinks of putting an end to desires by enjoying them, it is as good as trying to extinguish fire by pouring ghee. Even as fire cannot be extinguished by ghee, similarly desires cannot be ended by enjoying them. Desires can be fully eliminated only through the knowledge of unchanging substratum of Lord who is the underlying reality behind the illusory names and forms of the world.

It is only when we consider the temporary entities of the world as real that we crave for pleasures from them. The moment we realize the nature of the world to be temporary like water seen in desert, we will realize the sorrowful nature of the world. Even as a person doesn't put his hand into fire because fire will burn it, similarly a person who has realized the sorrowful nature of the world will never crave for sensual pleasures. Instead of craving of sensual pleasures, such a seeker will be always contemplating on the non-dual reality of Lord who alone exists here.

Once a person realizes the futility of sensual pleasures, he will be always remembering the reality that the world is nothing but an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord thereby constantly contemplating on his very nature of Lord. This constant contemplation will in turn remove the ignorance of his own nature which is veiled by the wrong notions of "I am body, I am mind etc.". Once a seeker realizes his very nature of blissful Lord, he ever rejoices in the bliss. When a person has realized the Lord and is rejoicing in bliss, there is nothing more to be satisfied in life. Thus such a person is ever content, ever happy, ever satisfied and ever peaceful. This is the one and only way to get eternal bliss seeking which we go after sensual pleasures.

Yayati after enjoying sensual pleasures for thousands of years, finally realized the futility of sensual pleasures and that they will never lead to peace and contentment. After repenting on his mistake of seeking worldly pleasures, he then contemplated on the ultimate reality of Lord thereby realizing his very nature of blissful Lord. Knowledge about the ultimate reality of Lord as the substratum of the illusory world is so strong that it not only helps oneself to get liberated from the bondages of the world but helps others as well to realize. Yayati's gaining of knowledge about the futility of worldly pleasures and blissful nature of the Lord not only helped him in realizing the Lord but helped his wife Devayani as well to realize the ultimate reality of Lord through constant contemplation of the Lord.

The ultimate reality of Lord

Before we enter into the next story of Srimad Bhagavatham, let us again focus ourselves on the ultimate reality of Lord who is the import of all the stories of Bhagavatham.

When we analyze the entities around us, we will come to just two entities alone - one is sentient Consciousness and the second is insentient objects. Vedanta terms as Chit and Jada or Drik and Drishya or Brahman and Naama-roopa. All these are synonyms for sentient entity and insentient sentities.

The sentient entity of Consciousness is not many but one alone. It is one Consciousness that is seen as many sentient beings in the world even as one Sun is reflected in water kept in various pots. The insentient entities are many depending on the various combinations of names and forms that are possible. Consciousness is independent whereas Jada is dependent on Consciousness for its existence. This is clearly known through the anvaya-vyatireka logic or logic of co-existence and co-absence.

Anvaya - If Consciousness is there, the world is there.
Vyatireka - If Consciousness is not there, the world of insentient entities is not there.

Thus Jada or the world in short is dependent on Consciousness. Even as the changing variable is dependent on the constant and hence variable is only an illusion in the constant, the world of names-forms is only an illusion in the reality of Consciousness. Thus Consciousness is real whereas the world is unreal. That which is not real is temporary and hence cannot give us eternal bliss. Eternal bliss is possible only from that entity which is eternal - since Consciousness alone is real, we can get bliss only from Consciousness. The temporary and changing world will only give us sorrow and suffering in the long run. It is dependency, attachment and considering the world to be real the cause of all our sorrows in life. If we understand the temporary nature of the world, we will not depend any more on the world and thereby get rid of sorrows. Once we know the world to be unreal, we will automatically be searching for the real entity which is the substratum of the illusory world. Seeking and realizing the ultimate reality of Consciousness alone will give us eternal bliss - that which we have been and are seeking each and every moment.

It is this Consciousness which is termed in the Upanishads as Brahman and in the puranas as Ishwara, Paramaatman, Lord etc.

Bhagavatham in the beginning itself speaks about this thus:

Vadanthi tat tattvavidhah tattvam yad jnaanam advayam
Brahmethi paramaatmethi bhagavaan ithi shabdhyathe

Knowers of the reality term that reality which is of the nature of non-dual knowledge (Consciousness) as Brahman, Paramatman, Bhagavan etc.

As mentioned earlier, Consciousness cannot be many but is one alone. Thus the various "I" in each one of us that pulsates as "I-exist, I-exist" and gives us the sense of existence and illumination of entities is none other than the ultimate reality of Lord. It is knowledge of our very nature of Consciousness or Lord that leads us to eternal bliss and gets rid of the bondages/sorrows/sufferings in the illusory world. It is this Lord who is the import of all the stories of Bhagavatham. The different stories focus on the reality and shows us as to what to do and what not to do in order to realize our very nature of Lord. If we forget the import of ultimate reality of Lord while learning the stories of Bhagavatham, we will end up in the illusory names and forms.

Forget Consciousness and we will be entering the illusion of names-forms. Any illusion will only lead to sorrow; thus the moment we forget the ultimate reality of Consciousness, we will end up in sorrow causing us to take more and more births; wherein we again and again suffer in the ocean of samsaara. If we want to put an end to all sorrows and sufferings, we have to remember the import of ultimate reality of Lord and constantly contemplate on the truth that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists.

Remembering the ultimate reality of Lord as the import of all the stories of Bhagavatham, we will start the next story from the next day.

Yayati thereby renounced everything, left his wife under the control of his youngest son Puru, gave Puru youth and took back his old-age. After this, Yayati renounced all the sensual pleasures which he had been enjoying for a long period of time easily and simply even as a bird whose wings have been formed renounces the nest. He thereby renounced all sangas (attachments) there. He then got experience of the Self thereby leaving aside the gross, subtle and causal bodies. He became blessed by merging unto the ultimate reality of Brahman known as Vasudeva. Devayani who had heard the story from her husband realized that everything is an illusory play of Maya; she thereby fixed her mind on Krishna and got liberated.

Explanation

We have come to the end of this story of Bhagavatham. We saw in the previous day as to how a person becomes learned when he realizes that there is nothing here but the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists, one without a second. This knowledge of the ultimate reality of Lord as the substratum of all illusions of names and forms will make a person get rid of the bondages and attachments to the things in the world which leads him to sorrows and sufferings in the world. Thus through knowledge alone, we can overcome the bondages and sufferings of the world. As long as we are ignorant of the ultimate reality of Lord who alone exists, we will think the illusory world to be real. When we consider the illusory world to be real, we will be either attached or averted to things in the world. It is these attachments and aversions which leads a person to sorrows and sufferings.

Thus once we get rid of attachments through the knowledge that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists, we will not be suffering anymore in the illusory world. We find Yayati instructing Devayani in knowledge. That showed that Yayati had attained knowledge about the ultimate reality of Lord. This knowledge thus made him to renounce everything. Earlier he had thought that sensual pleasures will give him bliss and contentment but experience showed him that sensual pleasures will only lead to sorrow and more desires which have o ending at all. Therefore Yayati realized the futility of sensual pleasures and went away to spend time in contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord.

Realization has two distinct steps to it. The first is intellectual conviction that the Lord alone exists and everything else is only an illusion in the Lord. Mere intellectual conviction alone will not lead a person to realize his nature of Lord - realization requires intuitive and direct experience of one's own nature of Lord through constant contemplation of the Lord. If we at least get intellectual conviction, we will be saved from many births and delusions in the ocean of samsaara.

Yayati had got intellectual conviction which was seen in his explanations to Devayani. Once he got intellectual conviction, then he had to contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord through renunciation of everything (both internal and external). Thus he renounced everything and totally contemplated on the Lord. This constant contemplation thereby lead him to merge unto the ultimate reality of Lord. Once a person merges unto the non-dual reality of Lord, then he will be ever rejoicing in bliss alone as that is the very nature of Lord. Bliss is what is the goal of human life - it is that which we all have been and are searching but in the illusory world. Bliss can be achieved only through realization of our very nature of Lord by the two steps of intellectual conviction and constant contemplation.

The greatness of knowledge is that it not only helps a seeker realize the Lord but it also helps in realization of other people. The knowledge that Yayati got not only helped him to realize the ultimate reality of Lord but helped his wife Devayani as well to realize the Lord. This is the greatness and uniqueness of knowledge it automatically leads a seeker to realization and helps others as well to the goal of realization.

We all being ardent seekers of the ultimate reality of Lord thereby have to seek knowledge so that not only we realize our nature of Lord but we also become instrumental in helping others as well to realize the ultimate reality of Lord.

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

Yayati continued:

There is only one way out of these never ending desires. The way is to maintain equanimity towards all beings. Everything should be seen as pervaded in and out by Lord. Thus there would be no differences in vision - differences in vision causes a person to get attached or averted to things and people. Attachment and aversion in turn leads to happiness and sorrow. For a person who knows that everything is Lord alone, everything is filled with bliss alone.

Explanation

We saw in the previous day as to the futility of fulfilling desires. Desires can never be fully eliminated by enjoying or fulfilling them. We saw Yayati explaining to his wife that try to end desires by fulfilling them is like trying to extinguish fire by pouring ghee on it; the fire will not be extinguished but only will burn more vigorously.

We might then think that if desires cannot be fully eliminated by fulfilling them, then what is the way out of this ocean of desires leading to more and more births? This is being answered by Yayati himself here. There is one and only way out of the delusion of desires. The way out if by knowing that there is nothing here but the Lord alone. We have to continuously remember that the dual entities of the world are nothing but the non-dual reality of Lord alone. Even as different gold ornaments are merely names and forms in the reality of gold, similarly the names and forms of the world are mere illusions in the reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Once a seeker knows that the Lord alone exists here, he will be seeing the Lord as the underlying reality behind the various names and forms. Thus the dual world will be seen as nothing but the Lord alone. When a person sees everything as the Lord, then he cannot like or dislike anything as everything is but the Lord alone. When there aren't any likes and dislikes, there is neither attraction nor aversion to a particular thing or person. It is attachment and aversion which leads to temporary happiness and sorrow. When something good happens to the person that we are attached to, we become happy. When something bad happens to that person, we become sad. Similarly when something good happens to a person we hate, we become sad - when something bad happens to the same person, we become happy. Thus temporary happiness and sorrow are due to attachment and aversion which in turn are due to likes and dislikes. Likes and dislikes are caused due to considering the entities of the world as different from one another. This vision of things as different from one another is the vision of a deluded person as the reality behind the dual and different things is the absolute non-dual reality of Lord. Thus once a seeker realizes that everything is but the Lord alone, he will see everything as the Lord. There is nothing that he likes or dislikes. Therefore he is devoid of both temporary happiness and sorrow. Thus he is ever steady and ever established in the ultimate reality of Lord.

Constant contemplation on the non-dual reality of Lord will lead a person to realize his very nature of Lord. This Lord is of the nature of bliss. Thus such a person is ever blissful. When the person is blissful, he is peaceful, content and satisfied. Such a contented person cannot have any more desires as all desires are towards perfection and bliss. When the seeker already is perfect and blissful, there are no more desires to be fulfilled. Thus desires are totally ended by such a seeker.

This is the one and only way to end desires - through knowledge that everything is the Lord alone and seeing the Lord in everything through constant contemplation of the Lord.

Bhagavatham through Yayati pointing out the way out of delusion of desires is thus telling each one of us to see the ultimate reality of Lord everywhere and thereby get rid of desires which causes us to suffer in this delusion of samsaara and making us take more births in order to fulfill desires.

We will continue with Yayati's statements to his wife in the next day.

Yayati continued:

A person whose mind has been purified and intellect strengthened by conviction about the Lord will see everything in the world as the Lord alone of the nature of bliss. But those whose intellect is faulty (durbuddhis) will never be able to get rid of the desire and craving for sensual pleasures. Even as the body becomes weak and old, still the thirst in the mind will be there for such ignorant people. The strong indriyas make even the greatest of vidvans a slave. I have been enjoying the sensual pleasures for so many years. But the thirst to enjoy more has been increasing day by day. Therefore I am forsaking this thirst for sensual pleasure completely.

I have decided to go to the forest and stay with the animals there. Everything that is seen or heard is only an illusion of Maya. I will never again be subject to the thirst for such illusory objects of the world. This bondage of samsaara is the cause of destruction of one's ever present Atman - he who knows this is the real vidvaan (scholar).

Explanation

Yayati is here concluding his advice and statements to his wife Devayani. We find here Yayati giving a crisp definition of vidvaan or a scholar which is an echo of a similar verse in Gita 4th chapter:
Yasya sarve samaarambhaah kaamasankalpa varjithaah
Jnaanaagnih dagdakarmaanam tamaahuh panditham budhaah

He whose all actions are started not due to desires or imaginations (like an ajnaani) and is like a burnt seed, he is called a pandit or vidvaan.

A person doesn't become a scholar merely by reciting or by-hearting slokas or the various bhashyas available on the scriptures. A real scholar is one who knows what is really to be known - that there is only one entity here which is the non-dual reality of Lord and that everything else is an illusion of names-forms in the reality of Lord. Such a person is never affected by the activities in the world; he doesn't crave for anything; he doesn't desire anything as he is ever immersed and rejoicing in the bliss which is his very nature of Lord. Such a person is alone fit to be called a vidvan or scholar.

Today we find many self-proclaimed scholars and realized saints who have somehow learnt a few scriptures by-heart and try to get the attention of disciples and devotees. These people are only book-worms who don't even have strong intellectual conviction about the reality - all these people seek is fame, money, power, following etc. Take any of these from such self-proclaimed saints and their attitude will change. But the real scholar is one who is unaffected by all activities - he isn't bothered about whether he is getting money or fame or followers as he knows that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists.

It is very important to understand this aspect of definition of a scholar because only a person who knows that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists is a real scholar; such a real scholar alone can get eternal bliss which is what we all are striving for each and every moment of our life. It is also important to understand this lest we fall under the wrong Guru and wrong sadhanas which will not take us to the ultimate reality of Lord but also lead us in the wrong direction.

The various meditation techniques, the various devotion techniques, the various Samadhi practices, the various social services - all these will not give us eternal bliss. Though many of today's saints like Sri Sri Ravishankar, Sai Baba, Maharshi Mahesha Yogi etc. point out these sadhanas which often is focused on social service, the scriptures are very clear about the one and only path to eternal bliss - that path is not social service. Where can we have social service when the society that we are in itself is an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord? Will such saints be satisfied by the social service they are doing in the world? Will any social service person get satisfaction and contentment at the end of his life through social service? No - satisfaction can be achieved only through knowledge that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists. People who are too much into social service and other sadhanas not giving emphasis to knowledge and constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord will only end up in sorrow when they find themselves not getting near to eternal bliss.

The greatest of social service people in the world which include Jesus Christ and the Buddha among many others were not satisfied through social service; they were not able to do real service to the world because it is impossible to serve the world which is only an illusion. Doing service to the world is like doing service to the dream world which we saw yesterday night!!! There is nothing foolish than that.

Real service of the world is knowing that the world is nothing but an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord. Such a seeker who knows the world to the Lord alone and sees the Lord in everything is only doing social service. This path of constant contemplation of the non-dual reality of Lord alone will lead us to eternal bliss. All other sadhanas including meditation and bhajans will only give us a temporary glimpse of happiness. Ask any bhajan singing person what will happen if he is unable to sing bhajans and the answer will be that he will become sad. That is the state of all sadhanas in the world which is not accompanied by knowledge that the Lord alone exists here.

A person whose intellect has been convinced that the Lord alone exists here and thereby contemplates on the Lord alone will be lead to satisfaction and contentment. All other people will be lead to more and more desires which in turn will lead to more and more births until they come to knowledge realizing their very nature of non-dual Lord.

Bhagavatham through the definition of vidvan or scholar here is thus pointing out to us who is a real scholar and who has to be followed if we are to get to eternal bliss.

Yayati continued thus:

The male goat that was very beautiful was sought by many female goats. It was during that time that he once enjoyed with a female goat. The goat who was in the well and saved by the male goat didn’t like this. The female goat thereby started to go towards her swami who was a brahmana. The male goat also started walking behind the female goat. The brahmana then broke the horn of the male goat who then started crying. Not able to withstand the cries of the goat, the brahmana again stuck the horn back to its body. The male goat then tried to be peaceful by enjoying with the female goat for many years. But there was no satisfaction whatsoever.

O Dear! This is my story. I was blinded by your delusion. Thereby I without knowing myself tried to be happy through enjoyments. There cannot be peace and satisfaction for a desire seeking person through money, fame, power, women etc.

Explanation

We have been taking births and births in this ocean of samsaara characterized by avidya-kama-karma (ignorance-desire-action). This delusion goes on and on without any end until we realize the futility of worldly pleasures thereby getting rid of the craving for worldly pleasures.

The first progress towards the goal of eternal bliss in the spiritual path is realization of the futility of the world and pleasures from the world. As long as a person hasn’t realized the futility of sensual pleasures, he will still be seeking them again and again in the world. These sensual pleasures are addictive and will never lead a person to satisfaction or contentment. This is because satisfaction and contentment is possible only from that which is permanent and ever-present. Since the sense objects of the world are temporary, the bliss achieved from them is also temporary. Such temporary bliss cannot give us satisfaction which is possible only through eternal and ever-lasting bliss. Thus as long as the seeker is seeking bliss in the sense objects, he will be deluded into more and more objects. When one object doesn’t give happiness, he will shift to another object. This is what is generally happening in terms of marital relations in the west and being steadily followed by Indians as well – if the husband is not giving happiness (which is what would ensue after a few days), then divorce the husband and seek another one. This goes on and on without any end. There will never be any peace or satisfaction as long as the wife or husband seeks bliss from the other person. All people are limited and ignorant. Such people can never give us eternal bliss – eternal bliss is possible only from the eternal reality of Lord. Unless we realize this that bliss is possible only from the non-dual reality of Lord and not from the worldly sense objects, we will be seeking one object or the other (one person or the other).

The first step to come out of the cravings for sensual pleasure is realizing the futility of sensual pleasures and knowing that they will lead to sorrow alone. We find Yayati achieving this step after many years of enjoyment. It might take even births to understand the futility of sensual pleasures thereby getting away from them and seeking the non-dual reality of Lord. But the sooner we realize this and start seeking the Lord, the better it is for us as we will not be suffering in the world due to those sense enjoyments and will be able to get eternal bliss sooner.

Bhagavatham through Yayati’s repentance and knowledge of the futility of sensual pleasures is telling each one of us to realize the temporary and sorrowful nature of the world this very moment itself. Once we realize the futility of sensual pleasures we will not seek them even as we don’t seek enjoyment from fire due to the knowledge that fire will not give happiness but only burn us.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Yayati continued:
It is not possible to eradicate desires by enjoying sensual pleasures. Trying to do so is like trying to do so is like trying to put off fire by pouring ghee.

Explanation

We have heard this statement many times but still this is one of the most important statements for a seeker. Though we might understand the importance and import of the statement, putting it into practice is as tough as controlling the mind. Controlling the mind itself is compared by Arjuna to be as tough as controlling air.

Understanding a statement is quite different from implementing it through putting it into practice. We will be able to follow a statement fully only if we are fully convinced of the statement. The first step thus to get a practice into implementation is getting fully convinced of the thing. As long as we are not convinced of the statement that fire will burn us, we will not be able to refrain from putting our hand on fire. Once we are convinced of the fact that putting our hand on fire will burn our hand, we will never put our hand into fire. Similarly unless we know that desires cannot be removed by fulfilling them, we will not be running behind fulfillment of desires. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't have any desires in our mind; but just that we should be aware of the truth that desires cannot lead us to eternal bliss, peace, satisfaction and contentment.

We can think that why not fulfill a small desire of getting married. But do we really think that this desire will be removed and will lead to satisfaction once we get married? No, if we think so it is wrong. We will never be able to get satisfaction out of the fulfillment of the desire to get married. Marriage will again bring more desires of begetting children. Once children are there, we will want to look after them. We will want to have children to go to school, then college and finally get married. Thus our marriage will lead to our children's marriage. Will it end there? No, this will lead to children begetting children so that we can see our grand children. JAfter this the cycle will again continue with our grandchildren's schooling, college and marriage. Most of the people don't even get such longevity to see their grand children.Thus when we are about to die, we will still have desires left in our mind to see our grandchildren and their marriage. This desire in itself will ensure that we come back to Earth at least for 10-15 births more. As the Lord mentions in Gita that whatever we think at the end of our life, that will be continued in the next birth. Since we have been cultivating desires and trying to attain perfection through enjoying them, we will still have desires left while dying. Thus our death will ensure that we are born again to fulfill those desires. This cycle of birth and death continues until we realize this truth that enjoying desires cannot lead us to satisfaction and contentment.

The moment we realize this truth, we will not be running wildly behind sensual pleasures in the idea of gratifying our desires. Trying to attain perfection by fulfilling desires is like trying to put an end to fire by pouring ghee. If we pour ghee on fire, fire will not be extinguished but it will born more vigorously. Thus fire cannot be extinguished by pouring ghee on it. Similarly desires can never be ended by fulfilling them.

If desires cannot be removed fully by fulfilling them, how is it possible to get over desires so that we don't suffer in the delusion of samsaara (delusion being caused due to more and more desires in the mind)? This is being answered by Bhagavatham through Yayati's words which we will see in the next day.

After having got back youth from his son, Yayati lived for a long time enjoying all the sensual pleasures but still he was not able to get peace and contentment. He tried to get peace through performance of many yajnas. That Lord whom the dvaita prapancha veils even as clouds veil the Sun, that Lord in whom this dual world is seen as a dream Yayati tried to pacify that Lord by concentrating in his heart and performing yajnas. Devayani also returned from her father’s place to serve her young husband. Thousands of years passed by – still Yayati didn’t get either peace or happiness (eternal bliss). The King whose Self of the nature of happiness was veiled through over-craving for desires finally understood one thing and started narrating a story to Devayani.

Explanation

Here we find Yayati realizing the futility of sensual pleasures. He had thought that gaining youth and enjoying sensual pleasures will give him peace and contentment. A worldly person does the same mistake again and again that Yayati did. He thinks that youth and sensual pleasures will give him eternal bliss. Sensual pleasures can never give us eternal bliss as they are obtained from sense objects which are temporary. Anything which is temporary cannot give eternal bliss. Eternal bliss can be rejoiced only by realizing that which is eternal and ever-present. The entire world composed of sense objects is temporary and ever changing. Anything that changes is subject to birth and death. Such a dying entity can never give us eternal bliss as the entity itself will not be there after its death to give us bliss. Thus only fools who fail to understand the temporary nature of the world will seek sensual pleasure thinking them to be sources of eternal bliss. But the wise person will always use his intellect to ascertain the truth about the temporary nature of the world. After knowing that the world is temporary and thereby cannot give eternal bliss, the wise person will try to seek the changeless ever-present entity of Lord.

Bhagavatham though here is mentioning just one life of Yayati to point out the truth that we will never get peace or contentment without realization of our very nature of non-dual Lord, this is something that happens with every person for births. We take births in order to enjoy and after enjoyment we do more actions. We keep on doing actions and seek bliss again and again in the temporary world. The seeking of sensual pleasures will never lead to contentment. Birth and death will never end without contentment. Thus as long as a person is craving for sensual pleasures, he will keep on taking birth. This vicious circle of birth and death continues as long as there is craving for sensual pleasures.

After having enjoyed sensual pleasures for births, a seeker will come to realize the futility of them through his intellect and by the grace of Lord. Such a seeker will then stop seeking worldly pleasure and instead seek the eternal entity of Lord mentioned in the scriptures. Such a wise person alone will be able to realize the non-dual reality of Lord through constant contemplation of the Lord knowing that the world is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord. Ever contemplating on the reality of Lord, such a seeker will not crave for sensual pleasures nor will he be deluded by the sense objects of the world. Ever steadfast in the ultimate reality of Lord and always remembering the Lord as the substratum of the illusory world, such a wise person will eventually realize his very nature of non-dual Lord. Once a person realizes his very nature of Lord, there will remain nothing more to be known or sought – such a state wherein the seeker is ever blissful, not seeking anything else is the state of realization. This state alone can give us peace and contentment arising out of the saturation of all seekings and being ever blissful.

It is bliss that makes us seek worldly objects and the pleasures from them. But the worldly objects don’t give us eternal bliss instead gives us only sorrow. Therefore the seeker goes on seeking bliss in the world. But once he turns his attention towards the ultimate reality of Lord, he realizes that the Lord alone can give him bliss. Remembering this, he realizes his very nature of Lord through constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord. Thereby ends all seeking as he ever rejoices in bliss which is inherent in his nature of Lord.

We all have to one day or the other stop seeking worldly pleasures by realizing the futility of temporary worldly objects – the earlier we realize this, the lesser will our be sorrow and the easier we will realize our very nature of Lord. This is what Yayati realized after knowing the futility of worldly pleasures.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Yayati spoke thus to Devayani
“Listen to the story of a male goat roaming in the forest like me and not getting peace at all. Once a male goat was looking for food in the forest. It came across a female goat lying in a well due to karma gati. Using its horns somehow the male goat brought out the female goal. The male goat couldn’t but get attached towards the female goat in the form of worldly love. The male goat thus married the female goat.”

Explanation

In the last day we saw Yayati realizing the mistake that he did of thinking that sensual pleasures will lead to eternal bliss. Thereby he started explaining a story to Devayani. The story is very similar to the life of Yayati.

There is a very important aspect spoken in the story which is karma gati or flow of karma. Science accepts things as in the control of space, energy and time. Similarly Vedanta accepts empirical life as being dependent on karma or action. Lord proclaims in the 15th chapter of Gita that the world is karma loka as it is dependent on karma. The law of karma is eternal with respect to the empirical world. The law is very much same as the law of Newton that any reaction has an equal and opposite reaction. Law of karma says that whatever karma a person does, he will reap the fruit of that particular karma. The vicious circle of karma and phala is eternal, without any beginning and end. We cannot really trace this circle to the first karma or first phala. This cycle of doing karma, enjoying fruits, again doing karma and again enjoying fruits goes on and on. There is no way out of the ocean of samsaara based on karma through any amount of karma whether it is worldly action or spiritual action. Actions cannot thereby lead a person out of the miseries caused by action.

As Vidyaranya beautifully puts it in Panchadashi, man does action to enjoy and enjoys in order to perform more action. This goes on endlessly. There is only one way out of this ocean of karma which is knowledge. Knowledge is not knowing about mathematics or computers or gaining Ph.D in certain areas. Knowledge here is knowledge of the nature of karma that it is only an illusion. Anything that doesn’t begin but still gives fruits and goes on-on without ending has to be an illusion. Actions cannot be traced to their origin or to their end – therefore it has to be an illusion. Once a person realizes actions to be an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord, then the illusion of action ends. A person who knows that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists, will be out of the clutches of karma as karma is possible only when there is a doer and something to be achieved. Who is the doer and what is to be achieved when there is only one entity existing which is the ultimate reality of Lord? It is this knowledge that there is only the Lord present which makes a person wake up from the illusion of karma. The actions that we do in this world is similar to the actions that we daily do in dream. In dream there is no action but still it goes on endlessly in the dream world. But once we wake up from the dream world, we realize that there never was any world to be able to perform actions in the world. Similarly once we realize that whatever exists in the world is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord, we will wake up from this illusion of karma. Thereby ends all sorrows and miseries caused out of karma and phala.

How can you say that the Lord alone exists and everything else is an illusion in the Lord? The Lord alone exists of the nature of Consciousness because of the anvaya-vyatireka yukthi. Anvaya means that if Consciousness is there, the world is there. Vyatireka means that if Consciousness is not there, the world is not there. Thus the world is fully dependent on Consciousness or the Lord. Any dependent entity is only an illusion in the independent entity even as a variable is only an illusion in the constant. Thus the world is only an illusion in the Lord even as water is an illusion in the desert and dream world is an illusion in the dreamer.

Knowing that karma is only an illusion in the Lord, we overcome attachment to karma and the craving for the fruit. This is the only way out of karma which is an illusion. As long as we depend on karma, fate, destiny etc. we will be bound to suffer or enjoy based on the fruits of the actions. But once we realize the futility of karma and its illusory nature, we will be ever blissful as there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists, one without a second.

If we don’t get knowledge about the ultimate reality of Lord as the substratum of the illusory world and karma, we will be depending on karma thereby believing it to be existing and trying to do more actions to either gain worldly things or to propitiate any form God.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Yayati thus had five sons two from Devayani and two from the other wife. Knowing that Yayati had accepted Gharmista as his wife, Devayani left him and went back to her father. Yayati who was bound by Kaama went behind Devayani. Shukracharya thereby consoled his daughter and cursed Yayati. The curse was that Yayati would be suffering from jaraa (old age) very soon. Yayati fell at the feet of Shukracharya and asked forgiveness. Shukracharya then said that Yayati could transfer his old-age to somebody else and take the Youvan (youth) from that person.

Explanation

Earlier we saw that Yayati decided to take things as ordained or given by God. But here we see the real attitude behind that offering. If Yayati had total surrender, he would have offered everything to God including desire towards his wife and the outcome of all activities. But Yayati’s consolation to the mind to take things as given by God was a false consolation of the mind – there never was a real surrender attitude in his mind. This is what we find in many of the so-called spiritual people in the world.

When bad things come, they simply offer it to GodJ. And when good things come, they take the credit for the same forgetting God. Putting in Chinmaya’s beautiful words, if something good happens “I did it!!!” and if something bad happens “what to do? God gave this to me”J. Such devotion or so-called spirituality is a false creation of the mind. The mind fools itself by consolations that everything is done by God at times of distress and hopelessness. This is not real devotion or real attitude of surrender. Real devotion is wherein the seeker totally surrenders to the Lord – everything irrespective of whether it is good or bad is offered to the Lord. When a devotee thus offers everything to God, he is not affected by the outcome of any activity. Thus if a devotee’s wife was to fight and go back to her father, the devotee will still be blissful offering that as well to God. But here we find Yayati running behind Devayani. Why? Because Yayati was stuck by Kaama towards Devayani. Translate Kaama as lust or desire but this is what is present in most of the married people. There is always an emotion of lust or desire towards the other person. Either this lust is physical lust or mental lust in the form of an emotional support. We cannot find even a single married couple whose marriage is not based on this lust. Such lust becomes evident when there is a fight and the wife goes back to her father. The husband starts running towards his wife even as a fish runs towards water when thrown into the shore.

There is a beautiful incident in the life of Tulasidas and as to how he became very devoted to God. Tulasidas was very attached to his wife like Yayati. He couldn’t spend even one night without his wife – this attachment was not mere physical lust but emotional support as well. Once his wife had to suddenly go to her parents place; she couldn’t inform this to Tulasidas but mentioned the same to the neighbors. Tulasidas when he came back home in the evening didn’t find his wife; upon enquiry, he found that she is at her parents place. Tulasidas somehow couldn’t imagine spending the night all alone by himself. Thus he decided to go to her parent’s house. He went there. He climbed over the wall and knocked at the door of his wife’s room. She opened the door and found him. She was very embarrassed to find so attached husband (it is but a truth that current day women seek attention from their partners – this is just a general opinion and need not be the case with all women). She said to him “if you had this attachment to God, you would have realized him by now”. These words pierced into the heart of Tulasidas. He understood the futility of attachment to his wife. He directed it towards God and the rest is historyJ.

Thus we all have to get rid of lust and attachment towards people and things in the world. Instead we should direct this towards the ultimate reality of Lord. Attachment to the world will only lead us to sorrows and sufferings whereas attachment to God will lead us to eternal bliss. Unlike worldly people who are themselves seeking love from others, the Lord is ever ready to give his ever-present love and care for his devotees. We just need to seek the Lord and his love & caring will always be there for us. This seeking of the Lord alone can give us eternal bliss – that which bliss which we all are seeking every moment of our life. If we want to get rid of sorrows and enjoy bliss, we have to remove all attachment to the world and direct it towards the ultimate reality of Lord. Mere attachment to Lord as sitting in Vaikunta or Kailas will not lead us to eternal bliss – such attachment will only lead us to more sorrow as seen in the fights between Saivites and Vaishnavites. The Lord that we have to seek is the substratum of the illusory and temporary world; the Lord that we have to seek is the all-pervading Consciousness – he who is present in the world beyond the names and forms of the world. Such a Lord alone really exist – everything else is only an illusion in the Lord. If we seek such a Lord who alone exists, then we will never be affected by illusory activities of the world and the outcome of those activities; instead we will ever be rejoicing in the bliss in the Lord knowing that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists, one without a second.

We will continue the story in the next day.

As Shukracharya had agreed if somebody would take up the vaardhakya (old age), Yayati called each of his children and asked them the same. The first four sons refused to part with their youvana for their father. The youngest son Puru decided that it is the duty of the son to look after his father; thereby he decided to give his youth and take old age from his father. Yayati thus got back his youth from his son Puru.

Explanation

In the previous day we saw Yayati getting cursed by Shukracharya that he will face old age. Bhagavatham is here depicting that we all will one day or the other grow old and will have to face the problems of the body. It is only through knowledge that we can get rid of body-consciousness or identifying ourselves (the “I”) with the body. “I” am not the body as the body undergoes changes but from birth till death, I am the same only. Knowing oneself as not the changing body but the changeless Self is possible only through scriptural learning or guidance from a spiritual master. Unless a seeker knows that “I am not the body”, he will always be attached and associated with the body. The changes of the body will be attributed to myself. Thus when the body is growing old, I grow old. When the body is in pain, I am in pain. This association with the body is so strong that it is very tough indeed to overcome this association. Therefore Sankara mentions in one of his works that if a person has totally got rid of association with body and has the strong conviction that “I am the Self” even as a normal person has the conviction that “I am the body”, then such a person is liberated from the bondages of samsaara.

When the body grows old, due to lack of knowledge this growth is attributed to the body. Such a person thus suffers due to old age. When each one of us goes through this phase of old age, we seek to go back in time to the youthful phase even like Yayati. The old person knows that this is not possible and hence tries his level best to go back to youth even if this requires killing other people!!! We find Yayati here exactly doing the same – trying to get youth from his children.

Why does a person seek youth? A person seeks youth because he thinks that youth will give him sensual pleasure and thereby eternal bliss. We often forget that sensual pleasures are temporary and will end us up in sorrow only. Lack of this knowledge of the temporary nature of sense objects and the pleasure achieved from this causes a person to go after such sensual pleasures. A devotee who knows the reality of the worldly objects will always contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord. Even if the body is in pain, he will ever be blissful as he knows that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists, one without a second. Such a devotee alone will be able to boldly accept situations and be unaffected by them. All other people who are bound by ignorance will be like Yayati trying to enjoy sensual pleasures by hook or crook. Bhagavatham through Yayati’s seeking of youth tells each one of us not to go behind sensual pleasures; instead we should use time usefully to realize our own very nature of Lord – that which alone can give us eternal bliss which we are seeking each and every moment.

Is it possible to be not associated with the body? Is it possible to be blissful even if the body is suffering? Yes, it is possible. This is clearly shown through the lives of great saints like Ramana and others. Ramana Maharshi was suffering from tumour in his hand but still he was ever blissful. The doctors who tried to remove the tumour by surgery were astonished at his strength to bear pain – Ramana alone knew that there is no pain for him as all pain is for the body alone.

This doesn’t mean that we all have to give the body struggle like is common among Jains. It just means that we shouldn’t give too much emphasis on the body. If the body is suffering, we should try our best to get rid of the suffering. If still we aren’t able to get rid of the suffering, we should offer it to the ultimate reality of Lord knowing and remembering that “I am not the body but the ever blissful Lord”. This knowledge will make us bear any pain as the pain is for the body and not for “me”.

Such a real devotee will be ever blissful irrespective of external and internal conditions. Even when the entire world is mourning Tsunami and other troubles, still such a devotee will be ever blissful because he knows that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists – whatever is seen as the dual world is a mere illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord. The world that we see is a long dream in the ultimate reality of Lord.

If only Yayati had learned this knowledge from the scriptures, he wouldn’t have struggled and gone to his children seeking youth. We will see in the coming day as to how Yayati understands the futility of youth and that it will never give us eternal bliss or satisfaction or contentment.

When Yayati was gone, Devayani crying went home to her father and narrated as to whatever had happened. Shukracharya then decided to leave the place. But asura chakravarthi Vrishaparva fell at Shukracharya’s feet and asked forgiveness. Shukracharya then directed Vrishaparva to get Devayani married. But Devayani had a desire and condition that Gharmista along with other friends should come along with her and be servant to her in her husband’s house. Thus Devayani was married to Yayati and Gharmista along with her friends went there following and serving Devayani.

Explanation

We find here the nature of mind to keep things in memory and take revenge whenever possible. Devayani was saved by Yayati; though her life was saved but still she didn’t forget as to what Gharmista did to her. She wanted to take revenge upon Gharmista and hence Gharmista had to go along with her to her husband’s house as a servant. This is what is termed in Vedanta as dvesha or revengeful nature.

We find such revengeful nature in almost the mind of all people except spiritual saints who are as pure as water. The mind is so programmed to react to people and things based on its likes and dislikes. Whatever activity happens to a person is recorded in the memory or chitta. That which is disturbing or troublesome is given more priority and hence is never erased from memory. We find such nature of the mind to take revenge when the apt time comes in the fight and war between nations. Each nation is trying to cheat and take revenge of the other nature. India and Pakistan each are waiting for the right opportunity to take revenge though the PMs of both countries meet regularly. There is no use of such external show-off until the mind is cleared of such revengeful attitude.

What is the problem if there is revengeful attitude?
Revengeful attitude will only lead the seeker into more and more trouble. First of all, the mind is concentrating on taking revenge than seeing things in the positive aspect. Thus all time and effort is spent on trying to take revenge than for something fruitful. The life that we have got is very precious and every moment we are running towards Yama. This birth thus shouldn’t be wasted to take revenge because of some illusory activity in this birth. If a person goes after such revenge, then he will not be able to realize his very nature of non-dual Lord. Likes and dislikes causes raga and dvesha. Likes and dislikes are because of the illusory names and forms. As long as a person has likes and dislikes, he is concentrating on the illusion of names and forms; thereby such a person is not able to go beyond the names and forms into the substratum of Lord. As long as the person is not able to contemplate on the substratum of Lord, he will not be able to get liberated from the bondages of the illusory world. As long as a person is not able to get liberated from bondages, he will not be able to get eternal bliss. It is eternal bliss that we all are seeking each and every moment. We think that revenge will give us eternal bliss but it can give us only temporary happiness in the beginning and sorrow alone in the long run. Thus a seeker who is seeking eternal bliss should never succumb to such likes and dislikes of the mind. Such a real seeker will always be contemplating on everything as the ultimate reality of Lord. For him, there are neither likes nor dislikes because everything is the Lord alone. Such a seeker alone is able to go beyond the illusory names and forms thereby contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord.

Such contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord makes a person remove ignorance of his own very nature of Lord; thus he realizes his very nature of Lord; thereby rejoicing in the bliss which is the very nature of Lord.

Bhagavatham through this part tells us that we shouldn’t succumb to likes and dislikes of the mind as they will lead us only to sorrow. We should overcome likes and dislikes by constantly contemplating on the substratum of Lord seeing everything as an illusion of names and forms in the Lord.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Thus Shukracharya married Devayani to Yayati. Devayani was followed by Gharmista and other friends as her servants. Shukracharya told and warned Yayati not to sleep with Gharmista. Once Devayani became a mother, Gharmista also desired to become a mother. When they were alone, Gharmista accepted Yayati as her husband and expressed her desire to become a mother. Yayati succumbed to Gharmista’s desire as he was a dharmista. Though he remembered Shukracharya’s warning, he still decided that let things happen by the desire of the Lord.

Explanation

Human mind is full of desires. Desiring pleasure from worldly objects is the very nature of mind. Majority of people in the world succumb to the desires of the mind. This is because they are unable to control the mind. As Arjuna says in Gita that controlling the mind is tough like controlling air, majority of people cannot but be controlled by the mind. Though we have great people like George Bush etc. controlling the world, they aren’t able to control their own mind succumbing to passions towards the world.

It isn’t wrong to desire things in the world nor is it wrong to enjoy the pleasures of the world. But those pleasures are temporary and short-lived. If they were merely temporary alone, then they wouldn’t have caused any issues. But they also lead a person to sorrow in the long run because of the struggle in achieving them and previous memory of such enjoyment at times of non-availability of those pleasures. Since the worldly pleasures are temporary and will lead us to sorrow alone, a wise person will not go behind such worldly pleasures. A wise person will instead seek that entity which can give him eternal bliss – long and ever-lasting happiness untainted by sorrow. Such a wise person after overcoming the passions of the mind to desire worldly objects will know that the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss alone is real. Knowing the Lord alone to be real and everything else as an illusion of names-forms in the reality of Lord, such a wise person will always be contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord. Constant contemplation along with the knowledge that the Lord alone exists will lead such a wise person to realize his very nature of Lord. Realization will make the wise person ever rejoice in bliss which is his very nature of Lord. Such a rejoicing person doesn’t have any more desires or cravings and is ever content with whatever is there.

But since majority of people aren’t wise (in the actual meaning of the term – wise is one who knows what is real and what is not real), therefore they succumb to worldly pleasures like Gharmista. When we see something in the world, we run behind that object. As explained earlier, it isn’t wrong to run behind things but we have to run knowing that those objects are temporary and cannot give us eternal bliss. If this knowledge is there, then when the objects vanish and are about to give sorrow, the seeker will not be sad as he already knew their nature of giving sorrow. Gharmista saw Devayani begetting children and she also had a desire. The desire to have children is one of the main desire in married people. This is more so in the case of women as they lose to play and take care of children. Little do such women understand that the very same child will become the cause of sorrow in youth and when he grows old. Married people think that their children will take care of them and keep up their tradition – but after becoming a youth, children go their own way as they have their own life. It is therefore that Yajnavalkya proclaimed to Maitreyi that “the husband is loved for the sake of the Self and not for the sake of the husband”. Gharmista also like normal women in the world didn’t realize the futility behind begetting children and that such futile desires will lead only to sorrow.

Yayati who was a dharmista succumbed to the desire of Gharmista not because he couldn’t refrain from it but he though it his duty to help a women under his control. JSuch is the thought of the mind that it thinks about helping others when it itself is not safe!!! It is like a drowning man trying to save another drowning man. There is one and only one dharma or duty in the life of a human being – that duty is to realize one’s own very nature of Lord. All other things are just means to lead us to do our primary duty of realization. If we forget this, then we will end ourselves up in sorrow as was the case with Yayati which we will see in the next day.

Once Gharmista (the daughter of asura chakravarthi) was playing in her garden filled with lots of trees along with Devayani (the daughter of Guru Shukracharya). They removed all their clothes, kept it nearby and started playing in the pond in the garden. Splashing water on one another those beautiful lotus-eyed youth forgot everything and became immersed in playing. Unexpectedly, Siva along with Parvathi went through that place. Seeing Siva-Parvathi, the youths became startled and took their clothes after coming out of the pond. Amidst this confusion, Gharmista unknowingly took the dress of Guruputri Devayani and started wearing it. Seeing this, Devayani got angry and started uttering bad words against Gharmista. Gharmista not only did react through words but took away Devayani’s clothes, pushed her into a well and returned back home.

Explanation

Interestingly we see an echo of how the world and the people in the world are reacting today in this part of the story. Seeing little worldly pleasures, we get so immersed in them and forget everything else. We can very easily related ourselves as everyone would have faced such situation sometime or the other. Worldly people are so deluded by worldly objects and the pleasure achieved out of those objects that those are enough to totally forget one’s mind and behaving like a mad person.

We generally call people who do crazy things without any meaning as mad people; but we ourselves go behind temporary worldly pleasures and once we get something, we become excited, crazy and go mad. When a person goes mad, he loses his discrimination. Thus such a person does things illogical and without thinking as to what he is doing. We find here the young women getting into the pond and forgetting everything. They started playing in water forgetting the state in which they are and as to what is the environment. Bhagavatham through this beautiful depiction is telling each one of us that we should never behave like a mad person when we achieve or come in contact with worldly pleasures. Whatever pleasures we achieve, we should always remember that the pleasures out of worldly objects are temporary and short-lived. This is because the worldly objects themselves are temporary. The temporary worldly objects cannot give eternal bliss. But we are so deluded into considering the objects as eternal that we go behind them only to finally end up in misery because of the same. Unless we realize and understand the temporary nature of worldly objects, we will not stop craving and running behind them like mad people. If we remember the temporary nature of worldly objects, we will be seeking eternal bliss in the only eternal entity of Lord. Such a person who doesn’t seek worldly objects but seeks realization of the ultimate reality of Lord is termed a mumukshu (one who desires liberation from the bondages of samsaara). If we all want eternal bliss (which is what is the ultimate goal of all beings), we should not run behind worldly pleasures and direct all our efforts towards realization of the ultimate reality of Lord.

The young women in this story forgot everything because of the temporary pleasure of playing in water. This lead to Gharmista and Devayani fighting when all of them suddenly saw Siva and Parvathi. Both of them started fighting over the dress of Devayani. This is like the famous Siva and Vishnu fight (as to who is greater). More recently this is depicted through the Cauveri issue between two states. We forget that these temporary and worldly objects are only illusions in the reality of Lord. Forgetting our very nature of Self as distinct from body-mind complex, we start fighting about possessions. Little do we realize that these possessions will be there only till we die – the body which is the greatest possession of a samsaari itself is not permanent; then what to speak about dress? But ignorance of our very nature of Lord distinct from the body-mind complex, we start fighting amongst each other.

This fight is visible toward in every place. Go to school and we find fight in the name of “competition” – though we term in beautifully, it is one and the same only. Starting from the school, children are showed as to how to fight. Earlier it was fighting openly but now it is “civilized” and “cultured” fight!!! This goes on and on until a person dies. As if it was not enough, children fight over the body and money of the dead father!!!

Such fights over silly worldly issues are due to ignorance. Such ignorance can lead us to one and only one thing – misery in the end. This is what happened with Devayani who is the one starting the fight. She fought over her dress and finally ended up in the well.

Bhagavatham through this story is depicting that though we are all cultured people and even may be sons/daughters/disciples of great Mahatmas, but still unless we realize the non-dual reality of Lord we will be fighting over petty things and finally end up in misery. We, as seekers of the ultimate reality of Lord, shouldn’t fight over petty things and always contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord.

We will see as to what happened to Devayani in the next day.

At the same time (when Gharmista pushed Devayani into the well and returned home), Yayati was tired of hunting and feeling thirsty. Yayati was searching whether he would get water somewhere. He came to the well where Devayani was lying. He peeked inside the well and saw Devayani lying there. Yayati threw his uttari (the shawl) and pulled Devayani out with the help of that (as he was feeling compassionate towards her). Devayani thus came out of the well and her face flushing with love proclaimed thus to Yayati: “O King! You have caught hold of my hand. The hand that has been touched by you shouldn’t be touched by anybody else. Our association is destined by Lord himself. We didn’t catch hold of each other by desire but it happened by itself; what more to say than this that this has been destined by God. Kachan, the son of Brihaspathi, has also cursed me saying that I will not get married to a Brahmana”.

Yayati also thought that this was destined by God and hence accepted her words as such.

Explanation

We come across one of the beautiful and simple yet controversial topic of DESTINY or FATE in this part of the story. Let us for some time analyze the aspect of fate so that we may be able to always contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord overcoming the so-called fate which could be anything ranging from the words of Mahatmas or the pre-destiny of even Lord Brahma.

There is a beautiful article about Fate and Freewill which is in the form of a discussion between the world renowned jeevanmuktha Chandrasekhara Bharathi Swamigal of Sringeri and one of his disciples. The link for the same is http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/articles/The_Riddle_of_Fate_and_Free.htm.

Is it really required to analyze on fate when there is one and only one reality existing which is the non-dual reality of Lord?
No, it isn’t required. Though ultimately the Lord alone exists; still at the empirical level, we are all bound by certain laws knowing which is essential in order to get out of the bondages. Getting out of such illusory bondages is essential so that we may be easily able to always contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord which is the only way to realize our very nature of Lord.

There are many people who consider things as being granted and pre-destined by Brahma or Vishnu or some God in heaven. This is not the case. There is only one law that governs everything at the empirical level starting with various births to achievements and other things. This law is the great law of karma or action and phala or reaction. This cycle of karma and phala is endless. It is impossible to find out as to which started first – either Karma or phala? For doing a karma, there should be some fruit that has been enjoyed in order to do the action. For the phala to be enjoyed, some other karma has to be done. This goes on and on endlessly. This is in fact a testimony to the truth that karma is only an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord. As long as we are in the world, we are bound by karma. But the moment we come out of the shackles of the bondage of karma, karma ends and there is only one thing left which is the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of eternal bliss. But in order to come out of this bondage of karma, it is essential to know that we are under the control of our actions and it isn’t some supreme being who is controlling and determining it. If we know and understand this, we will not be bound and limited by the surroundings and environment. Instead we will be brave and bold like Nachiketha, Prahlaada, Mahabali etc. to go against everything for the sake of realization of our very nature of Lord.

Karma is that which controls our future. The action that has been done previously is being enjoyed in the form of this birth. By doing good actions now, we will be able to negate what is already in store for our future due to our previous karmas. Karma can be considered as nothing but a bank balance. The more positive it is, the more pleasureful our life will be. If our balance is negative, then it means we have to suffer empirically. A person who has negative balance but still wants to enjoy pleasures should add positive amount in order to negate the negative balance and make it positive. This is done through our current karma or actions. Our current actions add up to making our own future. It is true that the higher the negative karma that we have, the more should be our current effort to negate it. It is for this reason that many of us strive for something in life with all hardwork but still end up not getting it. This doesn’t mean that our fate or future is sealed but it only means that we have more negative in store and therefore our effort wasn’t enough to negate it.

It is for this reason that Mahatmas speak about always doing good karmas. This not only adds up good in the future but also helps in negating the negative balances that we may have accumulated in many births. It is these negative balances that causes trouble and are experienced as obstacles in the spiritual and worldly life. Those are fools who see this obstacles and meekly surrender to them saying that it is fate. The wise will understand that the fate is not sealed but it can be controlled and changed by our current action. Such a wise person will do more and more good activities thereby overcoming the obstacles in the spiritual path.

If somebody is thus forcing an obstacle in our spiritual path, whether it is our parents or our partners or children or relatives or friends, we can always do good actions like chanting, dhyaana etc. to negate the negative balance thereby getting rid of the obstacle. The obstacle might still be present but we will not be affected by it. We will be going forward removing the obstacle with courage and strength. If we are forced into marrying or forced not to learn the scriptures, still we will do japa-dhyaana thereby strengthening our mind and making it strong to resist whoever is causing obstacles for us. Whoever it be, such people will be thrown aside in order for the real seeker to proceed in the spiritual path. Even if this means going to jail or being thrown in the ocean, still the seeker will not tremble but will bravely remember that his fate is in his own hands – moreover such seeker will always remember that there is only the Lord here.

Thus we have to always remember that fate or destiny is not predetermined but it can be changed by our current actions. These discussions of fate or future is valid only for those who lack conviction that the Lord alone exists and thereby are weakened or pressurize or forced by people/surroundings/environment. Such seekers will never realize the ultimate reality of Lord. Those who are brave indeed to set aside everything (if required alone) for the sake of Lord alone will be able to realize their very nature of Lord. Such people who are still seeking the Lord will be bravely facing destiny in order to change it as they want it.