Srimad Bhagavatham

We saw in the previous day as to how people seek the Lord at times of distress. We as ardent seekers of the reality of Lord need to seek nothing but realization of the ultimate reality of Lord alone. The Lord himself speaks about different types of bhakthas or people in the world thus:

Chathurvidhaa bhajanthe maam janaah sukrithino arjuna
Aartho jijnaasuh arthaarthi jnaani cha bharatharshabha

Four types of people worship me O Arjuna. The four are seeking money,
seeking relief, seeking realization and a jnaani (realized one).

Majority of the devotees of the ultimate reality of Lord are either seeking money or seeking relief from troubles. There are very few who are realized and who seek realization. We have to shift ourselves from seeking money or relief and instead be seekers of realization or jijnaasus. The Lord himself proclaims in Gita that whoever seeks whatever, he gets that by the grace of the Lord. Thus if we seek money or relief, we will only get that. Money or relief from current scenario cannot give us
eternal bliss as more such situations or scenarios will happen. This samsaara is an illusion which can be overcome only through realization of one's own very nature of Lord. Until we do that, we will have troubles again and again. There will be no cessation of sorrow or contentment or satisfaction until we realize that the world is only an illusion and the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists. Our ultimate goal in life is nothing but happiness that is everlasting and eternal. This can be
achieved only through realization of our own very nature of Lord - who alone exists here, one without a second.

We found in this story people going to Vishnu seeking relief from worldly troubles. We will see in the coming day as to what Lord clearly explains in his birth of Krishna. But we have to always remember that we should be seeking nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord alone. We shouldn't seek money or material benefits or relief in the world. It is but funny that we go to the Lord who has eternal bliss and seek petty things of the world. Isn't it enough if we seek the Lord himself (who grants everything) so that we get whatever we want? Such seekers are wise people as they don't seek petty things of the illusory world but seek the ultimate reality of Lord knowing which everything else becomes known and there is nothing else to be achieved in life.

Devaki who was the sister of Kamsa married Vasudeva. At that time, an ashareeri was heard that the eighth child of Devaki will kill Kamsa. Upon this Kamsa was about to kill Devaki. Vasudeva pacified Kamsa saying that he would give the entire children to Kamsa as they are born. The first six children who were given to Kamsa were thus killed by Kamsa. The seventh child was disturbed in the womb of Devaki by DeviMaya and transferred to Rohini who was another wife of Vasudeva. Thus was born Balarama who was the seventh child of Vasudeva.

Explanation

This is a story which we are all quite familiar with. But still we need to understand the import behind the story and relate it to the ultimate reality of Lord. We all have been listening to this story since our childhood, have been seeing this in many TV serials/films, have been listening to this as part of Bhagavatha sapthaham etc. but still many of us are either attracted to either the form of Krishna or the plays of Krishna. This in turn blinds us from the real import of the story as well as leads us to attraction towards either form Krishna or the miracles
performed by Krishna. In order to understand the real import of the story, we need to view this from the perspective of Vedanta keeping in mind the ultimate reality of Lord as the goal.

Any form whether it is that of Krishna or Vishnu or AMMA or any Mahatma is temporary and thereby illusory. These are not "my" personal words but the words of Lord in Gita as well as in Bhagavatham which we will see in the coming days. Any form is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord even as various gold ornaments like chain, necklace etc. are mere illusions of names-forms in gold. For a goldsmith, all gold ornaments are gold alone. But for normal people, the various gold ornaments
are different. For ignorant people, the world filled of different forms is different from one another. But for the wise person, the world is a mere illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Unless we realize the futility of all forms, we will be attached to a particular form. History speaks about the various fights (both verbal and physical) between Saivites and Vaishnavites (followers of Siva and Vishnu resp.). Direct
evidence is clearly found in works of Appayya Dikshitar where he shows that such distinctions of decrying Siva were prevalent during his time. These distinctions are prevalent even today. People consider that Vishnu alone is great and yet others consider Siva alone as great. Any word about other God than their Supreme God will be dealt with harsh words. Such is the foolishness and stupidity of people who get attached for mere forms instead of the ultimate reality of Lord who is beyond all forms.

It is not at all different to be attached to a person in the world or Lord Krishna. The only difference is that if there is real devotion towards Krishna, then the Lord himself will forcefully take such a devotee from form-devotion to formless God. This is only if there is real devotion which is nothing but seeing such a form Lord as pervading all the forms in the world which means that there is nothing but that form
alone. Most of us are bereft of this form devotion. If it is possible, why not directly try to apprehend the formless God who is the substratum of all forms rather than going indirectly through a form God???

Yes, the Lord does proclaim that formless meditation is tough in the bhakthi yoga of gita. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try towards it - anything and everything possible through practice in the world. This story of Krishna is a testimony to this truth as the Lord himself will be proving to his parents in the next parts of the story.

In this particular part of the story, we find Kamsa trying to go against the creator of the world. If we accept a world, we have to accept a creator who is in total control of the world. If we instead accept the world as an illusion, there is no question of going against creation or crying for things in the world. Kamsa was neither of these two and hence tried to control the world. We find people like Alexander, Hitler, Napolean among others trying to gain control of the world. All such people were utter failure as they failed to apprehend the truth that they
are trying to control an illusory world. What is the best way to control water seen in desert? The best way is to know that there is no water. There cannot be any other way of controlling water - though we may try different methods, all of them will be utter failures only as there is no water at all in desert. Thus such people who try to control the world will utter failures - even if it is trying to purify the world through social service like Jesus, Buddha etc. did.

This part of the story shows how futile was Kamsa's efforts to go against the Lord. If only had Kamsa realized the futility of the temporary world, he would have easily realized the ultimate reality of Lord than going for controlling the world and his existence in the world.

We will continue with the story in the next day.