Monday, June 04, 2007

Story 45 - Story of Krishna Avataara - 04

The time of Krishna's advent in the world came. All of a sudden, one night Devaki's garbha was filled with brightness and the Lord had entered into it. The Lord then took birth. The form that the child took was that of Vishnu having four hands etc. Since the child was in the form of Vishnu, Vasudeva started praising the Lord.

Explanation


Here we find the advent of Lord as the child of Devaki. We see that the birth of the Lord is not like any ordinary child but is extra ordinary. It is often accepted that avataaras have maayika shareera or mayic body which is quite different from the physical body that normal beings have. We find here Devaki being conceived all of a sudden without undergoing the normal process of conception. This is the difference between the advent of the Lord and birth of normal beings.

Though birth whether it is by Maya or by normal means is only an illusion, at the empirical level we can differentiate the birth of the Lord and the birth of normal beings. The Lord is the controller of everything in the world as the world itself is caused by Maya which is the power of the Lord. Since Maya is under the control of the Lord, therefore everything in the world can be controlled by the Lord. Though everything can be controlled and changed by the Lord, still the eternal rule of
karma is not broken even by the Lord. It is the karma of sins accrued by Kamsa which caused Krishna to descend to the world. It is the same karma which finally lead to Kamsa getting focus of the mind towards the ultimate reality of Lord. It is this focus which again brought the Lord into the world for the two-fold purpose of killing the ego of Kamsa which had done sins and liberating (giving experience or realization) for that Kamsa who was totally fixed on the ultimate reality of Lord.

That Krishna avataara is a poorna avaataara is again proved through the Lord taking the form of Vishnu after being born and not taking a normal human form.

When a normal person sees the Lord, he will ask lot of boons seeking worldly pleasures. But here we find as to what a devotee would do when he sees the ultimate reality of Lord. A real devotee will praise the Lord - he will need nothing but mere vision of the Lord is enough for a devotee to be exalted to blissful state. Thus when the devotee of Vasudeva sees the ultimate reality of Lord in front of him as a child, he starts praising the Lord. We will see as to how Vasudeva praises and what the Lord replies to Vasudeva-devaki in the coming days.

Vasudeva praised the Lord thus:

O Lord! You have temporarily taken this form. In reality you are beyond prakrithi and are of the nature of indivisible Consciousness. That Purusha through his Maya has made this duality appear and is present as well as not present in them. In reality, there is neither inside nor outside as the purusha is the indwelling Self of all beings. There is nothing apart from that Purusha who you are.

Explanation


In this part, we find Vasudeva praising the Lord who has appeared in the form of Vishnu and his child. Any form whether it is that of Vishnu or Siva or Krishna is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Consciousness. Any form is subject to changes like the various forms that we see. Even as the various names and forms of gold chain, gold necklace, gold ring etc. are mere illusions in the reality of gold similarly the various names and forms that we see in the world is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Consciousness. It is this Consciousness that is proclaimed in the Upanishads as Brahman and in the puranas as Ishwara or Paramatman or Bhagavan or Lord. In reality the Lord is of the nature of Consciousness and beyond all forms as the Lord is unlimited whereas forms are always limited in space and time. Thus Vasudeva here says that the Lord is beyond prakrithi and therefore all forms.

Vasudeva also gives us a brief way as to how the duality has appeared from the non-dual reality of Lord. That which causes the non-dual reality to appear as the dual world is called Maya which is an illusory power of the Lord. Maya is that which is inexplicable and ultimate unreal. Since Maya is ultimately unreal, therefore it cannot be defined or explained like things in the world. But Maya is the cause of the duality in the world. Maya makes us feel as if there is duality present here. The duality that we see is not real as it is not permanent (like in deep sleep where we don't see any objects of the world). Maya makes it seem as if the duality is real. This is like the dream state wherein there is only the dreamer but the entire dream world seems to be present. Similarly here the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists but Maya makes it seem as if there are many things present here. Since this duality has for its substratum the ultimate reality of Lord alone, therefore the Lord is present in the duality (as the underlying substratum). Also since the
duality is unreal whereas the Lord is real, therefore the Lord is not really in the duality. Thus Vasudeva says that the Lord is present in the duality as well as not present in the duality. This might seem a bit contradictory but as explained the Lord is present in the duality as the substratum and as the names-forms, he is not present in the duality.

Only when there is duality present, can be have inside and outside of things. But there is only the ultimate reality of Lord present here; hence there is neither inside nor outside. Since we are ignorant of the reality that the Lord alone is present here, we think that there is inside and outside. For people who see duality as existing, the scriptures proclaim that the Lord is present inside and outside of all things. This is only a way of telling that there is neither inside nor outside but the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists here. Once we apprehend at least intellectually that there is only the ultimate reality of Lord present here, then we will not be having likes and dislikes as there is no duality present. When there are neither likes nor dislikes, there will be not be any happiness or sorrow arising out of attachment and aversion. We will thereby realize our very nature of the ultimate reality of Lord. Since the Lord is of the nature of bliss, thereby we will be ever
rejoicing in bliss. This eternal bliss is the goal of life; we will be able to achieve it only through realizing that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists, one without a second.

Through the study of scriptures and puranas like Bhagavatham, we learn that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists. Once we understand this intellectually, we will be able to always contemplate on this reality that the Lord alone exists here; this will finally lead us to be ever immersed in the natural state of bliss.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

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