Monday, June 11, 2007

Story 45 - Story of Krishna Avataara - 06

Seeing the Lord born as their child, Devaki also praised the Lord. Hearing the praises of father and mother, the Lord spoke thus:

In previous births, you were Prishni and Sutapa. You did lot of tapas keeping me in mind. Being pleased with your tapas, I appeared in front of you in the form of Vishnu. I thereby asked you for a boon. You both requested that I be born to you as your son. And you didn't ask apavarga or moksha as the boon which would have taken you out of the maya. I was thus born as your son. You both were deluded into worldly pleasures and enjoyed them. After that birth, you both were born as adithi and kashyapa. Thereby I was born to you as upendra (Upendra is the famous Vamana). And now I am taking birth as your son. I have taken this divya form in order to remind you of your previous births. I will tell you one thing that you should love me not just as a son but remembering me as the form of Brahman - this will finally lead you to the ultimate goal of moksha. You should never again request for worldly needs like getting me as your son in human form.

Explanation


Here the Lord speaks about the ultimate goal of human life which is realization of one's own very nature of Lord and that the Lord alone exists here, one without a second. Anything else that we concentrate or focus on will only lead us to more and more troubles. Everything except realization of the ultimate reality of Lord will only ensure that we are immersed more and more in the ocean of samsaara. Such a person will get more entangled in samsaara thereby suffering in the vicious circle of birth and death.

Devaki and Vasudeva sought the Lord as their child. This is similar to any worldly desire. Any worldly desire whether it is possession of worldly objects or seeing the Lord in a particular form will only obstruct the progress in the spiritual path. We should understand the ultimate reality of Lord is beyond all forms as form only limits the unlimited Lord. Any form is only an illusion in the reality of Lord - an illusion cannot give us eternal bliss and instead will only give us sorrow in the
long run. Thus the more and more we concentrate on forms of the world whether it is of worldly objects or that of Vishnu, the more and more we will be getting away from the goal of eternal bliss. It is bliss that we have been seeking all our lives. If we really want to get eternal bliss, we should focus our mind on the ultimate reality of Lord as beyond all forms and as the substratum of whatever is seen in the world. This alone will lead us to the goal of eternal bliss. As long as we don't
get eternal bliss, we will not be satisfied with life and thereby we will be seeking something or the other in life. All such seeking show imperfection and as long as imperfection is there, we will be ever in sorrow. The only way out of this state of imperfection is knowing that the ultimate reality of Lord alone is present and by focusing ourselves on the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute.

When we always remember that the Lord alone exists and the world is only an illusion in the reality of Lord, then the ignorance about our nature of Lord will be removed. When ignorance is removed, we will realize our very nature of Lord. Once we realize our nature of Lord, we will be ever blissful. This blissful state is the goal of human life. As long as we don't achieve this goal, we will be always in a state of temporary happiness and sorrow. As long as we don't realize our very nature of
Lord, we will be entangled in the vicious circle of birth and death. The Lord here thus clearly says that we should not be deluded into the various forms and seek only one thing from the Lord - which is realization of our own very nature of Lord. This alone will make us realize that our very nature is bliss thereby making us ever rejoice in bliss.

After advising Vasudeva and Devaki, the Lord shed the form of Vishnu and took the form of a normal child.

Explanation

It is just one line that we are going to discuss today. It is in this part that we find the compassion of the Lord fully emanating out. We find that the various Mahatmas in this world are embodiments of compassion and love. The current day saints like AMMA or Ramana Maharshi are clear examples of this. Though Ramana Maharshi didn't want to speak anything or help others as for him he didn't see anything apart from the ultimate reality of Lord, still he came down from his level to help others.

Yoga Vasistha speaks about brahma jnaanis (knowers of Brahman) as of four types. The four types are brahma vid, brahma vidvara, brahma vid varya and brahma vid varista. Brahma Vid is one who is a knower of Brahman but still living in the world and doing activities like a worldly person. Brahma Vidvara is one who knows Brahman and strives to be always immersed in Brahman but still giving the bare necessities for the sustenance of the body - he doesn't do any activity except the basic needs in
the world. Brahma Vidvarya is one who doesn't want to even look after his body but still he will be brought down to the worldly level by his disciples and devotees so that he is not ever immersed in Brahman. Brahma vid varista is the highest level wherein the jnaani goes into union with Brahman - he doesn't see the body nor the activities of the world - such a jnaani can never be brought down from his level to the level of the world. Activities are basically impossible for such a jnaani. A
Brahma Vidvarista cannot thus return back to the level of the world - Sadgurus and avatars are those who are at this level but still come down to the worldly level in order to help out people of the world.

Are there any people to help once a person realizes that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists?

Even as a person sees water in desert after realizing that there is no water; even as we all daily dream though we know that there is no dream world; similarly a jnaani might also help the world as he might see the world at the empirical level. But the difference between the jnaani and the ajnaani is that a jnaani knows clearly that there is no world at all - thus whether he helps the world or not, he is ever blissful. His very presence is helpful and blissful to the world. Whoever comes in
contact with the jnaani will experience bliss emanating from the jnaani.

Avatars and Sadgurus are those who are always immersed in Brahman or Lord but still they can come down any time unlike the brahma vid varistas. It is only compassion that makes them help the world though they gain nothing from the world. They are here not to take anything but to give bliss to the people of the world and make them realize their very nature of Lord.

When Emperor Shantanu was suffering and in bad condition, Veda Vyaasa went to see him (Veda Vyaasa's mother was the wife of Shantanu). When Bhishma saw Vyaasa, he asked him as to what he wants. To this, Vyaasa replied "I have not come to take but to give". Bhishma thought that this guy was foolish and mad. But then Vyaasa requested to meet Satyavati upon which Bhishma came to know of Vyaasa's real nature. The story goes that Vyaasa then cured Shantanu by chanting of Atharva Veda mantras
thereby proving his words that he came to give and not take.

The Mahatmas in the world are not there to take anything from us; instead they are here to give us bliss that we are seeking each moment of our life. If the Mahatmas takes anything from us, then it is only our ego and our sins. It is out of compassion that these Mahatmas help us in the spiritual path - thereby we should understand the importance of being in the presence of such Mahatmas. Our life will become futile if we don't seek out these Mahatmas. We should not waste our opportunity of being guided to the ultimate reality of Lord through the compassion of these Mahatmas.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?