Thursday, October 11, 2007

Story 47 – Story of Destroying Indra’s pride – 08

As per the words of Krishna, Nandagopa along with other gopas did the pooja as requested. They then did pradakshina of the govardhana parvatha. The gopakumaras praised Krishna by singing his glories. Thus the yajna was completed and everyone returned back to gokula.

Explanation


We find in this part the perfection in the play set up by the Lord. When we have to do some actions in the world, we will not be able do it to perfection. We will either miss out on certain aspects or will not be doing it whole-heartedly. But we find the Lord not only planning things in the right way but seeing to it that execution of the plan is also done to perfection.

This is because the Lord is not affected or attached by the actions in the world. As long as a person is attached to actions he will not be able to do full justice to the action whatever way he tries. This is as a result of his being a part of the action. Even as the doer of eating is affected by the fruit of hunger suppression, similarly the person who is the doer of actions will be affected by the fruit. This means that such a person will be craving and looking forward to the fruit of the action. As long as there is expectation for a particular action, the doer will always be affected by either the good fruit or the bad fruit of the action. When the person who is looking into an action is thereby affected by the outcome, he will not be able to execute the action to perfection.

An action can be said to be perfect if it doesn’t taint the person doing it as well as doesn’t affect the doer with its fruits. This is possible only by ceasing to be a doer of the action; the doer of the action is the Ego associated with the body-mind-intellect complex. Since “I” am the Self distinct from the Ego, therefore I am not the doer. I am a mere witness to all actions happening around me. Even as a witness to a play put forth in a theatre is unaffected by the actions in the play, similarly I am a mere witness to the actions performed by the Ego in the world. As long as I am witness to all actions, I will ever be unaffected and thereby blissful. A person who is in this blissful state has to be either the ultimate reality of Lord or a jeevan muktha who is ever immersed in contemplation of the Lord.

The Lord by showing as to how to perform actions to perfection is thereby showing us the way to live blissfully in the world. The moment we do actions as an offering to the Lord and as a mere witness to them, we are a jeevan muktha. That is the natural state of a person as he is then immersed in his real nature of Self. At other points of time a seeker is attached and associated with the Ego thereby seemingly getting twirled in the activities of the world. A person who is not a jeevan muktha will be often tossed between momentary happiness and sorrow. Thus there will always be seeking of eternal bliss – a seeking for happiness that is ever lasting – a seeking for contentment – a seeking for peace – a seeking for satisfaction. This is possible only through realizing our own nature of Lord; when we live in the world like a jeevan muktha living blissful without getting attached or affected by the activities.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us all ensure that we never forget the ultimate reality of Lord even if we are in a state of ego or enjoyment or bad karmas so that we will always be protected by the Lord along with rejoicing of bliss internally due to contemplation of the Lord.

When Indra came to know that the gopas conducted yajna without offering him anything, he got angry.

Explanation


Anger is one of the emotions of the mind which can exhaust all of our energy as well as lead us from the 100th step to the first step in the spiritual path. Hence a sadhaka should always try to control anger.

Today we will try to discuss few of the ways in which we can overcome anger. What better way to start this than by looking at the words of scriptures and Mahatmas?

The simplest way to control anger is by controlling it. Whenever we get angry, we should take resort to counting from 1 to 100 or something similar which will make us calm and take us away from anger. Anger is so bad that one second of anger can ruin hours of spiritual sadhana that has been cultivated. It is best illustrated in the lives of Vasistha and Vishwamithra. Both of them were jnaanis and siddhas who had done in-depth penance towards realization. Vasistha was a brahma rishi whereas Vishwamithra was a Raja rishi; the difference being in the birth-caste, Vasistha being a brahmana whereas Vishwamithra was a Kshatriya. Though both of them were jnaanis yet they had anger controlling them over one or the other entity in the world. For Vishwamithra it was the hatred towards brahma rishis as he wasn’t acknowledged as one whereas for Vasistha it was against the Atharva Veda which wasn’t considered as being one of the Vedas. It is found in the various puranas that Vasistha acknowledged only the three Vedas of Rig, Yajur and Sama. Atharva Veda was popularized and made as a Veda by the great grandson of Vasistha who is now famous as Veda Vyasa. As a result of the anger of these saints, both of them had to suffer. Vishwamithra tried in vain to prove that he is great by creating a new svarga for Trishanku thereby leaving him in a dreadful place. Vasistha couldn’t cope up with his son Shakthi who acknowledged the Atharva Veda. Thus neither of these saints had peace of mind as a result of anger.

We should remember that these small incidents in the lives of these saints are meant to show as to what not to do in the spiritual path. Even as Mahabali, Vamana and Shukracharya all three were jeevan mukthas doing their duties in the best way, Vasistha and Vishwamithra also were jeevan mukthas doing their duties at the empirical level. They were just a mere witness to the play enacted in the world in order to show sadhakas like us as to what not to do in the world.

The simplest way thus to control anger is by counting or diverting the mind from the object of anger. But contrary to this, Narada mentions a very beautiful way to overcome anger in the Narada Bhakthi Sutras which has been popularized by Sadguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi. Narada says that if at all we aren’t able to control anger, we should direct it towards the Lord alone. If we are devotees of the Lord, we will not be able to do so and hence anger will automatically be overcome. The moment we get angry, we will want to offer it to Ishwara but being a true bhaktha we will not be able to do so. Not only this but anger towards Ishwara is also a direct way to realization by the Lord killing the Ego along with anger as is seen in the lives of Kamsa, Jarasandha etc. AMMA also instructed the same to many of her devotees that when they get angry, they should take a photo of their deity and get angry with the deity. There is no better listener than the Lord & the Lord is so compassionate (more compassionate than our mother) that he will do anything to ensure liberation for us. Hence the easiest way to overcome anger is by directing it or offering it to Ishwara whenever we come across it. By due practice, we will see that we can see from far when anger approaches us. Then we will be like an actor able to smile at anger and if necessary use it, else tell it to go away. Thus from the state of anger controlling us, we will have anger under our control thereby helping our mind to be focused, controlled and contemplated on the non-dual reality of Lord.

We will see as to what anger can do to a person in the next day with what Indra does to gopas.

Let us all try to offer and direct anger towards the ultimate reality of Lord so that we overcome anger thereby making us realize our own nature of non-dual Lord.

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