Sunday, November 25, 2007

Story 47 – Story of Destroying Indra’s pride – 15

The Lord concluded his words to Indra thus:

I punish those people who get forget me distracted into the possessions given to them by me. I alienate them to an extent from their possessions and bless them. Indra, go and do activities without forgetting me.

Explanation


The Lord in Bhagavad Gita has summarized in many places as to the simplest and straight way to realize one’s own nature of Lord. One of the sloka that summarizes it beautifully is below:

Yat karoshi yad ashnaasi yad juhosi dadaasi yat
Yat tapasyasi kaunteya tad kurushva madarpanam

Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer to homa kunda, whatever you give to others and whatever austerities you do, do it by offering it unto me.

It is the same essence that the Lord gives to Arjuna as the last words. What we have to do in the world in order to realize the ultimate reality of Lord is just remembering the Lord at all times and offering all actions unto the Lord. The moment we remember the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory world, we will be rid of the various emotions of the mind like desire, anger, pride etc. A person who is devoid of the emotions of the mind is devoid of likes and dislikes in the world. This is because such a person sees everything as mere illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord; for him the Lord alone exists. A person who is without likes and dislikes thereby is not affected by the passions of the mind. When a person is not affected by the passions of the mind, he will not get deluded into the dualities of the world. It is dual notions of the world like happiness and sorrow which cause a person to suffer terribly in the world. The moment a seeker gets attached to something in the world, he will be affected by the state of the thing. Thus he will be whirled between happiness and sorrow depending on the state of the thing. Since the entire world is constantly changing, the thing will finally end up in destruction or completely negation. During that time, the seeker will thereby be in total distress and sad over the loss of the thing. As a result of deep attachment and constant brooding over the thing, the seeker will have to take birth again and again in order to satisfy the desire with the thing. This is just for a particular thing in the world. If the seeker has more things and people with whom he is attached to, those all will lead to many more births. The same applies for things to which he has aversion (dislike). Thus likes and dislikes makes a seeker take birth again and again in the ocean of samsaara. Samsaara can give nothing but sorrow and sufferings alone for a seeker as it is temporary and unreal. Therefore the Lord says that we should always remember him as the non-dual reality behind names and forms. Thus whatever a seeker is seeing, whatever a seeker is hearing, whatever a seeker is doing should be with the knowledge that the world is but an illusion in the reality of Lord and that the Lord alone exists here. Thus mere contemplation of the Lord along with offering of all actions unto the Lord will lead a seeker from the state of suffering to the state of bliss wherein he will be ever rejoicing in blissful nature of the Lord. This is the one and only sadhana that a seeker has to do in order to achieve bliss. All other sadhanas like japa, dhyaana etc. are meant to lead us to this sadhana of ever remembering the Lord whatever be the activity that we are doing.

We will see the conclusion of this story in the next day.

Let us all try to always remember the Lord as the reality behind the illusory world thereby offering all actions unto the Lord in order to rejoice in blissful Lord.

Conclusion

Thereby Indra after prostrating the Lord returned back. Before returning back, Indra along with all devas and various rishis like Narada worshipped and praised the Lord by terming him as “gokula pathi” or “Lord of Gokula”.


Various stories like Works of Bala Krishna, Indra darpa harana etc. establish the illusory nature of the entire world in the ultimate reality of non-dual Consciousness Lord. Mind and the objects of the world are beyond all logic and thereby are mere illusions in the reality of Lord. A person who is enquiring about them from outside will never be able to find out the why, how, what etc. of them. For a person who goes introverted into his own nature of Lord, it will be proved through sruthi-yukthi-anubhava that there is nothing but the non-dual Lord alone exists here. Any person who doesn’t apprehend this truth yet becomes egoistic will have to suffer in the world even if he is Indra or Chandra or any other great person. This is an undeniable and unchanging truth.

Explanation


We have finally come to the conclusion of this story of destroying Indra’s pride wherein we have learnt a lot about spiritual practices and the goal to be achieved by a person in the world. Bhagavatham is here concluding with a beautiful summarization of the goal and as to what a seeker has to do in order to realize that goal.

The truth is that whatever we see as the dual world is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord. As long as we don’t apprehend the substratum of Lord and go behind illusory names-forms, we will never be able to find out the Lord. Most of us get afraid when it comes to hearing the term “realization” and run away from it thanks to the wrong knowledge imparted by elders. The knowledge thus that we have regarding realization is that it is something that only fools and crazy people go after – it is something that a person should seek after his hair has either died or become white, his teeth have fallen off, his body is numb and his mind no longer can stick on to anything. The so-called knowledgeable elders forget to consider as to how a person who is so old that he cannot read or even think will be able to learn the subtle logical concepts of scriptures and thereby contemplate on the same in his mind. As a result of the wrong knowledge passed down from generations to generations, not only that we are ignorant but we pass on the ignorance to our children as well. Thus the current-day people either run away from REALIZATION/SPIRITUALITY or just think they are for lunatics alone.

REALIZATION is nothing but eternal bliss. It is that state wherein a person is ever blissful and not even a tinge of sorrow touches him. We tend to forget that this very same bliss is what is the ultimate goal of all beings. Everyone irrespective of caste, creed, money, power etc. are seeking eternal bliss alone. The only problem is that we are searching for it in the illusory world. Even as the water seen in desert cannot give us anything but sorrow, similarly the illusory world can give us nothing but sorrow alone. Thus a person who earnestly desires bliss should seek realization of the ultimate reality of Lord. When thus he starts in the spiritual quest for bliss, he will slowly find out that bliss is not separate from him – bliss is his very nature of Conscious Lord. It is the ignorance of the fact that “I am the Lord” that causes a person to consider himself as the body-mind-intellect thereby getting attached/associated with people/things in the world thus finally considering the world as real. As long as we don’t come out of this ignorance that the world is real and will give us bliss, even though we may follow Vishnu or Siva or Sri Ramakrishna or AMMA we will not get bliss. There is one and only one way to get bliss – and that is through realization following the scriptural path of constant contemplation of the Lord. It is this very path that each Mahatma and Avataara propounds (though initially it might seem that each one is propounding their own path yet whatever these Mahatmas propound are means to purify the mind thereby making it easier to always contemplate on the Lord). If we tend to ignore constant contemplation by getting deluded into the world or deluded into the powers of Mahatmas, then we will become egoistic and will not get bliss. Finally some day or the other the Lord will ensure that we are punished to the max in order to get back in the spiritual path. It is this punishment that we all experience in the form of disease, sorrow, poverty etc. but most of us just ignore it seeking more and more happiness from the world. Indra was a real devotee of the Lord who had somehow forgotten the Lord for sometime and hence the Lord didn’t punish him too severely. We might not face the same situation if we aren’t or were not devotees of the Lord.

Hence it is of utmost importance that we seek the Lord as early as possible so that we don’t suffer any longer but ever rejoice in bliss.

We will see a summary of this story in the next day before starting another beautiful story of Srimad Bhagavatham.

Let us all try to realize the Lord this very moment by constantly contemplating on the Lord so that we don’t end up getting punished like Indra and so that we may ever rejoice in bliss untainted by sorrow.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Story 47 – Story of Destroying Indra’s pride – 14

Indra continued:

You are the father and Guru for the entire world. At times you take different forms (avataaras) in order for the welfare of the world by your own will; then you destroy the Ego and pride of people like me who think they are the Lord of the world. Please forgive the faults of the ajnaani and fault-doer that I am. I offer prostrations again and again to your feet. Destroying my Ego please bless me.

Explanation


We find Indra fully surrendering to the ultimate reality of Lord in the form of Krishna. We already know the importance of complete surrender which alone is true devotion and can alone lead us to moksha or liberation.

Guru-lineage is something that is considered as having two separate lines. One starts from Narayana coming down through brahma to the current-day Sankaracharyas. The second starts from the great guru of Dakshinamurthy who taught the Sanaka sages. Though this is the lineage, it is widely accepted that Krishna is Jagadguru (Krishnam vande jagadgurum sloka is quite popular). It is also apt and not wrong to consider that Bhagavad Gita is the essence of the Upanishads, churned out important concepts alone from the Upanishads, directed towards intellectual/questioning people and people who are in distress. Gita is also not that tough to learn unlike the Upanishads. For this reason as well it would be apt to call Krishna as Jagadguru since he re-established the essence of the Upanishads in simple and easy terms for the better understanding of seekers.

Indra calling Krishna as the Guru of the world signifies two things: one is that he is none other than the ultimate reality of Brahman manifesting as Narayana and Dakshinamurthy; two is that he propounded the easier and simpler version of the Upanishads which is the Bhagavad Gita.

Bhagavatham anticipating the question of “if everything is the Lord, why avataaras” here is answering it through Indra. In reality any form in the world or the world itself is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord. But when a person forgets this reality, the Lord takes a particular form in order to remind the person about the reality. This is same as a person who is dreaming sees a dream lion and thereby wakes up. Avataaras have importance only for an ignorant person as for a jnaani everything is the Lord alone; the jnaani knows and experiences nothing but the Lord as his intellect is always with the conviction that the entire world is but names and forms in the reality of Lord. Even as various names and forms of gold are mere illusions in gold, similarly the world which is names and forms of Lord is only an illusion in the Lord. Thus avataaras are present or viewed only by the ignorant person who realizes his ignorance thereby surrendering to that form which is closest to the Lord. Even though electricity is available in many forms and many places, yet we cannot experience it unless we use a bulb or any other electrical equipment. Similarly though the Lord is present everywhere we can only experience his presence in certain places (even as air is available everywhere yet we can rest only with the air under the shade of a tree). Once a person realizes the ultimate reality of Lord, then for him there is nothing but the Lord alone. Indra here denotes a seeker who knows that the Lord alone is present here but not yet realized. It is for this reason as well that Indra asks for the blessings of the Lord without which we cannot get liberation. It would be good to remember that the blessings or grace of the Lord is always there but what is meant here is we becoming capable of apprehending the ever-present grace of the Lord (even as sunlight is always there yet we have to open our doors/windows to let it in). We have to develop devotion and surrender to the ultimate reality of Lord in order to become eligible to get his grace in order to realize him. This is what Indra achieves through words of devotion and surrender.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us try to seek the Lord by knowing his nature so that we may realize the Lord and rejoice in bliss which is the very nature of Lord (as it is bliss that we are seeking each and every moment of our life).

Hearing Indra’s words, the Lord laughing heartily spoke with a voice as strong and clear like the clouds (making sound):

O Indra, I obstructed the yaaga in order to bless you only. You forgot ME once you got your position of Indra (ruler of Svarga) thereby becoming egoistic; I did this therefore to make you remember ME at all times without any fail.

Explanation


Though the Lord’s words have the import of always remembering him, we will discuss today about the position of Indra which lead Indra to forget the Lord and become egoistic.

We generally consider Indra and svarga as something very great and eternal. But this is contrary to how the scriptures speak about svarga. Indra, Brahma etc. are different positions in a particular world. Scriptures also speak about various yagas by doing which we can become Indra. In Hanuman’s astothara shata naamavali, there is a naama which speaks about him as the next Brahma. Hayagreeva while instructing Agastya on Devi’s Mahatmyam through Lalitha Trishathi speaks about a big event wherein different Brahmas, different Vishnus, different Sivas etc. get together. This is for strengthening the view that these various Gods are only positions like President, Prime Minister, MP, MLA etc. that we have. Even as those positions in the world are temporary and is valid only for a certain period of time, similarly these positions of various Gods are also valid only for a certain period of time.

Krishna therefore beautifully explains in the ninth chapter about how a person gets svarga. He says that when we do lot of punya karmas then we gain a huge deposit of punya in the bank of karma. The higher the punya, the higher world we will visit. Similar is the position or status that we will have in that particular world. But this deposit of punya is not eternal. It is like any other bank deposit. When a person enjoys his punya by going to a higher loka and gaining a position, the deposit is being withdrawn. As much is the punya, so long will be the pleasures in the higher world. Once the punyas are completely exhausted by enjoying them, then the person has to return back to the manushya loka or human world. If now the person gains papa by doing bad karmas, then he will go to the below worlds like pataala etc. Once his papas are exhausted then he will again return back to the human world. Thus in the worlds above and below a person will be able to stay only for a limited period of time. If a person is in the above world, he will be enjoying. If he is in the below world, he will be suffering. There is no choice given in both the worlds. But in the human world, we have the choice of choosing our actions. Therefore human birth is considered the greatest of all births – a human being can decide his actions; he can do good activities thereby gaining punya or do bad activities thereby gaining papa. Other than these two activities, there is a third neutral path which alone will lead a person to moksha or liberation. Punya is as bad as papa. A person who is sitting in an ac room in a 5 star hotel with women among other luxuries will never be able to contemplate on the reality of Lord (as he is deluded in worldly possessions). Same is the case with sins as well. Neither of them will lead us to moksha – instead they will only make us crave for more and more sensual pleasures. The third neutral path is when the seeker offers all actions to the Lord. While doing good activities and bad activities, as long as a person is associated with the DOER of EGO he will gain punya or papa. But the moment a person offers all actions unto the Lord, he ceases to be the doer. As long as a person is not the doer, he will not be the enjoyer as well. Thus whether it is good karma or bad karma that he is doing, he will ever be blissful as he is immersed in contemplation of the Lord along with offering all actions to the Lord. Thus Bhagavatham by pointing out that Indra is a particular position in svarga wants us to know that svarga (which we all ardently seek) is also limited; thereby a seeker should seek only the ultimate reality of Lord, remembering that the Lord alone exists and offering all actions unto the Lord. This alone will lead us to go beyond punya and papa thereby being ever blissful. This bliss is what we are seeking but in the external world. Therefore a person who seeks bliss should follow the neutral path of offering all actions to that Lord who alone exists.

We will see as to what the Lord next says in the next day.

Let us all try to follow the neutral path of offering all actions unto the non-dual reality of Lord so that we may realize our own very nature of blissful Lord.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Story 47 – Story of Destroying Indra’s pride – 13

As a result of Krishna saving Gokula with Govardhana Parvatha, Indra being convinced that Krishna was the ultimate reality of Lord went to Vraja along with Kamadhenu. Being a bit ashamed he approached Krishna and fell at his feet. Renouncing the notion that he was the Lord of the three worlds, Indra praised the Lord even as a Yogi after renouncing the ego immerses into ultimate bliss thereby praising Brahman.

Explanation


There are two important things that we find in this part of the story. The first is that a person should renounce all ego and praise the ultimate reality of Lord. The second is regarding who is a real Yogi.

We generally consider praising as just chanting the sahasranama or Rudra, speaking about the Lord, quoting slokas about Lord to anyone and everyone etc. But these are not real praises. Real praise is when the seeker surrenders his Ego unto the Lord. Once there is no ego left in the seeker then whatever he will speak, whatever he will do, whatever he will know are nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord. This real praise is possible only when a seeker is ever contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus real praise is when a person is following the scriptural words of always contemplating on the Lord as the one and only reality behind the illusory world. Such a person who is ever contemplating on the Lord might not even pray externally or speak about the Lord yet internally his mind will be ever immersed in the Lord. We find the great bhaktha-jnaani recommended by the Lord himself in the Mahabharata of Dharmavyaadha who was a butcher yet consider a realized saint. Dharmavyaadha didn’t pray or preach about the Lord like many of the so-called devotees of current day do. Just because a person speaks about the Lord or quotes slokas of the Lord or visits ashrams like Ramakrishna Mission doesn’t make him a real devotee nor does it make it praise of the Lord. Real praise is when the seeker is ever contemplating on the Lord internally whether externally he is enjoying sensual pleasures or singing or preaching. Such a seeker alone is a real devotee of the Lord. Real devotion is not praising externally the Lord but is ever contemplating on the Lord in the mind.

Indra by surrendering the ego unto the Lord thereby became a real devotee. Such a real devotee might or might nor praise the Lord externally. Bhagavatham through mentioning the praises of various devotees just is trying to show the nature of the Lord as seen by devotees so that we as sadhakas can learn from the same to view the Lord in his natural state and form.

The second thing that Bhagavatham mentions regarding a Yogi is very important for seekers. Today we find many saints and sadhus claiming to give Self-realization through various yogic techniques like meditation etc. Therefore we consider a Yogi as one who does the astanga Yoga (of which meditation is a part). If we talk to a person who doesn’t do meditation, we will degrade him as not following the Lord’s words in Gita. All of this confusion is because of various so-called saints propagating the different meditation techniques like ART OF LIVING, KRIYA YOGA etc. This doesn’t mean that personally I am against those saints and their techniques. But as per the scriptures, astanga yoga or meditation as propounded by these saints will not lead us realization. Also the definition of Yogi as one who has done dhyaana, samaadhi and has siddhis is against the scriptures. Krishna in the Gita clearly mentions a Yogi as one who has known the reality that the Self has become everything thereby seeing the Self in all and all in the Self. It is the same thing that Bhagavatham also says here by telling that a Yogi is one who is immersed in bliss because of contemplation or focus on Brahman. What these saints are doing is falsely propounding the meaning of the word YOGA which is contrary to the scriptural view. Unless we understand this, we will end up doing one or the other type of meditation thereby ending up in total distress. We will end up distress by doing and focusing on such techniques because they will never give us moksha or eternal bliss. As long as we do the technique, we will be happy. The moment we are in the world and are unable to do the technique, we will become sad. Thus the techniques will end us up in despair when we leave the body – instead of having helped us in becoming real yogis, they make us desire more and more thereby getting immersed in the ocean of samsaara.

We should thereby remember the Lord’s beautiful definition of Yoga as below:

Siddhyasidhyoh samo bhootvaa samatvam yoga uchyathe

He who maintains equanimity in good and bad times, he is a yogi; equanimity of the mind is called YOGA. Such a Yoga is possible only when always remembering the ultimate reality of Lord as the substratum behind the illusory world.

Let us all try to be real Yogis by always contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord as the substratum of the illusory world whether we follow a particular saint or do certain techniques so that such a contemplation of the Lord will thereby lead us to eternal bliss and peace.

Indra praised Krishna thus:

Your very nature is that of Existence and Consciousness; you are without any movement; not having anything else to know is your experience; your nature is that place wherein the gunas of Rajas and Tamas have completely vanished; the duality caused out of gunas is a mere illusion; being of the nature of Consciousness, you don’t have any relation whatsoever with the objects created out of the sense organs.

Explanation


We have learnt in many stories the same qualities of the ultimate reality of Lord when any of the devotees of the Lord praise the Lord. These praises are only ways to show us the very nature of Lord. These thereby serve not to make us deviate from the ultimate reality of Lord into the stories and the miracles in them.

Though we have discussed the nature of the Lord, it is useful to discuss it again and again. Vyaasa summarizes this approach of Vedanta through the sutra “aavrittih asakrit upadesaat” – repetition again and again is required as that is how Vedanta instructs. This is helpful in emphasizing the nature of Lord as against the illusory, changing and temporary world. Even as a child in school will by-heart things by repeating again and again (many of us would remember repeating the calculation tables of 2 * 1 = 2, 2 * 2 = 4 etc. while we were children), Vedanta considers sadhakas as children learning about the ultimate reality of Lord. Even as a person who has graduated yet would be a child with respect to the physics as propounded by Stephen Hawkings, similarly we are all children with respect to the subtle philosophy propounded by Vedanta. As long as we don’t realize the ultimate reality of Lord, we will still be children with respect to Vedanta. It is for this reason that a Guru considers the disciple as a child for a mother. The emphasizing of Lord Krishna in Gita to take care of all the welfare of his devotees is also a clear indication that we, sadhakas, are children with respect to the Lord and philosophies about the Lord. Thus Vedanta strives to teach the children who we are about the ultimate reality of Lord through constant repetition. This can be easily understood by comparing with how a mother makes her child eat food. The child refuses to eat as it wants to play. The mother thereby takes the child outside, shows him the moon, and explains stories all the while giving food (one handful of food) to the child. The child gets attracted into the stories and thereby doesn’t even know that the mother is making it eat food. Unlike the case of eating, we cannot afford to forget the ultimate reality of Lord thereby getting distracted into the miracles. Therefore Bhagavatham ensures that in all the stories, the nature of the Lord is emphasized at the beginning and at the end.

Now let’s see in brief the nature of Lord as praised by Indra. The ultimate reality of Lord is propounded in scriptures as of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss (Sat, Chit, Ananda). The Lord is of the nature of Existence because he is ever-present else he would become unreal. Any entity to be existent should be illumined by some light. We find the objects of the world as existing because of the sunlight or other light. But all lights are illumined by Consciousness as Consciousness is the only light capable of experiencing its own existence. This is the reason why even in a dark room when there is no light we still experience ourselves as existing and nobody doubts the same. Thus the ultimate reality of Lord to be of the nature of Existence should also be of the nature of Consciousness. The Lord also has to be perfect in all aspects as he is ever-present. That which is temporary is limited by time, space and causation (the world and objects of the world are subjected to these three limitations). Since the ultimate reality of Lord is real, he has to be unlimited and perfect in all aspects. That which is perfect or poorna has to be blissful. The entities of the world are endowed with temporary happiness as their very life itself is temporary. But since the Lord is permanent therefore the happiness in the Lord is also permanent. Permanent or ever-lasting happiness is termed as bliss or ananda. Thus the Lord is of the nature of Bliss as well.

That which is unlimited in space cannot move. Movement is with respect to space. That which is limited can move in space. Therefore we find ourselves always moving in space. But the Lord is unlimited and hence he is all-pervasive; therefore he is without any movement or nischalam. The Lord is all-pervasive because he is the cause and substratum in which the illusory world is seen. The cause of mud is pervasive in the effect of pot. We know that mud pervades the pot. Thus any cause is pervasive with respect to its effect. Since the world is an effect of the cause of the ultimate reality of Lord therefore the Lord is all-pervasive in the world. Since the Lord is all-pervasive, he is without any movement.

Since the Lord is unlimited therefore he is non-dual in nature. We can never have two entities which are unlimited because they will be mutually relative; causing one of them to limit the other. Thus the Lord is non-dual or the only one really existing (the world being an illusion in the Lord is not existent at the ultimate viewpoint). Since the Lord alone is present, he cannot know anything else as there is nothing else to know. Therefore when a person realizes his very nature of Lord, he will have nothing else to know – knowledge culminates in realization or moksha.

Since the Lord alone exists ultimately, the world is only an illusion in the Lord. The world is composed of the three gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas. Sattva denotes calmness, rajas denotes activity and tamas denotes dullness. The Lord comes very near to Sattva as it is that state wherein there is only knowledge and peace. Therefore rajas and tamas are completely non-existent in the Lord. Since the world made up of the three gunas is an illusory creation in the non-dual Lord, therefore the Lord doesn’t have any relation to the world. This is like a magician not having any relation with his magic as the magic itself is unreal. We can empirically say that the relation between the magician and his magic is that of cause and effect. But ultimately there is no relation whatsoever as the magician is real whereas his magic is unreal. Similarly empirically we can say that the relation between the Lord and the world is that of cause and effect (or that the Lord is the substratum of the illusory world) but ultimately there is no relation whatsoever as the Lord is real whereas the world is unreal.

Thus Bhagavatham in this part has beautifully condensed the concepts of Vedanta about the ultimate reality of Lord. It would be good for each one of us to remember this at all times so that we seek the goal of the Lord remembering his nature thereby finally realizing our own very nature of blissful Lord.

Let us try to seek the Lord by knowing his nature so that we may realize the Lord and rejoice in bliss which is the very nature of Lord (as it is bliss that we are seeking each and every moment of our life).

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Story 47 – Story of Destroying Indra’s pride – 12

After having experienced the miraculous power of Krishna, Indra gave up his pride thereby withdrawing the clouds. Indra was dumbstruck at the miracle displayed by the child Krishna who was just a seven year old boy yet holding the mountain for seven days without any pain or tiredness.

Explanation


Though Indra had pride, yet we find here a person who had learnt the scriptures and forgotten it for some time. If not for scriptural study or knowledge about the Lord, Indra would have continued showing his pride in vain like many of the asuras of Kamsa, Jarasandha etc. (which in turn would have lead to his total destruction). The sign of knowledge is accepting one’s fault and mistakes. Indra therefore surrendered to the Lord knowing his fault of showing pride. It is for this reason that all Mahatmas proclaim knowledge of scriptures.

Knowledge of scriptures is not mere by-hearting of slokas or being able to give long discourses on any of them; but it is knowing that the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists, one without a second. Along with the knowledge that the Lord alone exists, seeker realizes through study of scriptures in the right way that the dual world is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord and that he himself is of the nature of eternal Lord.

Unless we know about the ultimate reality of Lord being the only reality beneath the illusory world, we will not be benefitted by scriptural knowledge. Such people who know the entire Vedas yet don’t know the reality of Brahman are termed as donkeys carrying the load of Vedas (by Yoga Vasistha). We are all aware of the age-old saying that quality is more important than quantity. This is valid in terms of scriptural knowledge as well.

Scriptures speak about a highway killer of the name of Ratnakar who happened to attack a saint who instructed him into chanting the mantra MARA (as he refused to chant the name of RAMA). Mere chanting of the mantra with full faith and devotion lead him to become the famous Valmiki who captured the life of Rama in Valmiki Ramayana. Here also we find the emphasis of quality and not quantity. It is not because Valmiki chanted for a thousand years that he became realized but it was the faith with which he chanted. We find a number of people who have been doing all kinds of spiritual activities starting from their childhood in the form of sandhya vandhana or rama nama japa etc. yet at the end of their life they still have many desires to be fulfilled thereby being dissatisfied with the very God whom they worshipped.

Bhagavatham here indirectly is thus emphasizing the need for proper scriptural knowledge which concentrates not on stories or the creation of the world or glories of the Lord but on the non-dual reality of Lord as the substratum behind the illusory world. A person who has thus gained knowledge that the Lord alone is present as the substratum of illusory names and forms of the world might at times due to his vasana forget the Lord. But the Lord himself would help such a devotee in realizing his fault like he does here with Indra. Unless we have right knowledge we will not thereby be helped by the Lord as we will not be able to apprehend the reality which we have learnt in the wrong way.

Let us all try to always remember that the Lord alone is present here even while learning the scriptures, listening to the glories of the Lord or doing any spiritual activity so that we may be always protected by the Lord in our path to eternal bliss.

Once the clouds were withdrawn by Indra, with Krishna’s permission and request the gopas went back to their houses happily. Krishna placed the Govardhana Parvatha in its previous position. The gopas and gopis hugged, embraced and kissed Krishna thereby showing their bliss. Krishna being the ultimate reality of Lord became strengthened once again in the minds of gopas and gopis as a result of this miraculous incident.

Explanation


As we have discussed previously, it requires a few magical stints for a sadhaka to gain belief in a Mahatma or jeevan muktha. This rule applies for avataras like Krishna as well. Once Indra withdrew the clouds, the gopas and gopis got their belief strengthened that Krishna was none other than the ultimate reality of Lord.

Thus we find the master of Krishna serving multiple purposes by this miracle of holding Govardhana Parvatha in his small finger. The main purpose of this miracle demonstration was to destroy the ego of Indra but this also served in strengthening the belief of the gopas.

The biggest hurdle in the spiritual path is getting over the doubts and confusions in the mind. Once the doubts in the mind are expelled, it is easy for a seeker to contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord thereby realizing his very nature of non-dual Lord. Though we might think that it is easy to gain belief over a particular person, it isn’t that easy as we think it to be. Most of the worldly problems like divorce, friendship-break etc. are due to doubts in the mind. If we were able to gain full faith in our friends or partners, our life will always be without any obstacle. This also applies to a spiritual sadhaka gaining faith in the ultimate reality of Lord. As long as we don’t gain faith in a particular person or a God, we will not be able to contemplate on the person as the ultimate reality of Lord.

If the mind plays such a big role in gaining faith on a particular person, it definitely will pose an obstacle in apprehending the ultimate reality of Lord as the substratum of the illusion of world. It is very tough for the mind to go against what is perceived by the sense organs. As the world is seen by sense organs as real, therefore it is really tough for the mind to apprehend the illusory nature of the world. The moment a person gains faith in a Mahatma, the Mahatma will then slowly guide him towards the reality of Lord. Even as a small child is unable to see the moon and is guided by the mother through a nearby branch to the moon, similarly the Mahatma will guide the seeker from the illusory world to the ultimate reality of Lord.

But for the Mahatma to be able to guide the seeker, the seeker should have faith in him. And faith is strengthened when the mind of the seeker is convinced that the Mahatma is a knower of the ultimate reality of Lord. This is possible only when the Mahatma displays power similar or equal to that of the Lord. And since Krishna here is none other than the ultimate reality of Lord, then displaying powers in his own illusory creation is nothing for him. Though the Mahatma might never want to display powers yet in order to strengthen the devotees/disciple’s faith he might do so. We as ardent seekers shouldn’t go behind miracles but understand that the main purpose of demonstration of the miracles is to strengthen our faith in the Mahatma.

We will next see as to how Indra surrenders completely to Krishna in the next day.

Let us all try to understand the importance of Mahatmas but be focused on the reality of Lord so that we may be drawn away from the illusory world to the blissful Lord.

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