Sunday, May 18, 2008

Story 49 – Story of Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam - 14

Conclusion

Kamsa because of fear used to think about Krishna while drinking, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing etc. Therefore after leaving his body, he attained the form of Vishnu. Vishnu’s form is Brahman or ultimate reality of Lord. Hence Kamsa attained the Lord – this is because at the time of death, Kamsa’s mind was filled with the Lord alone (everything was ishwara mayam – filled with Ishwara). However the mind is, so will be life as well – this is the rule. It is not that easy to get the mind filled with Ishwara – Kamsa was able to achieve it even if it was through fear.

After killing Kamsa, Krishna stayed with his parents Devaki-Vasudeva and started living in Mathura itself. He consoled Nanda gopa and others thereby letting them go back.

Krishna who hadn’t completed his youth days displayed to everyone VISHWAROOPAM (that everything is one Lord alone) depending on the perspective vision of people – till killing of Kamsa. There is only the ultimate reality of Lord present here – but depending on our sankalpa (thoughts), we will view it differently – this is the law for the vasthu (reality) of Lord.

Explanation


We finally come to the end of this story of vishwaroopa pradarshanam in Srimad Bhagavatham.

We find two beautiful concepts mentioned here. One is about Kamsa’s devotion to Ishwara though it was out of anger and two is the truth about vishwaroopa & reality depending on the perspective vision of the seeker. Let’s try to see these two concepts in brief today.

We have seen many times before that devotion necessarily doesn’t need to be based on love or respect alone. Devotion just means that we are always thinking about Ishwara. Constant thought of Ishwara at all times is what characterizes devotion. This means irrespective of whether we are eating or drinking or walking or sleeping, we remember the Lord.

This has been explained by the Lord thus beautifully as:

Yat karoshi yad ashnaasi yad juhoshi dadaasi yat
Yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurushva madarpanam

Whatever you do; whatever you eat; whatever you offer; whatever you give; whatever austerities you do, O Arjuna do it as an offering to me.

Kamsa was able to pervade the Lord in all of his actions even though it was through anger. Therefore what we should really strive to achieve is constant remembrance of the Lord – depending on our nature and temperament we should utilize the easiest way to achieve this “constant remembrance” of the Lord.

A person who constantly remembers the Lord is a real devotee of the Lord. A real devotee of Lord never perishes and is always protected by the Lord. The Lord himself takes care of such a devotee ensuring that the devotee realizes his own nature of all-pervasive non-dual Lord in this very birth itself. This has been emphasized by the scriptures through the stories about various asuras like Kamsa and others getting realized by constant remembrance of the Lord through anger & by considering the Lord as their janma-shathru (birth-enemy).

The second concept that Bhagavatham is mentioning here is about perception of the reality. This is also based on the age-old saying that “what we think, that we become” and “what we want to see, we see it”. When ten friends go to a museum, each of them sees things that they want to see – all of them don’t see the same things. Also the external world is in fact a projection of our mind. Though the entire world is seen as blissful by saints like Ramana Maharshi (and our own Lord Krishna), we see it as a place of sorrow and suffering. This shows that the world in itself is not sorrowful but it is our perception of the world (our mental projection of the world) which causes sorrow to the world. The world is in fact the ultimate reality of Lord. But instead of seeing the world as an illusion of names-forms in the Lord, we see the world as names-forms. It is for this reason that the Lord qualifies the world as “anityam asukham” (temporary and sorrowful) – this is the nature of names-forms that we perceive. But the moment we realize through scriptural statements and logic that the world is filled with the ultimate reality of Lord even as gold pervades all ornaments made of gold, we will be viewing the world in its true nature of the ultimate reality of Lord. It is this vision that can give us bliss.

So depending on how we perceive or how we think about the Lord, we will reap the fruit of living in the world. This is the law of reality – though reality is one alone, still people see it in different ways depending on their mind. Through this explanation, Bhagavatham is telling us to view the entire world in its real form of Lord so that we will be able to live in the world all the while blissfully immersed in contemplation of the Lord in our mind.

Such a person is one who is really following the Lord’s view of the world rather than his own view of the world. Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam can also be interpreted as manifestation of the Lord as per the world (or people of the world) – which shows as to how different people see the one Lord. There is nothing wrong in having such visions except that if we don’t see the world as the Lord, then we will be suffering though bliss pervades the world. A wise person will understand this and thereby always contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord – such a person will be ever blissful irrespective of the conditions, situations, environments etc. he is in.

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

Let us all try to remember to have the vision of the world as the ultimate reality of Lord so that such a vision of reality will give us bliss – that bliss which is being sought by us each and every moment of our life.

Summary

Let us see today a summary of this story of Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam in Bhagavatham.

We generally know Vishwaroopa as the Lord displaying a huge form almost covering earth and space. But we now know that Vishwaroopa is much more than that. Vishwaroopa is a Lord’s way of telling that different people perceive the reality in different ways yet in reality the Lord pervades everything in and out even as space pervades all objects of the world. We learnt the beautiful concept of “as is the mind, so will the vision; as is vision, so will be the fruit of the vision as well”.

All the various visions of the Lord depending on the nature of people can be categorized into just two – vision of knowledge and vision of ignorance. Vision of ignorance is when we fail to see the non-dual Lord and rather see the names-forms alone. This vision will only lead us to sorrow (it is this vision that the Lord qualifies as anityam asukham lokam or “temporary and sorrowful world”). Even though we may perceive the form of Vishnu or the form of Vishwaroopa (a huge form pervading the world), as long as we don’t realize that this Vishwaroopa is only an illusion in the form-less reality which pervades all forms we will only end up in sorrow. It is this form vision (of duality) that causes people following various form-Gods to fight amongst themselves as to which form is superior. Contrary to this vision of ignorance is the vision of knowledge wherein everything is seen in its true form of the ultimate reality of Lord. Even as a gold-smith sees all gold ornaments as gold, a person who knows everything to be the Lord sees the entire world as the Lord – this is vision of knowledge. Vision of ignorance is like the vision of normal people who see gold ornaments as different from one another. Any vision which is not the vision of knowledge is vision of ignorance and will lead us to sorrow alone even if that vision means meeting with Mahatmas like AMMA etc. or saints like Sankaracharya etc.

It is this concept that we have to remember always in order to get bliss. This remembrance is not for anything but for bliss (which is what we are constantly seeking in this world). A person who has the vision of knowledge and sees everything as an illusion of names-forms of Lord alone perceives Vishwaroopa in reality. Such a person is a jnaani and will very soon realize the state of eternal bliss.

It doesn’t matter if we are learned in scriptures, are devoted to Ishwara etc. in order for us to have Vishwaroopa darshanam (viewing vishwaroopa). The only condition for this is to view everything as the ultimate reality of Lord and have this vision at all times irrespective of where, when etc. Through Kamsa, Bhagavatham tells us that even if we have this vision through anger towards Ishwara, still we will realize the state of bliss. It is not how we gain this vision that matters, but what matters is whether we have this vision of knowledge. The attitude or mental state is what matters rather than how we gain the mental state through external actions. If we are able to get this attitude of remembering Ishwara at all times, then like Kamsa we will also be liberated from the ocean of samsaara never again to fall into it – this means that we will always be rejoicing in bliss.

After having learnt Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam (display of Vishwaroopa) by the Lord, let us try to view the world as the Lord so that we may be able to realize the reality of Lord in this very birth itself thereby ever rejoicing in bliss.

The ultimate reality – an analysis

Before we start with the next story of Srimad Bhagavatham, it is essential that we bring our focus back to the ultimate reality of Lord. It is the Lord who is the import behind all the stories of Srimad Bhagavatham.

Anything apart from the ultimate reality of Lord will only lead us to sorrow in the long run as everything apart from the Lord is not real. The scriptures proclaim that the Lord alone existed before creation – this means that the Lord alone is present always. That which is present only for a limited period of time is not real as it is only temporary. That which is temporary can only give us temporary happiness. That which is eternal alone can give us eternal bliss – this can be achieved only through the Lord as the Lord alone is eternal.

It is for this reason that we have always focus on the ultimate reality of Lord irrespective of whether we are doing a worldly activity or spiritual activity. The constant remembrance of the Lord (with the knowledge that everything is only an illusion in the Lord) alone can lead us to eternal bliss (that which is the goal that we have been seeking each and every moment of our life).

Remembering the Lord becomes more important while learning Bhagavatham because it is very easy to get deluded into the stories and miracles. When we go and hear a discourse about how the Lord killed Kamsa, we immediately get deluded and attracted to the miracle. This attraction will only lead us to trouble as we will be expecting the Lord to do some miracle in our life as well. All miracles are mere illusions like any normal activity. The waking world itself is a long dream world which only appears to be real but isn’t real at all. A person who gets deluded into miracles is in fact asserting his ignorance-view that the world is real. This will then lead the person to seek happiness from the world (miracles and even the various avataras of the Lord are part of the world). The Lord himself qualifies the world as “anityam, asukham” (temporary and sorrowful) – thus it can only lead us to sorrow and suffering.

If the avataras are also unreal, then what is the nature of the Lord?
The nature of the Lord is SAT CHIT ANANDA (Existence, Consciousness and Bliss). All existence that we perceive in the world is in fact existence of the Lord (but with a name and form). The moment we remove the names and forms, we will end up with the Lord. Names and forms are illusion and hence will lead us to sorrow whereas the moment we end up with the Lord everywhere there will be bliss alone everywhere. This is the state of moksha or realization wherein we see everything as the Lord (though externally they may appear to be different, we know them to be different names and forms in the reality of Lord even as various gold ornaments are mere illusions of names and forms in gold).

Thus remembering that the Lord alone is real and names-forms are illusions, we should pierce through any name-form asserting them to the Lord. This alone will take us from the state of suffering to the state of bliss. Let us try to always remember this thereby not getting deluded into the miraculous stories. Taking a pledge to always remember this, we will start with the next story of Bhagavatham from the next day.

Story 49 – Story of Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam - 13

Krishna who reached the stage where Malla yudha was going on was perceived in different ways by different people: a sword to the Mallas, a king to humans, kaama deva for women, relative for gopaas, punisher for the wicked kings, dear child to father-mother, death for kamsa, vishwaroopa for those who haven’t known him in reality completely and Brahman alone for yogis.

Explanation


Here we find a very beautiful exposition of the fundamental concept of Vedanta that the objects and fruits that a person gets out of those objects is based on our perception. It is for this reason that Chinmaya beautifully says that VEDANTA IS SUBJECTIVE.

Ramana Maharshi used to say that there are two distinct visions possible. One is the vision of ignorance wherein the entire world is seen as different-different entities each of them leading us to sorrow (due to the dual vision). The second is the vision of knowledge wherein the entire world of names and forms is seen as nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord (termed as Brahman).

The vision of ignorance causes us to suffer in the ocean of samsaara though our very nature is that of bliss whereas the vision of knowledge will make us rejoice every moment in bliss.

In short, vision of ignorance is bandham or bondage whereas vision of knowledge is mukthi or liberation. A seeker who seeks eternal bliss should always try to have vision of knowledge. It is in order to drive forth this truth that Bhagavatham speaks about all different visions and ending with the vision of yogis.

We may think that yogi is a person who does astha anga yoga (eight fold yoga or Raja yoga) but Vedantic interpretation of a yogi is quite different from this. Krishna himself defines a Yogi as “samatvam yoga uchyathe” (oneness or equanimity of mind is called yoga). While explaining the state of a yogi, Krishna says that a yogi is one who has samadarshanam (vision of oneness) wherein he sees the Self in all and all in the Self (meaning that he sees everything as nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord). It is this vision which is the vision of knowledge wherein everything is seen as the ultimate reality of Lord and it is this vision that makes a person rejoice his life though he may be suffering as per the external world.

What does it matter whether we have vision of knowledge or vision of ignorance as both are visions?
The reason why vision of knowledge gives us bliss is because it is the real vision. Vision of ignorance is when we see a thing as something else – this is like seeing water in desert. This vision of water in desert will only lead us to sorrow as we will start running towards the water while not finding it and then crying. Instead the vision of knowledge is when we know the water to be nothing but desert – even though in this case we might run behind the water yet we are always aware that there is no water & hence will not get affected when we don’t find water.

Is perceiving everything as the ultimate reality of Lord vision of reality?
Yes it is. Even as the dream world is but an illusion of names and forms in the dreamer, similarly this entire world is an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord.

Thus through giving different perceptions of the reality of Lord, Bhagavatham is telling us that if we need eternal bliss we need to have the vision of knowledge always by seeing the ultimate reality of Lord everywhere.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us all try to avoid vision of ignorance wherein we see differences and have vision of knowledge wherein we see everything as mere names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord so that we may be able to rejoice in bliss.

When Rama and Krishna entered into the malla yudha stage, Chanura and Mushtika encountered them. Krishna started fighting with Chanura whereas Rama took over Mushtika. After doing malla yudha for sometime, both Chanura and Mushtika fell down dead. Then Krishna jumped right onto the throne where Kamsa was sitting. Kamsa took his sword and encountered Krishna. But Krishna caught Kamsa’s hair and send him to paraloka by putting him down on the floor even as Garuda kills a snake.

Explanation


When the apt time comes for us to get away from this world, nothing can really help. The only thing which can help us in facing death (not overcoming) is the knowledge that the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists here. This is not overcoming death as birth-death is only for the body – the Self or the pulsating Consciousness which pulsates each moment that “I-exist, I-exist” and is one with the ultimate reality of Lord can never take birth or die as it is eternal.

Facing death is shedding this body like we daily shed our clothes and like an actor sheds his role once the shooting for the film gets over. This is possible only if we always remember that we are beyond the body – the body is only an illusion of names-forms in the reality of Lord who is the underlying Consciousness in each one of us. The more and more we remember this, the more and more we will overcome death. And finally when the time comes for us to wake up from this long dream world (death), we will be able to happily embrace Yama (Lord of death).

Prof. Balakrishnan Nair beautifully says that if Yama comes, we should be able to say to Yama “come in and have a cup of tea before we leave”J. This is the state to be achieved through remembering that everything that we perceive is but an illusion in the reality of Lord even as various gold ornaments are mere names-forms in gold.

Since we never know when death is going to pounce upon us, we should not wait for the future to get rid of all our attachments. We should proceed in the spiritual path like we don’t have even one moment to live. This is what is termed as teevra mumukshutva or strong desire for liberation – this means we want moksha this very moment itself (moksha is nothing but always remembering the truth that Ishwara alone exists and everything else is only an illusion in Ishwara).

Once a person asks Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa as to when will he get liberated. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa immediately pushed him into the nearby pond and kept him immersed. The person couldn’t breathe and started shouting as much as he can. Finally when the state was that the person couldn’t survive without one breath of air, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa let him go. Then Ramakrishna Paramahamsa told him that when you call out for the Lord (yearn for the Lord) like you yearned for one breath of air inside the water, then you will instantly be liberated out of the bondages of samsaara.

Since death can pounce upon us at any time, we should strive for liberation this very moment. Mahatmas like AMMA and Prof. Balakrishnan Nair are so compassionate that they give us time till the end of this life. Most of us have many more years before death in order to completely seek moksha alone. But this doesn’t mean that we need not start on the spiritual path now and can start after the age of 60 years etc. A person who doesn’t start now will never start at all.

Kabir says

Kaal kare so aaj kar, aaj kare so ab
Pal mein parlai hoyegi, bahuri karoge kab

Whatever you have to do tomorrow, do it today; whatever you have to do today, do it now; because later something else will come up and you will not be finish the activity.

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

Let us all try to remember Krishna killing Kamsa so that we now that death is always ready to pounce upon us and therefore we need to start now itself on the path to realization of the ultimate reality of Lord being the only truth and everything else being an illusion of names-forms in the Lord.

Story 49 – Story of Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam - 12

Rama-Krishna finally reached the place where Dhanuryaaga was to be conducted. A big bow was kept to be worshipped and which shone like rainbow. Krishna very easily took the bow and broke it like breaking a sugarcane thereby making sound vibrate in all directions.

Explanation


Here we again find the destructing as well as illusory power of the Lord which is termed Maya. This power of Maya is so strange and wonderful. The more and more we try to learn about this power, the lesser we will be able to understand it.

Sankara defines Maya aptly as
“aghatitha ghatanaa pateeyasee maayaa”
Maya is that which creates things impossible.

“Yukthi viheena prakaashasya samjnaa maayaa”
That which is beyond logic is called Maya.

All these definitions should let us remember that Maya is only an illusory power of the Lord even as the magical power of the magician. Even as the magician’s power is not real but might seem to be extra-ordinary and out-of-bounds, similarly Maya power which is controlled by the Lord is also not real but might seem to be extra-ordinary.

All these miraculous feats of the Lord who is just a young boy is to make us realize the bounds of this illusory power of Maya. Maya power not only does miraculous feats but it also is the cause of deluding people. All miracles of the Lord are meant to show that the Lord controls Maya unlike us who are controlled by Maya. If we have to get out of the delusion of samsaara, we will have to overcome Maya. This is easily possible if we surrender to the ultimate reality of Lord as the Lord controls Maya.

The Lord himself summarizes this beautifully in the 7th chapter of Gita thus:

Daivi hi eshaa gunamayee mama maayaa duratyayaa
Maameva ye prapadhyanthe mayaam ethaam tharanthi te

My divine power of Maya which is composed of three gunas is very tough indeed to conquer; but those who take refuge completely in me, they overcome this.

It is only Maya that stands between us and realization – us and the ultimate reality of Lord – us and eternal bliss. If we have to realize our own nature of blissful Lord, then we need to overcome Maya. The way to do this is only by complete surrender unto the Lord remembering always that everything is only an illusion of names-forms in the Lord and that the Lord alone exists here as non-dual reality of Consciousness.

Though we use the term of “we” there is in reality no “we” in moksha – AMMA always says that moksha is for an individual and not for a group of people. This is because the duality completely vanishes when a person realizes. Thus when “I” realize, there is none other than the Lord (who is my own nature of Consciousness); therefore who else to get liberated or get realized?

The main aim of the Lord displaying the power of Maya is to make us surrender unto him after understanding that we can conquer Maya only this way. This is not the only reason for the Lord’s action as we will see in the next day.

Let us all try to surrender completely unto the Lord after hearing the miraculous feats performed by him who is controlling Maya so that we may conquer the illusory (unreal) power of Maya and realize our own nature of blissful Lord.

The Lord ate dinner and rested for the night there itself. As it became morning, the place was decorated for the programs. Kamsa sat on the King’s throne. Everyone who was invited came over and they sat on places reserved for them. The stage was set for Malla Krida to start (body wrestling). Two mallas named Chanura and Musti got ready and positioned themselves in the stage. On the entrance to the stage (place where the malla krida was to happen – also termed godha in hindi), a gajendra named Kuvalayaapeeda was positioned. It was at that time that Rama-Krishna reached the entrance. Krishna fought with the Gajendra. Very soon Krishna sent Kuvalayaapeeda to death. Using the horns (tusks) of the Gajendra, Rama-Krishna entered into the stage.

Explanation


We have learned few perspectives to the Lord’s anger and destruction of the Ego thereby liberating the surrendered devotees from samsaara (surrender can be through anger like in the case of Kamsa and other asuras). But today we will try to see a very different perspective about the Lord killing people – our analysis is going to be about death in itself.

When Yaksha questioned Yudhisthira in Mahabharatha about the most miraculous or amazing thing in the world, Yudhisthira replied saying that “people see others dying yet consider that their body will never die”. Thus everyone is afraid of death all the while thinking that death will not come & that “I” am eternal.

JIf only this “I” was the Self or the Consciousness or the indwelling Lord, then the statement and belief would have been true to the end. But unfortunately this “I” is the anaatma or not-Self (the body-mind-intellect complex). Hence we often end our life in despair as we cannot hold on to anything at the time of death.

Here in this part we find the Lord coming in the form of death to various asuras. These asuras are almost invincible and even then they are very easily killed by the Lord. This means that death is pouncing upon us each and every moment of our life. We will not be able to resist death even though we may be physically or mentally or intellectually strong; even if we are very rich or very powerful still death will take whatever we have with us. This is what is beautifully shown here – Krishna who is young and not that powerful very easily killed the big Gajendra (whom even lions might find tough to kill). This means that death takes away everything very easily – it doesn’t need any effort at all. This is also because of the presence of the Lord with Yama (who controls death). Yama is seen as instructing the truth about the non-dual reality of Lord to a very young Nachiketha in Katha Upanishad.

This also means that if we are like Markhandeya (having surrendered completely to the ultimate reality of Lord), we will also be able to overcome death as at that time the Lord will be on our side rather than on the side of death.

We shouldn’t think that the Lord will come in a very beautiful form and take us with him making us life a long life with our family and possessions. The Lord liberates and makes us eternal by making us realize our real nature of Self (that which is the substratum of the illusory world that we are currently in). This is like a dreaming person waking up from the dream – we will wake up from this long dream of waking world and realize that there is only one thing here which is the ultimate reality of Lord.

So to summarize, nobody can overcome death as the ultimate reality of Lord is with death. But we can overcome death by surrendering unto the Lord and this overcoming means we go beyond all dualities (thereby getting rid of the attachment to the dying body).

We should always remember that if we don’t surrender to the Lord (and realize our nature of non-dual Lord soon), death will pounce upon us anytime. This cycle of birth and death continues as long as we are ignorant about the truth that everything is one Lord alone (the moment this knowledge dawns, birth-death is known to be an illusion like the dream state). If we end up our life as an ignorant person then depending on our deeds we may be born in a lower birth (animals or even lower species) wherein we will not even get the opportunity to realize the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus it is very important that we start in the spiritual path towards realization lest death succeeds in overrunning us.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us all try to surrender unto the Lord remembering that everything is but the Lord alone so that we will overcome death and become eternal thereby not wasting many births in coming out of this illusion of duality.

Story 49 – Story of Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam - 11

On the way the Lord entered the house of peak bhaktha Sudhaama and blessed him. Seeing the Lord the woman was crooked in her body embraced the Lord and the Lord blessed her by getting rid of her crooked-ness.

Explanation


We find here the Lord’s grace being showered on anyone who is interested in receiving it. Though we have discussed this many times, yet it is worth to discuss this aspect again and again until our mind is able to completely focus on the ultimate reality of Lord all the time. Repetition is an essential part of learning process – repetition should go on until the mind is able to remember without any effort. Thus discussing about the compassion of the Lord is very important so that we may be able to apprehend the compassion of the Lord thereby realizing our nature of non-dual Lord in this very birth itself.

The Lord’s grace and compassion are always present. These are like the rays of the Sun which is always available. But if we sit inside our house closing all windows and doors, we will not be able to apprehend the ever present grace of the Lord. The only thing we need to do in order to apprehend the grace of the Lord is open our hearts even as opening the doors/windows of our house will make us apprehend the ever present rays of the sun. This is an analogy that AMMA mentions a lot of time. We may also think that the Lord who has created this illusory world as a play is sadistic as there is sorrow and suffering only everywhere in the world. But this is completely wrong. AMMA says that the world created by the Lord is his play which means it will be filled with bliss even as the play created by any director will be filled with bliss (he will never be sadistic in nature). This is also corroborated by the words of Mahatmas like Ramana Maharshi and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who see the world pervaded by Ishwara to be blissful in nature.

When followers of Gandhi visited Ramana Maharshi to get his blessings, they asked him as to why he is not helping the suffering people of the world to which Maharshi replied saying that he didn’t see suffering at all – he could see only bliss everywhere and hence he couldn’t help anyone.

This clearly shows that Ishwara’s creation doesn’t have sorrows. Now the question comes as to how sorrow came? Sorrow is only our creation – creation of our mind. We go to the Himalayas and see the beautiful ganges. We get bliss out of the ganges. But the very next moment we try to compare the ganges with a river in our hometown – this is when the bliss of the ganges vanishes. It is not the ganges that gives sorrow but it is our comparison or our impression of ganges that leads to trouble. We see a co-worker coming in the opposite direction when we are going for a walk. Immediately we qualify the co-worker by “bad guy, blaming person, making others do work” etc. Thus the co-worker and his very presence lead us to sorrow. If we analyze here it is not the co-worker who is causing the sorrow but our impression or perception of the co-worker that causes the problems for us.

It is following this that Vidyaranya concludes in Panchadashi that
“ato asya sarvasya bandhakrit maanasam jagat”
Therefore the bondage for everyone is the mental world.

Here “mental world” means the impression of the external world that we create in our mind. The “Ishwara’s world” is blissful whereas our interpretation which is “mental world” causes the troubles. If the “mental world” is same as “Ishwara’s world”, then we will be able to find only bliss everywhere as Ishwara is pervading the entire world.

Thus the way to apprehend the ever present grace and blissful presence of the Lord is by getting rid of our “mental world” and perceiving everything as pervaded by Ishwara. This means we completely surrender to the Lord by perceiving him everywhere. This will thereby remove all sorrows created out of the “mental world” and make us live life blissfully. Moreover we will also be able to apprehend the grace of the Lord whenever we direly need it.

We will continue with the story the next day.

Let us all try to surrender completely to the Lord by perceiving him everywhere so that we will be able to apprehend the ever-present grace and compassion of the Lord thereby taking us in the spiritual path towards realization of the ultimate reality of Lord in this very birth itself.

Rama-Krishna finally reached the place where Dhanuryaaga was to be conducted. A big bow was kept to be worshipped and which shone like rainbow. Krishna very easily took the bow and broke it like breaking a sugarcane thereby making sound vibrate in all directions.

Explanation


Here we again find the destructing as well as illusory power of the Lord which is termed Maya. This power of Maya is so strange and wonderful. The more and more we try to learn about this power, the lesser we will be able to understand it.

Sankara defines Maya aptly as
“aghatitha ghatanaa pateeyasee maayaa”
Maya is that which creates things impossible.

“Yukthi viheena prakaashasya samjnaa maayaa”
That which is beyond logic is called Maya.

All these definitions should let us remember that Maya is only an illusory power of the Lord even as the magical power of the magician. Even as the magician’s power is not real but might seem to be extra-ordinary and out-of-bounds, similarly Maya power which is controlled by the Lord is also not real but might seem to be extra-ordinary.

All these miraculous feats of the Lord who is just a young boy is to make us realize the bounds of this illusory power of Maya. Maya power not only does miraculous feats but it also is the cause of deluding people. All miracles of the Lord are meant to show that the Lord controls Maya unlike us who are controlled by Maya. If we have to get out of the delusion of samsaara, we will have to overcome Maya. This is easily possible if we surrender to the ultimate reality of Lord as the Lord controls Maya.

The Lord himself summarizes this beautifully in the 7th chapter of Gita thus:

Daivi hi eshaa gunamayee mama maayaa duratyayaa
Maameva ye prapadhyanthe mayaam ethaam tharanthi te

My divine power of Maya which is composed of three gunas is very tough indeed to conquer; but those who take refuge completely in me, they overcome this.

It is only Maya that stands between us and realization – us and the ultimate reality of Lord – us and eternal bliss. If we have to realize our own nature of blissful Lord, then we need to overcome Maya. The way to do this is only by complete surrender unto the Lord remembering always that everything is only an illusion of names-forms in the Lord and that the Lord alone exists here as non-dual reality of Consciousness.

Though we use the term of “we” there is in reality no “we” in moksha – AMMA always says that moksha is for an individual and not for a group of people. This is because the duality completely vanishes when a person realizes. Thus when “I” realize, there is none other than the Lord (who is my own nature of Consciousness); therefore who else to get liberated or get realized?

The main aim of the Lord displaying the power of Maya is to make us surrender unto him after understanding that we can conquer Maya only this way. This is not the only reason for the Lord’s action as we will see in the next day.

Let us all try to surrender completely unto the Lord after hearing the miraculous feats performed by him who is controlling Maya so that we may conquer the illusory (unreal) power of Maya and realize our own nature of blissful Lord.

Story 49 – Story of Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam - 10

The people of Vraja also reached Mathura. Rama-Krishna roamed around along with Vraja people enjoying the beauty of Mathura. The residents of Mathura stood outside their house flocking around in order to get a glimpse of Rama-Krishna. The Lord blessed them all by smiling and showering his compassionate grace on them.

Explanation


Here we find the Lord keeping his promise as to showering his grace on those who ardently seek it. Whatever we need to get in the world is achieved only through successively cribbing for it over a long period of time whether it is promotion, marriage, gifts etc. But with respect to the ultimate reality of Lord we just need to have a desire to get the grace of the Lord in our mind and the Lord will fulfill it. Sankara mentions the same in Soundarya Lahari wherein he says that Devi fulfills all desires which are just thought in the mind.

If this is the case, then why aren’t my desires fulfilled?
There could be many aspects to this – one being that if it is worldly pleasure that we seek, there are many factors to it. Farmers pray to the Lord that it should rain so that harvesting is proper. On the same time, people in the cities pray that there shouldn’t be any rain so that they don’t encounter a chaotic day while traveling around. If this is the case, how can the Lord exactly decide whose desires to be fulfilled?

In fact the Lord is just a judge who grants fruits depending on our actions. But when the fruit we seek has to do with many people, the judge will look into each of those people before giving the judgement. Similarly the Lord also will give fruits only after considering all the people involved in the fruit. This is with respect to fruits of the world.

But the difference between temporary fruits of the world and eternal bliss is that eternal bliss of one person doesn’t have any involvement with others. Though our neighbour could still pray to the Lord that we shouldn’t realize, yet it has no bearing on our realization. Hence the neighbours views on our realization will not at all be considered. When it is to do with realization or knowledge or devotion, it has only one factor which is our mental state.

Even when the Lord showers his compassionate grace on a devotee, the Lord is not newly showering the grace. The grace of the Lord is ever present like the rays of the Sun (AMMA gives this illustration). But if we sit inside our house closing all doors and windows claiming that the Lord doesn’t shower his grace, how is to be blamed except us? When we finally decide to open the windows, we will find the rays of Sun falling upon us – though it is fine to say that the rays of Sun came now only, it isn’t completely right as the rays were ever there. Similarly grace of the Lord is ever there. But we have to open our hearts through devotion (total and complete surrender) so that we will be able to apprehend the ever present grace of the Lord.

The people of Mathura came out of their house and hence they were able to get the compassionate grace of the Lord. What we need in order to get the grace is to come out of the houses of our mind – we have to break out of shackles of likes-dislikes of the mind so that we will be able to pervade our mind with only the thought of Lord. When this happens, we will be yearning each and every moment of our life to get the vision of the Lord (realization). This yearning itself will make us realize the Lord when our heart completely opens up and we get the vision of the Lord as the non-duality reality behind the illusory world.

We will continue with the story the next day.

Let us all try to desire nothing but realization of the ultimate reality of Lord so that we will be able to realize through the ever-present grace of the Lord through opening of our hearts.


Rama-Krishna met a person on the way who was taking clothes for Kamsa to wear. They asked for the dress. He not only did not give the dress but mocked at them through words. Krishna thereby killed him and took hold of the dress. After wearing those special dresses, Rama-Krishna progressed in the path along with vraja vasis.

Explanation


In the previous day we learnt about the Lord’s compassion. Today we see the wrath of the Lord befalling the people taking side with Kamsa. We shouldn’t consider that the Lord is unethical as he not only killed a person who was taking clothes for Kamsa but appeased the clothes. Ethical and unethical (dharma and adharma) cannot be defined that easily. One person’s dharma may be another person’s adharma. The only real definition for dharma and adharma that will be valid for everyone is with respect to the ultimate reality of Lord. Dharma is doing anything that helps a person in the spiritual path and leads him towards realization of his own nature of Lord. Anything that obstructs the spiritual path and leads a person away from the ultimate reality of Lord is adharma.

If we analyze this part of Bhagavatham we will find that the Lord always stood for dharma and always destroyed adharma wherever it is. It is this same concept that the Lord propounds in the 4th chapter when saying that “whenever dharma falls down and adharma arises, I will take birth in that place to ensure that dharma is protected and adharma is destroyed”.

Adharma is not just doing things which obstruct our path but standing by people who are doing adharma is also adharma. We all have individuality and are independent to choose as to what we want to do with our life. Nobody really can control our life. People might argue that I have to obey my parents, I have to obey my partner, I am a woman etc. All these are just ways of escaping from deciding our life for ourselves. We have been gifted with the intellect to decide as to where our life must go. Thus when we see adharma happening, we should be able to stay away from adharma. We also cannot escape saying that we don’t know adharma because at least now we know it. If we are so attached to our kith and kin thereby cannot stay away from adharma, then it will end in destruction our entire clan. This is exactly what happened with the Kauravas. The destruction of Kauravas could have been saved by the one person of Dhritharashtra. Dhritharashtra learn the scriptures from Vidura as well as Sage Sanatsujatha. Yet due to his passion, he stood by the adharma caused by his children. As a result of this adharma, the entire Kauravas were destroyed in front of the eyes of Dhritharashtra.

Thus it is not only the person doing adharma who will be destroyed but any person who stands by adharma whether it is because of fear or attachment or any other reason.


Since the person carrying the clothes was not only standing by Kamsa but he was also mocking at Krishna, therefore it became the responsibility of the Lord to take care of the person. This is exactly what the Lord did.

Thus Bhagavatham here is warning us that it is not enough if we don’t do adharma but it is also necessary that we don’t stand by adharma lest we will be destroyed completely.

We will continue with the story the next day.

Let us all try to always stand for dharma so that we may progress in the spiritual path towards realizing the ultimate reality of Lord without getting destroyed in the ocean of samsaara.

Story 49 – Story of Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam - 09

Akrura replied thus to the Lord’s statement to remember that he is always there with him and not to get deluded into miracles – “O Lord! On Earth or in space or in water, whatever miraculous incidents are perceived I know all of them to be manifestations of you who are Vishwaroopa; therefore there is nothing that I haven’t yet perceived”.

Explanation


When we are speaking about the Lord and Mahatmas, all their activities can only be justified by the age-old saying “mysterious are the ways of the Lord”. We find this saying clearly proved in this part of Bhagavatham. The Lord knew Akrura’s state of mind but still wanted to test him and make sure he is not deluded into miracles.

And it is the Lord’s testing that brings out the beautiful response from Akrura. The response from Akrura shows the mental state of a real bhaktha. A real bhaktha doesn’t fall a prey or deluded into miraculous incidents.

The author of Ezhuthacchan in his work Hari Naama Keerthanam speaks thus about the Lord:

Yathonnu kelkilathu naarayana prathima
Yathonnu kaankilathu naarayana sruthikal
Yathonnu cheykilathu naarayana archanakal
Yathonnathaakilathu naarayanaaya nama

Whatever I see is Narayana’s prathima (idol or form);
Whatever I hear is praises of Narayana;
Whatever I do is archana for Narayana;
Whatever is there, all those I offer to Narayana (as he alone is present as everything).

Thus for a bhaktha there is nothing apart from the Lord. Therefore he doesn’t get deluded by miracles demonstrated by the Lord; rather everything is but the Lord alone for the bhaktha. Miracles are things that are out of ordinary. This means that there are things which regularly happen and things which happen suddenly (without any logic or expectation – in a way impossible). It is when we have this distinction that we get deluded into miracles. When everything is seen as a manifestation of the Lord, then there are no ordinary activities and miracles; this is a state of a real bhaktha who doesn’t get deluded into miracles as he sees everything as the ultimate reality of Lord.

In the Uddhava Gita portion of Bhagavatham when Uddhava asks Krishna as to how to gain the vision of the Lord, Krishna laughs saying that whatever is being seen is the Lord alone – thereby prostrate to everything that is present in the world. It is this attitude of prostrating everything by seeing Ishwara in them that AMMA does with each and every actions of hers; even if it is the place where she is sitting, even if it is the jaalara that is used for beats, even if it is her children, even if it is an insentient rock yet AMMA sees Ishwara in each one of them thereby prostrating it. AMMA doesn’t need to prostrate in order to remember that Ishwara pervades everything but she is setting an example so that all of us will follow it. Mahatmas don’t need to perform actions yet they do spiritual actions in order to set an example for seekers like us.

Through Akrura’s reply the Lord is thus pointing out to each one of us that a devotee is one who is not mesmerized by miracles even if it means curing people or giving darshan to thousands of people or creating items out of nowhere.

Let us all try to be real devotees of the ultimate reality of Lord so that we also are not deluded into miracles like Akrura – this alone will ensure that we rejoice in bliss which is our very nature of non-dual Lord.

Replying thus to the Lord, Akrura started the chariot. They reached Mathura by evening. Rama-Krishna (Balarama and Krishna) got out of the chariot. They instructed Akrura to go ahead of them. Krishna also promised Akrura that he will visit his house after the dhanur yaaga is over. As instructed Akrura informed Kamsa about Rama-Krishna’s arrival and then went home.

Explanation


It is one thing to speak about something and it is yet another thing to implement what we really believe in. Tapovan Maharaj (Guru of Swami Chinmayananda) used to say that Vedanta is very easy to learn; still easier to preach; but very tough indeed to implement.

Almost all smokers and alcoholics know that what they are doing is not right yet they are unable to implement it. Even more are people who just boast about things through words when not even one percent of what they are speaking would be implemented in life.

Vedanta is all about implementation as that alone can give us eternal bliss – the goal that we all are seeking. Mere speech of Vedantic thoughts will not give us eternal bliss instead it will only nourish the Ego more and more. Such a person will end up just speaking about the Lord thinking that he is realized when he is far away from realization.

This concept is beautifully brought out in the Upanishads as

Avidhyaayaam anthare varthamaanaah dheeraah panditham manyamanaah
Damdamryamaanah pariyanthi moodaah andhenaiva neeyamaanaah yathaa andhaah

Though immersed in the ocean of ignorance, yet few people consider themselves as learned pandits; such people always get deluded and churned into the ocean of samsaara; they will direct others like a blind person leading another blind person.

A person who just preaches concept while not practicing himself will neither help others nor himself. He will always be under the delusion that he is learned when he is really ignorant. He will have no progress whatsoever as he is ever deluded into thinking that he has already progressed. A person who thinks he knows swimming but doesn’t really know swimming will never be able to learn swimming due to his thinking himself to be learned.

A real devotee is one who follows the Lord completely. The Lord is one who does what he speaks – his actions and thoughts are in unison. This is very evident from the life of Lord Krishna itself. Whatever he preached to Arjuna was implemented by him in life. When the Lord spoke about uplifting the truth beyond everything, he implemented it for the death of Drona and Bhishma (wherein normally understood adharma was done by the Lord in order to kill Drona – but this was to uplift the truth and hence this action was a dharma). A devotee follows the Lord thereby implementing whatever he is speaking and speaking about only that which he implements.

This is demonstrated by Bhagavatham through Akrura’s actions. Akrura was just not speaking about remembering the Lord and doing all activities but implemented it. He did exactly what the Lord told him to do irrespective whether it was informing Kamsa about the Lord’s arrival (Kamsa who was looking for killing the lord). And the Lord blessed Akrura by ensuring to visit his house. This is the benefit that we will gain when we become a real devotee through not mere preaching but implementation of “remembering the Lord while doing all activities and offering them to the Lord”.

We will continue with the story the next day.

Let us all try to be real devotees of the ultimate reality of Lord through not preaching but implementation of devotion and surrender so that we also will be blessed like Akrura when the Lord will reside in our heart always.

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