Thursday, December 18, 2008
Story 53 – Story of Baana Yudha - 04
O Lord – the thousand hands that I have got by your blessing has become a burden. I don’t see anybody other than yourself who is equal to me. My hands are itching for war.
Explanation
Here we find Baana’s ignorance leading to his own downfall. Whether we have the Lord in form of an avathara or guru with us or whether we are all by ourselves, it doesn’t matter – what really matters in the spiritual path is as to whether a seeker remembers the ultimate truth that the non-dual reality of Lord alone exists here. If this truth is forgotten that very moment a seeker enters into the illusory dual world. The illusory world can only lead us to sorrow and suffering even as the water seen in desert can only lead us to sorrow – the moment a person forgets the underlying substratum of desert, he will be deluded by the water and thereby suffer (by running behind the water and finally getting depressed when the water is not found). But instead of this if the person remembers that there is no water at all in the desert, even though he might perceive water in the desert yet he will not be deluded by the perception of water. He might even run behind water like another ignorant person but since he already knew that there is no water, he will not get disappointed when he doesn’t find water.
Thus a seeker has to always remember the ultimate reality of Lord as forgetting the ultimate reality of Lord even if it is for one moment can lead to the downfall of the seeker. As Nochur Venkataraman beautifully explains that we may think that falling down is not that bad but falling from in the spiritual path is “kandukam iva patathi” (like a ball falling from one of the stairs). A ball which is in the 99th step is falling down – we may think that this is not bad but with each fall the ball gains more momentum thereby it will come down to the 1st step. Thus the moment a seeker forgets the ultimate reality of Lord he not only gets deluded by the illusory world but he adds on more vasanas which binds him and obstructs him to get back into the spiritual path.
This is shown through the story of Jada Bharatha. Bharatha was a king who was devoted to Vishnu – he didn’t apprehend Vishnu as the all-pervasive non-dual reality instead was worshipping as a form. Any form-worship has to lead us to form-less all pervasive Ishwara – if not there are chances that another form replaces this form. Thus Bharatha’s devotion to Vishnu got replaced by his devotion to a deer. He thus gave up his life remembering the deer (that was being brought up by him) – he had to take the next birth as a deer. But as AMMA says, any spiritual practice is like a Fixed Deposit. Therefore the deer Bharatha repented for his mistake and contemplated on Ishwara. Thereby the next birth he was again born as a human being – he took the resolution of not getting deluded again thereby remaining like an insentient rock (thus the name of Jada Bharatha).
We find here Baana doing the same mistake – the moment we aren’t aware of the very nature of the Lord as all-pervasive non-dual reality of Consciousness, we are bound to get deluded by the various forms of the world and thereby will suffer. We will see in the next day as to what is the Lord’s reply to Baana’s foolish statement (wherein he forgot the ultimate reality of Lord and thereby got deluded into the illusory dual world).
Let us try to always remember the ultimate reality of Lord so that we are never deluded into the illusory names and forms of the world which will lead us to sorrows and sufferings.
Listening to Baana’s arrogant statement, the Lord becoming a little angry proclaimed thus “O ignorant fool! Soon one day your flagstaff will break and fall down. That day a person who is equal to me will come to fight you”.
Explanation
We find here the Lord’s response to the foolish and arrogant statement of Baana. We may think as to whether a person can be arrogant and foolish at the same time – any person who is arrogant is prone to do something foolish (thinking that anything is within his reach). Man often forgets that his reach is limited and that he cannot control the entire world as the world itself is an illusion in the first place. Even as a person who is in an illusion created by the magician cannot control the magic, similarly a person cannot control the illusory world created by the Lord. If he wants to control the world he has to go beyond the illusory world (Maya) by completely surrendering unto the Lord remembering that the Lord alone exists here, one without a second. Once a person goes beyond the world he knows for sure that there is no world at all to be controlled – it is just an illusion or a long play (drama). Such a person is a realized master who will enact his role to perfection in this long play and will never bother to control the non-existent play; only a fool will try to control the world which doesn’t really exists.
But any person is prone to become a fool once he forgets the ultimate reality of Lord – that very moment he thinks that the dual world is real and thereby tries to prove himself in the world. Most of us are ever engaged in activities to prove ourself; proving to our parents, proving to our partners, proving to our children, proving to our friends, proving to our relatives, proving to our bosses etc. The list of people we are trying to prove is infinite and we are doing it without remembering that this is all a play. Will Tom Hanks or Aamir Khan ever try to prove themselves to a character in a movie? Though they both are perfectionists, yet they will not do something that foolish.
But a person who has forgotten the ultimate reality of Lord will fall a prey to this illusory but attractive world. This is what we find Baana doing. But as AMMA says spiritual practices are Fixed Deposits which will not vanish – thereby due to his good deeds of remembering the Lord, Baana is given a boon by the Lord which in fact helps him to get out of the delusion – how can we speak about the compassion of the Lord? Even when a devotee asks for his own destruction through a boon the Lord helps such a devotee as well by giving the boon which will take the devotee out of the delusion.
But after knowing that we will be deluded into the illusory world if we forget the ultimate reality of Lord, we as seekers of the reality of Lord should never let ourselves forget the ultimate reality of Lord. The ultimate sadhana of remembering the Lord as the non-dual reality of Consciousness is the sadhana that in itself will take us to the goal of eternal bliss (which is what we have been and are seeking at all points of time).
We will continue with what happened to Baana after the Lord’s boon to him in the next few days.
Let us try to always remember the ultimate reality of Lord so that we are never deluded into the illusory names and forms of the world which will lead us to sorrows and sufferings.
Explanation
Here we find Baana’s ignorance leading to his own downfall. Whether we have the Lord in form of an avathara or guru with us or whether we are all by ourselves, it doesn’t matter – what really matters in the spiritual path is as to whether a seeker remembers the ultimate truth that the non-dual reality of Lord alone exists here. If this truth is forgotten that very moment a seeker enters into the illusory dual world. The illusory world can only lead us to sorrow and suffering even as the water seen in desert can only lead us to sorrow – the moment a person forgets the underlying substratum of desert, he will be deluded by the water and thereby suffer (by running behind the water and finally getting depressed when the water is not found). But instead of this if the person remembers that there is no water at all in the desert, even though he might perceive water in the desert yet he will not be deluded by the perception of water. He might even run behind water like another ignorant person but since he already knew that there is no water, he will not get disappointed when he doesn’t find water.
Thus a seeker has to always remember the ultimate reality of Lord as forgetting the ultimate reality of Lord even if it is for one moment can lead to the downfall of the seeker. As Nochur Venkataraman beautifully explains that we may think that falling down is not that bad but falling from in the spiritual path is “kandukam iva patathi” (like a ball falling from one of the stairs). A ball which is in the 99th step is falling down – we may think that this is not bad but with each fall the ball gains more momentum thereby it will come down to the 1st step. Thus the moment a seeker forgets the ultimate reality of Lord he not only gets deluded by the illusory world but he adds on more vasanas which binds him and obstructs him to get back into the spiritual path.
This is shown through the story of Jada Bharatha. Bharatha was a king who was devoted to Vishnu – he didn’t apprehend Vishnu as the all-pervasive non-dual reality instead was worshipping as a form. Any form-worship has to lead us to form-less all pervasive Ishwara – if not there are chances that another form replaces this form. Thus Bharatha’s devotion to Vishnu got replaced by his devotion to a deer. He thus gave up his life remembering the deer (that was being brought up by him) – he had to take the next birth as a deer. But as AMMA says, any spiritual practice is like a Fixed Deposit. Therefore the deer Bharatha repented for his mistake and contemplated on Ishwara. Thereby the next birth he was again born as a human being – he took the resolution of not getting deluded again thereby remaining like an insentient rock (thus the name of Jada Bharatha).
We find here Baana doing the same mistake – the moment we aren’t aware of the very nature of the Lord as all-pervasive non-dual reality of Consciousness, we are bound to get deluded by the various forms of the world and thereby will suffer. We will see in the next day as to what is the Lord’s reply to Baana’s foolish statement (wherein he forgot the ultimate reality of Lord and thereby got deluded into the illusory dual world).
Let us try to always remember the ultimate reality of Lord so that we are never deluded into the illusory names and forms of the world which will lead us to sorrows and sufferings.
Listening to Baana’s arrogant statement, the Lord becoming a little angry proclaimed thus “O ignorant fool! Soon one day your flagstaff will break and fall down. That day a person who is equal to me will come to fight you”.
Explanation
We find here the Lord’s response to the foolish and arrogant statement of Baana. We may think as to whether a person can be arrogant and foolish at the same time – any person who is arrogant is prone to do something foolish (thinking that anything is within his reach). Man often forgets that his reach is limited and that he cannot control the entire world as the world itself is an illusion in the first place. Even as a person who is in an illusion created by the magician cannot control the magic, similarly a person cannot control the illusory world created by the Lord. If he wants to control the world he has to go beyond the illusory world (Maya) by completely surrendering unto the Lord remembering that the Lord alone exists here, one without a second. Once a person goes beyond the world he knows for sure that there is no world at all to be controlled – it is just an illusion or a long play (drama). Such a person is a realized master who will enact his role to perfection in this long play and will never bother to control the non-existent play; only a fool will try to control the world which doesn’t really exists.
But any person is prone to become a fool once he forgets the ultimate reality of Lord – that very moment he thinks that the dual world is real and thereby tries to prove himself in the world. Most of us are ever engaged in activities to prove ourself; proving to our parents, proving to our partners, proving to our children, proving to our friends, proving to our relatives, proving to our bosses etc. The list of people we are trying to prove is infinite and we are doing it without remembering that this is all a play. Will Tom Hanks or Aamir Khan ever try to prove themselves to a character in a movie? Though they both are perfectionists, yet they will not do something that foolish.
But a person who has forgotten the ultimate reality of Lord will fall a prey to this illusory but attractive world. This is what we find Baana doing. But as AMMA says spiritual practices are Fixed Deposits which will not vanish – thereby due to his good deeds of remembering the Lord, Baana is given a boon by the Lord which in fact helps him to get out of the delusion – how can we speak about the compassion of the Lord? Even when a devotee asks for his own destruction through a boon the Lord helps such a devotee as well by giving the boon which will take the devotee out of the delusion.
But after knowing that we will be deluded into the illusory world if we forget the ultimate reality of Lord, we as seekers of the reality of Lord should never let ourselves forget the ultimate reality of Lord. The ultimate sadhana of remembering the Lord as the non-dual reality of Consciousness is the sadhana that in itself will take us to the goal of eternal bliss (which is what we have been and are seeking at all points of time).
We will continue with what happened to Baana after the Lord’s boon to him in the next few days.
Let us try to always remember the ultimate reality of Lord so that we are never deluded into the illusory names and forms of the world which will lead us to sorrows and sufferings.
# posted by vedanta : 6:45 AM
