Srimad Bhagavatham

Then Baana who was Mahabali’s son bound Aniruddha by Nagapasha (snake-rope) and thereby captured him. Seeing this Usha became very sad.

Explanation

Here we find Aniruddha being captured by Mahabali with naga pasha (snake-rope). We can find Bhagavatham indirectly hinting at that which lets down a person even though the person might be very strong. Aniruddha was very strong and could easily defeat Baana’s guards but even then he was captured by Baana. In Vedanta snakes are the passions or emotions of the mind – these emotions are put as six (kaama or attachment, krodha or anger, lobha or greed, moha or delusion, mada or pride, maatsarya or jealousy). These are the snakes that make a person die over and over again. The venom of these snakes are so powerful that it even weakens the strongest person (like Aniruddha in this case).

For Aniruddha, it was attachment to Usha that caused him to be captured. If only a person can remain unaffected by attachments internally (all the while externally showing attachment), then nothing in the entire world can capture him. Instead of trying to gain this internal detachment through offering everything unto Ishwara, people generally get captured each and every moment of their life. Thus we spent each minute of our life in the jail of emotions – we can take a brief pause here and try to see how many minutes in a day are we not affected by emotions, the count will be very less.

Even as just one drop of poison is enough to make an entire jar of milk poisonous, even as one drop of curd is enough to turn an entire jar of milk into curd, similarly just one emotion is enough to make a person bonded in the illusory world. And above all, these emotions are towards something that doesn’t really exist. What would happen if we get attached to a prince in the sky-kingdom? The result is that we will become sad always as we can never get to the prince (as the prince is not real). Even if temporarily we act as if the prince is there, sooner or later we will be made to realize that there is no prince & then the sorrow will be much more.

The world is considered like a kingdom in sky (gandharva patthanam) as it is not real, constantly changing and thereby sorrowful. Thus a seeker who gets attached to anything in this illusory world will be lead to sorrow and sorrow alone. It is up to a seeker as to whether he wants eternal bliss in the form of the Lord or sorrow in the form of the world. If a seeker chooses the ultimate reality of Lord, he gets to enjoy in the world as well – he will still do actions in the world, have emotions in the world like any other normal person but such a seeker will not be affected by the outcome of the action. He will ever be blissful irrespective of the actions performed and emotions displayed.

This is beautifully told by the Lord thus:

Brahmani aadhaaya karmaani sangam tyaktvaa karothi yah
Lipyathe na sa paapena padma patram iva ambasaa

A person who does actions as an offering unto Ishwara and without getting attached to the actions or fruits will not be tainted by the sins (sorrows) of the action even as the lotus-leaf which is in water is not wet by water (even as the lotus leaf is in water but not wet, similarly such a seeker will be doing actions but unaffected by the outcome of the actions).

This has also been explained in simple words by Ramana Maharshi thus:

Ishwara arpitham na icchayaa kritham
Chitta shodhakam mukthi saadhakam

Actions done as an offering to Ishwara and without craving for the fruits will purify the mind and thereby help in liberation.

The flag-staff of Baana fell down (indicating that the time to see/meet a person equivalent to Siva and the time to fight has come for Baana). It was four months since Aniruddha was gone from Yadukula. At that time, Narada arrived in Dwaraka and informed the news about Aniruddha to Krishna. Krishna and Balarama took their army and surrounded Shonithapuri (Baana’s town). Seeing his town being attacked, Baana took his army and went in war with Krishna and Balarama.

Siva along with his sons and the bhoothaganas and riding the Nandi came to help Baana fight the war.

Explanation

As granted by Siva the time for Baana’s ego to be destroyed has arrived here. Baana comes face to face with Krishna (a person equivalent to Siva). Thus we see as to how Baana’s ego has started its downfall in the form of war.

War or yuddham is something which is harmful to everyone. Thousands of people die in war – but unlike today ancient wars had rules. Firstly the weapons used in ancient times wouldn’t kill ignorant people, it wasn’t harmful to environment and it will kill only towards whoever it is directed at. But today with advancement of science and technology, we have got more sophisticated weapons – but these weapons have many side-effects like killing ignorant people, poisoning nature etc. Secondly the rules for war in ancient times was to come face to face in order to fight, then fight only from dawn to dusk, don’t attack a person who is unarmed, don’t attack a person who is tired and wants rest etc. There was a dharma or law in war as well which has been lost today. Today we find bombs killing innocent people and wars fought by stabbing people and often countries in the back.

JThe current day situation cannot be changed at all – as an individual we have to understand that war whether it is physical or mental is always dangerous to everyone. This means that instead of attacking people bodily or verbally or mentally we have to perceive the ultimate reality of Lord in everyone. This is the ultimate truth that everything is essentially the Lord alone – even as various gold ornaments though are externally names and forms but essentially gold only, similarly the world is essentially the Lord alone. The moment we remember that the entire world is the Lord alone; we cannot get attached or averted to anything. A person whose mind is calm and devoid of any passions is one who can remain blissful at all times – such a person will not have any grudge with anyone so will avoid war at any cost (and war will be there only if nothing works out). The Lord and all his attempts to ward off the Mahabharatha yudha clearly shows that a seeker who is trying to see oneness everywhere will try to put off the war as much as possible.

In the current day when things are tense between individuals, countries and organizations let us pray to the ultimate reality of Lord through seeing oneness that terrorist attacks and all sort of man-made harmful activities will stop or atleast get reduced.