Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Story 52 – Story of Baana Yudha - 16
Siva continued:
Bhagavan, this Baana is my dear bhaktha (devotee). May your compassion fall upon him. People don’t kill Baana, who is Mahabali’s son, and let him go away. After losing his hands, his ahamkaara (ego) has vanished. Only four hands are left for him. He will live fearlessly and not confronting you.
Explanation
We find here Lord Siva standing by his devotee to protect him. Any person who has read ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ will know that Sri Ramakrishna considered Devi as a mother to him – the Lord always considers everyone as his child. But many times we find ourselves as a naughty child who forgets the mother and doesn’t stick on to what the mother tells us to do – we often forget the ultimate reality of Lord and don’t heed the words of the Lord.
What are the words of the Lord? We have the various scriptures that are the words of the Lord. And a seeker who is endowed with faith in Ishwara will easily be able to find the Lord’s instruction coming through mysterious people (as the saying goes ‘mysterious are the ways of God’).
AMMA says that the grace of the Lord is like Sun which is always there but we close the doors of our heart and thereby complain that “we cannot get sun rays/grace”. A seeker who gains devotion and surrender unto the Lord will always be protected by the Lord (whatever happens).
Krishna makes this statement in Gita thus:
Kaunteya prathijaaneehi na me bhakthah pranashyathi
O Arjuna, know for sure that my devotee never perishes.
This promise of the Lord to protect his devotees at any cost is seen in the Mahabharatha. The Lord promised to be a charioteer to Arjuna and that he will not take any weapon in the war. But when Bhishma (along with others) were about to defeat and kill Arjuna, the Lord took the chariot’s wheel as a chakra and pounced to kill Bhishma. This speaks for the Lord’s compassionate and resolution to always protect his devotees. It is also true from the ultimate perspective as a devotee is one whose mind is ever filled with contemplation of the non-dual reality of Lord – for such a devote, the world is just a long drama and the devotee will never be away from bliss; any amount of sorrow will not change the blissful state of the devotee as he knows those sorrows to be like the sorrows a person faces in dream.
This always-there-to-protect-his-devotees aspect of the Lord is very easy to gain for a seeker – here the seeker doesn’t need lot of money or fame or talent or knowledge, the seeker just needs to keep the Lord always in his thoughts and considering everything as a grace/will of the Lord. If something good happens, the seeker considers it as the Lord’s grace. If something bad happens, the seeker considers it as the Lord’s will. Whatever happens, the Lord is always there in the mind of a seeker as the all-pervasive non-dual Consciousness.
Let us try to be devotees of the Lord by having the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory names and forms of the world so that we may always be protected by the Lord and thereby ever rejoice in bliss.
Baana after getting refuge from the Lord fell at the Lord’s feet. He took Aniruddha in a chariot towards Krishna. Marriage of Usha happened with Aniruddha. The Lord after saying goodbye to Siva and Baana reached Dwaraka along with the newly weds and they were welcomed by the people of Dwaraka.
Explanation
We find here the Lord forgiving Baana and finally “everything ends well”. The goal of all beings is to have “everything well” at all times. Whether it is with respect to actions or thoughts or goals, everyone wants to be happy at all times. We find in all the puranas that everything finally ends up good and the good-people are happy.
This happiness though it seems to be very simple to achieve is still tough to achieve (that which is simple is also very tough to implement). It might seem very simple to walk on a very narrow bridge in theory but when we try to implement it we will find that it is very tough indeed to do so. Achieved happiness or making “everything well” is indeed very tough – but with proper knowledge about how to implement it, we will find that each and every minute of our life is a blissful moment.
The simple one-solution to eternal bliss and making our life “well” at all times is constant contemplation of the Lord – this has been variously termed as bhakthi, jnaana, yoga etc. Ramana Maharshi puts this beautifully in Upadesa Saram thus:
Hritsthale manah svasthathaa kriyaa
Bhakthi yoga bodhaascha nischitham
Fixing the mind on the heart (source of all thoughts – heart is abode of Ishwara as Consciousness) is actionl that is bhakthi; that is yoga; that is jnaana, definitely.
Krishna mentions in many places of Gita that Ishwara resides in the heart of all beings. Even as it is very tough to catch a thief who is hiding inside the police officer’s house (the same officer who is trying to catch the thief), similarly it is very tough to find Ishwara as bliss who is residing in our very heart.
As soon as a seeker surrenders completely unto the ultimate reality of Lord with the knowledge that this entire world is filled in and out by the Lord (as the world is only an illusion of names and forms), that very minute he finds the entrance to the heart (the abode of Ishwara). A seeker who has found his heart will ever be blissful – such a seeker doesn’t need a “good ending” as he is ever rejoicing in bliss. It is only when a person is suffering that we have to seek a solution from the suffering and then rejoice in bliss; a seeker whose mind is ever fixed on the ultimate reality of Lord through constant contemplation is ever blissful and hence he doesn’t face any sorrows or sufferings.
As we finally come to the end of this story where “everything ends well”, let us take up the resolution of finding out the Ishwara hiding in our hearts so that we can also say each and every moment of our life that “I am rejoicing in bliss”. Rejoicing in bliss through constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord is the ultimate goal of life and a person will find his life incomplete until this goal is achieved.
We will see a summary of this story in the next day so that we can at least remember a few concepts that we have learned over the past month and thereby implement it in our lives to make our life filled with bliss.
Let us try to be devotees of the Lord by having the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory names and forms of the world so that we may always be protected by the Lord and thereby ever rejoice in bliss.
Bhagavan, this Baana is my dear bhaktha (devotee). May your compassion fall upon him. People don’t kill Baana, who is Mahabali’s son, and let him go away. After losing his hands, his ahamkaara (ego) has vanished. Only four hands are left for him. He will live fearlessly and not confronting you.
Explanation
We find here Lord Siva standing by his devotee to protect him. Any person who has read ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ will know that Sri Ramakrishna considered Devi as a mother to him – the Lord always considers everyone as his child. But many times we find ourselves as a naughty child who forgets the mother and doesn’t stick on to what the mother tells us to do – we often forget the ultimate reality of Lord and don’t heed the words of the Lord.
What are the words of the Lord? We have the various scriptures that are the words of the Lord. And a seeker who is endowed with faith in Ishwara will easily be able to find the Lord’s instruction coming through mysterious people (as the saying goes ‘mysterious are the ways of God’).
AMMA says that the grace of the Lord is like Sun which is always there but we close the doors of our heart and thereby complain that “we cannot get sun rays/grace”. A seeker who gains devotion and surrender unto the Lord will always be protected by the Lord (whatever happens).
Krishna makes this statement in Gita thus:
Kaunteya prathijaaneehi na me bhakthah pranashyathi
O Arjuna, know for sure that my devotee never perishes.
This promise of the Lord to protect his devotees at any cost is seen in the Mahabharatha. The Lord promised to be a charioteer to Arjuna and that he will not take any weapon in the war. But when Bhishma (along with others) were about to defeat and kill Arjuna, the Lord took the chariot’s wheel as a chakra and pounced to kill Bhishma. This speaks for the Lord’s compassionate and resolution to always protect his devotees. It is also true from the ultimate perspective as a devotee is one whose mind is ever filled with contemplation of the non-dual reality of Lord – for such a devote, the world is just a long drama and the devotee will never be away from bliss; any amount of sorrow will not change the blissful state of the devotee as he knows those sorrows to be like the sorrows a person faces in dream.
This always-there-to-protect-his-devotees aspect of the Lord is very easy to gain for a seeker – here the seeker doesn’t need lot of money or fame or talent or knowledge, the seeker just needs to keep the Lord always in his thoughts and considering everything as a grace/will of the Lord. If something good happens, the seeker considers it as the Lord’s grace. If something bad happens, the seeker considers it as the Lord’s will. Whatever happens, the Lord is always there in the mind of a seeker as the all-pervasive non-dual Consciousness.
Let us try to be devotees of the Lord by having the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory names and forms of the world so that we may always be protected by the Lord and thereby ever rejoice in bliss.
Baana after getting refuge from the Lord fell at the Lord’s feet. He took Aniruddha in a chariot towards Krishna. Marriage of Usha happened with Aniruddha. The Lord after saying goodbye to Siva and Baana reached Dwaraka along with the newly weds and they were welcomed by the people of Dwaraka.
Explanation
We find here the Lord forgiving Baana and finally “everything ends well”. The goal of all beings is to have “everything well” at all times. Whether it is with respect to actions or thoughts or goals, everyone wants to be happy at all times. We find in all the puranas that everything finally ends up good and the good-people are happy.
This happiness though it seems to be very simple to achieve is still tough to achieve (that which is simple is also very tough to implement). It might seem very simple to walk on a very narrow bridge in theory but when we try to implement it we will find that it is very tough indeed to do so. Achieved happiness or making “everything well” is indeed very tough – but with proper knowledge about how to implement it, we will find that each and every minute of our life is a blissful moment.
The simple one-solution to eternal bliss and making our life “well” at all times is constant contemplation of the Lord – this has been variously termed as bhakthi, jnaana, yoga etc. Ramana Maharshi puts this beautifully in Upadesa Saram thus:
Hritsthale manah svasthathaa kriyaa
Bhakthi yoga bodhaascha nischitham
Fixing the mind on the heart (source of all thoughts – heart is abode of Ishwara as Consciousness) is actionl that is bhakthi; that is yoga; that is jnaana, definitely.
Krishna mentions in many places of Gita that Ishwara resides in the heart of all beings. Even as it is very tough to catch a thief who is hiding inside the police officer’s house (the same officer who is trying to catch the thief), similarly it is very tough to find Ishwara as bliss who is residing in our very heart.
As soon as a seeker surrenders completely unto the ultimate reality of Lord with the knowledge that this entire world is filled in and out by the Lord (as the world is only an illusion of names and forms), that very minute he finds the entrance to the heart (the abode of Ishwara). A seeker who has found his heart will ever be blissful – such a seeker doesn’t need a “good ending” as he is ever rejoicing in bliss. It is only when a person is suffering that we have to seek a solution from the suffering and then rejoice in bliss; a seeker whose mind is ever fixed on the ultimate reality of Lord through constant contemplation is ever blissful and hence he doesn’t face any sorrows or sufferings.
As we finally come to the end of this story where “everything ends well”, let us take up the resolution of finding out the Ishwara hiding in our hearts so that we can also say each and every moment of our life that “I am rejoicing in bliss”. Rejoicing in bliss through constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord is the ultimate goal of life and a person will find his life incomplete until this goal is achieved.
We will see a summary of this story in the next day so that we can at least remember a few concepts that we have learned over the past month and thereby implement it in our lives to make our life filled with bliss.
Let us try to be devotees of the Lord by having the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory names and forms of the world so that we may always be protected by the Lord and thereby ever rejoice in bliss.
# posted by vedanta : 9:31 AM
