Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Story 53 – Story of Krishna Dinacharya varnana (elaboration of Krishna’s daily routine) - 01
Remembering that the goal of learning Bhagavatham is to constantly contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord in our mind, let us see in brief the next story of Bhagavatham. The next story that we are going to discuss is about the daily routine of the Lord in the form of Krishna.
The Lord himself proclaims in Gita as to why a realized master (who doesn’t have any duty whatsoever as all his desires have been fulfilled) does actions like any worldly person thus:
Yad yad aacharathi srestah tad tad eva itharo janaah
Sa yat pramaanam kuruthe lokah tadanuvarthathe
Whatever actions a role-model (person looked upon as great by others) does, other people just emulate the person.
Hence various Mahatmas like AMMA, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharshi etc. do spiritual activities though they are ever blissful and don’t need to do any activity at all. These activities are so that other spiritual seekers who look upon them for guidance can easily emulate and implement those activities in their own lives. Even as young seeking-to-be-cricketers look upon Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, and Shane Warne etc. similarly spiritual seekers also look upon the various spiritual masters living and mentioned in the scriptures. Who better for a spiritual seeker to find guidance in other than the Lord in Krishna avataara? Each and every action of the Lord is an instruction to the spiritual seeker as to how to perform actions in the world.
Another reason for analyzing the Lord’s daily routine is that it is easy to follow when guided through action rather than mere concepts. Concepts might appear to be easy to understand but implementation is often tough. Though current-day children have everything at their finger-tips in the form of internet, teachers and professors are essential in guiding them. When it comes to practical activities like body-building, driving etc. it is very essential to have a one-on-one guidance where the master shows us how to do things. As it is said that a director is the captain of the ship of the movie, similarly a spiritual master who performs actions (not just preaching concepts) is essential for most seekers.
This also helps the seeker understand the importance and necessity of implementation and not just remembering concepts. It isn’t enough to know that “fire will burn” but it is necessary to act on it by not putting our hand on fire. Similarly merely learning the scriptural concepts isn’t enough – many people who are well-versed in the scriptures are still unable to get bliss (they feel a sort of void in their life), this is because though they know concepts they aren’t implementing it. Put in AMMA’s words, it isn’t enough to write HONEY in a paper to know the taste of honey, we have to taste HONEY. Similarly living spiritual concepts in our day-to-day life is the way to eternal bliss – leading a life filled with happiness, peace, satisfaction and contentment.
Bhagavatham through this story portraying the day-to-day life of Krishna is thus helping us not just understand concepts but making us learn as to how to implement those concepts in life thereby making us rejoice in bliss. We will start with the story in the next day all the while remembering that the goal of even this story is constant contemplation of the non-dual reality of blissful Lord.
After Aniruddha’s marriage, Krishna and Balarama returned back to Dwaraka and spent time. Narada had heard that Krishna had wed 16,000 women. Narada had the desire (anxiety as well) to see as to how the Lord spend the day (daily activities) along with 16,008 wives.
Explanation
Here we find Narada having the desire to see the daily activities of the Lord. Desire to know more and more about the ultimate reality of Lord (anything associated with the Lord) is something essential in the spiritual path. A true seeker will want to fill his mind with thoughts of the Lord at all times that he will want to talk about the Lord, hear about the Lord, see activities related to the Lord etc. The best way for current-day people to fill the mind with thoughts about the Lord is by observing true devotees of the Lord.
A true devotee is one whose mind is ever filled with thoughts of the Lord. The air and space around such a devotee verily reverberates thoughts of the Lord. Thoughts of the Lord bring in bliss which is the very nature of the Lord. Thus around such a devotee we can find bliss dancing.
The Lord speaks about this thus in Gita:
Kaama krodha viyukthaanaam yatheenaam yatha chethasaam
Abhitho brahmanirvaanam varthathe vidhitha aatmanaam
Around a knower of the Atman who has gone beyond desire and aversion, ever fixed in the Lord, whose thoughts have subdued – bliss will be dancing.
The ultimate goal of life is realization or eternal bliss which can be achieved by pervading our mind with thoughts about the non-dual reality of Lord. This can be easily achieved when we are in the presence of the Lord or devotees of the Lord. We find Narada here trying to get some satsanga by having the desire to observe the Lord.
When it comes to observing people in general, a person will be benefitted in many ways. But when it comes to observing the Lord or his devotees, a seeker will be immensely benefitted. Things that might seem to be impossible to implement become very easy when we observe somebody else implementing it. Moreover the Lord is a role-model for all seekers – therefore observing the activities of the Lord and trying to imbibe good things (that will help us in always remembering the Lord) will help the seeker stay focused and progress in the spiritual path.
We will continue with the story as to what Narada finds about the daily activities of the Lord.
Let us all try to pervade the Lord in our thoughts through satsanga (trying to think, speak, act with respect to the Lord) so that we may cross over the illusory world and ever rejoice in bliss.
The Lord himself proclaims in Gita as to why a realized master (who doesn’t have any duty whatsoever as all his desires have been fulfilled) does actions like any worldly person thus:
Yad yad aacharathi srestah tad tad eva itharo janaah
Sa yat pramaanam kuruthe lokah tadanuvarthathe
Whatever actions a role-model (person looked upon as great by others) does, other people just emulate the person.
Hence various Mahatmas like AMMA, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharshi etc. do spiritual activities though they are ever blissful and don’t need to do any activity at all. These activities are so that other spiritual seekers who look upon them for guidance can easily emulate and implement those activities in their own lives. Even as young seeking-to-be-cricketers look upon Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, and Shane Warne etc. similarly spiritual seekers also look upon the various spiritual masters living and mentioned in the scriptures. Who better for a spiritual seeker to find guidance in other than the Lord in Krishna avataara? Each and every action of the Lord is an instruction to the spiritual seeker as to how to perform actions in the world.
Another reason for analyzing the Lord’s daily routine is that it is easy to follow when guided through action rather than mere concepts. Concepts might appear to be easy to understand but implementation is often tough. Though current-day children have everything at their finger-tips in the form of internet, teachers and professors are essential in guiding them. When it comes to practical activities like body-building, driving etc. it is very essential to have a one-on-one guidance where the master shows us how to do things. As it is said that a director is the captain of the ship of the movie, similarly a spiritual master who performs actions (not just preaching concepts) is essential for most seekers.
This also helps the seeker understand the importance and necessity of implementation and not just remembering concepts. It isn’t enough to know that “fire will burn” but it is necessary to act on it by not putting our hand on fire. Similarly merely learning the scriptural concepts isn’t enough – many people who are well-versed in the scriptures are still unable to get bliss (they feel a sort of void in their life), this is because though they know concepts they aren’t implementing it. Put in AMMA’s words, it isn’t enough to write HONEY in a paper to know the taste of honey, we have to taste HONEY. Similarly living spiritual concepts in our day-to-day life is the way to eternal bliss – leading a life filled with happiness, peace, satisfaction and contentment.
Bhagavatham through this story portraying the day-to-day life of Krishna is thus helping us not just understand concepts but making us learn as to how to implement those concepts in life thereby making us rejoice in bliss. We will start with the story in the next day all the while remembering that the goal of even this story is constant contemplation of the non-dual reality of blissful Lord.
After Aniruddha’s marriage, Krishna and Balarama returned back to Dwaraka and spent time. Narada had heard that Krishna had wed 16,000 women. Narada had the desire (anxiety as well) to see as to how the Lord spend the day (daily activities) along with 16,008 wives.
Explanation
Here we find Narada having the desire to see the daily activities of the Lord. Desire to know more and more about the ultimate reality of Lord (anything associated with the Lord) is something essential in the spiritual path. A true seeker will want to fill his mind with thoughts of the Lord at all times that he will want to talk about the Lord, hear about the Lord, see activities related to the Lord etc. The best way for current-day people to fill the mind with thoughts about the Lord is by observing true devotees of the Lord.
A true devotee is one whose mind is ever filled with thoughts of the Lord. The air and space around such a devotee verily reverberates thoughts of the Lord. Thoughts of the Lord bring in bliss which is the very nature of the Lord. Thus around such a devotee we can find bliss dancing.
The Lord speaks about this thus in Gita:
Kaama krodha viyukthaanaam yatheenaam yatha chethasaam
Abhitho brahmanirvaanam varthathe vidhitha aatmanaam
Around a knower of the Atman who has gone beyond desire and aversion, ever fixed in the Lord, whose thoughts have subdued – bliss will be dancing.
The ultimate goal of life is realization or eternal bliss which can be achieved by pervading our mind with thoughts about the non-dual reality of Lord. This can be easily achieved when we are in the presence of the Lord or devotees of the Lord. We find Narada here trying to get some satsanga by having the desire to observe the Lord.
When it comes to observing people in general, a person will be benefitted in many ways. But when it comes to observing the Lord or his devotees, a seeker will be immensely benefitted. Things that might seem to be impossible to implement become very easy when we observe somebody else implementing it. Moreover the Lord is a role-model for all seekers – therefore observing the activities of the Lord and trying to imbibe good things (that will help us in always remembering the Lord) will help the seeker stay focused and progress in the spiritual path.
We will continue with the story as to what Narada finds about the daily activities of the Lord.
Let us all try to pervade the Lord in our thoughts through satsanga (trying to think, speak, act with respect to the Lord) so that we may cross over the illusory world and ever rejoice in bliss.
# posted by vedanta : 9:45 AM
