Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Story 53 – Story of Krishna Dinacharya varnana (elaboration of Krishna’s daily routine) - 03

Narada continued:

O Lord! One who is praised and worshipped by everyone, I know all of these clearly.

Explanation


Though this one sentence from Bhagavatham might seem to be quite simple yet it has a deep meaning which applies to each and every person’s life. Once we are able to appreciate the deeper meaning of this sentence, then sorrows and sufferings will be mostly negated (at least such a seeker will be able to realize in this very birth itself).

Here we are alluding to the Lord’s nature as used by Narada – the Lord is mentioned as one who is praised and worshipped by everyone.

Is it true that everyone worships the Lord? Aren’t atheists not worshippers of the Lord – aren’t they people who don’t believe in the various concepts of God?

JThe Lord is definitely worshipped by everyone – some accept it and some don’t. Some are able to acknowledge that they worship the Lord whereas others are not able to acknowledge either due to “not wanting to” or “ignorance”.

Everyone irrespective of all the distinctions of caste and creed are seeking only one thing in life – eternal bliss (happiness that is ever lasting and untainted by sorrow). Even the good and bad are seeking this eternal bliss only. Whether it is the new president of United States of America, Obama, or the Illinois governor, Blagojevich, or the great ponzi giant, Madoff, or the terror-striker Osama Bin Laden – all are seeking happiness only. A beggar and Bill Gates both want ultimately happiness only. Of what use are worldly possessions (including money, power, fame etc.) if they don’t lead a person to happiness? Ultimately it is happiness that is sought out in the form of everything else (including marriage, children, promotion etc.).

The Lord’s very nature is bliss. This is because that which is eternal alone can give a person ever-lasting or eternal happiness (termed bliss). The Lord is of the nature of Consciousness – that which pulsates in each one of us in the form of “I-exist, I-exist”. We never experience cessation or non-existence of this “I” – this “I” that pulsates in each one of us is the ultimate reality of Lord and it is eternal. The scriptures speak about the Lord as the source from which this world has come, the substratum in which the world exists and that unto which the world merges at the time of its destruction (the world is temporary).

Thus knowingly or unknowingly we are all praising and worshipping the Lord. But one who knowingly worships the Lord alone will be able to achieve or realize the Lord. One who unknowingly worships the Lord will never understand as to what he is seeking – instead such a seeker will think that he wants money, fame etc. thereby never getting eternal bliss. Such a person is compared to a musk-deer which runs here and there trying to find out from where the musk-smell is coming. It is unable to find and running here-there, it dies. It fails to understand that the smell is coming from itself and not from outside. Similarly once a seeker is able to identify his goal as eternal bliss, he will stop searching for bliss in the external world and will seek it in the all-pervasive Conscious Lord who resides in the heart of all beings.

Let us all try to identify our ultimate goal as eternal bliss so that we will start seeking the ultimate reality of Lord (along with all other desires but prioritizing the desire for realization as the highest priority desire) so that we may be able to rejoice in bliss in this very birth itself.

Narada continued:

O Lord! I have known your feet which give moksha to beings in the world - which is always contemplated (bhaavana) in the minds of realized people like Brahma (who have known the ultimate truth). For people who have fallen into the ocean of samsaara, your feet are the only way-out. I travel around the world contemplating on those feet. Bless me so that I might remember your feet at all times.

Explanation


Paada stands of that which leads a person to the goal and that which supports everything (the feet support our entire body).

What is that which supports the entire world?
It has to be that from which the world has come, in which the world resides and unto which the world merges at the time of destruction – such an entity is termed in scriptures as Brahman. Brahman, Lord, Ishwara, Paramaatman, Atman etc. all are synonymous with one entity in the entire world capable of giving light to everything (making everything exist) – Consciousness. The scriptures thus speak about Brahman as Prajnaanam or Consciousness.

That which is Conscious in nature always exist – it is the very basis of all existence and never ceases to exist. Thus Ishwara is Sat or Existence in nature. That which is Sat and Chit (Existence and Consciousness) in nature has to be blissful as it is eternal and infinite. The various limitations of time, space and causation are based on the changeless limit-less entity of Brahman or Ishwara.

It is for this reason that the Lord is the only refuge for people suffering in samsaara characterized by sorrows and sufferings. Everything else (all other refuge in the world) are temporary and therefore sorrowful (can give us nothing but sorrow). This is a matter of experience for people in the world that everything in the world will give us sorrow only in the long run. A couple is sad that they don’t have any child – they go to various pilgrimage places, take up different vows, and meet with spiritual masters etc. – finally they get a child. They are very happy – their happiness knows no bounds. The child grows up to be a very young and of course naughty (meaning rebuking) lad. When it is time for the young lad to tie knot with a girl, the parents are all anxious to find out the right girl. They search out for good girls – after horoscope matching and other formalities, they find a suitable girl. They inform the young lad about it only to find out a secret – that the lad has chosen his own girl (a co-worker in office). The parents are very sad and try to talk to the lad who wouldn’t listen to one word they utter. Finally against their wishes, the lad marries the girl. The parents stay away from the lad – the finally is broken. The same parents who were happy few decades back about getting a child are now sad that they had a child – often we see such parents saying “I wish I didn’t have any child”.

Any intelligent person would be able to anticipate this in advance or at least try to understand by looking at our neighbors or even people in our family. But during those times we just ignore them by saying “Oh! It is their family – it will not happen with us”. Death is one thing which is very popular in this attitude of “he died but I am going to be eternal” only to finally die thinking that we are the body.

Thus a person with some intellect will be able to realize immediately that the world is sorrowful and hence the only refuge from this sorrow is the ultimate reality of Lord. In order for a seeker to escape from sorrow and rejoice in bliss, contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord (the knowledge that the Lord alone exists here as the substratum of the illusory names and forms of the world) is the only way out. And it is this great boon and blessing that Narada asks of Ishwara – blessed is a seeker who asks for nothing but contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord as such a person will ever rejoice in bliss and materially he will have whatever is more than essential to live a happy life in the world.

Let us try to reduce all other desires and prioritize the desire of asking Ishwara for the boon of constant contemplation of Ishwara so that we might end this sorrowful samsaara and rejoice in bliss in this very birth itself.

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