Srimad Bhagavatham

Story 53 – Story of Krishna Dinacharya varnana (elaboration of Krishna’s daily routine) - 04

2009-05-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

In order to witness the Divine Maya Vilaasam (play of Maya) of the Lord, Narada went into another wife’s house. There he saw Krishna playing chathuranga (sort of chess-like game) with his wife and Uddhava.

Explanation

Here we find Krishna being in two places. We find in many places in Bhagavatham the portrayal of Lord as present in multiple places. The story of destruction of Brahma’s ego wherein the Lord himself becomes the various gopaalas can be remembered here.

Is it possible for one person to be in many places at the same time?
JIn fact the entire world is one person alone – the ultimate reality of Lord. The Lord portrays different characters in this long play – this is also seen in our dream state where there is only the dreamer present but the dreamer becomes the entire world filled with many living and non-living characters. In a similar way this waking world is a long dream world in which everything is the Lord alone.

There are two perspectives possible with respect to the world. One is vision of the world as the world and second is vision of world as the Lord (real vision). The former is called loka dristhi (vision of the world) – this is a false vision wherein a person sees the world as dual with differences present everywhere and in everything. Such a person is an ignorant person – this ignorance of dual vision leads the person to believe that the duality is there thereby getting into likes and dislikes. Likes and dislikes in turn leads to attachment and aversion which in turn lead to happiness and sorrow. Dual vision also causes desires – all desires based on the desire of eternal bliss. Since this vision is out of ignorance, eternal bliss is impossible with this vision. This vision can only lead a person to more and more sorrows in life.

The latter vision is jnaana dristhi (vision of knowledge). In this the world is seen as its essence of Lord – this is vision of reality. Even as the false vision of seeing water in desert (and considering water as real) leads to sorrow, similarly the vision of ignorance leads to sorrow. Whereas the vision of water in desert as desert (though externally a person might see water but knows internally beyond doubt that there is no water at all and there is only desert) is true vision and thereby will lead to eternal bliss. A jnaani has this vision of world as the Lord.

Bhagavatham here hints at this vision through Narada seeing the Lord in all the houses – wherever a jnaani sees, whatever a jnaani sees – he sees only the Lord. Though he might see differences externally like an ajnaani, internally he sees all those differences are mere illusions in the Lord thereby seeing only the Lord internally. Such a jnaani who sees oneness everywhere will never enter into likes and dislikes thereby negating attachments and aversions thus not getting pulled into happiness and sorrow. There is no desire for such a jnaani as his mind is ever abiding in blissful Ishwara.

Spiritual goal is wherein an ajnaani transitions to a jnaani thereby seeing everything as filled with Ishwara and as Ishwara – thus ever rejoicing in bliss.

Let us try to have vision of knowledge thereby seeing Ishwara everywhere so that we will ever rejoice in bliss and never enter into sorrows and sufferings.

In the second wife’s house as well Narada was welcomed and worshipped, the same way as in the first house. Surprised Narada then went into another house and there he found the Lord bathing his children. In another house Narada saw the Lord getting ready to take bath. In yet another house he saw the Lord doing yajnaadi karmas (ritualistic actions). He saw the Lord giving daanas (offerings) to brahmanas in another house. In another house the Lord was doing Sandhya vandhanam along with vedic chants. In yet another house the Lord was making the horses and chariots ready. In yet another house the Lord was relaxing in his bed while being praised by various sthuthis (praises). In another house, the Lord was discussing kingly duties along with his various ministers including Uddhava. In another house the Lord was doing jala kreeda (playing in water). In another house the Lord was offering cows to people. The Lord was seen as listening to ithihaasa and puranas (history and stories) in another house. In another house the Lord was laughing along with his wife at the comic stories illustrated by himself. In another place the Lord was striving for dharma-artha-kaama. In another place the Lord was in deep meditation on the ultimate truth (beyond Prakrithi or Maya).

Thus whatever activities are there in the world, Narada saw the Lord performing those in many places.

Explanation

Though it is enough to say that the entire world is Ishwara alone – without the essence of Ishwara, nothing has any existence at all, still many people will raise doubts regarding the same. It is but the compassionate spiritual masters who listen calmly to these doubts (though there is no scope for doubt) and answer them in the best possible way. Here Bhagavatham anticipates doubts if it is just mentioned that “everything is the Lord alone” and hence doesn’t give any scope for doubts by clearly mentioning that everything is the Lord alone.

This same approach of clarifying things in the best possible way is followed by the Lord in many places of Gita. The Upanishads also follow the same pattern. The Mundaka Upanishad in the very beginning says that the entire world has come from Ishwara – the world which has come from Ishwara, resides in Ishwara and merges unto Ishwara cannot be different from Ishwara. The differences are just names and forms. Even as a gold ornament comes from gold, resides in gold and merges unto gold is not different from gold but is just a name and form in gold, similarly the entire world is just names and forms in Ishwara who alone exists. But as we discussed earlier, it isn’t easy to apprehend or accept this hence Mundaka Upanishad goes to extents to explain the creation process by saying this comes from Ishwara, that comes from Ishwara etc. At the end, anticipating that there might still be doubts as to whether everything is really Ishwara the Upanishad makes the below statement:

Brahmaivedam amritham purasthaath brahma paschaat
Brahma dakshinatascha uttarena adhascha urdhvam cha prasritham
Brahmaivedam vishwam idam varistam

Brahman alone is immortal and present here in front, in back, above, below, right, left – this world is Brahman alone which is to be sought out (as that alone can give eternal bliss).

If even after the scriptures explain to such detail that everything is Ishwara alone, still a seeker is unable to understand that everything is Ishwara such a seeker will never be able to realize.

There is another concept as well explained through this part of Bhagavatham wherein the Lord is shown as doing all activities in the world. In essence it is the Lord’s presence that makes activities a success. In fact all activities happen because of the presence of the saakshi Ishwara (called adhistaanam or substratum). If the Lord is remembered in actions, then actions whether they give good or bad fruit will always be successful – success of an action is not about getting good result but about the action leading to peaceful and blissful state of the mind. Peace and bliss are possible only when a seeker remembers the non-dual reality of Lord while doing activities. This is being symbolically explained in this part where the Lord is seen as doing all actions possible – all those actions give immense bliss to the Lord. Even when the action of being a dootha to kauravas didn’t work out, the Lord was still blissful. This approach to actions has been summarized by Ramana Maharshi in this short sloka very beautifully:

Ishwara arpitham na icchaya kritham
Chittha shodakam mukthi saadhakam

Actions done as an offering to Ishwara and without craving for its fruits will purify the mind and thereby lead to realization.

It is not the action that really matters but the attitude of remembering Iswhara, doing the action as an offering to Ishwara and without craving for any fruit at all that really matters – such an action is often termed nishkaama karma (action without desires) but the presence of Ishwara makes the action a jnaana sadhana and gives instant liberation in form of eternal bliss irrespective of the outcome of the action at the empirical (worldly) level.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us all try to do actions as an offering to Ishwara while remembering that the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in Ishwara so that whether the result of the action is good or bad, we are ever unaffected and thereby will rejoice in bliss.

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

2009-05-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Story 53 – Story of Krishna Dinacharya varnana (elaboration of Krishna’s daily routine) - 02

2009-05-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Narada wanted to observe the Lord because a seeker of the truth will always want to see as to how the non-dual reality of Lord is acting through the various bodies of the world. Thus one day Narada reached Dwaraka. After reaching Dwaraka, the devarshi (sanyaasi and a deva) entered into one of the palace occupied by Krishna’s wives (one wife’s palace). Narada saw the beautiful scene of Krishna being served by his wife and many other daasis – Krishna was lying in his cot.

When Krishna saw Narada, immediately he jumped out of his bed and bowed the head in reverence (prostration) which had the crown. The Lord then seated Narada in his own bed. The Lord washed Narada’s feet and that sprinkled the teertha jala on his head. Narada was then worshipped as mentioned in the scriptures by the Lord.

Explanation

Generally we find name, fame, money etc. getting into the heads of people. Many a person who started off as a below average person (for eg: farmer) gets some fame and thereby forgets as to who he was earlier. This fame results in a high Ego sense – this in turn results in greed, pride etc.

The same applies for people who learn the scriptures. Knowledge is something which can easily go into the head of people. After learning a few scriptures, a seeker might get deluded into thinking that “I know a lot” thereby losing all the humility, devotion and surrender towards Ishwara who abides in the heart of all beings. We can find such people not mingling a lot with people and if they do have to mingle, they choose their own circle (people with equivalent knowledge). They will not even look at the face of poor people.

As of today this attitude isn’t just limited to people but has been extended to temples, organizations etc. where also the distinction on the basis of name, fame and money are there. A true seeker will never get the sense of Ego as he always remembers that the entire world filled with duality is just an illusion of names and forms in the non-dual reality of Lord. If everything is the Lord then how can there be any distinction whatsoever?

Thus a true seeker or true knower of the Lord will never have any sense of Ego. Such a person will respect the various rules or norms set in the scriptures (not because he is bound by them but because he is a role model for other people to follow). We find the Lord here showing true knowledge by his humility.

There is an age old subhaashitham that says that one who has vidya (knowledge) will have vinayam (humility). The Lord also speaks about a brahmana (in the 5th chapter of Gita) as endowed with knowledge and humility (vidya vinaya sampanne brahmane). We all have a lot to learn from the humility displayed by really learned people who are not at all egoistic but attribute all of the knowledge to the ultimate reality of Lord. Moreover unlike egoistic people, these Mahatmas are ever approachable and irrespective of whether stupid or intelligent questions are put to them, they willingly answer it with all earnestness and passion.

We find the Lord who is one of the perfect role model figures in the scriptures demonstrating extreme humility by showing his respect to Narada even when he was being taken care of by his wife and other daasis.

It is important to remember the true values of spirituality while living in the world. The true values of spirituality are love, vision of oneness and trying to remember the ultimate reality of Lord as pervading the entire world. These values will help a seeker progress quickly in the spiritual path towards the goal of eternal bliss (wherein one doesn’t face sorrow, even the least).

Let us all try to imbibe the true value of spirituality in seeing everyone and everything as the ultimate reality of Lord so that we can get rid of sorrow once and for all thereby ever rejoice in bliss.

After enquiring welfare, Krishna asked with humility as to what he could do for Narada.

Narada replied:

O Lord! All these activities of yours aren’t strange at all. You love everyone. You even give immortality to bad person which demonstrates your love for such people. In order to preserve and protect this world, you yourself decide and take various avataras (descents). The ultimate goal is to give moksha to the entire world – moksha which is completely cessation of sorrow.

Explanation

Here we find Narada saying that the actions of the Lord are not strange as the Lord loves everyone. Loving everyone is only possible if everything is seen as oneself – as long as a person sees duality, there will be likes and dislikes (thereby love for everyone cannot ensue). The Lord is an embodiment of love and knowledge – the Lord always is immersed in knowledge that this entire world is in essence the Lord alone (the differences are with respect to names and forms of those objects). Names and forms don’t create a new entity but they just make it appear as if there is a new entity – only fools and ignorant people will get deluded into thinking that names and forms are real. Wise people will know and keep in mind always that duality as names & forms are just illusions – in essence everything is Ishwara alone.

When a person sees Ishwara everywhere, such a person loves everything. When a person loves everything, then only sweet and good actions are possible from such a person. It is this goodness and sweetness that we see in the Lord’s actions towards Narada.

Here there can be an objection that if the Lord loves everyone then why did he kill bad people like Kamsa and others? This is answered by Narada beautifully that it is love for even bad people that makes the Lord kill them. In fact Lord is killing them from their bad qualities and thereby immortalizing them.

Kamsa was one of the two door-keepers of Vaikunta (resting place of Vishnu) – their names were Jaya and Vijaya. Once when the four sanaka sages arrived to visit Vishnu, these door-keepers who were instructed by Vishnu not to let anyone in stopped the sages. The sages got angry and cursed that Jaya and Vijaya will have to be born as humans. But immediately Vishnu came out and upon accepting the apology of Jaya-Vijaya, the sages gave two options to them – the first was that they will have to take many births as good people on Earth and the second was that they will have to take three births as bad people (people going against Ishwara). Jaya and Vijaya happily accepted the second one.

We can see in Kamsa’s life itself as to how strong the devotion is towards Ishwara – such kind of devotion wherein the devotee is devoted through the emotion of anger is called vidvesha bhakthi (devotion through anger or hatred). It is this bhakthi that made these asuras always think about Ishwara and Ishwara happily got rid of their sorrows.

Ishwara is therefore impartial and loves everyone. The ultimate goal of life which is also the goal of Ishwara is to eradicate sorrow completely (eradication of sorrow shouldn’t be mistaken as eradication of poverty, terrorism among other things – sorrow is due to lack of knowledge that this entire world is just a long drama – in this drama one person might kill millions and millions might die out of poverty). This also doesn’t mean that we can ignore poverty and terrorism – we have to play our role to eradicate all of these. But eradication of poverty and terrorism will not remove sorrow completely – it will only lead us to some other problem. Few years back, problem was in the form of AIDS – then it shifted to terrorism – later it became natural calamities like Tsunami, Hurricanes (Katrina, Ike etc.) – now it is in the form of economic crisis (global economy going down day by day). All these problems will remain – we cannot remove any of these as all of these are not real (that which doesn’t really exist cannot be removed). What we can do is get rid of sorrow by always remembering that the entire world is filled in and out by Ishwara. Complete cessation of sorrow is moksha in the form of eternal bliss that we have and are seeking each and every minute of our lives – it is possible only through constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord as pervading the illusion of names and forms in the world.

We will continue with the story in the next day as to what Narada asks of the Lord.

Let us try to have vision of oneness wherein we see everything as the non-dual reality of Lord so that we are able to fulfill our lives by complete cessation of sorrow and rejoicing in bliss.

Story 53 – Story of Krishna Dinacharya varnana (elaboration of Krishna’s daily routine) - 01

2009-05-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

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.

Story 52 – Story of Baana Yudha - Conclusion

2009-05-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

As we have come to the end of this story of Baana Yudha, let us see a brief summary of this story today. We find in the beginning of the story as to what would happen due to Ego even if a person is a devotee of the Lord. This brings us to Swami Ramakrishnananda Puri’s book’s title of “walking along the edges of a razor” – spiritual path is like walking along the edges of a razor. Katha Upanishad speaks about the spiritual path as “durgam patah tat kavayo vadanthi” (knowers of the truth speak about the path as a very tough one). It is for this reason that the Lord says in Gita that “Maya is very tough to conquer”.

Each and every minute a seeker has to be focused on the ultimate reality of Lord with the knowledge that the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in the Lord. The moment a seeker forgets this truth, that very moment he falls into the clutches of Maya which deludes him thereby making him face sorrows in life. Though Baana had devotion to Siva and was close with Siva, yet his arrogance (ego) lead to the entire war. Arrogance arises out of ignorance – if a seeker is remembering that the entire world is filled in and out with Ishwara (who alone is real), then there is no duality perceived in the mind; thereby there is no like and dislike which means there is no scope for ego at all. So ignorance or forgetfulness of the ultimate reality of Lord caused Baana to want a competent and equal enemy.

This lead to Baana’s daughter falling in love with Aniruddha. In order to help Baana’s daughter Usha, her friend kidnaps Aniruddha. Usha enjoys sensual pleasures with Aniruddha only to be caught by her father. Baana then captures Aniruddha which brings Krishna face to face with Baana in a war.

Any war is not good as lot of people die in the war – war doesn’t serve any purpose except for one person to show his supremacy over another person. A true seeker will stay away from duality and always remain focused on the ultimate reality of Lord. War will be fought by such seekers only if dire need arises (as in case of Mahabharatha Yudha, Krishna even went as a dootha to ask just one house to aver the war – when Krishna found that the war couldn’t be stopped at all, then the war started).

A seeker who has entered into war is against the ultimate reality of Lord if he seeks to achieve something out of the war. A true devotee of the Lord doesn’t want anything as he is always focused on the non-dual reality of Lord – for a person who knows that the entire world is Ishwara and thereby is ever blissful, how can desires arise? As Ishavasya Upanishad says, such a seeker will have no delusion or sorrow (and thereby is devoid of desires).

The moment a seeker forgets the ultimate reality of Lord then the seeker faces the might of Maya (the illusory power of the Lord) which is impossible to conquer without devotion to the Lord. The devotion that Baana had initially towards Siva in fact helped him save his own life – we have to remember thus that it is devotion towards the ultimate reality of Lord that can save us from the clutches of Maya and thereby make us ever rejoice in bliss.

Let this story make us remember never to forget the ultimate reality of Lord but always remember the Lord in our minds as the non-dual reality behind the illusory world so that we may ever rejoice in bliss.

An analysis of the Ultimate Reality

We have completed yet another beautiful story of Srimad Bhagavatham. Before we begin the next story, it is essential to focus back on the subject matter of Bhagavatham which is the ultimate reality of Lord (whose nature is Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute). It is often very easy to get distracted from the goal – it is still easier when we are dealing with stories illustrating the traits and miraculous deeds of the Lord. Concepts are tough to understand but they ensure that we don’t get distracted – but since concepts require a sharp intellect, therefore Bhagavatham takes up the task of explaining concepts through stories (which can make us get distracted very easily).

AMMA tells a beautiful story to illustrate this. Once in a pious person’s house, there used to daily morning pooja. There was a cat in the house. The cat would run here and there not letting the person do the pooja. In order to keep the cat busy, the person decided to feed it milk so that he would be able to do pooja without disturbance. The trick worked. His son daily saw the father feeding the cat and doing pooja – the son knew as to why this was being done. This tradition got passed through many generations. But unfortunately the import or reason for this tradition wasn’t passed correctly. After many generations, feeding the cat became part of the pooja (a ritual in the pooja). Then there was no cat in the house; so borrowing of cat from the next house and feeding it milk became part of the pooja.

Not knowing the real purpose of feeding milk to the cat, it became a tradition thereby distracting people from the real purpose (which in this case was keeping the cat busy so that pooja can be done without disturbances). Similarly while listening to the miraculous deeds of the Lord in Bhagavatham, it is very easy to get distracted. We have to always remember that any distraction, even the slightest, can lead to a downfall taking us away from the goal of eternal bliss and immersing us further in the ocean of samsaara characterized by sorrows and sufferings.

The moment a seeker forgets the ultimate reality of Lord, he enters the temporary dual world. The world is temporary and therefore cannot give us anything other than sorrow. This doesn’t mean that a seeker has to renounce the world but it just means that we have to remember the temporary and sorrowful nature of the world all the while remaining focused on the ultimate reality of Lord (the substratum of the illusory world). A seeker who is ever focused on the ultimate reality of Lord will not get sad when the world fails him, he will be ever blissful even if the entire world were to collapse.

Krishna gives this beautiful way out of sorrows:

Brahmani aadhaaya karmaani sangham tyaktvaa karothi yah
Lipyathe na sa paapena padmapatram iva ambhasaa

A person who is performing actions remaining unattached to the action and the fruits thereof by offering those actions unto Ishwara will not be tainted by sins even as the lotus-leaf is not wet by water (the lotus-leaf is in water but not wet).

This is possible if a seeker remains always focused on the ultimate reality of Lord not letting anything else distract him – with the knowledge that the dual world is just an illusion of names and forms in the Lord (existence).

Let us try always not to get distracted from the ultimate reality of Lord so that we may realize the Lord and lead a blissful life in this very birth itself. With this resolution of not forgetting the Lord at any cost, we will start the next story from the next day.

Story 52 – Story of Baana Yudha - 16

2009-05-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

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.

Story 52 – Story of Baana Yudha - 15

2009-05-26T09:29:00.000-07:00

Explanation

We saw in the previous day as to the Lord being all-pervasive, immovable, indivisible Consciousness. Let’s continue with analysis of the Lord’s nature.

The world that we see was created from the Lord, exists in the Lord and vanishes unto the Lord at the time of destruction. Such a world which came form the Lord, exists in the Lord and vanishes unto the Lord cannot be different from the Lord. Even as the pot that comes from mud, resides in mud and merges unto mud isn’t different from mud but is just an illusion of name and form in mud, similarly the world is just an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord.

If the world exists, the Lord is the cause/substratum of the illusory world. Lord is both cause and substratum because the world isn’t real – if the world is real, then the Lord will be the cause of the world. But the effect of world which is just an illusion in the cause of Lord means that the Lord is both the cause and substratum of the illusory world.

This again re-iterates the truth that the Lord is all-pervasive (pervades the entire world) as any cause pervades its effect (the cause of mud is seen as pervading the effect of pot). The Lord who is the cause/substratum of the world is the light behind the very existence of the world. Any object in order for it to exist needs a light – the world which is not real but an illusion is illumined by the light of the Lord.

If it is very tough for us to remember all these various logical arguments and analysis, then we can simply remember that “the entire world is just an illusion of names and forms in the Lord”. As Prof. Balakrishnan Nair beautifully puts it, Vedanta can be summarized in just three words – Ishwara Naamam Roopam (Lord, names, forms). The Lord is real whereas the names and forms are mere illusions. We can find this in any object of the world – any object is just another name and form in the Lord. One who perceives the Lord goes beyond sorrow whereas a person who perceives names and forms while forgetting the Lord will constantly suffer in sorrow and pain. Such an ignorant person who fails to perceive the ever-present, all-pervasive and blissful Lord will take birth again and again thereby getting whirled in this vicious circle of birth-death (termed as samsaara).

Thus in order for a seeker to jump from sorrow and rejoice in bliss, he/she just needs to remember that the entire world is just an illusion of names and forms in the Lord. When a seeker remembers that the world is just an illusion, he/she goes beyond duality – duality arises only when we think two things really exist. When duality is not there, then there are no likes and dislikes. If there are no likes and dislikes, there isn’t any attachment or aversion. If there is no attachment or aversion, then there is no temporary happiness and sorrow.

Thus the simple one step solution to eternal bliss is always remembering the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory world of names and forms. This is what Siva is briefly pointing out to us in the form of a praise to Lord Krishna.

Let us try to always remember the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory names and forms of the world so that we never again suffer in sorrow but rejoice in eternal bliss.

Siva continued his praise:

What is seen as the world is just a part of you – as you are the supreme cause/substratum of the world. You are one without a second. But in order to reveal yourself, you have become the entire world (based on Maya).

Explanation

Many seekers get a very basic doubt as to what is the purpose of the world. Ultimately the world doesn’t exist at all but most of us are not in that state to completely reject the world as we experience the world and are suffering due to the world. As long experience and suffering due to the world is there, we have to temporarily acknowledge the world and negate it by pervading it with Ishwara.

Krishna thus says in Gita

Anityam asukham lokam imam praapya bhajasva maam
Having attained this temporary and sorrowful world, be devoted to me (devotion means seeing Ishwara everywhere).

It is one thing to say that the world doesn’t exist and is an illusion whereas it is a completely different thing to live by that statement – only a realized master will be ale to live in that truth of world not existing at all.

Once a sadhu started living near Dakshineshwar. Many ladies who used to visit Ramakrishna Paramahamsa complained about the character of the sadhu. After getting many complaints, Sri Ramakrishna decided to give the sadhu a visit. He met the sadhu and asked him about the complaints of character. The sadhu replied “even as the world is an illusion, my character is also an illusion”. Ramakrishna decried such knowledge and left the place.

What use is such knowledge wherein a person believes in something but isn’t able to implement it? Here the sadhu believed that his character was an illusion but the scriptures don’t tell us to live a bad life in the world terming the life as an illusion. If the world is an illusion, then such a person will not crave for people or fame or money. A person who remembers that the world is an illusion will live in the world without affecting others as much as possible and not depend on anybody else. Though each role in a movie is an illusion, actors like Tom Hanks don’t say “the role is an illusion” and portray in the nasty possible way. Instead they portray the role to perfection.

What we have to remember is that merely knowing something isn’t enough – trying to live by that knowledge is important in order to benefit with the fruit of the knowledge.

The world is constantly shouting at us that “I am an illusion of names and forms in Ishwara”. This is what Siva beautifully says as “in order to reveal yourself, you have become the world”. The very purpose of the world is to reveal the ultimate reality of Lord as the non-dual reality behind itself. As long as we don’t reveal this true nature of the world, the purpose of the world remains unfulfilled – this also means that the purpose of life itself will be unfulfilled (ignorance, sorrow and suffering will be the result of not understanding the true nature of the Lord).

In order for a seeker to rejoice in bliss, it is essential to contemplate in our mind that the entire world is just an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. This doesn’t mean we have to renounce all actions and meditate in a forest. Externally we can do any action that we are supposed to be but internally always contemplating that the world is nothing but the non-dual reality of Lord.

Let us try to always remember the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory names and forms of the world so that we never again suffer in sorrow but rejoice in eternal bliss.

Story 52 – Story of Baana Yudha - 14

2009-05-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

Baana who had fled earlier now came in his chariot to face Krishna. The Lord cut down Baana’s hands with his Chakra even as a person cuts down the branches of a tree. Seeing that Baana’s hands were cut and knowing that Baana’s death was near, bhaktha-valsala (protector and dear to his devotees) Siva came in between and started singing praises of Krishna.

Explanation

We find here Baana going on to fight again with the Lord. This is what many of us do most of the times. Though we know something will not work out, we will still try all the means in the world to get what we want. If only this strong persistence to our goals were there for the ultimate goal of moksha, we would be realized very soon. Unfortunately our persistence is towards worldly goals. Worldly goals will only create more and more craving in us. Trying to put an end to worldly desires by enjoying them is like trying to put an end to fire by pouring ghee into it – the more a person pours ghee, the stronger fire will become. Similarly the more a person enjoys worldly desires, more desires will be created – thus a person will get weaved in an endless web of desires.

The scriptures aren’t against enjoying worldly pleasures but remembering the sorrowful nature of the world while enjoying worldly pleasures (dharma aviruddho bhootheshu kamosmi bharatharshabha – desire that is not against the non-dual reality of Lord is me O Arjuna).

This has been mentioned in simple words by Ramana Maharshi thus in Upadesa Saram:

Ishwara arpitham na icchaya kritham
Chittha shodakam mukthi saadhakam

Actions done as an offering unto Ishwara and without craving any fruit in return purifies the mind and thereby helps in liberation.

Thus a seeker just has to add the ultimate reality of Lord in the form of offering all actions unto Ishwara while enjoying even sensual pleasures – this will ensure that such a seeker is always protected by the Lord. Even the gravest danger couldn’t affect such a seeker as he is protected by all-pervasive, blissful Lord who controls the entire illusory world.

Here we find Lord Siva coming to the rescue of Baana. Even though Baana got egoistic still he had initially surrendered unto the Lord (his ego was as a result of his own foolishness). A person who worships the Lord through constant contemplation and has surrendered completely unto the Lord will always be protected by the Lord. It is the Lord’s duty and very nature to protect those who are ever immersed in him. We find many asuras like Kamsa among others being liberated from sorrow by the Lord into the state of eternal bliss (Mahabali is the best example for this). We can add Baana as well to this list of people whose surrender unto the Lord has protected them at all times.

This means that if by chance we becoming egoistic yet not letting go of the Lord, then the Lord will be there to protect us – but do we have to get to that state wherein we commit a mistake? No – as seekers of the ultimate reality of Lord we should always be focused on the Lord with the knowledge that this entire world is just an illusion of names and forms in the Lord. This knowledge will ensure that there is no sort of ego or dual notion – a seeker who always remembers this will be able to do external activities in the best possible way all the while contemplating on the non-dual Lord in the mind. Such a seeker does actions like an actor does actions while portraying his role in a movie – portraying the role to perfection while internally ever abiding in the knowledge about one’s true nature. Similarly such a seeker will do all activities externally while ever rejoicing in bliss in the mind with contemplation of the ultimate truth that the Lord alone exists here, one without a second.

We will see the praise of Lord Siva tomorrow and try to briefly touch upon the most controversial question of “which Lord is greater”.

Let us try to offer ourselves completely unto the Lord by contemplating on the non-dual Lord as pervading the world so that we may be able to get rid of sorrow and rejoice in bliss.

Siva praised Lord Krishna thus:

You are Brahman of the nature of indivisible and immovable Consciousness. You are the supreme cause and substratum of this world. You are the light behind the entire world (existence of the world depends on you). You are the reality residing in the scriptures (the world itself). One who gets rid of dual notions and perceives you like space (unassociated, untainted and unaffected from everything) will get eternal bliss.

Explanation

Siva here speaks about the nature of the ultimate reality of Lord. If a person has to go beyond sorrow and ever rejoice in blissful Lord, the Lord says that two things are essential to be implemented in the below sloka:

Mayyeva mana aadhatsva mayi buddhim niveshaya
Nivasishyasi mayyeva atah urdhvam na samshayah

Fix your mind unto me; fix your intellect unto me; thereby you will ever abide in me, there is no doubt regarding this.

Fixing the mind unto Ishwara means constantly remembering the Lord even as a mother always thinks about her child and a lover always thinks about his/her love. Fixing the intellect means knowing the nature of Ishwara as all-pervasive non-dual reality behind the illusory names and forms (collectively called world).

Thus in order to ever rejoice in blissful Lord, we need to remember the nature of the Lord. This is the reason why we find praises of the Lord in each and every story of Bhagavatham. Here Siva beautifully summarizes as to what we have to remember as the nature of the Lord.

The Lord is termed as Brahman in the scriptures (it is ok if we don’t remember the word “Brahman”). The word Brahman is derived as “brihattvaat, brimhanattvaat vaa brahma” – that which is very huge (infinitely huge as it is the entire world), that which is seen as the external world (the world is only an illusion of names and forms in the Lord).

The various words of Lord, Brahman, Ishwara etc. all stand for the one entity which is all-pervasive (non-dual reality behind the illusory world). An entity which is real should exist and experience its own existence (a rock exists but it cannot experience its own existence) – that which experiences its own existence is Consciousness alone. Consciousness is that which pulsates inside each of us as “I-exist, I-exist” – Consciousness is the light behind all existences – everything exists because of the light of Consciousness. The Sun, the moon, fire etc. and any other light sources shine because of the light of Consciousness – without Consciousness, nothing exists at all. Thus the Lord is of the nature of Consciousness.

The Lord is all-pervasive – that which is present everywhere cannot move and hence the Lord is immovable. That which is immovable also is indivisible as division is with respect to either time or space. The Lord is beyond time due to being eternal; the Lord is all-pervasive and hence beyond space.

We will continue with the explanation of the Lord’s nature in the next day.

Let us remember the nature of Lord as all-pervasive, immovable and indivisible Consciousness so that we will ever abide in blissful Lord through constant contemplation of Lord (along with remembering the Lord’s nature).

Story 52 – Story of Baana Yudha - 13

2009-05-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

Sivajvara continued the praise:

Time, fate, action, jeeva, nature, objects, temple, prana, atman, vikara etc. are all insentient and just various forms in the Conscious principle of you even as the illusion of tree appears out of a seed. When names and forms are negated with the knowledge that they are only illusions, whatever remains behind is just you (the ultimate reality of Lord).

Explanation

Duality that is perceived through the sense organs is just an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord. This is what Sivajvara says in this part of the praise.

Katha Upanishad says:

Manasaa eva idam aapthavyam neha nana asthi kinchana
Mrityoh sah mrityum gacchathi ya iha nana iva pashyathi

With a pure mind the ultimate reality of Lord has to be known; known as “there is no duality whatsoever here”. He who sees duality as if existing will go from death to death (will be constantly suffering and experiencing sorrow only).

What is a pure mind? A pure mind is one which can see reality as it is – such a mind is one which has used the discriminative power to find out as to what is real and what is not real. Real is that which is changeless and unreal is that which is constantly changing (that which changes is subject to the shad vikaaras of birth, existence, growth, change, disease/decay and death). Time, action, fature, svabhava – all of these are changing.

Any changing entity needs a changeless substratum and it is the substratum in which the changes are perceived. A variable is not possible without a constant – variable is nothing but a constant at all times (it is just an illusion of “a name and value” when all the while it is a constant only). When we say that the car is moving, it is with respect to the ground that is moving. Considering that the ground is part of the Earth which is constantly revolving around the Sun, we cannot say that the car is moving. We cannot even say that the Earth is revolving unless we assume that the Sun is stationary (which is not the case). The entire universe is constantly moving (subject to change) which would mean that we have to assume a changeless substratum in which all these changes are experienced.

It is this changeless substratum that is called the ultimate reality of Lord and termed variously as Consciousness, Self, Lord, Brahman, Paramaatman, Existence etc. Without this changeless substratum, no changes are possible at all. Then what are changes? Changes cannot be real as they take birth and death (that which doesn’t exist before birth and after death, doesn’t exist now at all). Thus they are mere illusions in the changeless substratum.

What is the changeless substratum in which all these changes are happening? Can there be such a changeless substratum? Yes, the changeless substratum is none other than the pure “I” which pulsates each and every minute of our life as “I-exist, I-exist” and devoid of attachments/aversions (unassociated to everything and a mere witness to everything).

Then what are changes? Changes are mere names and forms in “I” or the ultimate reality of Lord. Names and forms don’t create a new entity – they are just illusions in the entity. Wise people will go beyond names and forms (mentally negating names and forms all the while asserting that “there is only the Lord present here”). A goldsmith sees all gold ornaments as merely gold whereas we get deluded into the names and forms (ornaments are mere names and forms – the name of necklace and a particular form, the name of ring and a particular form). This vision of the goldsmith with respect to gold ornaments should be the vision of a seeker of eternal bliss towards the entire world.

If we are able to go beyond names and forms in the mind, all the while perceiving and acting in the external world as any other person then we will be able to get eternal bliss (go beyond death or sorrows or sufferings). Bhagavatham through Sivajvara here is telling us to always go beyond names and forms and perceive the ultimate reality of Lord in our mind so that whatever happens externally we are able to lead a life filled with bliss at all times.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us try to always remember that the world is only names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord so that we are able to go beyond duality and ever rejoice in bliss.

Sivajvara continued:

O Lord! Please shower your compassion upon me who am burning by your splendour; thereby protect me.

The compassionate Lord showed his compassion on Sivajvara, removed the burning sensation and blessed Sivajvara thereby letting Sivajvara go away.

Explanation

Each and every minute of our life we face sorrows. There are some people who have fun at all times even when they are facing sorrow. These people don’t know their very state. Once a fisherman caught some fish in his net – few of the fishes escaped but a few of them remained in the net thinking that they are safe as the mud of the water was there in the net (keeping the fish very comfortable). People who are facing sorrow yet enjoying their life thinking it to be fun are like these fish – they don’t know that death is lurking around each and every minute. Any moment death can pounce and take everything away from us; at that time a person will become very sad with the situation.

There is no short-cut or many alternatives for realization. Realization or moksha means complete cessation of sorrow and rejoicing of eternal bliss. This is possible only through one way which is shown here by Bhagavatham through Sivajvara’s activities. Sivajvara tried to fight the ultimate reality of Lord (many times we try to overpower the ultimate reality of Lord and try to find out alternatives) but there is no way a person can get rid of sorrow unless a person seeks the ultimate reality of Lord (total surrender unto the Lord and constant contemplation of the Lord as the substratum of the dual world).

The scriptures say tameva vidithvaa atimrityum eti, na anyah pantha vidhyathe ayanaaya (through knowledge of the ultimate reality of Lord alone a person overcomes death/sorrow; there is no other way than this to get rid of sorrow).

A seeker should always remember that people who have tried to get rid of sorrow by various worldly means have ended up in misery only (whether it is Alexander the great or Napolean or Bill Gates or George Bush). The one and only way to eternal bliss is by constant contemplation of the Lord and offering oneself completely unto the ultimate reality of Lord. This offering doesn’t mean we have to find the Lord and fall unto him but it just means that we have contemplate on the Lord in our mind with the knowledge that whatever is present as the world is in fact an illusion of names and forms in the Lord. This way of worshipping the Lord by pervading our mind with thought of the Lord is called ananya bhajanam and it is that true devotion which will take a person from worldly sorrow unto eternal bliss.

When a seeker is able to surrender completely unto the Lord and praises the Lord (praising the Lord is nothing but apprehending the entire world as an illusion in the Lord – seeing everything as pervaded in and out by the Lord), then the Lord will reveal himself out of the illusory world thereby giving us eternal bliss (which we have been seeking) and getting rid of sorrow (which is the nature of the illusory world).

We will continue with the story in the next day as to what happened with Baana.

Let us try to offer ourselves completely unto the Lord by contemplating on the non-dual Lord as pervading the world so that we may be able to get rid of sorrow and rejoice in bliss.

Story 52 – Story of Baana Yudha - 12

2009-05-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

Seeing Baana taking rest and his gana’s running away, Siva sent Sivajvara (his greatest weapon) to face the army of Krishna. Seeing this, Krishna sent Vishnujvara to face Sivajvara. Both Sivajvara and Vishnujvara came to face to face.

The Sivajvara tired and defeated by Vishnujvara couldn’t find any place of refuge and hence it fell at the feet of Krishna; and started singing praises of Krishna.

Explanation

We find here Sivajvara facing failure and not knowing what to do. Many times we face such situations in our life where we don’t know as to what to do. If we haven’t faced such a situation till now, everyone will have to face such a situation at the end of their life – in the form of death.

Though we may successfully deal all problems, death is one thing that we cannot conquer. There is no way to conquer death – but we can eradicate death once we know that we are not the body that takes birth and death; that we are the eternal, always-present blissful Self.

A seeker who is ever contemplating on the truth that the Lord alone is present will know that the “I” which pulsates each and every minute as “I-exist, I-exist” is the Lord who is beyond birth and death. Such a seeker will boldly face death with a smiling face. All the spiritual sadhana and learning is so that when death stands in front of us, we are able to greet and welcome death with a smiling face. As Patanjali says, death or non-existence is the greatest fear which is there not just for ignorant people but for learned scholars as well.

Here in this part of the story we find the way out of all sorrows. When we face sorrow, generally we try to get rid of the sorrow in whatever way is known and accessible to us – but ultimately we will have to realize that all the solutions that we have tried and may try in the future cannot eradicate sorrow once and for all. The only way out of sorrow is by seeking the ultimate reality of Lord and always contemplating on the Lord with the knowledge that “the Lord alone exists as the non-dual substratum behind the illusory world”.

But unless a seeker has known intellectually that “there is an entity called Lord who alone is real and who can get rid of all sorrows”, he will not seek the Lord even while facing grave dangers. Thus it is essential to know about the Lord – in ancient times young children used to learn the scriptures either through gurukula or through puranic stories but this has been lost today as most parents (who should be teaching the children puranic stories) themselves don’t know those stories or are in interested in watching soap operas on TV. This doesn’t mean that we have to stop watching soap operas but it just means that we have to cultivate the good habit of knowing about the Lord whenever possible else when the time comes to give up this body, we will not be able to think about the Lord (as we have many other things to think about – those things only will fill the mind as we have always been thinking about them).

Thus Bhagavatham through the fight between sivajvara and vishnujvara here is telling all seekers to not waste time but start cultivating the good habit of filling the mind with thoughts about Ishwara. Parents should start telling about the Lord to their children through puranic stories. Unless a seeker is able to remember the Lord as much as possible during the lifetime, he will not be able to remember the Lord during death. Such a person who is unable to remember the Lord during death will face sorrows not just in this life but in many lives to come.

Let us try to always fill our mind with thoughts about the ultimate reality of Lord so that when sorrow in the form of death is standing in front of us, we can face it with a smiling face (through the knowledge that everything is the blissful Lord alone – there is no sorrow at all, whatever sorrow is being faced is just an illusion like the sorrow faced by a person in the dream world).

Sivajvara started praising the Lord thus:

One with infinite power, the ultimate cause of the world, one who is seen as the entire world, one who is the cause of sristhi (creation) – sthithi (protection) and laya (destruction) of the world, one who is made known through the Vedas, one who is of the nature of nischala (immovable) Consciousness and one who is known as Brahman, I prostrate unto you.

Explanation

Here we find a brief summary of the Upanishads given by Bhagavatham through Sivajvara. Let us try to analyze the characteristics and nature of the Lord as praised by Sivajvara today.

The Lord has infinite power and capabilities. Power or capability is with respect to the world. One who is the ultimate cause of the world, in whom the world undergoes birth, protection and destruction and one who pervades the entire world of names and forms, such an Ishwara has to have infinite power (as he pervades the entire world).

The world of names and forms is just an illusion in the Lord. The scriptures clearly say that the Lord is one from whom the world has come, the world resides and the world merges at the time of destruction. If this is the case, then the world definitely has to be an illusion in the Lord. The pot which is created out of mud, which resides in mud and merges unto mud after destruction cannot be different from mud but has to be one with mud. Then what is that differentiates the pot from mud? The name of “pot” and a particular form. Depending on the name and form, many objects will arise in mud but all those are mud and mud alone. A kulaala or potter will not differentiate between various objects made of mud – he knows them to be nothing but mud. Similar is the case with a goldsmith – for him all ornaments are just illusions of name and form in gold. He sees them as gold and gold alone. Thus he is able to accept one name-form and convert it into another name-form. This vision of the goldsmith and potter are vision of truth with respect to gold ornaments and objects made of mud. If this is extended to the world, then such a person who has vision of the world as names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord is called a jeevan muktha – one who has gone beyond names-forms, duality and hence sorrow as well.

When duality or difference is perceived, it leads to likes and dislikes. Likes and dislikes in turn lead to attachment and aversion. Attachment and aversion in turn leads to happiness and sorrow. Thus viewing the world as duality instead of seeing it as the non-dual Lord causes a person to be whirled between happiness and sorrow. Instead a seeker should always see the entire world as the Lord alone – this is knowledge of the scriptures. The Vedas speak about the Lord as pervading the entire world of names and forms. The Lord is termed in the Vedas as Brahman – brihattvat brimhanatvaat vaa brahma – Brahman is something which is very huge and which is seen as the entire world.

We don’t need to get afraid about knowing some Brahman, it is the same Consciousness that pulsates inside us as “I-exist, I-exist” at all times which is termed as Brahman, Ishwara, Paramaatman etc. The Lord is of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute.

Having known briefly about the Lord, a seeker has to always pervade his mind with the thought of the Lord as the substratum of the illusory world of names and forms. This will in turn take a seeker beyond names and forms, duality and thereby sorrow – such a seeker who goes beyond duality will ever be blissful (rejoicing in contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord).

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us try to always remember the ultimate reality of Lord as the substratum of the illusory world, one who pervades the entire world and one who pulsates inside us as “I-exist, I-exist” so that we go beyond sorrow and ever rejoicing in bliss.

Story 52 – Story of Baana Yudha - 11

2009-05-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

A fierce war took place with Krishna and Siva taking opposite sides. Body torn by the arrows of Pradhyumna and blood dripping from his body, deva senapathi Subrahmanya escaped from the place in his peacock. Unable to withstand the attack from enemy, Baana’s army became disintegrated and thereby they ran away.

Explanation

All the puranic stories are about the fight between good and bad. This fight shown in the puranas is not something that is happening but external but it is a fight that is always happening inside a person. Good and bad are relative terms – hence we have to here understand them as the fight between Ishwara and everything that is not Ishwara. Here Ishwara means thought of Ishwara. Often while a person is traversing in the spiritual path, he or she can feel that the thought of Ishwara is losing power and thoughts of duality (world and passions about the world) are overpowering the thought of Ishwara.

Thus this fight is the fight between real and unreal. Ishwara alone is real – everything else that we collectively term as “world” is just an illusion of names and forms in Ishwara even as various gold ornaments are illusions in gold and the dream world is an illusion in the dreamer. Whenever we stand for the unreal we are bound to experience sorrow. The water seen in desert is unreal as there is only desert there. If we stand for the water, then though we might experience happiness in the beginning ultimately we will end up in sorrow when we realize that there is no water at all. Similarly if a persons stands for unreal, then he is bound to get only sorrow. On the other hand if a person stands for the real, though initially he might have to struggle to stick on to the real he will finally get eternal bliss – it is eternal bliss that is ultimate goal of life. Seeking eternal bliss only each and every person in the world does all actions irrespective of good or bad. Eternal bliss can be achieved only from that which is eternal – the ultimate reality of Lord alone is eternal. Hence worldly objects which are mere illusions cannot give us eternal bliss. They will only give us more and more sorrow.

Baahyasparsheshu asakthaatma vindathi aatmani yat sukham
Sah brahmayoga yukthaatma sukham akshayam ashnuthe

That person who gets detached from external sensual pleasures (by knowing that they will only lead him to sorrow) is one who will be ever focused on the ultimate reality of Brahman (or Lord) and such a person will attain non-decaying bliss (eternal bliss).

Krishna thus speaks about worldly pleasures as temporary and hence leading to sorrows:

Ye hi samsparshajaah bhogaah dukhayonaya eva te
Aadhyanthavantha kaunteya na teshu ramathe budhah

Whatever pleasures are obtained from sense objects are seeds of sorrow as they have a beginning and end; therefore wise people will not take resort to sensual pleasures.

The Lord also in half a sloka summarizes as to what is to be done with the fight between good and bad:

Anityam asukham lokam imam praapya bhajasva maam

Having attained this temporary and sorrowful world, seek refuge in Me.

We are always involved in the fight between good (real) and bad (unreal) in our mind. We should always remember that bad or unreal (thinking that the world is real and forgetting the Lord) will only lead us to sorrow and hence seek the reality of Lord at all times. This doesn’t mean external actions or sensual pleasures are to be renounced. It just means that we have to remember that sensual pleasures are not eternal and thereby internally remember the Lord at all times even while enjoying sensual pleasures.

Let us all try to remember to stand up for the good by constant remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord as the non-dual reality behind the dual world so that we are ever bliss and untainted by sorrow.

Seeing his army fleeing, Baana himself started facing Krishna in the war. Seeing that Baana is approaching death in the war, Baana’s mother Kotara appeared in front of Krishna without wearing any clothes. Looking at this, Krishna changed his gaze. Seizing the opportunity tired Baana entered into his house for resting. Siva’s bhoothaganas also fled from the place.

Explanation

A seeker always has two options readily available in front of him at all times – one is choosing the ultimate reality of Lord whereas the second is choosing the external world. The first one is termed as shreyo marga (the path that leads to eternal bliss) whereas the second is termed as preyo marga (the path that is very attractive yet sorrowful) as per Yama in Katha Upanishad.

While choosing either the external world or the ultimate reality of Lord, we have to always remember as to what is going to be the fruit in the long-run even as we choose with respect to jobs and partners in life. The external world might give a person happiness in the beginning but in the long-run it will only make a person more and more sad – add to it that as a person ages, he will no longer be capable of enjoying the pleasures of the world though he will have access to them. On the other hand, the ultimate reality of Lord will give a person eternal bliss in the long-run though it might seem to be tough in the beginning. Any thing is tough in the beginning – whether it is walking or talking or some other activity, everything is tough in the beginning but as time passes by, through constant practice things become very natural. Similarly sticking on to the ultimate reality of Lord amidst all the passions of the attracting world requires some effort in the beginning but later a person will be benefitted with eternal bliss – that which is the ultimate goal of each persona and seeking which a person goes behind worldly pleasures.

This knowledge about the world leading a person to sorrow and the ultimate reality of Lord leading to bliss should always be remembered by a seeker as a person can get deluded at any point of time.

Going behind worldly pleasures means we are forgetting the ultimate reality of Lord whereas when a person seeks the ultimate reality of Lord, he doesn’t forsake anything externally. A seeker who remembers the ultimate reality of Lord as the all-pervasive, non-dual substratum of the illusory world does worldly actions, possesses worldly objects and enjoys worldly pleasures like a normal person but in the mind such a seeker is always remembering that everything is temporary and an illusion in the reality of Lord. This knowledge is enough to give a person eternal bliss in the long-run.

Here we find Baana trying to escape from the ultimate reality of Lord by seeking worldly pleasures and resorts. The worldly pleasures and resorts will not save a person nor will it give a person eternal bliss – instead a person will become sad over and over again by seeking worldly pleasures. We will see in the next day as to how everything other than seeking and surrendering unto the ultimate reality of Lord will let a person down (lead him to sorrows and sufferings).

Let us try to always choose the ultimate reality of Lord as the shreyo marga by merely remembering in our mind that “the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists” so that instead of facing sorrows we will live life blissfully.

Story 52 – Story of Baana Yudha - 10

2009-05-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Story 53 – Story of Baana Yudha - 09

2008-12-18T06:58:00.000-08:00

Usha who was playing sensually with Aniruddha was noticed by the guards. The guards could see the characteristics of being a man in Usha. They informed this to Baana. Confused and worried, Baana ran towards Usha’s room.

Explanation

Many people will ask “what is the problem with leading a worldly life filled with desires and passions”. We find here in Baana’s reaction to the news delivered by his guards the answer to the above question.

As long as there are passions in the form of attachment and aversion (raga-dvesha) to anything in the entire world (except to the ultimate reality of Lord), the outcome will always be sorrow only. The Lord clearly mentions this thus in Gita (showing the various stages through which a simple meditation on an object goes through till complete destruction).

Dhyaayatho vishayaan pumsah sangasteshu upajaayathe
Sangaat samjaayathe kaamaah kaamaat krodhobhijaayathe
Krodhaat bhavathi sammohah sammohaat smrithi vibhramaa
Smrithi bhramshaat buddhinaasho buddhinaashaat pranashyathi

When a person meditates on a person/object, he gets attached to it. Attachment leads to kaama (strong desire to maintain the object); when at times the object is lost or decays, attachment becomes anger; anger leads to delusion; delusion leads to los of memory; loss of memory leads to destruction of intellect (proper discrimination); destruction of intellect thereby destroys the person completely.

When something good or bad happens to the person we are attached to, we get excited or angry. Any fluctuation in the mental state of a person (emotions) is like tides of the ocean. Even as the tides are not good for anyone, similarly the mental emotions aren’t good for the seeker. These emotions take a person away from the peaceful state. Even as a pendulum at the extreme positions is restless, similarly the mind becomes restless when in emotions. But once the pendulum’s middle position is achieved (where there is no longer any movement), the pendulum is resting. Similarly the state of the mind where the mind just perceives the world as such without getting into emotions is the resting state or peaceful state.

We as seekers of eternal bliss have to start practicing to go beyond attachment and aversion so that we are able to maintain the calmness of the mind. A person whose mind is ever calm is a jeevan muktha (realized person) who is ever blissful. Thus attachment and aversion even if it is to the most insignificant thing in the world will cause only our destruction whereas the way to eternal bliss is to go beyond attachment and aversion.

It isn’t tough at all to go beyond attachment and aversion; the moment a seeker sees one Ishwara everywhere, attachment and aversion vanishes completely to make the seeker ever rejoice in bliss (even when the entire world collapses).

Let us try to go beyond attachment and aversion by always contemplating on the truth that “everything is Ishwara” so that our mind doesn’t cause our own destruction and instead leads us to rejoice in bliss.

In Usha’s room Baana found Aniruddha. Baana saw the most-beautiful Aniruddha playing chaturanga game (similar to chess) with Usha. First the guards of Baana attacked Aniruddha with various weapons. But unable to stand and fight in front of Aniruddha they ran away.

Explanation

Though what we are going to discuss doesn’t have any direct relation to the story part today but still it is worth knowing. How can we scare away the various asuras? Asuras don’t necessarily mean the asura parampara (asura generations) but anything that veils and obstructs us from remembering the ultimate reality of Lord is an asura. Even if it is japa and it obstructs us from remembering the ultimate reality of Lord, then those are asuras. If asuras obstruct us from remembering the ultimate reality of Lord, then the way to scare away asuras is also very simple – remembrance of the Lord in whatever way possible (through any means).

Wherever the Lord’s thoughts are present, no asuras can live in that particular place. We find this in the story of Markandeya. Markandeya’s time to die came and Yama came to pick up Markandeya. But Markandeya’s parents didn’t want to let go of their young son and hence Markandeya refused to go with Yama. Instead Markandeya caught hold of a Siva linga not to let go of Lord Siva. Seeing this Yama decided that if Markandeya cannot leg go of the siva linga, he could take the siva linga along with Markandeya. This is exactly what Yama tried but Yama was unsuccessful in his attempt. The Lord then arrives there granting more life to Markandeya and overruling Yama.

We find the same incident happening in a different way in the story of Ajamila who called out his son Narayana while dying. Though he meant to call out his son but since the name was that of the Lord, therefore a battle ensues between the guards of Yama and Narayana (the guards of Yama wanted to take Ajamila to naraka/hell because he had done lot of bad deeds but the guards of Narayana wouldn’t let them do so as saying the name of the Lord is enough to destroy all bad deeds). Yama’s guards fail and thereby they return sadly to Yama. Yama then advises them to stay away from the devotees of Narayana.

Thus the very thought of the ultimate reality of Lord as pervading the entire world is enough to get rid of all that will lead us to sorrow (both internally and externally). This means that a seeker has to always try to have the thought of the Lord in his mind. Even as a lover is constantly thinking about his love, the seeker has to always contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord. This is very simple to do as this doesn’t involve anything externally but just the mental desire and conviction to remember the Lord in one part of our mind.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us try to always remember the ultimate reality of Lord in our mind so that all that causes us sorrow will instantly vanish and thereby we will be able to ever rejoice in bliss.

Story 53 – Story of Baana Yudha - 08

2008-12-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

Knowing that Usha’s lover is Krishna’s grandson Aniruddha, Chitralekha who was a yogi reached Dwaraka by traveling through space. There she got Aniruddha who was sleeping on the couch on her control (through her powers) and came back to Shonithapuri very fast. She then took Aniruddha to Usha’s bedroom.

Explanation

Yogic powers or miraculous powers are something that we don’t see in everyone. Hence these days people run after many of these powers. One such magical power is aakaasha gamanam or movement through space. All these magical powers have been explained in the third chapter of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (the chapter is titled vibhoothi yoga). Since this is a shastra many people want to get these siddhis and run hither and thither seeking these siddhis.

Why waste many years trying to master traveling in space when that can be achieved through a flight? Ok but what about parakaaya praveshanam (entering another person’s body) – can this be achieved other than through a siddhi?

Why would a seeker want to enter another person’s body? It is as if the problems with one body isn’t enough – as Sankara says in Bhaja Govindam, body is made of flesh, fat etc. The look of the body might be different but it is all panchabhoothas (five elements). A wise person knows that the body will perish one day or the other and hence not seek pleasure out of the body.

Thus parakaaya praveshanam is not required – if only we can go beyond the problems of one body then we don’t even need the siddhi of getting into another person’s bodies. Though these various siddhis might appear appealing, it requires a lot of continuous and dedicated effort – all for some worldly power. The siddhis are as illusory as the world and thereby cannot give us eternal bliss.

Paramahamsa Yogananda in his book “Autobiography of a Yogi” speaks about a yogi who had the power of producing any smell. Yogananda asks him as to how long he practiced to master this power to which the yogi replied “around 20 years or more”. Yogananda proclaims “if only you had used this time to realize the Self”.

Patanjali himself says that siddhis are obstacles to samaadhi thus in Yoga Sutras “te samaadhau upasargaah vyuthaane siddhayah” – these siddhis which arise out of thoughts are obstacles to Samadhi. This means that a wise person will not fall for these siddhis instead will go on and not stop until the supreme goal of eternal bliss is achieved. These siddhis might appear alluring but they are also as sorrowful as any worldly pleasure – it is only realization of the ultimate reality of Lord by always remembering that the entire world is just an illusion of names and forms in the Lord that can give us eternal bliss thereby fulfilling our lives.

Let us try not to get deluded into siddhis by remembering that siddhis cannot give us eternal bliss so that we are ever contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord as the non-dual reality of ever-changing and sorrowful world.

Usha seeing Aniruddha, got very happy and enjoyed with him as she had desired. Enjoying sensual plesures with Usha, Aniruddha didn’t know many days pass by.

Explanation

Sankara says in Bhaja Govindam thus:

Kaalah kreedathi gacchathi aayuh
Tadapi na munchath aasha vaayuh

Time passes by and aging happens, but still desires are not completely eliminated.

This is because as Manu says trying to eliminate desires by fulfilling them is like trying to put out fire by pouring ghee – the fire will not be extinguished; instead it will burn more vigorously. Similarly the more desires we fulfill, the more new desires will be created. The only way to get out of this endless desire is by remembering the ultimate reality of Lord, offering all actions unto the Lord and enjoying desires as an anugraha (blessing) of the Lord. When a person maintains this attitude of offering and remembering the Lord, number of desires will slowly get reduced. If a person doesn’t maintain this attitude, the number of desires will never get reduced.

Such a person who doesn’t maintain the right attitude of remembering the ultimate reality of Lord as pervading the illusory world of names and forms will spend days like an animal doing activities of eating, drinking, sleeping, mating etc. Such a person wastes the precious human life wherein the intellect can be used to go beyond the temporary world and achieve the ultimate goal of life (eternal bliss).

Here we find Aniruddha enjoying sensual pleasures with Usha and thereby days just pass by without him knowing about it. Many times this is what happens with our life – within the blink of an eye we are middle aged and within the next blink we are old. When we are about to give up our life, since we have spent most of our time enjoying sensual pleasures we think about those pleasures and seek more pleasures. Thus throughout the life a person is not satisfied and then he gives up his life still not satisfied. While living life, life is sorrowful and incomplete; while dying as well life is incomplete. Then the person takes another birth and continues this cycle of birth and death infinitely.

As Sankara says “punarapi jananam punarapi maranam punarapi janani jatare shayam; iha samsaare bahudustaare kripayaa pare paahi murare” – again birth, again death, again getting into the womb of the mother; this ocean of samsaara is very tough to overcome and a person who surrenders unto the ultimate reality of Lord alone is saved from this sorrowful ocean of samsaara.

Thus rather than being swept by time, a seeker should start his quest of eternal bliss by seeking and remembering the ultimate reality of Lord all the while doing worldly activities and enjoying sensual pleasures like any other person. Vedanta is not against sensual pleasures but sensual pleasures should be associated with the thought of the non-dual reality of Lord. If the thought of the ultimate reality of Lord is not there, then a person will not get eternal bliss and instead will be again and again twirled in the ocean of samsaara (birth-death).

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us try to not waste time by merely enjoying sensual pleasures but keeping the ultimate reality of Lord in our mind through constant contemplation of the knowledge that the Lord alone exists here as the substratum of the illusory world so that we don’t end this precious human birth the same way we have been doing for many births.

Story 53 – Story of Baana Yudha - 07

2008-12-18T06:53:00.000-08:00

Chitralekha replied to Usha “Friend! Wherever in the three worlds the man you saw in your dream is, I will find him out and remove your sorrow.”

Explanation

We can find a reflection of ourselves in Chitralekha when we or people around us face troubles in life. We generally think we can achieve quite a lot in life. AMMA following the scriptures says that nothing happens in the world without the will of the Lord. The Lord is the magician who has created the magic world. Even as the magician’s world is under the control of the magician, the Lord’s world is controlled by the Lord. Nothing in the entire world goes unnoticed by the Lord – the Conscious principle in all beings (Consciousness that pulsates as “I-exist, I-exist”) is the Lord without which the world will not even exist.

AMMA says that few countries will tell that “If I press this button, the entire world will be destroyed” but for them to move even that one finger, the Lord’s will is essential.

There was once a famous heart specialist who went on stage to speak about heart-attacks. While he was speaking he suddenly had an attack and passed away.

This is the same case with most of the things in the world. A fool thinks that everything happens due to his power or might whereas a wise person remembers that everything happens by the will of the Lord. The wise person thus considers himself just an instrument in the hands of the Lord. He remains a mere witness to all the activities that are happening in the world all the while remembering that the world is a divine play of the Lord (lokavattu tat leela kaivalyam – says Brahma Sutras).

We may have a doubt here that if everything is controlled by the Lord then why doesn’t he make it a good place? Even as a director can make everything in his movie good but still doesn’t do it, similarly the Lord also waits for karma (which controls the world at the empirical plane) to do its job. When there will be situations where a person’s ego goes beyond control the Lord will ensure that the ego is completely destroyed. Until then the Lord just enjoys his own divine play even as a director enjoys his own play. All the time the play of the Lord is continuing, he knows that there is no play at all and this is just an illusion like the magician’s magic.

Then what can we do in this illusory world? Since we are suffering in sorrow, we can surrender unto the ultimate reality of Lord rather than trying to deal with problems on our own. The moment a seeker surrenders unto the Lord by remembering the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory world and who pervades the dual world, that very moment all sorrows vanish as the seeker knows this world to be an illusion. Thereby the seeker relishes each moment of this divine play all the while playing his part/role to perfection.

Let us unlike Chitralekha, try to surrender unto the ultimate reality of Lord by remembering that the Lord alone is present here as the substratum of the illusory world so that we don’t end up in sorrow trying to solve the non-existing problems of the non-existing world.

After consoling Usha, Chitralekha gave a representation of devatas, asuras and manushyas. In manushyas she drew the vrishnikas and Rama, Krishna, Pradhyumna who are the foremost among vrishnikas. Seeing Pradhyumna Usha shyly changed her gaze. Following this Chitralekha drew Aniruddha and immediately Usha exclaimed “this is the person”.

Explanation

“This is the person” – if only we could find out the one person in this way who is capable of removing all the sorrows of our life and bestowing ever-lasting bliss upon us, life will become fruitful and complete. But often it is very tough to find simple things. We all very know the story of “Kucchu and his glasses” – in a similar way, the blissful Lord is ever residing inside ourselves as own our Consciousness (that pulsates as “I-exist, I-exist”). But since the Lord is very close to us it is very tough to realize the Lord. Add to this the nature of the indriyas (sense organs) and the mind to be always extroverted, the inner Lord will be completely forgotten until a compassionate master comes and makes our mind introverted thereby making us realize our very nature of Lord.

It is for this reason that the Upanishad says “taddure tat u anthike” or “it is very far yet very near”. It is very near to those who know the Self and it is very far for those who don’t know that it is the Consciousness that is constantly pulsating as “I-exist, I-exist”.

Man goes on searching for Ishwara in the entire world trying out many things in the way to the quest for eternal bliss (even trying out marriage and marriages, child and children, job and jobs, country and countries). If only a seeker is able to understand from the scriptures that the blissful Lord doesn’t reside in heaven but he resides as the essence of all beings (Self of all beings). The first thing thereby a seeker has to do in order to fulfill his quest for bliss is stop seeking the external world and its objects by knowing that the world is constantly changing and thereby sorrowful. Once the world is known as sorrowful, the seeker has to seek the blissful Lord in one’s heart and who pervades the entire world. This is exactly what Krishna says in Gita thus:

Anityam asukham lokam imam praapya bhajasva maam

Having attained this temporary and sorrowful world, seek me as the ultimate reality of non-dual Lord.

The Lord again speaks about bliss being in the Self and not the world thus in the 5th chapter of Gita:

Baahyasparsheshu asakthaatma vindathi aatmani yat sukham
Sa brahmayoga yukthaatma sukham akshayam ashnuthe

One who becomes detached to the external sensual pleasures finds that bliss in the Self (the Lord) which is non-decaying through being ever-focused on the Lord.

Kaama krodha viyukthaanam yatheenaam yathachethasaam
Abhitho brahmanirvaanam varthathe vidhithaatmanaam

A person who is devoid of attachment and aversion (dual notion) and is ever focused on the Lord thereby realizes the Lord and bliss dances around such a person.

The Lord thus gives the easy and simple way to realize bliss as ever-focusing on the ultimate reality of Lord and remembering that the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in the Lord who alone exists here, one without a second. When a seeker continues this constant contemplation of the non-dual Lord, the statement of “this is the Lord” not as an external entity but as an intuitive internal experience will ensue which will make the seeker’s life blissful, perfect, peaceful and complete in all aspects.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us to try to always contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory world so that we are not whirled into dual notions and finally fulfill our lives with bliss.

Story 53 – Story of Baana Yudha - 06

2008-12-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

One day Baana’s daughter Usha had a dream in which she saw Aniruddha (whom she had never seen before) making love to her. All of a sudden she woke up and didn’t find Aniruddha; she thereby starting shouting “where are you” and started roaming here and there searching for Aniruddha. All her friends saw her searching and shouting for some person.

Explanation

There is a science dedicated to analysis of dream – this seems to be catching up lately as people want to know as to what would happen if they have a particular dream. Did you see AMMA in the dream? Did you see Yama in the dream? These are some of the very basic questions that finalizes the analysis of the dream.

Vedanta on the other hand gives a beautiful analysis of dream explaining it to perfection – it also gives the way to control the dream world (as Swami Gautamananda of Ramakrishna Mission Chennai explains it beautifully). Sankara defines the dream state (svapna) as jaagaritha samskaarajah or “that which is born out of the latent tendencies of dream”. The more a person thinks about PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN in a day, the chances of that getting into his dream is more. It is also a matter of fact that whatever we generally think just before going to sleep will be experienced in dream.

Dream thus depends on the tendencies that a person has accumulated in this birth as well as many of the previous births. Any person who hasn’t ever thought about Sankara will not dream about Sankara. Thus we find here Baana’s daughter Usha seeing Aniruddha in dream because of a previous birth connection. It isn’t important as to why she got the dream but it is important as to where the dream world incident leads her to.

If a seeker wants to control the dream world, he has to control the waking world and automatically his dreams will be controlled. Many vedantic learners have dreams about teaching or chanting Sanskrit slokas – many devotees of AMMA have dreams in which they see AMMA. This is the simple rule of dream – control the vasanas in waking state and dream will automatically be controlled. Since the dream world is born out of the vasanas of the waking state, therefore whatever we dream may have something to do with the waking state – this doesn’t necessarily mean that whatever one dreams will come true (as the waking state vasana might be to fly – since a person nourishes this vasana, he will dream as flying in space though it will never happen in the waking state unless he is in a helicopter or an airplane).

Bhagavatham along with bringing in the concept of dream here is comparing the dream world with waking world. We may consider Usha as a mad person as she went after a person whom she saw in dream but this waking world is a long dream – this came out of the non-dual reality of Lord and resides in the non-dual reality of Lord. There is no possibility of this dual world having come out of the non-dual reality of Lord (as the Lord is changeless and the changing world cannot appear in the changeless Lord). Thus this waking world is also an illusion like the dream world. But we often go behind people we see in the waking world – even to the extent of crossing the sea (going over to other continents) in search of a person. Rather than seeking worldly people and objects (who are just illusions) a seeker should seek the ultimate reality of Lord (or realized masters who are one with the ultimate reality of Lord). This alone will give a seeker the eternal bliss that he is searching in the external world.

Let us try to always remember that this world is just a long dream so that we don’t identify ourselves with the doer or get attached to objects/people which in turn will make us ever abide in bliss at all times like the Lord all the while doing external activities to perfection.

Baana’s minister Kumbaanda’s daughter was Chitralekha who was a friend of Usha (Baana’s daughter). Anxiously she asked Usha “Dear friend! Whom are you searching? Your husband hasn’t yet arrived and yet you are running hither and thither in your mind”. Usha replied “Friend! I saw a man in my dream who had blue lotus-like eyes. Wearing a yellow robe, with long hands and attracting the hearts of women, I am searching for that man who is my husband. Making me enjoy him and without letting me completely quench my thirst, he left me and went away.”

Explanation

Here we find the irony of life. We go on seeking people or things in the world all the while forgetting that the goal of all our seeking is eternal bliss and that eternal bliss cannot be found in the ever-changing world. Eternal bliss is our very nature of Lord. It is by seeking the ultimate reality of Lord (who is the indwelling Consciousness that pulsates each moment as “I-exist, I-exist” and pervades the entire illusory dream world) that a person can get eternal bliss and thereby contentment. There have been many emperors like Alexander, Hitler, Napolean etc. who have tried to conquer the world and gain contentment but none of them have got contentment from the world.

The world that we perceive is limited and hence it cannot give us eternal bliss. Therefore the Lord says that “having attained the temporary and sorrowful world, seek me”. The ultimate reality of Lord is changeless. Even as the dream world cannot give us eternal happiness similarly this long dream world of waking world cannot give us eternal bliss. Eternal bliss can be achieved only from the eternal entity of Lord.

Where can we find the Lord? The Lord cannot be found in the external world as the world is not real (but when a seeker goes beyond the unreal world, he can find that the world is just an illusion of names and forms in the Lord even as the dream world is an illusion in the dreamer). In order for a seeker to realize the Lord he has to find the Lord. Finding the Lord has two aspects or steps to it – first is the abode of the Lord and second is knowing that the Lord alone is present as the illusory dual world.

AMMA gives a beautiful story as to residing place of the Lord. Earlier (long ago) people used to have access to the places where gods resided (like Kailasa, Vaikunta etc.). This became a big problem for the gods as day in and day out people started disturbing them – if people were disturbing them for eternal bliss, gods would have been happy but people were troubling gods for petty things like job, marriage etc. It is not just today that conferences are called for to address problems – this existed even in ancient times. So the gods called for a conference where the issue of “how to escape from humans” was discussed. Many gods tried to give suggestions but none of those proved useful until an old god came up with a hiding place for the gods. This hiding place was so good that till day humans are searching for God (bliss) and most of the humans are unable to find God. The hiding place is inside humans.

Thus God resides in the heart of all beings. This is not just a story but it is what the scriptures proclaim and the truth as well (of course story makes the concept easy to apprehend by the limited human mind) – the Upanishads proclaim “tat sristvaa tadevaanupraavishat” (after having created the world, the Lord entered into the world as the various beings or “I” or Consciousness in beings).

Though this is the truth, many people don’t know this truth and hence seek bliss in the external world all the while when bliss is right inside them (their very nature). As simple as it may seem, it still is tough to apprehend nonetheless implement and live (living the truth means each and every moment living life blissfully).

There is one of AMMA’s song which depicts this truth thus:

Unmaye thedi thedi ulakellaam naan alainthen
Ulakellam payanam cheythum unmaye kaana villai
Unmay kaana alaintha naan unnidathil vanthen amma
Uravodu kaappaathu unmay kaatta vendum amma

I searched for the truth in the entire world – even after going through the entire world, I couldn’t find the truth; But finally I have come to your abode (you who are abiding in truth) so please do protect me and show the truth to me.

The simple story of Ganapathi and Muruga fighting as to who would get the jnaana-pazham (knowledge-fruit) depicts this same concept. Knowledge-fruit is knowing that the entire world is nothing but one entity of Ishwara denoted as Siva and Shakthi (Siva is Consciousness and Shakthi is siva power – Lalitha Sahasranama speaks about the Lord as SivaShakthiAikyaRupini or one who is of the form of oneness of Siva and Shakthi). Muruga went around the entire world whereas Ganapathi found Ishwara very near himself.

The person who realizes that the Lord resides in the heart of all beings thereby first purifying his mind and finding the Lord of “I” in his heart then seeing the Lord as pervading the entire world alone will get bliss. All others who roam around various temples, ashrams, sapthaahams etc. without remembering this truth that the Lord resides as the “I” in all beings and the Lord alone is present here will not get any bliss even after doing many such spiritual activities.

Yoga Vasistha speaks about such people who seek Ishwara in the world not trying to find him inside one’s heart thus:

Thyaktvaa hridgriha ishaanam devam anyam prayaanthi ye
Te rathnam abhivaanchanthi thyaktvaa hasthastha kausthubam

Those who forsake the Lord in one’s heart and seek other devatas are people who seek jewels forsaking the Kaustubha jewel in their hand (Kaustubha is the greatest of jewels).

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us try to always remember that the Lord resides as the pure “I” in the heart of all beings and try to realize the Lord by getting rid of the Ego sense and duality (keeping in mind that the entire world is only an illusion in the Lord) so that we may be able to rejoice in bliss in this very birth itself.

Story 53 – Story of Baana Yudha - 05

2008-12-18T06:48:00.000-08:00

Happy hearing the Lord’s words, Baana went inside expecting the flagstaff to fall. However big the ego is or whoever has ego, it will cause the person to fall down.

Explanation

Foolishness and arrogance (or ego) goes hand in hand – wherever one is there, the other follows suit. Ego is something which ultimately puts a person down so that the person will end up in total misery. If we find big people in history who had a great ego of conquering the world (like Hitler, Napolean etc.), they all suffered in the end.

A seeker has to always remember to keep the Ego down and not let the Ego rise – the moment the Ego rises, the seeker is bound to fall into sorrow and suffering. A seeker who is always remembering that the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists here, one without a second cannot see any difference (duality) as everything is the Lord. When there is no duality perceived, there cannot be any likes or dislikes. It is the sense of “I” and “mine” (arising out of duality as well as likes-dislikes) that is called Ego. For a seeker who is ever focused on the ultimate reality of Lord there is no scope for the Ego. It is this attitude of surrendering the Ego (sense of I and mine) unto the all-pervasive Lord that is termed as bhakthi by some acharyas and jnaana by others.

Ramana Maharshi beautifully gives the easy way to conquer the Ego in Upadesa Saram as:

Ishwara arpitham na icchayaa kritham
Chitha shodhakam mukthi saadhakam

Actions offered unto Ishwara and without any craving for fruit will purify the mind and thereby help in liberation.

A mind which is purified by offering all actions (the sense of doership or EGO and the craving for fruits) will be able to perceive the all-pervasive Ishwara even as a pure mirror will reflect one’s face.

Though it might seem to be very simple to conquer the Ego, it is the toughest enemy to conquer in the spiritual path. Krishna says in Gita that one who doesn’t have any sense of Ego is a realized person – Vidyaranya terms moksha as separating the Ego from the saakshi atman (witness-Self – that Self which is the reality behind the illusory names-forms, actions and ego of the world). Ramana Maharshi tells that the final step in the path of realization is conquering the Ego. He says that the Ego often poses as our friend and since most of us fall a prey to friendship, we fail to understand the real nature of Ego as the causer of all troubles.

Thus we find Baana here forgetting the ultimate reality of Lord and thereby being conquered by Ego. This Ego itself will lead to his downfall. If we try to find out as to what is the cause of all our problems we will find the role of Ego in each of the problems – we don’t need to learn Vedanta to understand this. Just some analysis on our problems will reveal that the sense of Ego is what causes us to be twirled in many problems.

Let us try to always offer all actions unto the ultimate reality of Lord remembering that everything is the Lord alone so that there is no scope for the Ego to rise and make us suffer again (as we have suffered in many births).

Elsewhere in Dwaraka, Krishna had 10 sons with each of his 16008 wives. One of the son of Rukmini was Pradhyumna. Pradhyumna’s son was the very-powerful Aniruddha.

Explanation

Though we have discussed previously as well about the Lord’s many wives – here it is worth trying to understand as to what differentiates the Lord from a normal person (who has one or many wives and similarly many children).

Though the Lord had many wives and many children yet the Lord was unaffected by whatever happened around him. This is because of the knowledge that this entire world is just an illusion – it is just a long play (like a movie we watch). Even as the actor in the movie isn’t affected the least by whatever happens to his role or any other roles in the movie, similarly the Lord isn’t affected at all as he knows this entire world to be just a long play.

We may think that it is impossible for a normal person to see the world as a long play but we do experience a state wherein we see the world as a long play – this is the state of dream. Every day we go to sleep and create a new world of our own – we experience a lot of things in the world and even get into emotions but once we wake up, we are not affected the least by whatever happened in the dream world. Why is it that we are affected while dreaming but not after waking up? It is because after waking up we know that the dream world was unreal whereas while dreaming we still consider the world to be real (svakaale sathyavad bhaathi, prabodhe satyasadh bhavet – while in the state, it appears to be real but after waking up it is known to be unreal). A person who is able to remember that the dream world is unreal will be unaffected in the dream world as well. If this is not possible at least knowledge of the waking world (that we currently perceive) to be a long dream world will make us treat the world like an illusion thereby remaining unaffected by whatever happens in the world.

Thus knowledge about the nature of the world as an illusion or a long dream will enable us to ever abide in witness-hood (as a mere witness to this waking world and its activities). Though Aamir Khan knows that his role in Ghajini is not real yet he performs his role to perfection – similarly knowledge about the world to be unreal doesn’t make a person stop doing actions; instead the person will be able to do actions in a better way.

A judge is able to give proper judgement not because of his intellect but because he isn’t involved in what he is trying to judge – involvement in any activity (identifying oneself as the doer and seeking the fruit of action) will make us miss the total or wholistic perspective of the activity. This is due to lack of the knowledge that this entire world is just a long play in which we are doing a role – if this knowledge is there, then like the Lord we will be able to do actions to perfection all the while ever abiding in bliss.

Thus what differentiates the Lord from us is not the external activity but the inner knowledge that everything is just a long play in the non-dual reality of Lord – this knowledge will give us that bliss which are constantly seeking in the world by getting attached to people and objects of the world.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us try to always remember that this world is just a long dream so that we don’t identify ourselves with the doer or get attached to objects/people which in turn will make us ever abide in bliss at all times like the Lord all the while doing external activities to perfection.

Story 53 – Story of Baana Yudha - 04

2008-12-18T06:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Story 53 – Story of Baana Yudha - 03

2008-12-18T06:43:00.000-08:00

Baana asked requested the Lord to be his grihapaalaka (protector of his house). The devotee-servant Lord fulfilled Baana’s wish and thereby started living as his house-protector.

Explanation

We will find in the next day as to how some boons can lead to our own downfall. Instead of asking for worldly boons including the form of the Lord, a real seeker will be asking for contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord (commonly known as liberation) which alone can give a person eternal bliss. All other boons will be wasted within no time – mostly boons will cause only more sorrow for us though initially we might not realize this. Sensual pleasures (even the pleasure of seeing the form of the Lord at all times) are like nectar in the beginning but later they turn into poison and completely destroy us. A seeker will see the entire world as being pervaded by the ultimate reality of Lord – each form is but an illusion in the formless Lord – thus how can such a seeker differentiate between one form and another? He can only perceive the Lord everywhere.

This vision of oneness makes a person go beyond dual notions of the mind like happiness-sorrow etc. All dual notions are based on likes and dislikes. Likes and dislikes are based on duality – if a person sees oneness everywhere, there is nothing that he can like or dislike. When there are no likes and dislikes, there is no attachment and aversion. When there is no attachment and aversion a person will never get into happiness and sorrow – instead he will ever be blissful (at all times).

This is where many scriptures speak about a real seeker and a real devotee asking nothing but constant remembrance of the Lord. Instead of asking petty things which are created by the Lord and are illusions in the Lord, a seeker will ask for the Lord himself. We will never want to get money from a person if we know that the person has a money-making-machine – we will then only want the money-making-machine.

Thus we have to constantly remember that we should not asking anything except the ultimate reality of Lord (constant contemplation of the Lord). A person who is constantly contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord is always protected by the Lord – the Lord’s very presence is enough to give bliss – if this is the case then why would such a seeker need anything else?

A seeker who isn’t convinced about the Lord alone being real and bliss will always want something else other than the Lord. This is exactly what is happening with Baana. Instead of capturing the Lord in his heart, he tries to keep the Lord as protector of his house – this will in turn lead to more trouble as we will see in the next day.

Let us always remember to ask nothing but constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord as a boon so that we are never deluded and thereby are ever blissful.

One day Baana spoke thus to Siva who was sitting nearby (his glowing crown touching the feet of Siva):

O Lord who is the Guru of the entire world, I prostrate you. You are the kalpavriksha (wish-fulfilling tree) that fulfills all the wishes of a person who seeks wishes (as he is not complete).

Explanation

Here we find Baana praising the Lord as fulfilling the desires of all people. This is an eternal rule at the empirical plane as to fulfillment of desires. The Lord summarizes this beautifully thus in Gita:

Ye yathaa maam prapadhyanthe thaamsthathaiva bhajaami aham
Mama varthma anuvarthanthe manushyaah partha sarvashah

Whoever worships me in whatever form, I appear to them in that form; this eternal rule is being followed by all people.

The rule thus is “as you sow, so you reap”. The deciding factor in desires and fulfillment of desires is the strength of the desire – the stronger the desire (which means a person puts maximum effort towards the desire), the more the chances of it getting fulfilled. We find this law in worldly activities – if we take Sachin Tendulkar or Michael Schumacher, we can find that the effort put on by both of them made them legends in their field (thereby fulfilling their desire of becoming the topmost in their fields).

Thus if a seeker wants to get his desires fulfilled, he has to put maximum effort towards the desire. There is also another short-cut to fulfillment of desires. Since all desires are fulfilled by the law set by the Lord, thereby if we can surrender unto the ultimate reality of Lord then all our desires will be easily fulfilled.

Mundaka Upanishad explains this thus:

Yam yam lokam manasaa samvibhaathi vishuddhasattvah
Kaamayathe yaamscha kaamaan
Tham tham lokam jayathe thaamscha kaamaan
Tasmaad atmajnam hi archet bhuthikaamah

Whatever world and desires are thought of by a purified being (mental purification means a person whose mind is ever abiding in the Lord or the person who has merged unto the Lord), those world and desires are fulfilled; therefore people who want to get some desires fulfilled should seek and surrender unto such realized masters.

We can find in the puranas Vishwamithra creating a new svarga for Trishankhu – this is because such Mahatmas are one with the ultimate reality of Lord. Therefore even if we have worldly desires to be fulfilled we should surrender and seek it from the ultimate reality of Lord. Along with these desire-seeking if we are able to remember that ultimately we need eternal bliss (and temporarily let us fulfill those desires) then as time passes by we will find that all our desires are getting fulfilled with no new desires getting generated which will in fact finally take us to the state of “all-fulfilled” (where a seeker doesn’t have any more desires to be fulfilled).

Even if we have desires to be fulfilled at the worldly plane, we should try to remember the ultimate goal of life as seeking only eternal bliss (which is knowing that everything is only the non-dual reality of Lord). A seeker who has surrendered unto the Lord will be slowly taken from worldly desires to the desire-less state by the Lord himself.

We will continue with Baana’s request in the next day.

Let us try to always seek the ultimate reality of Lord remembering that the ultimate goal is eternal bliss though temporarily we may seek the Lord alone for fulfillment of worldly desires.

Story 53 – Story of Baana Yudha - 02

2008-12-18T06:41:00.000-08:00

Baanasura who had 1000 hands used them to play various instruments and do thaanadava nrityam thereby pleasing Siva.

Explanation

Pleasing is something that we are so used in our day-to-day life. We always try to please people around us so that we are surrounded and supported by people. Pleasing one’s parents, one’s siblings, one’s relatives, one’s friends, one’s boss, one’s neighbour etc. – the list is kind of endless.

But amidst this effort to please the entire world we forget that there is one person who if pleased will fulfill all our desires and make us rejoice in eternal bliss. This one person is the ultimate reality of Lord. Pleasing any other person in the world will not give us permanent happiness – if I please my parents I will be happy until my parents have one more desire or expectations from me. It is for this reason that Swami Amritasvaroopananda rightly and beautifully says that everybody around us exploit us by knowing our weakness (trying to please others). The reason why we please others is thinking that they will always be there to support us and that we will get happiness by pleasing them – both of this is false; people around us themselves will face trouble and their very life is limited & hence they cannot support us eternally; we also cannot get happiness by pleasing them as they are in sorrow (only a person who is ever blissful can give happiness to others).

Swami Rama Teertha speaks about his experience in the Himalayas – once the water was rising. Swamiji saw a mother monkey along with few of its children climbing a tree in order to save themselves from drowning. They climbed to the top branch of a tree. But water was still rising. They were about to drowned. The mother monkey immediately took one of her child and stepped on the child to save herself – this continued until all the children were submerged in water.

This is how life is – as Yajnavalkya says in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad to his wife that the husband is loved for the sake of oneself and not for the sake of the husband. Everyone cares about their own life – their life is more dear than anything else in the world. Even lovers who sacrifice themselves for their love are doing the sacrifice so that they will be happy themselves (when their loved person is happy, the lover himself will be happy).

Thus everyone cares about themselves the most and since everyone is seeking happiness in the world, they cannot protect another person. Hence a wise person will stop depending on the people of the world and instead try to please the ultimate reality of Lord. Unlike the people of the world, the Lord is ever there to help us and he is ever blissful (therefore can give us the bliss that we are seeking). Pleasing the people of the world is very tough indeed (the number of divorces and break-ups are enough to prove this point) – but pleasing the ultimate reality of Lord is very easy. A person who is ever contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord is a real devotee – the Lord is a slave of his devotee (the Lord takes care of such a devotee at all times). Thus trying to be a real devotee of the Lord through constant contemplation of the Lord is what a seeker should do rather than trying to please others – this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t please others but just that we should remember to please the ultimate reality of Lord and this pleasing should stand above all other pleasing. Only such a seeker will be able to rejoice in bliss (which is the goal of all beings in the world).

The Lord who was pleased with Baana asked him to seek whatever boon he wanted.

Explanation

We see here the Lord granting the whatever-you-wish boon to Baana. The last day we spoke about pleasing the ultimate reality of Lord.

All our life we try to please one or the other person in the world – we fail to understand that we will never be able to please the people of the world as everyone is incomplete and imperfect. This is like two beggars begging to each other – both of them will be ever disappointed. Instead if they could go and beg to a person who is full of wealth, both their desires will be fulfilled.

Similarly instead of trying to please the people of the world we have to try to please the ultimate reality of Lord. If we are able to please the ultimate reality of Lord, then the Lord will grant us the boon of “whatever we want” – we see in the puranas that all the desires of people who pleased the ultimate reality of Lord was fulfilled whether it is with respect to moksha or worldly pleasures (hence we sing “bhukthi mukthi pradaayini – giver of worldly pleasures and liberation”).

The Lord himself proclaims thus in Bhagavad Gita

Ye yatha maam prapadhyanthe taamsthathaiva bhajaami aham
Mama varthma anuvarthanthe manushyaah paartha sarvashah

Whoever worships me in whatever form, I appear to them in that form; this is the eternal law which all people strict to.

Thus the law is “what you seek, you will get it” – the one condition in this rule is the conviction or how strong the desire is. The stronger the desire is, the more probability of the desire being fulfilled (as most of our desires are with respect to the world and hence involves a lot of people, things etc. rather than just ourselves). Thus a wise person who needs his desires to be fulfilled will seek the ultimate reality of Lord and try to please him. A still wiser person will please the Lord and ask for eternal bliss rather than petty and sorrowful pleasures of the world. Worldly pleasures are seeds of sorrow – when a person has a new car he will be very happy but only until the car becomes old or a newer version of the car gets released.

The Lord says in Gita:

Ye hi samsparshajaa bhogaah dukhayonaya eva te
Aadhyanthavantha kaunteya na teshu ramathe budhah

The pleasures which are caused by sense contact (sensual pleasures) are seeds of sorrow as they have a beginning and end; thereby wise people will not take resort of them.

Thus we have to remember to stop pleasing the people of the world, start pleasing the ultimate reality of Lord and ask for eternal bliss alone from the Lord. We will see in the next day as to how if we ask for something other than eternal bliss from the Lord it will lead us to more and more troubles (sorrows) in life.

Let us all try to please the ultimate reality of Lord by always contemplating on the Lord so that we will go beyond all sorrows of the world and ever rejoice in bliss.

Story 53 – Story of Baana Yudha - 01

2008-12-18T06:39:00.000-08:00

Introduction

We are starting with the next story in Bhagavatham. This story is about an asura named Baana. Let’s today try to see a few important aspects and the story in brief.

We find in this story Baana as a devotee of the Lord. The general notion that we have got from the stories we hear in our childhood about the puranas is that the asuras are bad people who are against the Lord and always forgetting the Lord. But contrary to our notions, we find asuras as some of the greatest devotees of the ultimate reality of Lord ever abiding in contemplation of the Lord. Their duty in this world is to attack the devas and they do it with sincerity, devotion and perfection. The entire family of Hiranyakashipu were devotees of the Lord ever abiding in the Lord. Hiranyakashipu was a Vedantin who didn’t stay away from his normal duties; his son Prahlaada was one of the greatest devotees we can find in the puranas. Prahlaada’s son was Virochana who taught Vedanta to his son Mahabali at a very young age. Mahabali is yet another great devotee who is praised by Vamana himself.

It is unfortunate that we have got wrong notions about asuras and thereby we decry asuras or people who don’t do good worldly activities (any person who is a butcher by profession or doing some bad activities for profession is considered a non-devotee). We should first understand clearly that external activities don’t matter at all – irrespective of our external activity, it is the inner attitude that really matters. People like dharmavyaadha (the butcher in Mahabharatha) do their external activity with devotion to Ishwara (as an offering to Ishwara without any craving for the fruit). Ramana Maharshi describes this beautifully in Upadesa Saram thus:

Ishwara arpitham na icchaya kritham
Chittha shodhakam mukthi saadhakam

Actions done as an offering to Ishwara and without craving for fruit purifies the mind and thereby helps in liberation (from sorrows).

We find in this story Baana who is an asura (bad actions performed externally) but a true devotee in the mind. Real devotion is not determined by external activities – doing pooja daily doesn’t mean we are real devotees; real devotion is when a person is always contemplating on the all-pervasive Lord in his mind. When a person sees the Lord everywhere, then how can there be any pooja as everything becomes a pooja? Whether external pooja is happening or not, internal pooja of always offering everything to the non-dual reality of Lord is constantly happening. It is this inner attitude that gives a person eternal bliss – that bliss which is being sought out each minute of our life.

Many people say that they have been devotees of Mahatmas like AMMA, learning Vedanta for many years, doing spiritual activities like meditation, sandhya vandhanam etc. but when the question comes as to whether they are happy and content with life, the answer is NO. This is because these people are doing external activities thinking that it can give them inner peace – inner peace cannot be achieved by external activities alone but by the mind always contemplating on the all-pervasive Lord.

Mahabali had six sons of which the eldest was Baanasura. Baana who was focused on truth and ever compassionate always with earnestness did Siva bhajanam (contemplation on Siva). Shonitha was the name of Baana’s kingdom. Baana due to Siva prasadam (blessings) was able to live with the Devas serving him.

Explanation

Here we find that everyone in the entire world serves a person who has surrendered completely unto the Lord and thereby is ever contemplating on the non-dual reality of Lord. The reason for this is simple – whatever is seen in the world (various names and forms) is just an illusion in the substratum of ultimate reality of Lord. The moment a person is contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord in whom the illusory world is seen, the world which is controlled by the Lord can be changed as per the Lord’s will. Hence for a person who has surrendered unto the ultimate reality of Lord, the entire world will be helping out such a person at all times.

Here we can get a doubt – if the Lord can change the entire world then why does he give suffering to many people?
In fact the Lord doesn’t get any suffering to anyone. The scriptures say that the Lord created the world and entered into the world (the world is the Lord alone). The Lord proclaims in Gita that he resides in the heart of all beings. If a person is able to surrender unto that Lord beyond the illusory names and forms of the world, then he will see that the entire world is blissful. The world in itself is blissful but when it passes through the seeker’s mind, then it becomes poisoned. Poison is not dangerous by itself but when a person consumes the poison it is dangerous. The world when it passes through the mind of a person, the person’s notions (likes and dislikes) get added onto the world – this is where the world becomes sorrowful.

We see a person coming towards ourselves – it is our enemy Rama. Though Rama is our enemy, Rama doesn’t cause any problem to us. But our notion of Rama as our enemy makes us hate him – thus the very presence of Rama causes sorrow in us. This sorrow is not due to Rama but our notion of Rama as our enemy. This is the case with the perception of the world – the world is pervaded in and out by the blissful Lord. But when we fail to apprehend this, we get deluded into the names and forms of the world considering them as real. Thus instead of perceiving the underlying reality of Lord we perceive the names and forms which can give us only sorrow as it is based on likes and dislikes (duality).

When a seeker surrenders unto the Lord he goes beyond the names and forms. Thus though externally something bad might happen to him he will consider it as only good (as everything is by the will of the Lord). If something good happens, Ishwara’s grace. If something bad happens, Ishwara’s will.

Thus a surrendered seeker is not helped by the Lord but he is able to apprehend the ever-present help of the Lord by perceiving the Lord in the entire world (as pervading it).

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - Summary

2008-12-18T06:37:00.000-08:00

We have completed yet another story of Srimad Bhagavatham. Srimad Bhagavatham is one among the various scriptural works – this is not because of the descriptive portrayal of the life of Sri Krishna nor is it because of Vishnu being praised all over but it is because Bhagavatham always focuses on the ultimate reality of Lord (who is being described in each and every story).

Bhagavatham itself speaks about its subject-matter thus:

srimadbhagavatha puranam amalam
yad vaishnavaanaam priyam
yasmin paaramahamsyam ekam
jnaanam param geeyathe

Bhagavatha Purana is very pure and dear to seekers of the reality; in which the supreme non-dual truth has been sung all over.

Who is a vaishnava?
One who is an ardent seeker of Vishnu thereby remembers Vishnu at all times is a Vaishnava. Vishnu word means one who is all-pervasive. Thus he who remembers that everything is the non-dual reality of Consciousness is a vaishnava. Such Vaishnavas consider Bhagavatham as very dear to them because Bhagavatham never strays away from Vishnu.

As we have been learning many stories of Bhagavatham, we know very well that each and every story of Bhagavatham is always focused on the ultimate reality of Lord. But it is very easy to get distracted from the reality of Lord to the mysterious world that we currently perceive. The world is very attractive that it might take our attention away from the ultimate reality of Lord. But even as a mother never loses focus of her child even when she is amidst beautiful trees or in a resort or in a museum similarly a seeker whose sole intent is eternal bliss will never stray off from the ultimate reality of Lord. This is what we have to always remember even while reading or reflecting on the various stories of Bhagavatham. If we forget the ultimate reality of Lord then we will end up with sorrow alone.

This story of Bhagavatham shows us the infinite capabilities of the Lord who controls the illusory power of Maya that is responsible for the entire world. If we are able to surrender unto the ultimate reality of Lord, then the Lord will take care of all our needs (worldly as well as spiritual). Such a surrendered seeker will be always rejoicing in bliss, so what else would he need? Such a seeker is termed in the scriptures as an apthakaama (one whose desires are fulfilled).

Surrendering unto the Lord is as simple as always remembering that the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. Most of the times we do remember our parents or friends or lover – therefore it is not tough to shift the focus unto the ultimate reality of Lord. It becomes very easy when we remember the goal of eternal bliss that will be achieved by this surrender.

An analysis of the Ultimate Reality

We have completed yet another beautiful story of Srimad Bhagavatham. Before we begin the next story, let us try to focus on the ultimate reality of Lord.

A seeker has to always remember that the moment a person’s focus shifts from the ultimate reality of Lord to anything else, that very moment the seeker falls into the delusion of Maya which can give him nothing but sorrow alone. Even as a driver driving on a narrow road with heavy traffic will not even for a single moment let go of his concentration from the road, similarly a seeker should remember to always focus on the ultimate reality of Lord. Even as when the driver’s attention goes from the road the driver ends up in an accident, when a seeker forgets the ultimate reality of Lord he ends up in the endless ocean of samsaara which can cause sorrow and suffering alone.

We all like stories a lot – the various stories mentioned in Bhagavatham are like the anecdotes given by spiritual masters like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharshi, Sadguru Mata Amritanandamayi etc. We can also find such stories mentioned in the commentaries of great commentators like Adi Sankaracharya among others. These stories are not mere stories but are stories with a deeper meaning in the form of an import. If we forget the import it is as good as not knowing the story. This can be compared to a person having the recent laptop but doesn’t know what a laptop is used for. The ancients often speak of this as a garland in the hands of a monkey – the monkey doesn’t know what the garland is therefore within moments it destroys the garland.

The various stories of Bhagavatham can make a non-believer believe in the Lord but as long as the import of the stories is not known, the believer still will end up in sorrow. As long as a person doesn’t understand the real import of all the stories of Bhagavatham as the non-dual reality of Lord and realizing that Lord as one’s own Self and pervading the entire illusory world, the person will still end up in sorrow. Only a seeker whose focus is always on the ultimate reality of Lord with the knowledge that the entire world is just an illusion of names and forms in the Lord will be able to rejoice in bliss. It is this bliss that is the goal of life for everyone – irrespective of caste, creed and other adjuncts, everyone is seeking eternal and long-lasting bliss each and every minute. As long as a person doesn’t remain focused on the truth that the entire world is nothing but the non-dual reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute, the person will not get this bliss. As long as a person doesn’t get eternal bliss, his life will still be filled with sorrow, discontentment, dissatisfaction and incompleteness.

Bhagavatham is one among the scriptures as we can find the ultimate reality of Lord praised in all the stories and very clearly as well. Even though Bhagavatham clearly praises and tries to bring our focus on the ultimate reality of Lord if we fail to recognize and apprehend this, who is to be blamed than ourselves? Such a seeker who ignores the ever-present ultimate reality of Lord in each and every part of Bhagavatham will go from death and death as he will be constantly suffering in sorrow.

Before we start the next story of Bhagavatham in the next day, let us try to take the resolution of not forgetting the real import of the stories as the ultimate reality of Lord so that we will be able to ever rejoice in bliss and eradicate sorrow once and for all.

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 13

2008-12-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

After getting rid of all sins of Bhauma, the Lord entered the aishwarya-filled bhaumagriha (house of Bhauma). There he found the 16000 princess who were captivated by Bhauma. The Lord became the husband of all those 16000 princesses.

Explanation

The Lord makes a very strong statement at the end of Bhagavad Gita thus:

Sarva dharmaan parityajya maam ekam sharanam vraja
Aham tvaa sarvapaapebhyo mokshayishyaami ma shuchah

Renounce all dharmas and take resort in me alone – I will liberate you from all sins; do not worry.

The above statement of the Lord is not a mere statement but a promise that the Lord has always kept for his devotees. If a person becomes a devotee of the Lord, then as the Lord himself proclaims in Bhagavatham that he is a slave to his devotees. Thus such a devotee will instantly be liberated from all sins and doesn’t have to worry at all.

What is liberation from sins?
Sin is that which causes us sorrow. The root-cause of all sorrows is forgetfulness of the truth that the entire world is a mere illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of non-dual Lord. The moment we remember the ultimate reality of Lord in our minds, immediately we will be liberated from sorrows. But it is indeed very tough to constantly abide with the thought of the Lord as we are so used to differentiating between objects of the world that going beyond the duality and perceiving the non-dual reality of Lord is almost an impossible feat.

But this is also possible if we are able to put our sincere effort. It also is possible to always remember the Lord if we know as to what is the fruit of such remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord. The fruit that a seeker will attain by remembrance of the ultimate reality of Lord is eternal bliss.

This constant remembrance that the entire world is filled in and out by the ultimate reality of Lord is devotion and surrender to the ultimate reality of Lord. If a seeker is able to get this devotion, then he will be saved from sorrow once and for all.

We find here that the Lord protects the 16000 princesses who were captivated by Narakaasura – this shows the compassion of the Lord. The compassionate Lord is ever ready to help the seekers of the Lord if the seekers gain a little devotion thereby allowing the Lord to help them out.

Thus Krishna has 16000 and 8 wives (8 whom he had married earlier itself). Krishna went to Indra and returned the various ornaments given to him by Indra. Krishna also brought back Kalpa vriksha’s roots as desired by Sathyabhama. While returning back each of the wives of Krishna felt as if they one Krishna was there for each one of them (one Krishna for each wife). What is impossible for the all-pervasive and all-powerful Lord? The wives along with the ultimate reality of Krishna lived happily in Dwaraka.

Explanation

We come to the end of this beautiful story of Bhagavatham depicting the infinite power and presence of the Lord. Bhagavatham beautifully mentions that each of the wives of Krishna felt as if they had a Krishna all for themselves.

Is all this really possible? We find many such things in Bhagavatham – child Krishna killing various powerful demons; Krishna doing many miraculous and impossible feats.

An intelligent seeker will start questioning the very existence of the world. How did this world come to exist? Does this world really exist – if so how can it exist eternally as it is constantly changing? All these will lead the seeker to believe that the world doesn’t really exist but is just an illusory creation of the ultimate reality of Lord who is the creator of the world. This creation is like the magical creation of the magician and the dream world created in and by the dreamer. Many impossible things happen in the magician’s creation as well as in dream – everything that can be thought of strongly in the mind of the magician and the dreamer is possible and will happen in their respective creations. Similarly this entire world is created by the ultimate reality of Lord – he is both the creator as well as the creation. Even as a spider’s web is made by the spider out of itself, similarly the world is created by and out of the Lord. Thus the Lord pervades in and out of the entire world – moreover even as a magician knows his entire magical creation, he is all-powerful with respect to the magical creation. Similarly the Lord is all-powerful with respect to the created world that we currently perceive – thus anything is possible for the Lord.

This all-powerful power of the Lord is what Vedanta terms as Maya – Maya is that illusory power which helps the Lord in creating the illusory world. Maya makes impossible things possible and illogical things appear logical though Maya in itself is beyond any logic. This is because Maya is not real – that which is not real and just appears to be real is beyond logic (as it doesn’t really exist for a person to apply logic – logic requires the object to first exist).

What is important for a seeker is not to be amazed or surprised at the all-powerful Lord but to remember that anything and everything is possible for the Lord – thereby we have to surrender unto the Lord as then the Lord will help us with eternal bliss (as anything is possible by the all-powerful Lord). The more we try to surrender unto the Lord by remembering that the Lord pervades the entire world and the world is only an illusion of names and forms in the Lord, we will feel ourselves move towards perfection and the sense of happiness/contentment/satisfaction will increase day-by-day until we will be ever blissful irrespective of the situation of the external illusory world. It is this ever-blissful state that we are constantly seeking knowingly or unknowingly – until the day when we are in that state, there will be a sense of incompleteness and sorrow in our lives though we may follow Krishna or any Mahatma. It is only abiding in the knowledge that the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists that can take us to this ever-blissful state.

All stories of Bhagavatham are meant to take us to this blissful state which is the state of Krishna whether he is killing asuras or enjoying with his wives or instructing Arjuna – the more we understand this while remembering Krishna, the more we will progress towards this ever-blissful state.

We will see the summary of this story in the next day before starting the next story of Bhagavatham.

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 12

2008-12-18T06:30:00.000-08:00

Bhoomidevi continued:

Therefore O Lord! Place your hand on my son bhauma’s head so that all his sins vanish.

Explanation

We saw in the previous day as to how the entire world filled with different names and forms is only an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord. While listening, learning or contemplating on the stories of Bhagavatham we have to always remember this truth that there is nothing present here apart from the ultimate reality of Lord – everything is just an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord even as a dream world is an illusion in dreamer, water is an illusion in desert and all gold ornaments are mere illusions in gold.

The moment we forget this reality that everything is only an illusion in the Lord, we enter into the illusory world which can give us only sorrow. We will then try to compare one story of the Lord with another, one form of Lord with another form, one devotee to another etc. which will finally lead us to sorrow and sorrow alone.

Katha Upanishad proclaims thus about duality:

Manasaa eva idam aapthavyam neha nana asthi kinchana
Mrityoh sah mrityum aapnothi ya iha nana iva pashyathi

Know through the intellect that there is no duality whatsoever here; whoever sees duality as existing will go from death to death.

Thus the moment we forget the truth that there is no duality here and everything is only the one ultimate reality of Lord, we will enter into the vicious circle of birth and death. Birth and death both causes sorrow and suffering for us – in order for a person to go beyond suffering, he should go beyond birth and death. This is possible only through realizing that there is neither birth nor death – whatever exists is only the ultimate reality of Lord, one without a second.

The minute we acknowledge this truth and start living life remembering to perceive everything as a mere illusion in the ultimate reality of lord even as a viewer watches an entire movie to be just an illusion, all our sins vanish. Sins are those which cause us suffering – the source of all sins is the sin of forgetting that the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in the non-dual reality of Lord. This sin leads to all other worldly sins – worldly sins will not cause us any sorrow if we are able to remember this ultimate truth of non-duality.

The Lord himself proclaims thus in Gita:

Yasya naahamkritho bhaavah buddhir yasya na lipyathe
Hatvaapi sa imaan lokaan naayam hanthi na hanyathe

A person who doesn’t have the sense of Ego nor his intellect sticks on to the dual world, even though he might kill the entire world – he doesn’t kill and he cannot be killed as well (as he is non-dual reality of Lord who alone exists here).

Thus a person who always remembers that the entire world is filled in and out by the ultimate reality of Lord who alone is the essence of names and forms in the world will be saved from all sins and sufferings as we will see in the next day.

Pleased with Bhoomidevi’s praise, the Lord blessed Bhauma thereby getting rid of all his sins.

Explanation

We saw yesterday as to the one way to get rid of all sins as by remembering that the entire world of names and forms is just an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord who alone exists. Constant remembrance of the ultimate reality is devotion; this alone is knowledge and yoga; karma yoga or yoga of action is when a person does actions unaffected by the action itself or the fruit of the action even as a drama artist performs in the drama – this is possible only when there is the knowledge that the entire world is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord.

Thus though many proclaim that there are different paths for realization, the thing that is common between all of the paths is constant remembrance of the ultimate reality of non-dual Lord – this is the path as well as the goal. Though a seeker might be doing spiritual sadhanas based on the various paths, yet they all culminate in the final step of constantly remembering that the Lord alone is present here – this final step itself is moksha or realization.

It is this moksha that saves a person from all sins and sufferings – unless a person is realized, there will still be suffering in one form or another. Even those who had Lord Krishna with them at all times faced suffering in one form or another because as long as person is not realized, there will always be suffering.

The greatness of realization is in that everybody around such a realized master will be able to experience the bliss emanating from the master and they will also be forced to realize. The Upanishads proclaim “na asya abrahmavit kule bhavathi” – there will no person who doesn’t know the Lord in the kula of a realized master.

We can find this if we learn the life of realized masters that everybody around them will be attracted by the bliss emanating and thereby they will also work towards realization. This doesn’t mean that we have to wait for somebody in our kula to get realized and then realize ourselves – it just means that the entire world will be helped by us if we realize our very nature of lord. A person who has realized will always be abiding in the ultimate reality of Lord – such a person will be ever blissful. Even as blossomed lotus gives happiness to whoever sees it, similarly a realized person will be able to give the bliss to the Atman (temporarily as long as the seeker is in the presence of the master) to seekers.

Does the world exist really to spread bliss?
The world exists as long as we see it – the scriptures speak about spreading bliss to the entire world in order to make us want and work towards that bliss. It is but a pity that most of look to help others when we ourselves don’t have any happiness. Spirituality has come to be known as social service activity which is not based on knowledge. In fact spirituality should be when a seeker sees the entire world as pervaded by the Lord – this means that such a seeker cannot but help the entire world as that is helping the Lord as well as helping oneself (who is not different from the Lord). But since most of us don’t have knowledge, we look for activities to help the world. The various spiritual masters know this and hence they make us work towards realization by telling us that if we help ourselves, the entire world will be helped – of course this is not a false statement as once we realize, we will not be able to find any suffering in the world. When Ramana Maharshi was approached by followers of Gandhi who asked Maharshi as to why he is not helping the suffering world, Maharshi replied that “he doesn’t see any suffering” and that “he only sees bliss everywhere”.

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 11

2008-12-18T06:28:00.000-08:00

Bhoomidevi continued her praise

O Lord! It is you only who renounces Tamo guna and takes up Rajo guna in order to create the world; you then take up sattva guna and protect the world; time, prakrthi, purusha etc. are the you only, the supreme cause.

Explanation

The world is created and sustained by the illusory power of the Lord which is termed as Maya – the word Maya itself means that which doesn’t really exist (yaa maa saa maaya). The Lord defines Maya beautifully in the below sloka of Gita:

Daivi hi eshaa gunamayi mama maaya duratyayaa

My Maya is a divine power and made up of the three gunas of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.

The three gunas are an interesting topic to discuss in depth – the Lord himself has described the three gunas in an entire chapter of Gita (the 14th chapter of Gita titled Gunatraya vibhaaga yoga). Tamo guna or Tamas is something which denotes laziness, slumber, inactivity etc. Rajas denotes activity arising out of desire and a sense of achieving something. Sattva on the other hand denotes a state where a person is immersed in knowledge and bliss. Sattva and Tamas both are similar as in both activity kind of ceases quite a lot but the main differences is that in Sattva activities cannot happen because knowledge dawns (knowledge culminates all actions – though actions might still happen after a person gains knowledge that the entire world is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord). The Lord demonstrates all the three gunas with respect to the world. The Lord is rajo guna pradhaana (mainly rajas) while creating the world (as this is an activity). The Lord denotes sattva guna while protecting the world as this is not an action but more of compassion and other good qualities.

Though the Lord demonstrates the three gunas and we also are often into one or the other guna, realization is that state which is beyond the three gunas. This is what the Lord terms as guna ateetha (one who is beyond the gunas). The gunas are part of Prakrithi or Maya whereas the very nature of the Lord is beyond the gunas. But most of the time we are immersed in either activity or inactivity (as in laziness, slumber etc.). The way to go beyond the gunas is through sattva alone – whenever a seeker does sadhana along with knowledge, it is sattva guna and will help him in going beyond the three gunas. Knowledge is nothing but constant remembrance that the entire world is filled in and out with the ultimate reality of Lord who alone is the substratum-cause of the illusory world. As a seeker tries to be in sattva guna, slowly he will go beyond the gunas - then irrespective of whether the body or mind is in rajas or tamas, he will ever abide as the witness Self (the ultimate reality of Lord).

In order for a seeker to go beyond gunas, knowledge is essential – the Lord beautifully describes knowledge (that knowledge which will help us go beyond the gunas) thus in Gita:

Na anyam gunebhyah karthaaram yadaa drestaa anupashyathi
Gunebhyascha param vetti so madbhaavam adhigacchathi

A person who knows the doer of all actions as none other than the three gunas – he remains as a witness of the gunas and their activities; thus he goes beyond the three gunas and attains my state (the state of eternal bliss).

Bhoomidevi continued:

O Lord! The entire world made up of movable and immovable entities and consisting of earth, water, fire, air, space, subtle sense organs, thoughts, mind, ego, vishwapranan etc. is only an illusion in the non-dual reality that you are.

Explanation

The last line of the verse of Bhagavatham in this part is

Tvayi adviteeya bhagavaanayam bhramah

In the one-without-a-second reality of Lord that you are, all these (the entire world) is only an illusion.

The scriptures compare the waking world that we currently perceive as similar to the dream world that each one of us experience while sleeping. In order to explain this clearly, the ancient seers split one entire day into three states (which repeat as various days) of waking (jaagrat), dream (svapna) and dreamless deep sleep (sushupthi). Waking and dream are very much similar in many aspects. A person goes to sleep and he perceives a lot of things. He marries, gets children and then has grand children – all of a sudden he dies due to old age and then visits Yama in naraka. In naraka he suffers variously including thrown into a cage where a ferocious lion resides. Seeing the lion in front of him, he suddenly wakes up. He is all sweating but he realizes that whatever happened was just a dream – he is yet to get married! The entire dream world was only an illusion in the dreamer. The dreamer pervaded and became the entire dream world (each and every object of the dream world). Similarly this waking world is also a long dream in the dreamer of Lord (consciousness that pervades the entire world). This long dream continues and appears to be real as long as the seeker is sleeping. The waking world appears as real as the dream world while in dream. But once a person wakes up from this long dream of waking world, he will realize that there never was any world in the first place – all that he saw was only an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord of the nature of Consciousness.

In order for a person to understand that the entire world is only an illusion, he doesn’t need to realize. Comparing this world with dream world itself is enough to show us that the duality that we currently perceive is only an illusion. Even as various gold ornaments are mere illusions of names and forms in gold – they are gold and gold alone. The names and forms delude us into thinking that each one is different from one another – this delusion continues only until we realize and apprehend the underlying gold which is the essence of all gold ornaments. The goldsmith is one who apprehends this truth constantly and hence whenever we go to him with a particular gold ornament asking him to give a latest fashion ornament, he immediately does it. This vision of the goldsmith about all gold ornaments being an illusion of names and forms in gold and that gold alone is real is the true vision of gold ornaments. Similarly the entire world that we currently perceive is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Conscious Lord. Without Consciousness, whatever we perceive will have no existence whatsoever.

When a person is able to remember at all times that the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord and is like a dream world, the seeker will not be affected by the activities in this illusory world. All actions will continue but still there will be no craving for a particular fruit – hence whatever is the outcome of those actions, the seeker will ever be blissful. It is this blissful state that we are constantly seeking and what Vedanta terms as jeevan mukthi (liberated from sorrow even while living).

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 10

2008-12-18T06:26:00.000-08:00

Bhoomidevi continued:

Since you are unborn, you are the cause of the entire world. To such unborn cause of the world I offer my prostrations. To you who are Brahman and possessing infinite power, my prostrations.

Explanation

We saw the previous day as to the uncaused or unborn cause of the world which is of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Since the Lord is the uncaused cause of the world, therefore he has infinite power. One who is infinite obviously will have infinite power – this infinite power is what makes Ishwara create the illusory world yet making it appear as if real.

Ishwara possessing infinite power isn’t just for our amazement or amusement but it is something that can propagate us to seek Ishwara beyond all limitations. We generally trust police officers because we know they have power. But even police officers die in the line of duty which goes on to show that their power is limited – if we can trust people with limited power, then why shouldn’t we trust the Lord with infinite powers.

If we trust the Lord, then we will be able to experience his infinite powers helping us in all possible ways whenever we are in trouble. It is for this reason that we find Meerabhai not dying even after consuming poison because she trusted and surrendered completely unto the infinite powerful Lord and the Lord saved her as a result of the surrender. Even as a police officer will not protect us unless we ask for protection or seek refuge in him, similarly the Lord also will not protect us unless we seek him with earnestness.

It is this concept that the Lord mentions in many places of Gita as “I will protect you”. Unlike protections from worldly people, the protection of the Lord is complete and we can definitely depend on the Lord as his power is infinite.

If we surrender unto the infinite powerful Lord, he will not only help us in worldly situations but he will also help us in going beyond the temporary world thereby giving us eternal bliss – it is this bliss that we are constantly seeking in the external world. The way to get this bliss through surrender to the all-powerful Lord is very easy as we are often used to surrendering to our kith and kin. Unlike other surrender, the surrender to the Lord need not be displayed externally – we just have to pervade our mind with the thought of the Lord. Surrender to the Lord is not falling at his feet or singing his glories externally at all times – it is simply remembering the Lord at all times in our mind with the knowledge that the Lord alone is present here as the uncaused cause-substratum of the illusory world. If we are able to get this surrender by remembering the all-powerful nature of the Lord, then very soon the Lord will take us out of all our sorrows, miseries and troubles into the state of eternal bliss.

Bhoomidevi continued:

Unto you who are the individual and supreme Self, my prostrations.

Explanation

When we analyze the world, we will find that whatever is present in the totality is present in the individual as well. Totality is called samasthi and individuality is called vyashthi. The external world consists of the pancha bhootas (five elements) of Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Ether. The individual body also consists of the pancha bhootas (the place where the pancha bhootas are found in the body is called chakras or focus-points – for eg: stomach portion contains the water-element, throat portion contains the ether-element etc.). The total world has a cosmic Ego called Brahma who controls it – the individual body has an Ego which we call jeeva.

Brahma becomes three based on the activities of creation, protection and destruction as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Similarly the Ego in us also does the three activities of creation, protection and destruction.

The basis for Brahma is Ishwara of the nature of pure Consciousness. The basis for jeeva (which is reflection of Consciouness in the intellect) is pure Consciousness or Chit.

Thus we find that the individual is not different from the total but one appears to be big whereas the other appears to be small. Big and small are relative and at the empirical plane. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa gives a beautiful analogy to illustrate this – there are many sugar dolls kept; one is an elephant, another is a lion and yet another is a dog. The shapes of the three sugar dolls are different but all the three are essentially sugar and sugar alone. Similarly the world and the individual body both are different names and forms in the non-dual reality of Conscious Lord – therefore they are essentially one and the same.

If we go to a goldsmith and tell him that we need a better design for our gold chain, he will take a chain and make a design out of it thereby giving it back to us. We differentiate between the old design and the new design though both are only different names and forms. The goldsmith doesn’t differentiate between both designs instead he always remembers and knows that they both are essentially gold only. This vision of seeing all gold ornaments as gold has to be extended to the world with the knowledge that the entire world (inclusive of totality and individuality) is only the ultimate reality of Lord. Once we remember the entire world to be nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord, then all our sorrows will instantly vanish – sorrows are because of seeing things as different from one another. As a result of the vision of difference, we like something and dislike something – this in turn causes attachment and aversion which in turn leads us to temporary happiness and sorrow. Even the temporary happiness is very short-lived that often it leads us to get sad. Thus we should always remember that everything that is perceived or heard is only an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord – the essence is only the ultimate reality of Lord. This constant remembrance is very essential for a seeker to go beyond sorrow and ever rejoice in bliss.

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 09

2008-12-18T06:24:00.000-08:00

Bhoomidevi continued her praise

O Lord! You who reside in the various bodies which are like towns with many entrances, I prostrate unto you.

Explanation

The reality behind the dual world filled with differences between each and everything is the non-dual reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. This reality pervades the entire illusory world in and out even as the dreamer pervades the entire dream world. A person goes to sleep and he gets a dream – he finds himself in a beautiful world filled with sensual pleasures, damsels and other enjoyments. He does quite a lot of activities in the world. He marries, begets children who then give him grandchildren. Thus days pass by and all of a sudden he wakes up. He realizes that the entire dream was only an illusion and that he himself became the entire dream world. Even as the dream world is nothing but an illusion of names and forms in the dreamer (the dreamer becomes the various names and forms or objects of the dream world), similarly this entire world is but names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord.

Thus the Lord is the underlying essence of the world filled with names and forms even as gold is the essence of various gold ornaments (which are just names and forms in gold). Thus the Lord resides in the various names and forms as the substratum-essence of the names and forms. It is this concept that is beautifully explained by Bhoomi Devi today. It is this same concept that the Lord proclaims to Arjuna in many places as “I reside in the heart of all beings”.

The beings in the world but living and non-living have bodies of their own. The body of a human being is different from the body of an animal which in turn is different from the body of a tree or a rock. It is the ultimate reality of Lord who is the essence of both living and non-living beings (even as the dreamer is the essence of a rock and human beings seen in the dream world). Thus the Lord resides in all the bodies. The body of a human being (in particular) has been considered as a town filled with nine holes (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth, organ of excretion and organ of reproduction).

It is the light inside the body (the light of Consciousness which is the ultimate reality of Lord) that makes everything including the body and other objects of the world existing. Without Consciousness, there is no light in the world and hence the entire world will cease to exist.

When a seeker tries to find out the ultimate reality of Lord, he realizes that the body is just an inert entity which appears to be conscious because of the Conscious principle of Lord residing in the body. Thus the body is negated from the Lord – thereby a seeker doesn’t give too much emphasis or importance to the body. Instead he tries to overcome the attachment to the body through the knowledge that the indwelling Consciousness that pulsates as “I-exist, I-exist” is in fact the non-dual reality of Lord in which the illusion of body and the entire world appears. This knowledge ever remaining in the intellect of a seeker can help the seeker overcome all bondages in the world. But when the seeker realizes, he realizes that there never was any body – the body was just an illusion even as water seen in desert never really exists – thus he realizes that there is only the ultimate reality of Lord existing here, one without a second.

It is this state of realization that we have to achieve by distinguishing the ultimate reality of Lord from the various names and forms. The moment a seeker differentiates the Lord from names-forms, he always contemplates that the names-forms are also the ultimate reality of Lord but temporarily illusions appearing to be existing and different from the Lord. Thus dual notions vanish from such a seeker’s mind wherein the seeker doesn’t enter into attachment or aversion – thereby spending each and every moment remembering that the entire world is pervaded by the ultimate reality of Lord and thus ever rejoicing in bliss.

Bhoomidevi continued:

I prostrate unto you who are the first cause (supreme cause) and poorna bodha (full consciousness) in nature.

Explanation

The concept of finding the unknown cause from the known effect is something that we apply for everything. This same concept is also used in Vedanta to trace back from the known world to the unknown cause of the world.

Why do we need to trace back from the known world to the unknown cause?
This is because the world is characterized by “anityam” and “asukham”. Anityam means it is temporary and constantly changing. That which is constantly changing is subject to the six modifications of birth, existence, growth, disease, decay and death. That which takes birth and dies will not give us long-lasting happiness (eternal bliss). It is long-lasting happiness that we are constantly seeking in the external world. It is this thirst for eternal bliss that makes us to do things over and over in this and many other births. Until we achieve eternal bliss there will be no contentment, no satisfaction and no happiness.

Since the entire world is temporary and cannot give us eternal bliss, therefore the one and only way to get eternal bliss is by seeking that entity which is eternal. It is this eternal entity that is termed in the scriptures as Brahman or Ishwara or Paramatman or Atman. The nature of this Brahman is Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute (we will see as to how a little later).

Any changing entity needs a changeless substratum. We are walking in the road and see a car moving – we say that the car is moving considering ourselves as stationary (which is obviously not the case as we are part of Earth which is moving but we have to assume a stationary entity to perceive movement). A variable in mathematics is only an illusion in a constant – a variable at any point of time is a constant. Thus changes require a changeless substratum. The changing world also therefore needs a changeless substratum.

In order to find the changeless substratum, we have to find out the cause of the world (that cause from which the world came). Any entity that we see in the world needs a cause – nothing happens without a cause. Thus the world also requires a cause. This cause has to be the first or supreme cause (that cause which is not caused by anything else but which is ever-existing). If the cause itself has another cause, then this will lead to an infinite regression. This supreme cause has to be a sentient entity as an insentient rock cannot create something (only sentient entities can create things). The supreme cause thus is a sentient one – sentience means it is Consciousness in nature. Since it is the first cause (uncaused cause), therefore it is also Existence in nature. That which is ever-existing and Consciousness in nature (which means it can never cease to exist) is eternal bliss in nature (as bliss is when something is eternal and complete). The supreme cause is perfect in all aspects as it is not limited – this is because it is non-dual. We cannot assume that there were two causes because then we have to assume a relation between both which in turn would suggest another cause that creates these two causes. Thus the supreme cause is non-dual Existence, Consciousness and Bliss in nature.

If the supreme cause created the world out of itself, then the entire world has to be nothing different from the cause. Thus the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in the supreme cause even as the effect of pot is only an illusion of names and forms in the cause of mud. But when we perceive the name and form, we will not be able to apprehend the supreme cause.

The moment we realize that names and forms are mere illusions, then we will realize that we are not different but one with the blissful Lord – this will thus give us eternal bliss that we have been continuously seeking.

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 08

2008-12-18T06:22:00.000-08:00

Bhoomidevi continued:

You take many forms in order to fulfill the desires of your devotees. In reality you are the supreme cause which is of the nature of indivisible Consciousness.

Explanation

In the 12th chapter of Gita titled Bhakthi Yoga, the Lord speaks about saguna and nirguna bhakthi – devotion towards form God and devotion towards formless God. This concept has been beautifully mentioned in two lines by Bhoomidevi in this part of Bhagavatham.

Ishwara is by nature formless. This is because Ishwara is unlimited, infinite and blissful in nature. Anything which has a form is limited by space, thereby finite and will not get bliss (eternal happiness – it can give happiness but not happiness which is eternal). Thus Ishwara has to be formless.

But as the Lord mentions in Gita, it is very tough indeed to worship the formless as we are still considering ourselves as the body (having a form). For people who think they are the form-body and not the indwelling formless Self, it is very tough to remember or contemplate on Ishwara without a form. Hence the scriptures speak about 33 crore devathas (forms). Even as the world consists of people with different temperament, there are different forms. Each person can choose the form he likes – it is essential to contemplate on a form which a person likes as if the person doesn’t like the form, he cannot remember the form at all. Real worship of form-God is not what we generally think it is – we consider worship as going to the temple, offering pooja in the morning etc. These are just external activities meant to help us in remembering Ishwara. Real worship is when a seeker pervades the form in the entire world. Whatever the seeker sees should be seen internally as the form Ishwara. This is one of the concepts that is beautifully brought out when a person visits Shabarimala (the abode of Ayyappa). A person who wants to visit Shabarimala maintains vows for 41 days – in the entire 41 days and until he returns back from Shabarimala the person calls everybody as “swami” or “god”. Instead of doing this for just 41 days, a seeker has to do it at all times – seeing everything as Ishwara.

If a person’s ishta devata (liked form-God) is Krishna, then he should see Krishna everyone – here seeing means considering everything as Krishna in the mind. Externally one might see things as different from one another but internally (in the mind) he considers all of them as Krishna. Whatever is heard is just the names and songs of Krishna. All actions are offerings to Krishna. Thus the entire world for a Krishna bhaktha becomes krishnamayam (filled with Krishna). When the form of Krishna pervades the entire world, it ceases to be a form (as form is that which is limited in space). Thus through form worship a seeker moves onto formless worship – the worship of that Ishwara who alone exists here. If there is only Ishwara here, how can he have a form? How can he have a name? Only when duality is there, there are names and forms. Once the seeker goes beyond duality by seeing everything as Ishwara, then there is no duality whatsoever.

It is this formless non-dual Ishwara who is of the nature of indivisible Consciousness. Ishwara is Consciousness in nature as he is ever present experiencing himself and illumining the illusory world as well. He is indivisible as he is non-dual – everything is only an illusion in him thus making him the only real existence.

Since most of us cannot contemplate on the non-dual formless reality, therefore we can worship the various forms of God (which are taken by the Lord himself in order for the devotees to easily seek him).

Bhoomidevi continued:

You who are lotus-bellied, lotus-eyed and lotus-feet I offer my prostrations. To you who are Vasudeva pervading the entire world, I offer my prostrations.

Explanation

Scriptural way of prostration is when there is not just prostration but the truth or reality of the Lord is also very clearly brought out. This is what we see Bhoomidevi doing here.

In order to understand this better let us quickly see a very popular sloka.

Satchidaanandarupaaya vishvotpatyaadi hethave
Taapatraya vinaashaaya sri krishnaaya vayam namaha

I prostrate that Krishna who is of the nature of Sat Chit Ananda (Existence, Consciousness and Bliss), who is the cause of creation-protection-destruction of the world and who removes the three sorrows of adhyatma (out of one’s body, mind), adhibhootha (out of other beings like thieves, animals etc.) and adhidaiva (natural calamities).

The above sloka is where the author prostrates Krishna. But rather than the sloka being a mere prostration sloka, the author gives a crystal clear description of the ultimate reality of Lord. The very nature of the Lord (svaroopa) is explained first as Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Next the author explains the Lord with respect to the world that we constantly perceive (thatastha lakshana) – the Lord is the cause-substratum of the illusory world. The Lord is the creator, protector and destroyer of the world even as the dreamer is the creator, protector and destroyer of the dream world. Even as the water seen in desert is an illusion and thereby is created, protected and destroyed by the desert, similarly the ultimate reality of Lord is the creator, protector and destroyer of the world (the world is thereby an illusion in the blissful substratum of the ultimate reality of Lord). What does a person gain by knowing or worshipping such a Lord? This is being explained through the words that the Lord is one who will completely eradicate sorrows that we face in life (all the three types of sorrows). Thus the nature of the Lord as is, with respect to the world is being explained and the author also speaks about the fruit that a seeker would achieve by worshipping such a Lord.

Thus one small prostration sloka has the entire scriptures in brief in it. This is how ancient authors who were ever abiding in the ultimate reality of Lord used to prostrate and at the same time giving the reader/learner a brief glimpse at the nature of the Lord.

Lotus is something which looks very beautiful when blossomed. This blossomed state is the blossoming of the mind wherein the mind goes beyond duality and is ever abiding in non-duality. Lotus is also a flower that is in water but its leaves are never wet by water – similarly a realized master is one who is doing activities in the world like any normal worldly person but he is ever unaffected by the impurities of the world (sorrows and sufferings). Here Bhoomidevi equates the Lord’s various parts to lotus which means that the Lord is ever beyond duality and though he might take various forms yet he is unaffected and untainted by the impurities of the world.

Vasudeva is a word which is derived in Vishnu Purana as one who is all pervasive and in whom the entire world resides. Even as the dreamer pervades the dream world but at the same time unaffected as he is the substratum of the dream world, similarly the ultimate reality of Lord pervades the entire world (like space) but is unaffected as he is the substratum in which the illusory world is seen.

If we can contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord as pervading the entire world, then we will realize that we are not different from the Lord – thus we will find ourselves pervading the entire world (existence in all objects) yet unaffected by the objects – it is this state of living that the scriptures term as jeevan mukthi (liberated from bondage while living in the world).

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 07

2008-12-18T06:20:00.000-08:00

Once the Lord killed Naraka, munis and devathas showered flowers on the Lord along with utterances of “good, good”. When her son was killed Bhoomidevi appeared in front of the Lord and showered praises on the Lord.

Explanation

We find here Bhagavatham mentioning about munis and devathas showering flowers on the ultimate reality of Lord in the form of Sri Krishna. Let’s try to analyze this aspect so that we may also be able to rejoice in the victories of the Lord in the illusory world.

Muni is a person who has controlled his mind through constant practice of mananam (reflection). Reflection is nothing but trying to thoroughly analyze and convince the mind that there is nothing here but the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists as the substratum of the illusory names and forms of the world. His mind is ever calm and composed as it knows that there is no duality whatsoever here though duality appears to be existing. A person who sees water in desert for the first time might run towards water with excitement. But a person who knows that there is no water at all will not get affected even if it appears as if lots of waves are there in the water. This is because he knows beyond doubt that there is no water at all.

Similarly a person who learns the scriptures will learn that the entire world is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord even as the dream world is only an illusion in the dreamer. Such a person thereby will get the intellectual conviction that there is no duality whatsoever here and everything is but the non-dual reality of Lord. This knowledge thereby will always make his mind calm – mind gets agitated when it sees duality thereby creating likes and dislikes which in turn get translated into attachment and aversion which finally give us the dual outputs of happiness and sorrow. Thus the agitated mind is often whirled between happiness and sorrow due to seeing duality as real. But when a seeker goes through scriptural learning, he learns to control the mind with the knowledge that the duality seen is not real but it is just temporary alone. Thus the mind though might perceive duality (even as a person who knows there is no water in desert might still perceive the mirage) but it will always know that there is no duality whatsoever here.

This is what Katha Upanishad beautifully explains as

Manasaa eva idam aapthavyam neha nana asthi kinchana
Mrityoh sah mrityum gacchathi ya iha nana iva pashyathi

Know through a mind (which has learnt the scriptures and gained purity) that there is no duality whatsoever here; a person who sees duality as if existing (considering it as real) will go from death to death (death here denotes dukham or sorrow and suffering).

When a person controls and focused the mind on the ultimate reality of Lord beyond the illusory names and forms, then such a mind will experience the destruction of all evil tendencies that might spring up due to vasanas (latent tendencies in this birth or many previous births). It is this destruction of the impurities of the mind that is witness by the munis as killing of Narakasura by the Lord. It is the Lord (thought of the ultimate reality of Lord) who kills all impure thoughts of the mind (impurities start with duality – the non-dual reality thereby kills duality as duality is only an illusion in non-duality). If we are ardent seekers of the ultimate reality of Lord, then we will slowly grasp the scriptural truth that everything is just an illusion in the Lord thereby killing all impurities of the mind and witnessing the Lord killing them thereby ever rejoicing in bliss like the munis in this part of the story.

Bhoomidevi praised the Lord thus:

For you who are the Lord of all gods and bearer of shankha-chakra I offer my prostrations.

Explanation

We will try to see the praises of Bhoomidevi slowly line by line so that we are benefitted by each and every line of Bhagavatham increasing our conviction about the Lord and remembrance of the Lord in order for us to realize the ultimate reality of Lord in this very birth itself.

We see Bhoomidevi offering her prostrations unto the Lord. Prostrations are a part of many ritualistic actions. When we go to meet a Mahatma or an elder or the temple, we fall at their feet – this is generally considered as prostration. But this is not the prostration that Bhoomidevi is offering here. Prostration is not just falling at another’s feet. The Sanskrit word for prostration is namah – namah means na mama (not mine). Thus prostration needs to have the attitude of surrender in it. Surrendering oneself completely to another person is real prostration – as we can know this is much more than just falling at the feet of a person. Surrender means a seeker gives up everything that he associates as “I” and “Mine”. This will leave the seeker will no sense of attachment or aversion – when there is no individuality, duality completely vanishes. Thus everything now becomes the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus surrender also needs knowledge as part of it – the knowledge that everything is but an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord. It is this knowledge about the Lord and Mahatma’s who are ever abiding in the Lord that can bring about complete and total surrender – we will not surrender to a beggar whereas we might surrender partially to James Gosling or Steve Jobs (as they both know quite a lot). Thus knowledge about the ultimate reality of Lord as the substratum of the illusory names and forms (which is commonly known as world) is an important component in making surrender complete and total.

Surrender removes duality – duality in turn removes sorrow arising out of attachments and aversions. As Ishavasya Upanishad beautifully puts it, how can there be delusion or sorrow for a person who is seeing oneness everywhere. Thus surrender will lead us to a blissful state devoid of sorrow and suffering – it is this state that everyone desires to achieve each and every minute of their life.

Even as surrendering aspect is important in prostration, it is also important to prostrate at the right person. If we prostrate at a wrong person, then it will lead to our doom – this is very important in current day as we can find each and every person proclaiming himself to be a Mahatma after learning a few scriptures or gaining some spiritual visions.

This brings us to the question of who is a real Mahatma. A real Mahatma is one who is ever abiding in the ultimate reality of Lord thereby always speaking, thinking and making us think about the Lord. Yoga Vasistha gives a beautiful description of a Sadguru – Sadguru is one who through sight, touch and words make the seeker realize the Lord and thereby rejoice in bliss. Thus a Mahatma is one who is ever blissful and able to give us bliss – we can experience that inexplicable bliss if we approach such a Mahatma with an open mind.

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 06

2008-12-18T06:18:00.000-08:00

The Lord used pointed arrows and killed the army of Naraka. Garuda spread his wings and completely destroyed the battalion of elephants. Following this Naraka himself got ready to battle the Lord.

Explanation

We find the Lord taking on the mighty army of Naraka. But the army of Naraka is not at all a match for the Lord.

Let’s try to analyze this from a Vedantic viewpoint. The ultimate reality of Lord is of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. The Lord is Consciousness which makes everything in the world shine – sentient and insentient, ignorant and learned, wealthy and poor etc. – because of the Lord. Thus the Lord is independent and the entire world is dependent on the Lord. Bhagavatham explains this very clearly in the mangala sloka itself as “trisargo mrisha” that the entire world is only an illusion in the Lord. An illusion is always dependent on the substratum where the illusion is perceived. This is like the water seen in desert is dependent on the substratum of desert – without the desert, there cannot be any water seen.

Anything that is dependent is not at all a match for the independent entity – the moment the independent entity comes to the peripheral vision, that very moment the dependent entity gets completely destroyed. Taking the example of water seen in desert – the moment desert is perceived, water gets completely destroyed. Similarly when the Lord is present, everything else is automatically destroyed – then what about the seeker? The seeker’s very nature is the Lord. Until he realizes this, the various asuras (dependent entities) exist. When the seeker seeks the Lord ardently desiring realization, the Lord appears in front of the seeker. When the Lord appears everything else immediately vanishes thereby leaving behind the Consciousness pulsating in the seeker as “I-exist, I-exist” – this Consciousness is one with the ultimate reality of Lord.

The way to realize the ultimate reality of lord as our very nature of Consciousness is by always contemplating on the Lord as pervading the entire world. When a seeker always has the thought of the ultimate reality of Lord in his mind, then he gets rid of the duality which in fact veils the ultimate reality of Lord even as the water veils the desert in which it is seen.

It is through this that the asuras who cause sorrow to us are completely destroyed. The destruction of the asuras denotes the destruction of the unreality which in fact makes us suffer and whirl in the vicious circle of birth-death. When the asuras are destroyed by the contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord at all times, then sorrow vanishes thereby making the seeker ever abide in bliss.

Naraka used his mace on the Lord. But the effect of the mace-attack on the Lord was like a flower garland falling on an elephant. When Naraka saw that the mace didn’t have any effect on the Lord, he took his trident and advanced towards the Lord. Before Naraka could use his trident, the Lord severed Naraka’s head with his chakra thereby letting it fall to the ground. The head of Naraka on the ground sent out lights towards all directions as it was ornamented with various ornaments like crown, ear-ring etc.

Explanation

We find today as to how the Lord kills Naraka. As we discussed in the previous days, there is nothing impossible for the Lord. Anything and everything is possible and in a very easy way for the ultimate reality of Lord as he has created the world, he is protecting the world and he destroys the world.

The Lord who is the substratum of the illusory world controls the entire world even as the dreamer controls the entire dream world. We find this very clearly here by seeing as to how the Lord kills Naraka. The Lord is able to kill Naraka effortlessly. This is possible because the Lord controls the entire world – the Lord is the creator of the world hence he also knows everything about the world. It is for this reason that the Lord is endowed with Sarvajnatvam (all-knowing).

If we look at the life of Krishna, we can easily understand this. There was nothing that Krishna didn’t know – he knew that his entire clan will fight and die; he knew that Mahabharatha Yuddha will happen and wipe out Kauravas; he knew that he would evade Jarasandha until the time was set to kill him. It is not just prediction of worldly incidents that Krishna did but he was able to impart knowledge about the ultimate reality of Lord (that which can only be hinted and pointed out as one’s very nature of Consciousness as it is the Subject that cannot be objectified).

The Lord himself mentions in Gita thus about his all-knowing nature:

Bahuni me vyatheethaani janmaani tava cha arjuna
Taani aham vedah sarvaani na tvam vetta paranthapa

O Arjuna! You and I have gone through many births (in ignorance); I know all of them but you don’t know about them.

There are many things that a seeker can seek out of the all-knowing Lord. We can ask for lot of money, fame, power etc. But the right seeker will not ask worldly objects or possessions that only give him limited happiness; instead the real seeker will ask for eternal bliss (that state where a person knows everything and nothing remains to be known). Only when a seeker asks the ultimate reality of Lord for moksha (eternal bliss), will he be shown the way to his inner Self of the nature of bliss by the Lord.

When a seeker realizes his very nature of blissful Lord, he also realizes that the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in the Lord. Thus he will know everything as an illusion in the substratum of Lord. What is there to know for such a seeker as he knows everything as the Lord? There is no point of knowing names and forms as they are many and each minute new name-form of any object will be created (even as new ipod models are released very often). But the knowledge of everything as being the ultimate reality of Lord will give the seeker eternal bliss after having attained which there will be nothing more to seek, nothing more to attain and nothing more to know. Such a seeker’s life becomes fulfilled as he will always rejoice in bliss.

It is this bliss that we all are seeking and it can be achieved by surrendering unto the all-knowing Lord thereby asking the Lord for the coveted price of moksha (which is our very nature of blissful Lord veiled by the ignorance caused by the duality of names-forms).

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 05

2008-12-18T06:15:00.000-08:00

Murasura who had five faces sprung out of the water with a trishoola as if he was about to swallow the three worlds. He used the shoolam targeting garuda (the Lord’s ride) and opened all his five mouths laughing mockingly. Muran started growing till sky. The pouncing Muran was opened up by the Lord with his gadha (mace). The face of Muran which came against the Lord was shattered into pieces by the Lord’s chakra. Muran’s seven sons attacked the Lord seeking revenge – the Lord very easily sent them as well to Yamaloka.

Explanation

We have analyze many times earlier that the Lord can be achieved not just through love but through hate as well – whether it is love or hate, it should be such that our mind is pervaded with the thought of the Lord alone and our vision should be that everything is the Lord alone.

In Mahabharatha we can find that as Krishna grew in Gokula, Kamsa’s vidvesha or anger towards the Lord also grew. It became the peak when Kamsa started seeing the Lord alone – while walking, while drinking, while sleeping etc. It is this vision of oneness which is the sadhana that will grant us the blessing of eternal bliss (liberation from all bondages and sorrows).

Thus it is not important as to with what aspect we worship the Lord (worship here means vision of oneness) but what is important is worshipping the Lord. We find that asuras have realized the Lord through anger whereas devotees have realized the Lord through love.

Thus as seekers seeking the ultimate reality of Lord, we have to always thrive to get the vision of oneness whether it is through loving or hating the Lord. Here we find Muran having that hatred for the Lord so strong that he goes to any extent in order to kill the Lord who has come to attack Narakaasura. It is this hatred for the Lord that takes Muran beyond all limitations thereby making him merge unto the reality of Lord. This is denoted by the killing of Muran by the Lord. Muran’s children also were killed by the Lord. We may think of the Lord as a sadistic person who kills people – the killing here is not of the Self but of the Ego which has negative tendencies (these negative tendencies are called asuras). All negative tendencies arise from not acknowledging the ultimate reality of Lord as pervading the entire world – instead seeing duality in the world. This duality in turns leads to attachment and aversion which in turn takes us to happiness and sorrow. If only our attachments and aversions were diverted to the ultimate reality of Lord while seeing him everywhere, the same attachments and aversions that lead to our downfall would in fact help us in the spiritual path towards bliss.

It is for this reason that Vidyaranya proclaims in Panchadashi that the creation of the Lord is not an obstacle for the spiritual seeker and it only helps the seeker in realizing. The creation of the Lord is pervaded by the Lord. But due to our lack of vision of oneness, we fail to perceive the Lord in the creation – instead we end up seeing the creation from our mental thoughts thereby adding likes and dislikes to the creation. Instead of trying to view creation from our perspective, if we see creation from the real perspective we will find that everything in the world (both sentient and insentient) is pervaded with the Conscious and Existence principle of Lord. Once we acknowledge this, the blissful aspect of the creation also will be enjoyed – thus taking the seeker to a blissful state wherever he is in the world.

The Lord through the killing of the asuras shows us that it isn’t tough to see oneness everywhere. If an asura who doesn’t like the Lord at all is able to see oneness everywhere then it is very easy for us who like the Lord and are seeking the Lord as bliss. Once we seek the Lord through vision of oneness, the Lord will kill our Egos and make us eternal (one with the Lord thereby ever rejoicing in bliss).

We will continue with the story in the next day.

With the killing of Murasura and his children, Narakasura himself came to fight the Lord with a sword and an entire clan of wild elephants. At that time the Lord along with Sathyabhama shone like a Sun amidst clouds.

Explanation

The spiritual path is such that there will be obstacles quite often. Even as any worldly goal has lots of obstacles on the way which have to be overcome, similar is the case with the spiritual goal of bliss. The goal of getting a job cannot be achieved when a child is born. The child has to grow; attend classes; clear each and every standard; then get a degree; then search for a job; attend interviews many of which would be failures. If a worldly goal like getting a job has so many obstacles or hurdles to cross over, the spiritual goal of moksha will have much stronger obstacles.

The difference between worldly hurdles and spiritual hurdles is that worldly hurdles are easy to overcome through one or the other way whereas spiritual hurdles are very tough to overcome as most of the hurdles can only be overcome when the Ego ceases to exist.

Only a seeker who has surrendered his Ego unto the Lord or has renounced the Ego through contemplation of the entire world as filled with the Lord can overcome the Ego thereby getting rid of all obstacles.

Killing or overcoming of the Ego is not as simple as it appears to be. Ramana Maharshi used to say that overcoming the Ego is the toughest step in the spiritual path as the Ego poses as a friend to us. Most of us are used to worldly norms of relatives and friends. Hence it is often tough to realize that neither relatives nor friends can help us remove sorrows as they themselves are fighting to overcome sorrows. Even as a blind person cannot lead another blind person; even as a drowning person cannot save another drowning person, similarly a person suffering in the ocean of samsaara (ignorance) cannot save another suffering person. The only people who can help us from the ocean of samsaara is the ultimate reality of Lord and realized masters (who are one with the ultimate reality of Lord). Since the Ego poses as a friend, it is very tough to kill the Ego even as killing a friend is tough. This killing of Ego becomes easier if we realize that by killing of the Ego, the Ego is no longer limited but becomes unlimited – the Ego is no longer suffering but rejoicing in bliss.

It is very important to remember that the spiritual path is filled with obstacles as tough as killing the Ego so that we are always alert and focused on the goal. A person might be a good driver who doesn’t need to focus on his driving but when either the road is narrow one or he is driving during night (when he is feeling a bit sleepy), he is alert and focuses on his driving (though he is a good driver). Thus we shouldn’t be afraid of the spiritual path as it is filled with obstacles but should become alert, vigilant and ever focused on the goal so that we don’t get lost in the path thereby not getting bliss (the goal of the spiritual path).

We find here that the Lord goes through many hurdles in the form of asuras. Asuras one after the other come to attack the Lord. Similar is the case in the spiritual path of a seeker as well. But the biggest hurdle comes last – similarly in the spiritual path the biggest hurdle of Ego comes at the end and it is very tough to conquer like Narakasura.

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 04

2008-12-18T06:11:00.000-08:00

The Lord along with Sathyabhama reached prathyakjyotisha (the capital of Naraka). Under the leadership of Muraasura the capital was set with lot of obstacles and hence very tough to reach. But the Lord destroyed all those obstacles very easily.

Explanation

The previous day we learnt about the Lord being like a mother to all of us thereby taking care of us whenever we need. Even as a mother doesn’t take care of the child (though her sights are always on the child) until the child really wants help, similarly the Lord also doesn’t help the devotee until the devotee seeks the Lord will all earnestness.

Now we may have a doubt as to whether the Lord can take care of his devotees? This is being explained in a simple way by Bhagavatham in this part of the story. Narakaasura’s capital was set in such a way that enemies will find it very tough to reach. This is similar to the goal of moksha – moksha is something which is very rare and valuable that in order to reach it a seeker has to overcome quite a lot of obstacles. Unlike worldly obstacles, spiritual obstacles are in the mind of the seeker. If the seeker is able to put his entire mind unto seeking the truth, all obstacles will very easily vanish – but if the seeker is not able to put his entire mind unto the truth there will be one or the other obstacle in the world. Today the obstacles to spiritual sadhana and remembrance of the Lord might be one’s profession – tomorrow it might be one’s parents – day after tomorrow it might be neighbours. Thus the list of obstacles will never get reduced or become zero as one or the other obstacle will still remain as long as the seeker is able to put his entire mind unto remembering the Lord (remembering that the Lord alone exists as the substratum of the illusory world of names and forms).

The obstacles that we face in the spiritual path are like the obstacles we find in computer games – the obstacles are not obstacles at all but they appear to be big obstacles. Once the seeker gets the mental strength to proceed and face the obstacles, immediately the obstacle will cease to be an obstacle (the age-old saying of RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU explains this). But the mental strength to face the obstacles is something that is very tough indeed to achieve.

Once Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was sitting with his disciples. He then asked Narendra a question – imagine that there is a bowl filled with nectar (water of nectar); you are a fly; so how will you drink the nectar? Narendra answered that he will sit at the side of the bowl and try to drink the nectar. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa laughed and exclaimed – “it is nectar – why should you fear? You can directly jump into it in order to drink it – jumping will not make you die but it will make you eternal as it is nectar that you are jumping into”.

It is the sense of ego that keeps a person from killing the limited Ego and becoming unlimited. And this requires mental strength to face the killing of the limited Ego along with the strong conviction that killing of the Ego will not only help us but it will help the entire world. Instead most of the time we think about the ego and its relations that we are unable to kill the Ego. As long as we don’t seek the Lord, the Lord will not be able to help us out. But if we seek the Lord remembering that the Lord will definitely take care of us whatever the obstacle is, immediately the Lord will take care of all obstacles thereby making the spiritual path towards the goal of moksha an easy and quick one.

Like the sound of pralaya, the sound of the Lord’s conch of Panchajanya rang. The sound was like the anaahatha dwani (sound in anahaatha) in a yogi’s mind. Murasura who was sleeping in the water woke up hearing the terrorizing sound of Panchajanya.

Explanation

The conch of the Lord is named Panchajanya. The ringing of the sound woke up Murasura. This denotes the state of a spiritual seeker as well.

If the bad qualities in the seeker have to come out, they have to first rise up from the bottom of the mind. Thus initially when the seeker is progressing in the spiritual path, he can feel the bad tendencies showing up. Unlike a worldly person who just falls a prey to those tendencies, the spiritual seeker seeks the Lord and along with the help of the Lord destroys those bad tendencies.

Here blowing of the conch denotes the bad tendencies coming to the top of the mind. If the seeker sticks on to the spiritual path then the bad tendencies will be destroyed by the Lord himself (for a seeker who has surrendered to the Lord and is remembering the Lord at all times).

The sound of the Lord woke up Murasura – this waking up also denotes the seeker waking up from ignorance and trying to achieve the goal of moksha. Life itself is for realizing one’s own very nature of Lord. Instead of realizing this goal, we have all forgotten the goal in itself. Hence we seek many other things instead of the real goal and consider those temporary objects as our real goal in life. But due to the good deeds of a person there will be a day when we will hear the sound of the Lord – the sound that calls upon us to wake up from the temporary goals and seek the eternal goal of realization. Even then hardly few will wake up – majority will still sleep in ignorance like kumbhakarna’s sleeping. But the bold few who tend to wake up and analyze as to what is happening will be lead to the next level wherein the Lord himself will show them the way to the goal of realization. But these are very few bold and wise people who knowing the futility of the world in itself will seek the eternal fruit of bliss. When they start seeking the eternal goal, they will slowly be guided in the right direction by the Lord through his instruments and various other objects/beings in the world.

Even when a person realizes the futility of the world, still he can choose to ignore the eternal goal and go behind temporary objects of the world. Such people are termed as moodah or fools by the Lord in Bhagavad Gita. If a person doesn’t go behind the eternal goal even after knowing that it is the eternal goal, then he is like a person who sees two plates in front of him – one filled with chocolates and the other filled with a 500 rupee note. The fool is one who will go behind chocolates not knowing that the 500 rupee note can buy much more chocolates. A child generally does it out of ignorance but elderly people do it out of foolishness as they are helpless to come out of the sorrows of the world. People get so used to the illusions in the world that when the right time comes to quit the illusion, they don’t want to quit.

Even such people will be made to quit by the Lord even if takes many births or kalpas. This illusion of birth-death in this temporary world will continue as long as the seeker doesn’t realize his very nature of Lord by seeking the eternal goal.

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 03

2008-12-18T06:08:00.000-08:00

We saw yesterday as to Indra seeking the Lord in order to get rid of the problems caused by Narakaasura. We will see today as to how to overcome problems in life in a very easy way.

Yesterday was celebrated as Ganesha Chathurthi. Ganesha or Ganapathi is also known as Vighnanaashaka (remove of obstacles). And it is for this reason that before anything is undertaken we offer our prostrations to Ganesha.

In fact the 84 crore devathas that the scriptures speak about are not in any sort of conflict like the million human beings are. Though we find devathas fighting amongst each other in the puranas, those are meant to show as to what would happen if we fight amongst each other (and not to taken as such). When Rama came to Earth, Siva wanted to help his friend Vishnu and thereby gave his power to Hanuman (hence Hanuman is called Shankara suvana or son of Shankara by Tulasidas in Hanuman Chalisa).

Thus if we worship one devatha considering the devatha as pervading the entire world, then all the other devathas will give us protection. In short the easiest way to overcome problems in life is by just seeking one devatha – depending on each person’s taste he can choose an ishta devatha (liked god). It doesn’t matter as to what Ishta devatha a person chooses but it definitely matters as how the seeker is showing his devotion to the devatha.

The Lord mentions the right attitude of devotion as ananya bhajanam (always having the thought of Ishwara) in many places of Gita. The most famous sloka goes thus:

Ananyaaschinthayantho maam ye janaah paryupaasathe
Teshaam nithya abhiyukthaanaam yogakshemam vahaami aham

Those who worshp me everywhere with only my thought, I will take care of everything for such people who are ever steadfast in me.

Even as a child seeks the mother when it is in any trouble, similarly we should the ultimate reality of Lord when we are in any trouble. Unlike an ordinary mother who can only solve issues that are within her reach, the mother of ultimate reality of Lord is one who can solve all issues. The Lord needs only one thing for him to solve all our troubles – and that one is thing is constant contemplation of the Lord (having the thought of the Lord at all times). We find here Indra seeking the Lord in order to solve his troubles and we will see in the next few days as to how the Lord solves the trouble of Indra.

Didn’t the Lord once say to Indra that he cannot help Indra until the time is ripe?
Yes but the very thought of the Lord in our mind is enough to give us bliss – then what matters whether we have troubles or not? It doesn’t matter whether we are suffering physically or mentally or emotionally as long as we are blissful. It is happiness that we seek by trying to eradicate suffering. Suffering makes us sad (deprives us of happiness). If we are happy even while suffering, then there is no need for removal of suffering. Ramana Maharshi was always blissful even when he had tumor. Tapovan Maharaj had throat cancer yet he was able to blissfully advice Chinmayananda about implementation of Vedanta. If all of these spiritual masters can remain blissfully irrespective of the situation, then we also can achieve it. And the way to achieve it is by constant remembrance of the Lord as pervading the entire world.

AMMA (Sadguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi) gives a beautiful story to illustrate this. Once the Lord was with the gopis sitting on the shores of Yamuna. At that time there was some lightning and the Lord put a question to the gopis. The question was “what would you do when you face troubles”? One gopi replied that she will pray to the Lord to remove the trouble. Another gopi replied that she will pray to the Lord to give her strength to face the trouble. Radha was silent. The Lord asked Radha as to what she would do. Radha replied “I will remember you, O Lord”. The Lord asked “then?”. Radha said “then nothing”. The Lord waited as if expecting an explanation from Radha regarding her answer. Radha replied that “if I remember the Lord, then there is no suffering or trouble or sorrow, so just remembering the Lord alone is enough”.

Though remembering the Lord alone is enough to make us blissful amidst all troubles, yet the Lord is like a mother who will ensure that his child (devotee) is taken care of. This is the promise of the Lord in Gita to Arjuna that “kaunteya prathijaaneehi na me bhakthah pranashyathi” (O Arjuna! Know for sure that my devotee never perishes).

After listening to Indra, immediately the Lord along with Sathyabhama started towards the town of Naraka.

Explanation

In the previous day we saw as to how Indra sought the Lord when he was in trouble. As to what is the use of seeking the Lord, we find it mentioned in the very next lines of Bhagavatham. The Lord immediately went to meet Naraka. This shows that if a seeker really seeks the Lord even at times of trouble or distress, the Lord will immediately come for the seeker’s help.

There is an incident related to this that comes in the Mahabharatha. When the pandavas were living in the forest, the Kauravas in order to humiliate the pandavas sent the various rishis including Durvasa to the place where Pandavas lived. The rishis came and said they would have bath and come for lunch. Draupadi looked and realized that the rice in the house was over and just one grain was left. She was certain that when the rishis would return from the river (after having taken bath), they would incur the wrath of the rishis. But she wouldn’t give up and hence sought the Lord through prayer. Immediately the Lord came into the house saying that he was hungry. Draupadi offered the one grain rice to the Lord. The Lord ate that and as it goes, half of whatever the Lord eats goes to the entire world thereby everybody in the world felt their hunger vanishing including the rishis. The rishis couldn’t bear to come to the house of the Pandavas as they cannot eat anything (since there is no longer hunger inside them). Thus they went their away – thereby Pandavas didn’t incur the wrath of the rishis.

Just one prayer from Draupadi was enough to bring the Lord and wherever the Lord exists, all problems and sufferings will completely vanish. Wherever the Lord or his thought or his remembrance is there, all sorrows will temporarily vanish. If we are able to seek the Lord at all times (thereby always remembering the Lord), then all sorrows will completely vanish. Such a person who is ever abiding in the thought of the Lord is a person who has realized that there is only the Lord present here and termed as jeevan muktha in the scriptures.

There are many puranic incidents which show as to that the Lord will immediately help his devotees when they seek him with all earnestness. But if there is something lacking in the seeking of the devotee, then the Lord will not be coming to help the devotee. When Draupadi’s dress was being removed by Dusshasana, Draupadi called unto Krishna but with just one hand while the other hand was holding unto the saree. At that time the Lord didn’t help Draupadi. Only when Draupadi let go of the hold of the saree and called unto the Lord will both hands did the Lord help her out. Letting go of the hold of the saree and calling out the Lord with two hands denotes seeking the Lord will all earnestness and letting go of everything else. Letting go of everything else doesn’t mean we have to go the forest renouncing everything – it just means that the Lord’s thought has higher priority than any other thought – the Lord’s thought is that thought which is always there in our mind and no other thought can either remove or veil the thought of the Lord.

If we are thus able to seek the Lord with all earnestness and devotion (devotion means total surrender to the Lord remembering that the Lord alone is present here), then the Lord will immediately help us out like he is helping out Indra in this story.

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 02

2008-12-18T06:04:00.000-08:00

After marrying Rukmini, Krishna married Satyaajit’s daughter Satyabhama and Jaambhavaan’s daughter Jaambhavathi. Krishna also married Kalindi, Mithravindha, Satyaa, Bhadraa and Lakshmanaa as per their wish and desire.

Explanation

It is a well known and famous fact about Lord Krishna that he had many wives (10008 to be precise). In fact many people try to explain their multiple wives by quoting Krishna’s life. But there is a huge difference between the Lord and us with respect to marriage. We marry many people because we want to marry them. When marriage with one person (which is what we desire – we don’t marry because our partner desires us but it is mutual desire) is shattered, we marry again. In some cases even if marriage with one person isn’t shattered, marriage happens multiple times.

But with the Lord, we find Bhagavatham explaining that the Lord married not because he had desires but because the women wanted to marry the Lord. The Lord says thus in Gita about his desires:

Na me parthaasthi karthavyam trishu lokeshu kinchana
Naanavaapthavyam avaapthavyam vartha eva cha karmani

O Arjuna! I don’t have any duty whatsoever in the entire three worlds. I don’t have anything to attain which I don’t currently possess; but still I engage in actions.

Gaudapada while explaining the state of a realized person says “aapthakaamasya kaa spriha” – what desire can be there for one whose all desires have been fulfilled. All desires are fulfilled when a person realizes that the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. After knowing the Lord, there remains nothing else to be known and hence all desires get fulfilled. If there are no desires at all, how can there be desires for marriage?

If that is so, then why does the Lord perform actions?
This is because of two reasons. First is the Lord’s own statement that not even for a single moment can a person live without doing actions – this is something that we all are proofs of. If we try to be without any activity (both external and internal/mental), we will find out that it is impossible. The age-old saying of “an idle mind is devil’s land” also explains the same only. Thus we don’t have any option of whether or not to do actions – but we do have an option of doing actions like an actor portraying his role in a movie. In such a case, the actor isn’t affected by whatever happens to his role – similarly we will not be affected by whatever happens in the world (as we are always immersed in contemplation of the non-dual reality of Lord as the substratum of the illusory world).

Second reason is because the Lord is a role-model for others. His actions and behavior will be imitated by others and hence the Lord performs actions. The Lord could have remained silent like Dakshinamurthy but since the Lord knew that people will try to follow him, therefore he does actions.

But it is not the actions of the Lord that makes him great but it is the state of the Lord wherein he is not affected by the actions or the fruits of the actions.

One of the main reason why the Lord married many women is because the women really sought the Lord. This is the Lord’s way of telling each and every seeker that if we really seek the Lord, then if it is against worldly norms still the Lord will fulfill all our desires and take us to the desire-less state.

Thus with eight wives, the Lord was living happily in Dwaraka. At that time, Indra came to Dwaraka and informed the Lord about the atrocity of Narakaasura. Naraka is the son of Earth. Therefore the asura also has the name of bhauma (bhoomi’s putra). After breaking into Svarga loka, the asura stole Indra’s umbrella as well as Indramaatha adithi’s kundalas (earrings). Not just that but he also overtook Mani Parvatha which is part of Meru parvatham. Indra narrated all of this to the Lord.

Explanation

We learnt yesterday that though the Lord indulges into worldly sensual pleausures yet he is not bound by those pleasures (we are bound by them). Hence he was living peacefully with eight wives in Dwaraka.

Living with one wife at home itself is really tough – so what to speak about eight wives? But still the Lord lived peacefully. This is because the Lord was a mere witness to whatever happened in the illusory world. We don’t necessarily need to implement witness-hood but the moment a seeker surrenders unto the ultimate reality of Lord considering everything as filled with the Lord and all happenings as a will of the Lord, we will automatically be living a peaceful life.

Witness-hood is something that is very essential for a seeker to lead a peaceful and blissful life at all times. The world is based on duality and hence worldly experiences cannot always be happy ones. Whenever we experience worldly happiness, we should remember that the happiness is short-lived and there will be an equal amount of sorrow that will come a little later. Unless we are aware of this, we will be happy as long as sorrow doesn’t come to us. When sorrow hits us, we will become very sad (not just because of the sorrow but brooding over the previous happiness that we enjoyed). This is shown in this part of Bhagavatham – the Lord lived a peaceful life and all of a sudden Indra comes with problemsJ thereby making the Lord to endure the problem. But what makes the Lord’s life always blissful is that he was able to smile even at his problems and troubles in the same way he smiled at happiness. Thus we should always remember that happy moments will always be followed by sad sorrows – this is a rule of the world (dual notions are like two tyres of a bicycle – one cannot exist without the other). We don’t have an option to always be happy with respect to external world but we definitely do have an option of being happy internally like the Lord irrespective of whether we face happiness or sorrow externally.

This is possible either through remembrance of the truth that this entire world is only an illusion like the dream world. Even as the dream world doesn’t affect the dreamer even the least as it is only an illusion, similarly this world that we are currently experiencing is a long dream world which is an illusion in the dreamer of Lord (who is our very Self pulsating each and every moment as “I-exist, I-exist”). If we are not able to remember this, at least we should remember that everything is pervaded in and out by the Lord. Hence whatever happens always happens for good. If something good happens to us, it is a blessing of the Lord. On the other hand if something bad happens, it is the will of the Lord. Either way, it is the Lord’s play and since we are one with the Lord (through our constant of the Lord as pervading the entire world) therefore these sorrows will not affect us. We will be able to smile at both happiness and sorrow as a result of remembrance that the entire world is the Lord and everything is a play of the Lord.

If we are able to always remain blissful remembering that the entire world is the Lord alone, then we also will be able to lead a peaceful life whether we are spending time with our kith & kin or we are facing our grave dangers in our life.

We will see the next day as to how to convert our problems into a blessing by seeking the ultimate reality of Lord.

Story 51 – Story of Narakaasura Vadha (killing) - 01

2008-12-18T06:02:00.000-08:00

Let us start yet another beautiful story of Srimad Bhagavatham starting today. As we discussed in the previous day, the entire scriptures have for their import the ultimate reality of Lord and hence it is also very important to always stay focused on the Lord. If we fail to be focused on the Lord, then we will end up with the illusory world thereby experience only sorrow and suffering. On the other hand, if we are able to always remember the Lord, all activities will only help us move towards eternal bliss.

What about doing bad activities while remembering the Lord?
The Lord himself answers this in couple of places in Gita:

Api chet suduraachaaro bhajathe maam ananyabhaak
Saadhureva sah mantavyah samyak vyavasitho hi sah

Even if a person does the worse action but with remembering me, then he is to be considered a good person as he is always focused on me.

How does he become realized by just remembering the Lord even while doing bad actions?

Kshipram bhavathi dharmaatma shashvat shaanthim nigacchathi
Kaunteya prathijaaneehi na me bhakthah pranashyathi

Soon he will become a good person and achieve eternal peace. O Arjuna! Know for sure that my devotee will never perish.

These words of the Lord are not mere words but promises that he has kept over and over again. Any seeker who becomes a devotee of the Lord can experience the same even today. Thus even if a person does bad actions but includes the thought of non-dual reality of Lord along with it, he will very soon attain realization. Realization is nothing but ever abiding in the thought that everything is only an illusion of names and forms in the Lord.

If realization can happen so soon, what is it that obstructs a person to be realized?
The obstacle to realization is forgetfulness of the Lord which is achieved through focus on worldly objects. When a person doesn’t see beyond the gold ornament’s names and forms, he doesn’t benefit out of the knowledge that it is gold. Thereby he gets attached to one gold form and averted to another. Thus he is lead to sorrows in the long run. Therefore we can say that forgetting the Lord through focus on the names and forms (considering them to be real) is the obstacle for realization. It is this obstacle that is termed as ASURA (asushu ramathe ithi asura – one who concentrates on sense objects is asura). The various asuras denote the tendencies of our mind wherein we don’t focus on the Lord instead focus on the names and forms of the world. Thus killing of the asuras or vadha is nothing but bringing our focus back on to the Lord (all the while experiencing the names and forms). This has nothing to do with going away from the world and living in a forest but it just means that we have include the Lord in our thoughts in order to kill the asuras who are obstacles to eternal bliss.

It is killing of one such asura that the Lord undertakes in this particular story which we will start from the next day.

Days passed by after Krishna returned back to Dwaraka after fooling Jarasandha. Krishna then went to Kundinapuri and wed Rukmini the daughter of Vidarbha King. Krishna wed Rukmini after defeating the various kings who had come to wed her including Shishupala.

Explanation

Here we see a couple of things regarding the ultimate reality of Lord. One is that the Lord continued his activities in the world even after killing Yavana and fooling Jarasandha. Second is that the Lord defeated everyone in order to wed Rukmini.

The Lord makes a profound statement with respect to actions in the Gita thus:

Na hi kaschit kshanamapi jaathu thistathi akarmakrit
Kaaryathe hi avashah karma sarvah prakrithijair gunaih

Not even for a moment can a person be without doing actions; everybody does actions as they are helpless and the actions are done based on their innate tendencies.

The Lord not only just gives speeches but he implements his own words as he is a role model for the entire world. Therefore even after Yavana was killed, the Lord entered into the other activities in the world. Even as each person in the world has some worldly activities to do based on his innate tendencies, the Lord also had worldly activities which included saving people who have surrendered unto him and destroying people who are worshipping him with vidhvesha (hatred).

Though we don’t have a choice as to whether or not to do actions, we still have an option as to the attitude behind all actions. With the right attitude of surrender unto the all-pervasive non-dual reality of Lord, a person ceases to be the doer of actions though actions still continue. The devotee thus does actions like a normal person but without getting attached to the actions or the fruits of the actions. The Lord says that a wise person (jnaani) does actions like a worldly ignorant person except that the wise person is not attached to the actions or the fruits thereof whereas an ignorant person is attached to both the action and the fruits thereof. As long as a person is the doer of actions, he will have to reap the benefits (fruits) of the action whether they are good or bad. A person cannot make a choice as to accept only good fruits and reject bad fruits. As AMMA says that some people are born with a huge credit in their bank of karma based on which they will be enjoying life with happiness – but the happiness will vanish once the credit is exhausted. But a wise person’s credit of happiness is never exhausted as he is no longer the doer or the enjoyer but one with the ultimate reality of Lord. The ultimate reality of Lord’s very nature is that of bliss and a devotee who is always immersed in the thought of the Lord along with offering all actions unto the Lord will thereby be ever blissful. This blissful state of the devotee wherein he is doing actions but like an actor enacting a role is known in Vedanta as saakshi bhava (witness-hood).

As long as a person is involved in an action, the action and the fruits of the action will affect him. But once he is just a witness to the activities of the Ego, he is not affected by either the action or the fruits of the action. Thus the Lord through remaining ever blissful while doing activities in the world shows as that witness-hood is easily possible and it is witness-hood that can give us eternal bliss (which is being sought by everyone).

While a seeker is trying to be a witness to all activities, he might face obstacles of all sorts. If the seeker has surrendered unto the Lord, the Lord will remove all those obstacles and ensure that the seeker progresses in the spiritual path easily. This is shown through the Lord defeating all kings assembled thereby wedding Rukmini (as Rukmini had surrendered unto the Lord and nothing is an obstacle for the Lord who is the substratum of the illusory world).

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - Summary

2008-12-18T05:58:00.000-08:00

We have thus finished yet another beautiful story of Srimad Bhagavatham. Today we will try to see a brief summary of the story so that we will be able to remember things that are to be remembered and those which are to be forgotten thereby achieving the goal of bliss in this very birth itself.

In the spiritual path we always have to follow two things in order to reach the goal (this is same for any worldly goal as well). One is anukoola sevanam or doing activities which will help us in the goal and second is prathikoola varjanam or not doing things which will obstruct the goal for us.

For the spiritual path, anukoola is nothing but always remembering the Lord and seeking nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord alone. Therefore prathikoola is forgetting the Lord which we should never do. Thus always remembering the Lord and never forgetting the Lord is the way to achieve the goal of bliss. Along with remembering the Lord, we also have to remember that the ultimate reality of Lord is the substratum of the illusory world of names and forms that we are currently experiencing. Even as the dream world is only an illusion in the dreamer, similarly this entire world is only an illusion in the Lord. Thus the Lord pervades the entire world even as the dreamer pervades the dream world. We have to always remember this and include the Lord in all actions. Whether we are cooking or walking or speaking or any spiritual activity, we should include the Lord and never forget the Lord. If we are able to do this, then as we progress more and more towards the goal of bliss the Lord himself will appear in front of us and bless us with bliss. This is what is shown in this story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam. The Lord’s activities are for the welfare of everyone not just one or two people. This story illustrates this beautifully. For those who really seek the Lord, the Lord will provide them with wealth and anything else required for sustenance in the world as the Lord did for Dwaraka by killing and taking the money from Yavana.

Not only will the Lord provide us with worldly benefits, but if we set aside the worldly benefits and ask the Lord for the only boon of bliss (remembrance of the Lord) then the Lord will also grant us like he granted for Muchukunda. But the Lord will put in front of us lot of testing to ensure that we really deserve bliss. Muchukunda was initially involved in activities to help Indra but then he set them aside. As the final testing, the Lord also offered him any boon that he wants – if Muchukunda would have asked for worldly benefits, then he wouldn’t have got bliss. A person who sees the dream world cannot benefit out of the truth of dreamer – and a person who is concentrating on the dreamer cannot benefit or be deluded into the dream world. But Muchukunda was not to be deluded into worldly benefits and hence he asked for nothing but bliss alone. This reminds us of the story of Nachiketha in the Katha Upanishad. Nachiketha’s father was doing an yajna and giving away things. At that time, Nachiketha asked his father as to whom would he give Nachiketha to. His father didn’t respond. But Nachiketha asked quite a few times upon which his father angrily replied that he would give Nachiketha to Yama. In order to keep up his father’s word, Nachiketha goes to meet Yama. Yama tries to delude Nachiketha into giving worldly benefits but Nachiketha doesn’t fall a prey to it. Instead he asks to know that which is beyond death (that which is eternal). And as a result of seeking nothing but the Lord who is beyond death, Nachiketha was imparted knowledge of the Lord by Yama thereby attaining moksha of the nature of eternal bliss.

Through this story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam, Bhagavatham is telling each of the seeker that we have to always remember that everything is the Lord alone irrespective of whatever we are doing in the world. This in turn will make us seek nothing but the Lord alone – thereby when we will end up this life, we will be ever blissful in the Lord due to all desires getting eradicated by the knowledge of the Lord.

May the Almighty in the form of AMMA (Sadguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi) bless us so that we may seek nothing but the Lord and constantly contemplate on the Lord at all times thereby realizing the ultimate reality of blissful Lord in this very birth itself.

The ultimate reality – an analysis

Since we have completed the story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam involving the devotee of Muchukunda, before starting the next story let us today try to bring our focus back unto that which is the basis and the subject-matter of Srimad Bhagavatham.

While speaking about the subject-matter, Bhagavatham itself speaks thus:

Sri bhagavatha puranam amalam yad vaishnavaanaam priyam
Yasmin paaramahamsyam ekam jnaanam param geeyathe

This pure Bhagavatha puranam is dear to seekers of the truth (vaishnavas) and in which the ultimate non-dual Conscious truth has been prayed.

Bhagavatham is dear to vaishnavas. Vaishnavas are those who worship Vishnu. The word VISHNU means one who pervades the entire world. The various scriptures speak about VISHNU as who is pervading the entire world inside and outside. Whatever is present is nothing but VISHNU alone.

If everything is VISHNU, then what are the differences?
The differences are mere names and forms. Various gold ornaments are in fact gold alone – the differences in the gold ornaments are mere names and forms. Names and forms have no reality whatsoever but they just appear due to the perspective vision of a person. While we differentiate between a gold chain and gold ring, the goldsmith sees both of them as nothing but gold. Similarly this entire world is mere names and forms of VISHNU – the Conscious principle which is the substratum of the world. The scriptures also give the analogy of dream to illustrate this further. The dream world is only an illusion in the dreamer – there is nothing in dream world but dreamer alone exists. Similarly this entire world is nothing but one Ishwara alone.

Those who see the truth which is Ishwara alone (truth is that which doesn’t change – ever constant) are vaishnavas as they see Ishwara everywhere. It is this Ishwara who is the subject-matter of all scriptures.

Why is Ishwara the subject-matter of all scriptures?
This is because it is knowledge of this Ishwara which makes us perfect; which gives us contentment, bliss, satisfaction and makes us complete (poorna). It is also a fact that everyone is seeking perfection, contentment, bliss etc.

The scriptures only speak of that which is useful for everyone and that which will help seekers to achieve the ultimate goal of bliss. Hence the subject-matter of all scriptures is the ultimate reality of Lord. But amidst the ultimate reality of Lord, there are other things that show up in the puranas including miraculous incidents, details about creation, ritualistic activities etc. Hence it is very important for a seeker to not get deluded into anything apart from the ultimate reality of Lord as that will not give the seeker the desired fruit of bliss. If the ultimate reality of Lord is forgotten, then bliss which is the very nature of the Lord will also be lost.

Hence let us all try to remember the ultimate reality of Lord as the main focus of Bhagavatham so that we are not deluded into other things and deprived of bliss that can be achieved through focus on the Lord.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 16

2008-12-18T05:54:00.000-08:00

Having been blessed by the Lord, Muchukunda prostrated to the Lord with devotion and left the cave. Muchukunda attained Sayujya (oneness) with the Lord after seeing everything as filled with the Lord.

Explanation

We come to the conclusion of this story. As we discussed in the previous day, Muchukunda got the reward of moksha or merging unto blissful Lord. This means that Muchukunda was ever blissful irrespective of situations, surroundings, environment etc. It is this bliss that is being sought by each and every person at all times. Unfortunately most of us are unable to get this bliss and hence keep searching it. This search spans across many births and still it isn’t successful. Until this search is successful, we will ever be sad and never content with life. Contentment comes with bliss or being happy whatever be the situation or things around us. Such contentment is due to the knowledge that we have become one with perfect and blissful Lord. It is that Lord who alone exists here amidst the illusions of names and forms.

Even as the dreamer world is nothing but an illusion in the dreamer, similarly the world that we perceive now is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord. As long as we don’t realize our very Consciousness (that which pulsates as “I-exist, I-exist”) as the ultimate reality of Lord, we will never be blissful and content.

What do we have to do in order to become ever blissful like Muchukunda?
Bhagavatham here summarizes this as “seeing everything as filled with the Lord”. Even as the dream world is pervaded in and out by the dreamer, this entire world is pervaded in and out by the Lord. When we don’t realize this, we enter into the illusory names and forms which can give us only sorrow (like the water seen in desert can only give sorrow unless we see desert as pervading the water). But once we get the right vision of seeing everything as nothing but the Lord, we will be progressing towards bliss (which is the ultimate goal of life). When everything is seen as the Lord, this is the right vision and this removes the notion of one thing being different from another – it is this notion that takes us to the dual notions of likes and dislikes. Likes and dislikes in turn lead us to attachment and aversion which in turn leads us to sorrow and happiness. Bliss is when we are ever happy and untainted by sorrow. When everything is just one entity, then how can there be any sorrow?

Ishavasya Upanishad says
Yasmin sarvaani bhoothaani atmaivaabhoot vijaanatah
Tatra ko mohah kah shokah ekatvam anupashyatah

When a person knows that everything is one entity alone, where is there delusion or sorrow as he sees only oneness everywhere?

Mundaka Upanishad also speaks about the same in a different way thus:

Sa yo ha vai tat paramam brahma veda brahmaiva bhavathi
Tharathi shokam tharathi paapmaanam guhaagranthibhyo vimuktho amritho bhavathi

He who knows Brahman (the ultimate reality of Lord) becomes Brahman (as knowing the Lord is merging unto the non-dual reality of Lord). Such a person crosses over sorrow and all sins; by getting liberated by the bondage of ignorance-desire-action, he becomes immortal (ever blissful).

Thus in short the only thing we have to do in order to attain bliss like Muchukunda is always remembering the Lord as pervading the entire world. This in itself will slowly take us away from our sorrows. Day by day we will feel bliss pervading our life. Ultimately wherever we are, we will be surrounded by bliss like Lord Krishna who was ever blissful even when his son was kidnapped, his entire clan were killing each other etc.

Conclusion

Krishna returned back to Dwaraka which was surrounded by Yavana’s army; killed all of the army and gave the wealth from the army to Dwaraka. At that time, Jarasandha had reached there to try to kill Krishna for the 18th time. Seeing this, Krishna and Balarama started running away as if they were cowards. Jarasandha followed them. Krishna and Balarama went and hid inside the Pravarshana mountain. Jarasandha set the entire forest surrounding the mountain on fire. At the same time, Krishna and Balarama escaped from the mountain through space and reached safely to Dwaraka without being noticed by Jarasandha. Thinking that Krishna and Balarama would have been burnt to ashes, Jarasandha returned to his capital as a contended man.

Explanation

We come to the end of this story of Dwaraka Niramaanam. The very name of the story is building or construction of dwaraka (houses in dwaraka). Any construction or new creating activity requires lot of money. The Lord in killing the Yavana not only gave blessings in the form of moksha to Muchukunda but he also found out the way to accumulate wealth for construction activities in Dwaraka from Yavana.

But there was also a big hurdle that stood in between the Lord and Jarasandha. Though the Lord could have stayed and fought with Jarasandha thereby killing him, the Lord decided that it was not yet time for Jarasandha to be slayed. Hence he not only acted as if he was a coward (running away from Jarasandha), he also gave Jarasandha the feeling that he had tasted victory in killing Krishna and Balarama.

This is in a way indicating to all the seekers that until the time is ripe, the Lord will not kill our Ego (thereby making us realized).

When will the time be ripe?
The ripe time is the time when the seeker completely surrenders unto the Lord. Vamana could have destroyed Mahabali himself but he waited until Mahabali surrendered completely unto the Lord by lowering his head. This is like a doctor cannot perform operation on the patient until the patient fully consents to the operation. Similarly until a seeker completely surrenders unto the Lord, the Lord cannot and will not destroy the seeker’s Ego. When the seeker surrenders unto the Lord, he might still get carried away by Ego but the Lord will ensure that at the right time the Ego is completely destroyed. If the Lord tries to destroy the Ego when the seeker hasn’t surrendered, then the seeker’s Ego will get affected more which might in turn cause the seeker to even commit suicide. Thus the Lord will destroy the Ego of the seeker only when the time is apt and only when the seeker will really benefit out of the killing of the Ego.

If we look at the life of the Lord, we will find that all of his actions did something good to some or the other. This is because the entire world is a play of the Lord – this can be compared to the film created by a director. Even as the director’s thoughts can be found in each and every part of the film, similarly the Lord’s thoughts/intentions can be found in all of his actions – the only thought/intention that the Lord has is to give bliss to whoever really seeks him. Hence all of the Lord’s actions will only give good to others.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 15

2008-12-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

Muchukunda concluded:

O Lord! Always being deluded in Karma Vasana (tendencies of Karma), I was roaming here and there without any peace. Today I have surrendered at your immortal lotus-feet. Please save me.

Explanation

Muchukunda’s conclusive words are the prayers that a seeker should always be remembering and following in his mind. These are words which as we will see tomorrow will take us from the ocean of sorrows to the shore of bliss.

Sankara Bhagavatpada in his Brahma Sutra Bhashya speaks about two things which are contradictory to each other – these two things are karma and jnaana (action and knowledge). A person can be on the plane of either karma or jnaana but not on both. The plane of jnaana is the real plane – that plane which takes us closer to realization, closer to bliss and makes us complete. On the other hand, the plane of action is the illusory plane which will take us away from bliss and more towards sorrow.

This will become clear with the example of water seen in desert. There is no real water in desert – this is the plane of knowledge. If a person is not in this plane of knowledge, then he will start worrying about as to how to get to water, how to collect it, how to bathe in it etc. When a person is ignorant of the plane of knowledge, then actions start in order to achieve the illusory water seen in desert. Similarly we are all in fact one with the ultimate reality of Lord – there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists. When we don’t remember this, we are imperfect and limited in all aspects. Thus an ignorant person starts seeking perfection. As if this was not enough, he seeks perfection in the illusory external world – this is like a person trying to quench his thirst by going behind the water seen in the desert – not only that his thirst will not be quenched but he will be more frustrated and sad. The plane of knowledge is that there is no action to be performed here except complete surrender and always abiding in the truth that the Lord alone exists here. If we forget this, we will be lead into the plane of action. Actions will be performed for enjoying things and enjoying will be done in order to perform more actions. Thus the chain of action and enjoyment will go on without any end. Do actions and enjoyments give us any bliss? No, on the contrary they only give us more and more sorrow, discontent, dissatisfaction and a sense of imperfection.

But the moment a person realizes that there needs to be no action performed and what is to be done is just offering one’s mind completely unto the Lord by always remembering the non-dual reality of Lord, that very moment he gets out of the plane of action and enters the plane of knowledge. In this plane, he always feel blissful, content, satisfied and perfect as there is no duality whatsoever to make him sad or discontent or dissatisfied or imperfect.

The first step to always be in the plane of knowledge where a person is ever blissful is by surrendering completely unto the Lord with the knowledge that everything is but the Lord alone. The second step is always remember the Lord whatever happens – even if the earth splits into two or the sky falls upon us, we should never forget the Lord. Even if we forget our relatives or parents or friends, we should never forget the Lord. If we perform these two steps of surrendering unto the Lord and always being in that surrendered state whatever happens, then we will be ever blissful like Muchukunda. We will see as to how the Lord blesses Muchukunda in the next day.

Hearing the devotion-filled words of Muchukunda, the Lord replied to him thus: O virtue-rich King! Your intellect has strongly been fixed unto me. Even though I try to delude by telling to give boons, still there was no movement to the focused-intellect. Without getting devotion unto me, the mind cannot just be destroyed by doing sadhanas like pranayama etc. Temporarily the mind will merge but it will again rise after sometime and cause troubles. Fixing the mind unto me, roam around any place you want. For you who are seeing me everywhere, there will never be forgetting of the truth.

Explanation

We find the Lord replying to Muchukunda and granting him the eternal fruit of ever abiding in bliss for his devotion to the Lord. The only fruit that we can get out of true devotion to the Lord is the mind and the intellect ever being fixed on the Lord.

The Lord himself says this in Gita 12th chapter thus:

Mayyeva mana aadhatsva mayi buddhim niveshaya
Nivasishyasi mayyeva athah urdhvam na samshayah

Fix your mind unto me and fix your intellect on me; thus you will always abide in you, there is no doubt regarding this.

Fix your mind unto me
Fixing the mind unto the Lord is constant remembrance of the Lord. Wherever a person is, whatever a person is doing, however he is doing – none of this matters – at all times, the thought of the Lord is there in the mind. Even as a lover always thinks about his love, similarly the seeker should always think about the Lord irrespective of the limitations of time, space, environment etc. If we think as to whether this is really possible, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa gives a beautiful illustration to show that this is really possible. There is a maid servant who works in a very rich family’s house. She takes care of all the people in the house including the rich man’s kid – she calls the kid “my child” etc. But even when she is taking care of the people in the rich house, her mind is constantly fixed on her own child who is in the house. This is because she loves her child so much that the thought of the child never leaves her mind. Similarly a seeker should have love towards the Lord so that he is able to always remember the Lord. This love is also called devotion. This devotion is required because this will give us eternal bliss – it is of course bliss that we are constantly seeking each and every moment of our life. This is the only way that we will be able to get bliss in life – it is this bliss which is termed differently as peace, contentment, satisfaction, perfection etc.

But isn’t the mother in the illustration also constantly thinking about her child? So will she not get bliss?

No, she will not get bliss because it is not just enough to constantly think about an entity. The entity’s nature is as important as the entity itself. This is what the Lord says next as fix your intellect unto me.

Fix your intellect unto me
It is not just enough to fix our mind constantly unto the Lord but it is also necessary to remember the nature of the Lord as all-pervasive – the Lord as the substratum of the entire world filled with the illusions of names and forms. If we forget this aspect, then duality will still persist in our mind. The duality will lead to likes and dislikes. Likes and dislikes will further lead to attachment and aversion. This will further lead us to the dual notions of happiness and sorrow.

Thus in order for a seeker to ever abide in bliss, he has to constantly remember the Lord as the substratum of the entire world (the Lord who appears the entire world of names and forms). Even as various gold ornaments like chain, necklace etc. are mere illusions of names and forms, similarly the entire world is nothing but illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord. This can be clearly understood from the experience of dream world. In dream, there is only the dreamer present but he still sees quite an entire world. Only after waking up does he realize that there never was any dream world at all – whatever was there was only the dreamer alone.

When a seeker knows that the entire world is an illusion in the Lord, then what boon can he ask other than ever abiding in the Lord? This is exactly what Muchukunda as well asked. The Lord tried to delude Muchukunda into asking boons which will make him enter into the names and forms which are mere illusions and therefore can lead to only sorrows. But Muchukunda’s intellect was fixed unto the Lord as he always remembered the nature of the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory world. Therefore the Lord proclaimed that Muchukunda will ever abide in the Lord – this means that Muchukunda will ever be blissful and his life will become fulfilled.

Bhagavatham is thus telling each and every seeker that there might be delusions in the world but we have to overcome those delusions by constantly fixing our mind and intellect unto the Lord by remembering the Lord as the non-dual reality behind the illusory world so that we will ever abide in the Lord and be blissful irrespective of where we are, what we are doing etc.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 14

2008-12-18T05:50:00.000-08:00

Explanation

Last day we learnt about Muchukunda saying as to that a seeker of the reality of Lord will never seek any boon related to the samsaara (suffering). Let us today try to discuss a little more on bandha (bondage) and moksha (liberation) so that we will be able to choose moksha whenever we have a situation wherein we have to make a decision in life.

There are many times in life that a seeker will be faced with making decisions in life. These might include the decision to work abroad or in a place different from one’s hometown or marriage or even sanyaasa. These are just some typical situations – basically a seeker will encounter something or the other in the spiritual path at all times that will test his ability to stick onto the truth of moksha.

Vibhishana had to choose between the truth in the form of Rama and his own brother Ravana. Mahabali had to choose between the truth in the form of Vamana and his own Guru Shukracharya. Prahlada had to choose between the truth of Vishnu and his father Hiranyakashipu. Arjuna had to choose between the truth in the form of Krishna and his relatives of Kauravas (which included even his teacher and grandfather).

These seekers knew as to that they have to choose moksha if they ever want to be blissful and hence they were able to make the right decision during these times. If only the obstacle that a seeker has to encounter in the spiritual path is pre-determined, things would be quite easy. But this is not how it works as the obstacle is not external but it is internal.

The scriptures say as to what is bondage and liberation through this beautiful sloka:

Mana eva manushyaanaam kaaranam bandhamokshayoh
Bandhaaya vishayaasaktham mukthaih nirvishayam smritham

Mind alone is the cause of both bondage and liberation for a human being; mind which goes behind worldly pleasures is in bondage and mind which doesn’t seek external pleasure (instead seeks the Lord) is in liberation.

Thus liberation is as simple as choosing the ultimate reality of Lord knowing as to who this Lord is. We might be worshipping either the form Lord or the formless Lord – irrespective of both we have to pervade the form to the entire world (including ourselves). Thus whatever we see have to be nothing but the form of the Lord – this doesn’t mean we will see it externally but this is a mental perception. Whenever we see an object, we will see the object as having a name and form. But once the object reaches the mind, the mind has to assert that the object is a mere name and form in the Lord as there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists as the non-dual substratum. Whatever is similarly heard will be asserted as the Lord. All actions will be performed with this knowledge that everything is the Lord – this means all actions will be an offering unto the Lord. Thereby irrespective of whether the fruits of the action are good or bad, the seeker will be ever blissful. This is moksha wherein the seeker’s mind always resides on the Lord all the while externally perceiving objects and performing actions like any normal worldly being.

Bandha is exactly opposite of this moksha wherein a seeker doesn’t remember the Lord or he cannot remember the Lord due to attachments to people and things around him. Such a seeker who gives priority to other things than the Lord will not be able to rejoice in bliss. Instead he will always be affected by the actions performed by himself and by the situations around him. Thus he is ever sorrowful irrespective of whether he has money, fame, power etc. His sorrow is a result of his ignorance of the truth of Lord whether this ignorance is total ignorance or temporary forgetting of the Lord. Whether a person doesn’t know the truth of Lord or he cannot remember the truth of the Lord because of attachments doesn’t really matter – the final fruit of such state is sorrow and sorrow alone.

If we are able to remember that sorrow is the fruit of forgetting the Lord whether it is natural forgetting or forgetting for the sake of Lord, then we will never ever again enter into sorrows. If the entire world is only an illusion, then where are one’s relatives, friends, possessions etc? This knowledge about the world to be an illusion in the Lord should be contemplated by the seeker so that he is able to overcome all attachments and aversions – thereby ever reside in the Lord and live life as a jeevan muktha (who is ever blissful).

Muchukunda continued:

O Lord! Therefore let me seek refuge of the untainted, attribute-less, one without a second and Consciousness in nature of You and get rid of Maya and the three gunas of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas through which Maya acts.

Explanation

Moksha is achieved when a seeker seeks refuge completely unto the ultimate reality of Lord. This is because everything apart from the ultimate reality of Lord is only an illusion. Depending or getting attracted to the illusory external world is bondage and liberation is when the seeker seeks the reality of Lord.

What is the nature of the reality of Lord? This is being beautifully explained through Muchukunda in this part.

The Lord is untainted. Taint is when an object gets attached with an external entity (which is different from the object itself). An object like a cloth can get tainted when an external object like sand gets attached to the cloth. This is because the cloth and sand both exist as well as because both cloth and sand have parts. That which has parts alone can have conjunction or association with other entities. The cloth has parts of threads and sand has parts of molecules. Hence there is association between the cloth and sand. Similarly when the body holds on to a branch of a tree, this is because the body has parts like hands, legs etc. and tree has parts like branch, root, leaves etc. Space is an entity that is untainted because space has no parts at all. Space is proclaimed in the scriptures as having come out of Brahman (Lord or the Atman). This is true because space has existence only when Consciousness is present. If Consciousness is not there, space doesn’t exist at all. If space (that has come out of the Lord) is part-less and untainted, then the Lord also has to be part-less and untainted. It is also a fact that Consciousness is part-less and untainted like the rays of the Sun. Thus the Lord is untainted as he is part-less and nothing can ever get attached or associated with the Lord. The Lord is also untainted because there is nothing apart from the Lord to become a taint. Only when duality is there, taint is possible – when there is only one entity, how can there be any taint to that non-dual entity? This is like telling that the dreamer in which the entire dream world is seen is never tainted by the dream world as there is nothing but the dreamer alone in the dream world.

The Lord is attribute-less. Attributes are only for that entity which can be described and which can be related to something in the world. But the Lord is Consciousness in nature which is the Subject (that cannot be objectified). Everything in the world can be objectified except the Subject of “I” which is beyond objectification as it is the Subject of all objects. The Lord as is the Subject “I” in all beings cannot be described and hence he is attribute-less.

The Lord is one without a second. Even as the dreamer is the substratum in which the dual dream world is seen, similarly it is the Lord who is the substratum of the dual world that we currently perceive. Even as nothing apart from the dreamer exists in the dream world, similarly there is nothing apart from the ultimate reality of Lord in the dual world. This is because the Lord is of the nature of Consciousness. If Consciousness is there, the entire world exists. If Consciousness is not there, the entire world doesn’t exist. Thus the world is dependent on Consciousness for its existence. Even as the dependent variable is only an illusion in the independent constant, similarly the dependent world is only an illusion in the independent Consciousness of Lord. This means that the Lord alone is real whereas the world is only an illusion of names and forms in the Lord. Thus the Lord is one without a second (nothing apart from the Lord really exists – duality just appears to be existing when really it is only an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord).

How can we seek refuge in the Lord?
Seeking refuge in the Lord is by seeing the ultimate reality of Lord in the entire world. This means getting rid of the duality of world in the mind and pervading the Lord with the dual world. This is getting rid of Maya and its effects which is the dual world. When the non-dual reality of Lord is forgotten, Maya creeps in. Thus remembering the Lord at all times by pervading the Lord in the entire world (remembering the Lord to be the independent substratum of the illusory world) is getting rid of Maya thereby realizing the Lord through seeking refuge in the Lord.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 13

2008-12-18T05:48:00.000-08:00

Muchukunda continued:

O Lord! That which took me away from the bondages of kingly actions etc. is your compassion alone. People who know the truth (at least intellectually) will seek you alone.

Explanation

Realization of the indwelling Self (who is one with the Lord) happens when the seeker disassociates himself from the limited jeeva or Ego (“I” which is associated with the body-mind-intellect). Disassociation of the Ego happens when the seeker completely surrenders unto the Supreme Truth of Lord. Put in Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s words, this is NAAHAM NAAHAM TVAM TVAM (not me, not me – you alone, you alone).

When the jeeva is suffering in the illusory world, it is only compassion of the Lord that helps the seeker get out of the suffering. The compassion of the Lord works through various Mahatmas who become our Guru in giving us knowledge that will eventually remove ignorance and make us realized. It is about this compassion that Muchukunda is speaking in this part. Compassion of the Lord is like the rays of the Sun – it is always present. But if a person sits inside his house closing doors/windows and then complains that he is not getting sunlight, is it valid? Similarly in order for us to apprehend the compassion of the Lord, we have to open our hearts through complete surrender unto the Lord.

This surrender is when the seeker knows that he is suffering and that there is no way out of this suffering other than through surrender unto the Lord. Once the suffering seeker realizes that the Lord alone is blissful and he is the indwelling Self in all as well as that in order to realize this profound truth, he has to surrender completely unto the Lord, the seeker works towards the surrender thereby apprehending the ever-present compassion of the Lord. Thus surrender is essential in order to apprehend the compassion of the Lord.

Many people roam around the world saying that they haven’t found their Guru etc. These are foolish people as they haven’t opened their hearts through surrender and thereby aren’t able to identify the truth of Lord as found in the various scriptural works and Mahatmas who are ever there to help us at all times. Who is to blame other than ourselves if we don’t apprehend the ever-present compassion of the Lord and still wait for the right time to start the spiritual path?

Muchukunda had complete surrender in the Lord and hence he was able to apprehend the compassion of the Lord.

How did the compassion of the Lord liberate Muchukunda from sorrows?
Muchukunda was liberated from sorrows by cutting off bondages with the entire world. This doesn’t mean that we also have to get away from the world. This only means that Muchukunda knew about the truth of Lord (who alone can give us bliss) thereby he sought the Lord alone – nothing but the Lord alone. Rather than sticking or holding onto the worldly pleasures, Muchukunda held onto the Lord. This is what a real seeker of the truth will do – he will hold onto the Lord whatever happens. Irrespective of whether he is a grihastha or a sanyaasi; irrespective of whether he is jnaani or a bhaktha; irrespective of whether he is in an ashram or in hotel, he will ever seek and remember the Lord. The thought of the Lord doesn’t vanish from his mind even in diverse situations – this is real surrender and remembrance of the truth. Such a person alone will be able to apprehend the ever-present compassion of the Lord. Such a seeker will be lead to the truth through the Lord in his mysterious ways. We cannot expect the Lord to help us in the form of Vishnu or Siva or Krishna. When Uddhava asked Krishna as to how to perceive the Lord, Krishna laughingly told him that whatever is being perceived is the Lord alone.

The water seen in desert is desert alone – the dream world perception is perception of the dreamer alone; similarly the entire world is an illusion of names and forms in the Lord – this means whatever is perceived is the Lord alone.

Thus help for the seeker who has surrendered unto the Lord taking the vow never to forget the all-pervasive, non-dual reality of blissful Lord whatever may happen will be helped by the entire world – such a seeker will thereby very soon realize the Lord. As Muchukunda says, a true seeker (who has known that the truth of the Lord as the substratum of illusory names and forms of the Lord) will seek only the Lord – this is what we all as true seekers of the reality of Lord should seek.

Muchukunda continued:

O Lord! That which comes as a blessing for those who don’t want anything else is your paadapuja (worship of your lotus-feet). I don’t want anything else apart from paadapuja O Lord. People who seek the Lord who blesses the devotees with moksha in the form of complete cessation of sorrow cannot ask any boon which will bond the Self onto samsaara.

Explanation

Last day we saw Muchukunda saying that seekers of the reality want nothing apart from the reality. Today we find Muchukunda telling the Lord as to what is the boon that he wants and why is it that he wants it.

The only boon that any seeker of the reality will want is moksha in form of complete cessation of sorrow and ever-rejoicing in eternal bliss. This is the ultimate goal of life – the goal that we all irrespective of caste, creed etc. have been seeking and are seeking. This is the only goal that can satisfy us completely and give us full contentment. There is no other way to become fully satisfied other than when the seeker is ever rejoicing in eternal bliss (untainted by sorrow). As long as sorrow exists, there will be no contentment at all. Sorrow can be completely eliminated only when the seekers realizes his very nature of non-dual reality of Lord – that Lord who is the substratum of the illusory world of names and forms.

This is what Muchukunda as a real seeker of the truth is asking from the Lord as boon.

Is moksha the same as paadapuja of the Lord?
Yes, the feet symbolize the substratum or that which supports the entire body. The Lord is of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. This means that bliss or Consciousness or truth is what supports the Lord. Thus the feet of the Lord mean Bliss. It is this bliss that we term as moksha – that state wherein there is complete cessation of sorrow (sorrow doesn’t exist at all). Worship of the feet of the Lord is seeking and remembering bliss. This is equivalent of rejoicing in bliss. It is for this reason that any ardent seeker of the reality of Lord who knows the nature of Lord will be able to get a glimpse of the bliss whenever he remembers the Lord. Constant remembrance of the Lord wherein the thought of the Lord doesn’t vanish from the mind of a seeker is the state of moksha. When the Lord’s thought is present, the seeker is remembering that the world is an illusion and his very nature of Lord is the substratum-witness of the illusory world – this remembrance will always make the seeker blissful irrespective of whether he is encountering sorrows or happiness in the external world.

Muchukunda clarifies this by telling that a seeker of the reality will seek nothing that will bind the Self into sorrows. Samsaara is the ocean of birth and death wherein a seeker seems to suffer again and again. Realizing the nature of the world as sorrowful, a seeker will seek only the substratum of the Lord as that alone can give him eternal bliss – that bliss which will make him content and a state of done-whatever-is-to-be-done.

Actions will still happen; the world will still be there; the realized master will still have emotions at the worldly level – but internally he will be ever rejoicing in bliss as he knows that the entire world is only an illusion in the Lord and because he is ever remembering the Lord. Whatever happens externally, the thought of Lord doesn’t vanish from his mind. Anything that obstructs the remembrance of the Lord will be set aside by the seeker like Muchukunda setting aside the entire world and ever immersed in sleep (the state where there is no world).

And the Lord who is capable of granting the boon of moksha will give it to a seeker who really seeks it. Muchukunda really sought moksha and moksha alone – thereby the Lord granted the same to Muchukunda making him ever blissful.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 12

2008-12-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

Muchukunda continued:

It is the same body that seeks your refuge when tough times have passed by – which (body) was earlier traveling around in chariots and on elephants. A king conquering his enemies, gaining power over them and having himself worshipped by the conquered enemies spends time inside his palace engaged in sexual activities with women like a play-doll. At that time he doesn’t know as to what is nirvrithi (moksha) not even for a moment. And later after getting renunciation towards worldly objects, he follows the spiritual sadhanas of japam (chanting), tapam (austerity) etc. and realizes as to what is the real moksha bliss. Once he rejoices the bliss of the Atman, he never again gets the Ego that “I am the King”.

Explanation

Bhagavatham here through Muchukunda beautifully describes the two states of before realization and after realization. There is no point of arguing that “I am ever-realized” and that there is no before & after realization – a person who is realized will never make such argument as he doesn’t differentiate between anything (as he sees the Lord as pervading the illusory names and forms of the Lord); the only other person who can argue is one who is seeing duality – as long as we see duality, the distinction of before-realization and after-realization is valid and this will in fact help us in identifying as to what is the difference between both thereby working towards the realized state.

There is only one difference between the before-realization and after-realization states – as actions happen in both the states; world exist or may exist in both the states; happiness-sorrow exist in both the states. The difference is with respect to Ego as Muchukunda beautifully explains here. The before-realization state is wherein the seeker identifies the real “I” of Lord with his limited “I” that is associated with the body-mind-intellect. The after-realization state is wherein the seeker doesn’t identify himself with the limited “I” – thus actions go on like with respect to a egoistic person but the realized master is not associated with the doer “I”. Since the realized master is not the kartha or doer, therefore he is not the bhoktha or enjoyer as well. This means that irrespective of whatever actions are done by the Ego, irrespective of whether happiness or sorrow is encountered, irrespective of whether the world is posing a trouble or helping out the realized master is ever blissful.

He who is not the doer cannot be the enjoyer. He who is the doer will be the enjoyer as well. This is the law of karma. Actions and fruits will happen but it matters whether we are the doer in which case we will also be the enjoyer.

The spiritual master makes us realize that we are not the limited “I” which is the doer but we are the eternal “I” which is the witness and substratum of all actions. It is this Conscious “I” that is one with the ultimate reality of Lord. It is this “I” that is bliss in nature. Thereby such a realized master will always be rejoicing in bliss unlike the egoistic ignorant person who will be indulging in worldly pleasures not knowing that the worldly pleasures are limited and that there will be a time when he will have to face sorrow rather than happiness. Since he overly enjoys in happiness, he will overly become sad during sorrow. But a spiritual master is beyond the Ego as he is associated with the witness “I” or Lord; therefore he ever rejoices irrespective of whether the limited “I” is experiencing happiness or sorrow.

Now that we know we have to get rid of the Ego in order to rejoice in bliss, the next question is as to how to overcome the Ego which we will see next through Muchukunda’s words.

Muchukunda continued:

Complete devotion with the reality of Lord knowing that you alone are present as everything is possible for a seeker only through association with Mahatmas (satsanga).

Explanation

Last day we saw a comparison of the before-realized and after-realized state. To sum it up, the before-realized state is a state full of sorrow whereas the after-realized state is full of bliss. A realized master will be ever blissful irrespective of the situation, environment, conditions etc.

The Lord beautifully explains this blissful state in Gita as:

Kaamakrodha viyukthaanaam yatheenaam yathachethasaam
Abhitho brahma nirvaanam varthathe vidhitha aatmanaam

A realized master who has known his Self, is beyond attachment/aversion and is ever steadfast in the Lord will be always surrounded by bliss; bliss will be dancing around such a realized master.

Here Bhagavatham through Muchukunda is giving us the way out of sorrow. The way out of sorrow is association with realized masters. This is termed as satsanga. SAT SANGA means association with the truth or the Lord. Since Mahatmas or realized-masters are ever abiding in the truth, association with them will make us as well abide in the truth. There is no other direct way to become a realized master than by always contemplating on the truth and following the spiritual path with strength, devotion and knowledge. All of this will easily happen when we are in the presence of a Mahatma. The Mahatma will make us remember the Lord as that will be the crux of the presence and words of the Mahatma. We will also be made to progress in the spiritual path as the Mahatma is like a mirror in which one’s face is reflected; in the Mahatma’s presence, all the impurities in our mind (which veil the indwelling Lord) will be brought up and thereby removed. Therefore it happens often that the more and more we spend time with a Mahatma, the more and more we feel the spiritual path becoming tougher. Testing in the form of obstacles will be more when we spend more time with a Mahatma. These obstacles are not what the Mahatma puts in front of us but it is the Mahatma bringing out the impurities out of us – when the impurities come out, we will have to put a lot of effort to get rid of them. When we are afflicted by fungus, it will be very painful when the fungus is brought out. This is the case with diseases as well – when we are having a disease, we will not know much pain but when the disease is being cured, we will feel the pain. It is for this reason that operations require anesthesia so that we don’t feel the pain.

AMMA says that a Mahatma is like a doctor who cures the seeker of all impurities of the mind. But this doctor is special in that he wants the seeker to know as to what is happening – thereby there will be no anesthesia. Thus the more obstacles we face in the spiritual path, we can be sure that we are in the right direction towards the truth. The truth will be obtained by a seeker who has the strength to withstand the obstacles – the Mahatma is one who will help us at times of obstacles by guiding us through advice and words. If we have the devotion towards the Mahatma considering him the Lord, then very easily we will be able to conquer our obstacles and realize the ultimate reality of Lord in this very birth itself.

Sankara speaks about as to how satsanga will lead a seeker to realization thus in Bhaja Govindam:

Satsangatve nissangatvam nissangatve nirmohatvam
Nirmohatve nischalatattvam nischalatattve jeevanmukthi

Association with Mahatmas will lead to being disassociated with the illusory world; disassociation with the illusory world will lead to removal of delusion; when delusion of removed, then there will be no fluctuations or vibrations in the mind; such a state wherein the mind is without any fluctuations and thereby ever blissful (this is the realized state also known as jeevan mukthi).

Thus Bhagavatham is telling each one of us to get more and more association with Mahatmas (realized masters) so that we will be able to progress quickly in the spiritual path and realize the ultimate reality of Lord in this very birth itself.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 11

2008-12-18T05:43:00.000-08:00

Muchukunda continued:

Somehow a person gets the human birth by which a person will be able to realize the ultimate truth of Lord. But still those ignorant people don’t worship your feet and consider the insentient objects of the world as real. Those people then suffer by not being able to get out of samsaara like an animal not being able to come out of a deep well.

Explanation

Sankara says in Vivekachoodamani thus:

Durlabham trayamevaitat daivaanugraha hethukam
Manushyatvam mumukshutvam mahaapurusha samshrayah

Three things are very tough to obtain in life and are obtained only by God’s grace (and one’s good deeds); these are human birth, desire for liberation and surrender to a man of wisdom.

Human birth is very sacred and gifted indeed. Humans have that which other beings miss – the intellect used for discriminating between good and bad, right and wrong, what to do and what not to do. All other animals are supposed to do the same action again and again – a dog barks, a cow meows, a lion roars etc. Whereas a human being can choose what action he wants to do after using his discriminative power as to what is right and what is wrong. This is the reason why the scriptures speak very high of human birth. Unlike other beings who just eat, drink, sleep and mate, humans can go beyond the temporary, dual and sorrowful world. Humans can thereby realize the ultimate reality of blissful Lord and remain blissful whatever happens in the world.

Though we are endowed with the gift of human birth with which alone we can realize the ultimate reality of Lord, still we forget to utilize this human birth for realization. Instead of realizing the ultimate reality of Lord, humans go behind worldly pleasures. This is by considering the objects of the world as real and thereby forgetting the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus though our very nature is that of blissful Lord, we suffer in the world. Muchukunda gives a beautiful analogy to illustrate the same. An animal goes in search of food and falls into a deep well. Thereby it encounters sorrow as it is trapped in the deep well. Similarly we seek pleasure (bliss) from the external world forgetting our very nature of bliss; seeking pleasure we fall a prey to the delusions of the world; thus we fall into the ocean of samsaara. Once we fall into the ocean of samsaara, we suffer and dearly want to come out of the sorrow. But unfortunately we cannot come out of the sorrow as we are addicted to worldly pleasure – in other cases, we are not ready to give up worldly pleasures and thereby suffer in the external world.

Bhagavatham here by mentioning the greatness of human birth and showing our state of suffering in the world though our very nature of bliss is trying to make us utilize the human birth by having devotion to the ultimate reality of Lord at all times. This devotion doesn’t mean we have to renounce the world and go to a cave and mediate. This doesn’t mean that we have to stop eating food and enjoying worldly pleasures. This only means that even while enjoying worldly pleasures, we have to remember that the worldly pleasures cannot give us eternal bliss and only the ultimate reality of Lord as the substratum of the temporary world can give us eternal bliss. Mere remembrance of the Lord as the substratum of the entire world and as our very nature of Consciousness all the while doing worldly actions like any normal human being is devotion. This devotion will slowly take us to the goal of being ever blissful irrespective of where we are and what we are doing. This can be compared to an actor enacting his role to perfection all the while being blissful and unaffected by whatever he is doing in the film. This might seem very tough to implement but is quite simple with some practice. We just have to involve the thought of the ultimate reality of Lord with remembering the Lord as the substratum of the illusory world thereby pervading the entire world while doing all actions in the world.

Muchukunda continued:

O Lord! A lot of time has gone waste for me as well due to being deluded into kingly pleasures. Thinking that I am the decaying body, I have been immersed in thoughts about children, wife, wealth, land etc. In this mud-like body, I have nourished the thought that I am the king. Due to this, I have wasted time by roaming around the entire world in chariots, elephants, horses etc. I had the thought that there are things to be done and things to be achieved in life. Attachment and greed towards objects started growing day by day. When man forgets you and gets deluded into attraction of worldly objects, then he encounters death standing in front of him like a hungry snake standing in front of the rat-hole.

Explanation

Here Bhagavatham is beautifully explaining as to how the blissful seeker forgets his very nature of Lord and finally ends up his life in utter distress, discontentment and sorrow.

It is a well known statement that “time waits for none”. Sankara mentions this in Bhaja Govindam as “kaalah kreedathi, gacchathi aayuh, tadapi na munchathi aashaavayuh” (time passes by, aging is happening and still desires haven’t vanished). Each moment of our life, we are being chased by death or Yama. Death is waiting to pounce upon us when the appropriate time is up. Bhagavatham beautifully compares this to a hungry snake waiting outside the hole of the rat. When the rat comes out, the snake will eat it. Similarly when our time is up, death will eat us up. We learned the last day as to how gifted is human birth. After many births of different species, we get the gifted human birth. And since we don’t know as to how long we will live, we have to utilize the human birth to realize our very nature of blissful Lord now itself.

When death stands in front of us, we would have wasted our entire life in searching for worldly pleasures. Worldly pleasures can never give us happiness as the world itself is temporary. Moreover we seek worldly pleasures after forgetting our very nature of blissful Lord. This ignorance of our very nature of bliss leads us to think that “I am the body”. Due to this body-notion, we enter into a lot of attachments, delusions, greed etc. Thus an entire life-time is spent going behind worldly pleasures thinking that they will give us eternal bliss. We go on seeking and seeking thinking that we have a lot of time on hand for the same. But all of a sudden, death stands in front of us saying that our time is up. Death is one person whom we cannot beat. Even the Lord couldn’t avert death – we don’t have an option with death. But we do have an option of as to how to welcome death. The knowledge that “I am the ever blissful Lord and everything else is only an illusion in the Lord” will make us welcome death with a happy and smiling face. As Balakrishnan Nair beautifully puts it, we will be able to say to death “O Yama deva! Come in – do you want to have a tea before we start?”. But this is not possible as long as we have the body-notion and we have forgotten our very nature of Lord.

What if we die? Anyway we will be born again – so nothing to worry.
Yes, we will be born again but we don’t know where and as what we will be born. Moreover, our very nature is that of eternal blissful Lord and not the dying body. Is it fine to accept that we are ignorant of counting and still be happy while paying for coffee at starbucks? It isn’t and it is only a foolish behavior. We don’t know where we will be born and as what we will born as the two factors which determines whether we are born again is “action and knowledge” – the actions we have done and the knowledge we have accumulated. Even if we are not realized at the time of death, at least if we know that our very nature is that of Lord but somehow cannot stand by it, still we will be saved. If this is not the case, we will not be saved.

As Vidyaranya puts it, most of us will “kurvathe karma bhogaaya, karma karthum cha bhunjathe” (do actions for enjoyment and enjoy for doing actions). Thus we will be immersed in the vicious circle of action and fruits never to be satisfied and content as contentment arises from negating the body-notion and asserting our nature to be that of non-dual Lord. We have already wasted so many births and many years in this birth – therefore Bhagavatham is giving us the wake-up call through Muchukunda to start negating the body-notion and asserting ourselves to be the ultimate reality of Lord.

This is very simple to do – we don’t have to abuse the body; instead we just have to remember that “I am not the body but the Conscious Lord”. I cannot be the body as the body is temporary and not present in deep sleep whereas I am present in deep sleep state. The body is inert after the soul passes away which means I cannot be the body. This analysis in our mind is to be done just once and then we just have to reassert as much as possible in our mind that “I am not the body but the Conscious Lord”. This remembrance of our nature in the mind will slowly make our life fruitful and we will be able to let go of the body at the time of death with a smiling and happy face.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 10

2008-12-18T05:41:00.000-08:00

Explanation

The last day we saw the Lord say to Muchukunda “those who have taken refuge in me will never have sorrows or sufferings”, we will try to analyze this today.

The Lord gives a similar statement in Gita at the end:

Sarva dharmaan parityajya maam ekam sharanam vraja
Aham tvaa sarva paapebhyo mokshayishyaami maa shuchah

Renounce all activities and take refuge in me alone; I will save you from all sins, do not worry.

If we are able to surrender completely unto the Lord, then he will take care of everything. This means that such a seeker will never ever suffer as the Lord is taking care of him at all times. But in order for the Lord to take care of the seeker, the seeker needs to have complete surrender. This complete surrender is known as prapathi, samarpanam, bhakthi etc. Complete surrender is when the seeker always remembers the Lord as the substratum beyond the illusory world of names and forms; not only does he just remember the Lord but he does all actions as an offering to the Lord knowing very well that each and every action is instigated and performed by the Lord. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s way of explaining this was that the seeker is a mere instrument through which the Lord performs all actions.

This surrender should be total and complete. Complete means full surrender and not partial. Total means from all perspectives (which means at all times and situations). Unless the surrender is total and complete, the Lord will not be able to help us out. This is like a drowning person who doesn’t surrender completely by giving himself to the life-guard; instead he tries to help himself out and partially calls out to the life-guard. Mere calling out to the life-guard alone will not help – the drowning person should complete surrender to the life-guard thereby letting the life-guard take care of him. We find this clearly depicted in the Vastra Harana portion of Mahabharatha wherein Dusshaasana was removing the cloth of Draupadi. At that time Draupadi holding on to her saree with one hand, called out to Krishna with the other hand. Krishna didn’t come. But when Draupadi let go of her saree and called out to Krishna with both hands, that’s when the Lord helped her out. If we hold onto things and at the same time surrender unto the Lord, it is not complete surrender. Complete surrender is when the seeker fully lets go of himself. His actions are a pooja for the Lord; his words are praises of the Lord; he always thinks of the Lord whether he speaks about the Lord or not, whether he sings the praises of the Lord or not; his life becomes filled with the Lord inside and outside.

This is what a Malayalam poet by the name Ezhuthacchan beautifully describes in his work Harinaamakeerthanam:

Yathonnu kaanpathil naaraayana prathimaa
Yathonnu kelpathil naarayana shruthikal
Yathonnu cheykilathu naarayana archanakal
Yathonnathaakilathu naarayanaaya namah

Whatever is seen is the form of Narayana;
Whatever is heard is words of Narayana;
Whatever is done is an offering to Narayana;
Whatever is there is Narayana alone.

It is this state of pervading our mind with the Lord that is called prapathi. If we are able to get this prapathi, the Lord will take care of all our sorrows by removing the sorrows and replacing them with bliss.

Maameva ye prapadhyanthe mayaam ethaam tharanthi te

Whoever surrenders completely unto me, they cross the delusive power of Maya (which is very tough indeed to conquer).

Hearing the Lord’s word and thereby realizing that it is a saakshaat Narayana standing in front of him, Muchukunda replied with immense bliss thus:

O Lord! The people of the world live with being deluded by your Maya. They are not able to worship you with devotion as they are going behind anartham (anartham is that which is not real and will lead us to more sorrows). In order to get happiness, they seek sensual pleasures which are abodes of sorrow. Thereby man and woman get cheated by themselves.

Explanation

Bhagavatham here beautifully describes as to what would happen when a seeker meets with the Lord or jeevan mukthas. Jeevan mukthas are those who are ever established in contemplation of the Lord. Thus the only thing that comes out of these jeevan mukthas is bliss. A seeker who is open in his heart will be able to experience this bliss in the presence of the jeevan mukthas.

The Lord says thus in Gita about this:

Kaamakrodha viyukthaanaam yatheenaam yathachethasaam
Abhitho brahma nirvaanam varthathe vidhitaatmanaam

One who is devoid of attachment-aversion and is ever steadfast in the Lord; such a person ever resides in the Self & hence bliss dances around such a person.

It is therefore that Ramana Maharshi used to tell that “peace is the sole criterion of a Mahatma” – peace is synonymous with bliss. We find Muchukunda who pure at heart and ever residing in the Lord being able to get bliss by the mere presence of the Lord. The Lord and jeevan mukthas are embodiments of bliss and hence there presence will radiate bliss.

If this is the case, then why doesn’t everyone experience this bliss?
A person who has deficient eye-sights will see two moons rather than one at night. Similarly a person who is deluded in Maya (ignorance about the entire world being illusory names and forms in the Lord) will not be able to apprehend the bliss emanating from the presence of a jeevan muktha. In order for a seeker to temporarily get out of the delusion of Maya, he should have an open mind. With an open mind any person will be able to experience the bliss emanating from the presence of a Mahatma.

Muchukunda also explains one of the very important concepts of Vedanta which is that humans are deluded and thereby they go after worldly pleasures – even though they know that worldly pleasures will not give eternal bliss, still they seek eternal bliss from the worldly objects. This is called delusion or the power of Maya. Vedanta doesn’t say that we have to get rid of all worldly possessions but just that we have to understand that worldly objects cannot give us eternal bliss. As AMMA beautifully points out, we should understand the limitations of worldly objects and use them in our spiritual progress towards moksha or jeevan mukthi.

The Lord says in Gita that wise people don’t run behind worldly pleasures thus:
Ye hi samsparshajaa bhogaah dukhayonaya eva te
Aadhyanthavantha kaunteya na teshu ramathe budhah

Pleasure that comes out of contact of sense organs with objects are seeds of sorrow as they have a beginning and an end; therefore wise people do not take resort to them.

Katha Upanishad also says

Paraanchi khaani vyatrinat svayambhooh
Tasmaat paaraan pashyan na antharaatman
Kaschit dheerah pratyagaatmaanam aikshat
Aavritta chakshuh amritatvam icchan

The sense organs didn’t seek Ishwara but went outside; hence the Lord cursed them that they will always be outward (hence it is the very nature of sense organs to go outwards). But few wise men realize the indwelling Lord by controlling the sense organs and seeking immortality.

Most of us are so ignorant that though we don’t realize that we are cheated into worldly objects by making us think that they will give us eternal bliss. AMMA gives a beautiful story to illustrate this which we will see in the next day.

Let us remember to always have an open mind so that we are able to temporarily experience the bliss that emanates from a jeevan muktha thereby getting inspired to become a jeevan muktha in this very birth itself.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 09

2008-07-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

The Lord continued:

According to Brahma’s request, I took birth as Yadukula Vasudeva’s son in order to reduce Bhoomi Devi of her burden. People call me Vaasudeva. Many bad people including Kamsa were killed by me. And now Yavana got burnt to ashes by your anger-fire.

Explanation

Though the Lord has already explained that everything is him alone, still he tries to answer the question of Muchukunda from the empirical perspective so that Muchukunda will be able to understand it better. This shows the ever compassionate nature of the Lord.

AMMA (Sadguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi) says that compassion is a quality of the mind which is essential for a seeker to see oneness everywhere and lead him to the goal of realization. Sage astavakra also says to Janaka that daya or compassion is one of the qualities that we have to love like nectar in order to realization.

Though we have to strive for showing compassion, the Lord and Mahatmas are ever compassionate. It is very tough indeed for us to show compassion to people whom we don’t know – we generally have passion towards “our” people and term it compassion. Compassion is different from passion – passion is attachment towards a set of people who are near and dear to us; whereas compassion is when we show love towards the entire world. We have to learn to implement compassion in life by looking at the Lord and various Mahatmas.

The Lord instructed Arjuna just before Mahabharatha war in around 700 slokas. Arjuna kept on asking almost the same question but in a different perspective. Rather than just ignoring Arjuna’s questions by telling that “everything is an illusion of names and forms in me; everything is me only”, the Lord answered Arjuna in all the possible perspectives. Arjuna accepts at the end of Gita that his delusion is removed but after the Mahabharatha war (at a later point), Arjuna requests the Lord to instruct him again as he forgot the instructions. The Lord says that Bhagavad Gita was given from a yoga avastha and cannot be reproduced; but being compassionate the Lord instructs Arjuna again which is known as the Uttara Gita. If somebody approaches us with any sorrows or questions, we would just answer them by telling that “the world is an illusion – you are blissful Brahman – so why any sorrow or questions”. But instead we find the compassionate Lord and Mahatmas answering the same questions from different people in as many different ways as possible.

Firstly we have to understand and apprehend the compassionate nature of Mahatmas. It is not just enough to understand the compassion but we have to utilize the compassion by following their instructions. If a teacher teaches us and we fail in the test put by the teacher, the teacher will get angry and tell us to “quit from school”. The same applies to Vedanta as well; though compassionate Mahatmas will not tell us to quit yet we will not benefit even a little bit out of their teachings if we do the same mistake of not implementing their teachings in life.

Thus it is very important to apprehend as well as utilize the compassionate nature of the Mahatmas by implementing their teachings even if it is just 1% that we implement in life.

We will continue with the Lord’s reply in the next day.

Let us try to utilize the compassion of various avataras of the Lord so that we may be able to realize our very nature of non-dual blissful Lord in this very birth itself through implementations of the teachings of the Lord and various Mahatmas.

The Lord continued:

I have come to this cave in order to bless you. Many times previously as well you have prayed for my blessings. Ask whatever you want. Those who have taken refuge in me will never have sorrows or sufferings.

Explanation

Ramana Maharshi once said “the very presence of a Mahatma is beneficial for the entire world”.

Why is this so? Because from all perspectives, the Mahatma will only help a seeker (which means the entire world). A Mahatma is a person who is always blissful thereby sending across waves of bliss. Any person with a open mind can experience the bliss when he approaches or is near the Mahatma. It is for this reason that many of us visit saints like the various sankaracharyas, Mahatmas like AMMA and jeevan mukthas like Prof. Balakrishnan Nair. Their very presence radiates bliss in the vicinity. We just need some openness of mind at the particular time to experience the bliss emanating from these Mahatmas.

There are many people who come to AMMA (Sadguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi) though they don’t accept her to be a realized master – when asked, such people say “there is some power in her”J. This is just a way of escapism – they know that there is some divinity but they are either afraid or don’t want to accept the divinity as realization. Hence they just say “there is some power in her”.

But we have to remember that not everyone will be able to apprehend and acknowledge the bliss emanating from Mahatmas – this is because majority of us have preconceived notions about these Mahatmas and hence we miss out on the bliss emanating from them (which can be apprehended, acknowledged and experienced only with an open mind).

Emanating bliss and making seekers realize their very nature of bliss (taking the seekers to the same level as themselves) is the main aim of these Mahatmas. It is realization which is the greatest blessing that we can get in life as that alone can give us eternal bliss and make our life fulfilled. Thus the Lord says here that he has come to bless Muchukunda. In fact the very presence of the Lord in various forms in the world is for blessing the entire world though most of us fail to accept the blessing even if the Lord gives us free of cost.

There are many spiritual masters who give knowledge as well as the way to implement it through Vedanta free of cost – yet there are no takers. Even if there are takers many of us escape saying “I have take care of my parents, I have attachment” etc. But the Lord never gives up trying to bless others – as it is his very nature to bless others even as it is the nature of Sun to give light to others (though many people might sit inside their house and not accept sunlight).

The Lord not just gives hope through words but is a person who stands by his words. Therefore he says that whoever has taken refuge in me will never again suffer. This is a fact which we can easily apprehend by looking at the lives of various Mahatmas like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharshi among others. We also see it in Gita as to the Lord going beyond all limitations in order to protect people who have surrendered unto him – we find this in Kurukshetra when the Lord takes the chariot wheel as a weapon and pounces upon Bhisma though he had made a promise not to yield weapons in the war.

If this is the case, then many of us might think as to why we are not being protected by the Lord at times of sorrow and distress though we have surrendered to the Lord?

This can only be due to one of two reasons – one is that our surrender is not complete. As long as the surrender is not complete, the Lord cannot and will not protect us – this is shown through Draupadi calling out to the Lord while holding one hand to her saree (during vastra harana) at which time the Lord didn’t come to help her; only when Draupadi let go of her saree and called out to the Lord with both hands that the Lord came to help her. Second reason could be that the Lord is testing our surrender and faith. Many of the Ramakrishna Mission saints hold the view that if we are not facing any obstacles in the spiritual path, we can be sure that we are not headed in the right direction. A seeker who is in the right direction will face many obstacles each of which are just ways in which he can gain more and more surrender to the Lord – this will culminate with the seeker having surrendered completely to the Lord (upon which there remains no more obstacles or testing).

A seeker should analyze this and consider obstacles as a way to gain more devotion to the Lord – rather than walking out, he should proceed with more devotion towards the goal of realization.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us try to have complete surrender towards the Lord by always remembering him so that we may be able to apprehend and reside in the blessings of the Lord at all points of time.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 08

2008-07-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

When Yavana was burnt into ashes, the Lord appeared in front of Muchukunda. Muchukunda thus asked to Krishna who stood in front of him in the form of Vishnu and with a smile: “who are you? Why have you come here in this forest filled with stones and thorns – that too with your lotus-feet? You are devadeva (light of lights) as you have removed the darkness in this cave with your presence. O Prabho! I am Ishvaku-vamsa muchukunda. I was resting after the war with asuras. One who woke me up got burnt into ashes by his own sins”.

Explanation

Here we find a person who has purified his mind through good deeds able to identify the Lord (not completely but to an extent). Though Muchukunda was not able to identify the Lord in his true nature (of nirguna para Brahman – the ultimate reality behind the illusory world) he was at least able to identify the Lord as shining like a light. We will try to analyze this characteristic of the Lord as light of all lights.

The Lord says in Gita:

Yadaadityagatham tejo jagat bhaasayathe akhilam
Yat chandramasi yat cha agnau tattejo viddhi maamakam

The light that is there in the Sun as a result of which the Sun shines the entire world; the light that is in the moon and fire, know that light to be my light.

The above sloka means that the Lord is the essence of all lights. In a way this also means that the Lord is the light of all lights – the light that gives existence to all lights. This becomes quite clear when we see it from the perspective of the Lord’s nature of Consciousness. If Consciousness is there, everything including the Sun exists. The Sun gives light to objects of the world but without the light of Consciousness even Sun doesn’t exist. We all experience this clearly in the state of deep sleep wherein we don’t experience the light of Sun yet Consciousness exists. It is also quite simple to imagine a state where Consciousness is not there – in such a state, the Sun or the moon all don’t shine. This is because Consciousness is that light which gives existence and the power of lighting to all other lights. This is made clear by the Lord in another sloka of Gita thus:

Na tad bhaasayathe sooryah na shashaanko na paavakah
Yat gatva na nivarthanthe taddhaamah paramam mama

There (in the state of the Lord wherein Lord alone exists) the Sun doesn’t shine; nor the moon nor fire; it is that state achieving which there is no return and that is my eternal state.

Thus Consciousness which is the very nature of Lord is the light of all lights as it is the light which is the basis of all lights – without which all other lights cease to exist. This is a concept which also leads us to the conclusion that everything that we see depends on the light of all lights – without the Lord everything just vanishes. This means that everything is dependent on the Lord whereas the Lord is independent and ever exists. If we apprehend this concept of Lord being independent and the light of all lights, we will stop seeking worldly pleasures and seek the Lord as the Lord alone can give us eternal bliss. Muchukunda due to his good deeds was able to identify these characteristics in the Lord – it is this identification (apprehension) which will make the seeker seeks the Lord with all fervor thereby realizing the Lord in this very birth itself.

We will continue with the story in the next day with the Lord’s reply to Muchukunda’s questions.

Let us always try to remember the Lord as the light of all lights so that we may seek the Lord and stop seeking worldly pleasures thereby realizing our very nature of blissful Conscious Lord in this very birth itself.

The Lord answered Muchukunda with a smile and clear voice thus:

Births, actions, names etc. are thousands for me. O King! Since they are many, even I don’t think I can count all of them. Various births, actions, names etc. continuously happen in the three time of past, present and future. How much ever we count, they will never end. Anyway I will let you know my current state.

Explanation

The Lord is starting to answer the question of Muchukunda as to “who are you” here. The Lord’s answer here is that the question cannot really be answered as there are infinite names for the Lord – since it is infinite, even the Lord cannot count it.

We know of the dasha avataras of the Lord and the 24 avataras explained in Bhagavatham, but why is the Lord telling that his names are infinite?

The names, births etc. of the Lord are infinite as everything that existed, everything that exists and everything that will exist in the future, all that are the Lord alone. It is for this reason that the Lord says in Gita that Purusha (himself) has thousand hands, thousand legs, thousand heads etc. wherein thousand is just a figurative way of telling that everything is the Lord alone. Even with technological advancements, it is impossible for science to count the number of galaxies in the entire universe. This is because universe is infinite and therefore there are infinite galaxies. We just know about our own galaxy of Milky Way and some nearby galaxies.

This statement of the Lord that everything is the Lord alone is a fundamental truth of Vedanta. All concepts of Vedanta are based on this concept. This is the foundational concept of Vedanta and is that concept remembrance of which alone can lead us to eternal bliss (known in Vedanta as moksha).

The Lord also gives this kind of explanation in many places of Bhagavad Gita wherein he says that he is the light in all, he is arjuna among pandavas etc. It is more than enough to say that “I alone am present as the illusory infinite names and forms of the world” but many of us cannot understand it as this statement seems to contradict our daily experience (of seeing duality in the waking world). If only we could compare this waking world with the dream world, we would easily apprehend this truth as the entire dream world is one dreamer alone. But most of us are unable to apprehend it and hence the Lord makes this truth explicit in his statements. There cannot be any better way to explain this than saying that “I am top, I am left, I am bottom etc.” (mentioned in the Mundaka Upanishad).

The Lord knows this clearly as even after explicitly saying that “everything is me” by enumerating a number of items in the world, still many of us cannot understand or apprehend this truth.

The Lord is here following the same explicit way of explaining by telling that “my names are infinite” which means that everything is “I” alone. If we as seekers are able to understand this, then the dual notions of our mind will vanish through seeing oneness everywhere (in the mind and not necessary in our actions or externally).

As it is enough to apprehend this explicitly mentioned truth that “everything is the Lord”, still our intellect might temporarily need an answer regarding the nature of the Lord now. Being compassionate, the Lord thereby tries to pacify our intellect by explaining the purpose of his current name, birth, actions etc. (though all names, all births, all actions are the Lord).

But Bhagavatham is telling us through the Lord that all names, all forms, all actions, all births etc. or in short “everything” is the non-dual Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss – it is this Lord that pulsates in us as “I-exist, I-exist” and is devoid of names and forms as it is everything. This seeing oneness everywhere and remembering that the one Lord is our very nature of Consciousness will get rid of likes-dislikes, attachments-aversions and make us rejoice in bliss at all times (which is the ultimate goal of life).

We will continue with the Lord’s reply in the next day.

Let us always try to remember that everything is the Lord alone and names, forms, births, actions etc. are mere illusions in the Lord even as the dream world is an illusion in the dreamer; and that reality of Lord is our very nature of pure Consciousness untainted by names, forms, attachments etc.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 07

2008-07-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Seeing the Lord enter the cave, Yavana also entered the cave. Yavana didn’t see anybody in the cave except a person who was sleeping. Thinking that it is the Lord trying to delude him, Yavana kicked the person. The person who was sleeping woke up immediately. When the person woke up, fire from his eyes burnt Yavana into ashes. The sleeping person was the son of Mandaatha (who was born in Ishvaaku kula) named Muchukunda.

Explanation

We saw yesterday as to how tough it is to conquer the Lord in our heart though it is very easy. As Tapovan Maharaj used to say, Vedanta is easy to learn; preaching Vedanta is still easier; but it is very tough to practice/implement Vedanta. Similarly though it is very easy to speak about conquering the Lord, it is very tough indeed to implement in life.

We find in this part as to why it is very tough indeed to implement Vedanta by conquering the Lord in our hearts – it is because we are continuously being deluded by the divine illusory power of the Lord termed as Maya. Maya deludes people continuously so much into believing whatever is unreal to be real and veiling whatever is real.

Discrimination between real and unreal is very essential for a spiritual seeker as he should know as to what to seek and what not to seek; he should know as to what to go behind and what not to go behind. Now the question comes as to what is real and what is unreal? The Lord defines real as that which exists in the three times (of past, present and future) and unreal as that which never exists at all (in Bhagavad Gita).

To put it quite simple – real is that which is ever present and anything that is temporary can be considered as unreal. The ultimate reality of Lord alone is real as the Lord alone existed before creation, during creation and will exist after creation as Consciousness in nature. Everything else that we see is temporary and ever changing. That which is changing is subject to birth and death; that which takes birth and dies is not eternal; therefore that which is changing is not real.

Thus a seeker should always seek that which is unchanging and renounce all attachment/aversion to that which is constantly changing. The objects of the world (the world in itself) is constantly changing, therefore it is sorrowful as well (as that which will vanish in the future will give us sorrow when it vanishes). Any changing entity needs a changeless substratum for its existence even as a changing variable requires a changeless constant for its existence. The changeless substratum for the changing world is the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Thus instead of seeking the changing world, we should seek the changeless substratum of Lord. The world is of the nature of names and forms whereas the Lord is of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. Even as various gold ornaments are mere names-forms in gold, similarly the entire world is an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord.

This is what the Lord beautifully summarizes in Gita as:

Anityam asukham lokam imam praapya bhajasva maam
Having attained this temporary-sorrowful world, take refuge in me.

This is nothing but renouncing the names and forms of the world by perceiving the substratum of Lord in everything. This is quite simple to say and very tough indeed to implement. This is because the world is so deluding and attractive that we often get distracted. Thus merely knowing the real and the unreal isn’t enough – we need to get away from the unreal and get passionate about the real. Until this happens, we will not benefit out of the discrimination between real and unreal.

This becomes more tough to implement due to the delusive power of Maya which constantly deludes a person into the unreal world making it appear as if real and veiling the reality of Lord thereby making it appear as non-existing. The one and only way to conquer Maya is to get pure devotion (along with the knowledge that the Lord alone exists here) towards the ultimate reality of Lord by completely surrendering to the Lord at all times and beyond all conditions. We see today as to how Yavana was deluded into thinking the sleeping person to be the Lord thereby getting completely destroyed rather than getting realized. Bhagavatham is thereby telling us that a person who forgets the Lord by getting deluded into the illusory world will end up only in destruction (which means a state of sorrow and suffering).

We will continue with the story in the next day as to the history of Muchukunda.

Let us all try to conquer the Lord through pure devotion along with knowledge about the reality of non-dual Lord behind the illusory world so that we may be able to get out of the delusion of Maya and ever rejoice in bliss.

Muchukunda (born of Ishvaku-kula Maandaatha) was a Mahayogi who was sought by the Devas to fight the asuras. Muchukunda went to heaven, fought and defeated the asuras. In return for his help, the Devas asked Muchukunda to request for any boon other than kaivalya (realization). Muchukunda who was tired after fighting asked for “long-time sleeping”. He also added that whoever wakes him up should be burnt into ashes. The Devas gave the boon. From that day, Muchukunda was sleeping in the cave. And it is thus that Yavana kicked Muchukunda and was burnt to ashes.

Explanation

There are two points that Bhagavatham is making here through the life-history of Muchukunda. First is about the state of yoga (wherein a person is ever established in equanimity and unaffected by the situation) in which Muchukunda was established and second is the devas not granting kaivalya or moksha to muchukunda.

We generally have quite a different meaning for the word Yoga as well as Yogi (Yogi is one who is established in Yoga). Patanjali defintes Yoga as “yogah chitta vritti nirodah” or “yoga is negating the thoughts of the mind”. In general we only know about hatha yoga (physical exercises) which is only one of the asta-anga yoga (eight-limbed yoga) defined by Patanjali. Yoga in Vedanta has quite a different meaning from Patanjali’s definition of Yoga.

The Lord defines yoga thus in Gita:

Siddhyasidhyoh samo bhootvaa samatvam yoga uchyathe
Maintaining equanimity during good and bad times; thus equanimity (samatvam) is termed as Yoga.

This Yoga means seeing oneness everywhere – seeing One Ishwara everywhere knowing that everything is but an illusion of names and forms in Ishwara. Seeing oneness gets rid of likes-dislikes. Likes-dislikes will lead to attachment-aversion which in turn will lead to happiness-sorrow. Thus a person who is in the Yoga of equanimity will always be without the dual notions of happiness-sorrow – it is this state that is termed as moksha wherein a person is always happy irrespective of situations, surroundings, environment etc. A spiritual seeker should always strive to achieve this state of being unaffected and always happy through seeing oneness and equanimity in the mind.

The Lord gives this beautiful sloka in Gita for seeing oneness:

Vidhyaa vinaya sampanne brahmane gavi hasthini
Shuni chaiva svapaake cha panditaah samadarshinah

In a Brahman endowed with knowledge and humility, in a cow, in an elephant, in a dog and in a dog-eater; a wise person (with knowledge) will see oneness.

This moksha of ever rejoicing in bliss and being unaffected by the empirical state cannot be achieved externally as it is our very nature of Lord (Self). But we have somehow forgotten our nature of ever-liberated (nitya-muktha) state. Thus we have to strive to achieve this moksha through yoga. For this external factors like environment, surrounding, Guru etc. will help but ultimately it is the seeker who has to take the step of realizing his very nature of Lord through yoga. Yoga cannot be achieved externally as it is a state of the mind wherein the mind is calm and ever blissful. Thus Bhagavatham through the devas granting any boon other than moksha is telling us that moksha is something that we have seek and nobody can really give it to us. The grace of Sadgurus and Ishwara will always help us in getting moksha but our effort is more important than anything else in the world (AMMA says that the sadguru’s or Ishwara’s grace is ever present like the rays of the Sun; but we sit inside our house closing all doors and windows claiming that the Sun rays are not there; what we have to do is open our hearts and we will apprehend the ever-present grace of the Sadguru/Ishwara). The famous saying “We can take a horse to the pond but we cannot make it drink water” is applicable here.

The Lord says thus about this in Gita:

Uddharet atmanaa aatmaanam na aatmaanam avasaadhayet
Atmaiva hi atmano bandhuh atmaiva ripuh aatmanah

A person should help himself and shouldn’t let himself down in the spiritual path; a person is his own relative and his own enemy (depending on the state of the mind and his activities).

Thus the one thing which is mainly required for realization is the strong desire for liberation (mumukshutvam) which alone is enough to get us everything that we need starting from purity of mind to the Guru in order for realization.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us always try to be in the state of yoga through our efforts and always have the strong desire for realization as this alone will help open our hearts thereby making us realize through the ever-present grace of Ishwara.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 06

2008-07-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

Since Krishna was not having any weapons, Yavana decided to fight Krishna without any weapons.

Explanation

We find here Yavana (who is similar to an asura) following dharma or righteousness with respect to war. Dharma in a yudha is not to fight a person who isn’t holding any weapons – also the rule is to fight people who are equal in most aspects. In order to become one with Krishna, Yavana thereby dropped his weapons.

We find that in ancient times, even asuras used to follow whatever dharma is prevalent. It is only today that we find even spiritual people trying to back-stab and waiting for opportunities to misuse others. It is as a result of the asuras as well following dharma that they were privileged with the Lord himself destroying their Ego and making them eternal.

We generally speak about dharma when it comes to the point where we lose something and we are failing – at all other times, we don’t even care about dharma. The talks about dharma and following what the scriptures say comes only when things are going against us – in fact, the scriptures are a way for us to escape from our miseries and a way to blame our mistakes. We do this quite often that it backfires unto us. We think that the scriptures have everything and hence we can easily blame them but with each blame, we are veiling ourselves with another strong layer of ignorance. The stronger is the layer of ignorance, the farther we will be from the goal of realization. The farther we are from realization, the more we will be suffering and the lesser will be happiness in our lives.

Though we speak about dharma at the empirical level (which of course we never follow and speak of until the tide is against us), real dharma is wherein we are focused on the Lord. It doesn’t matter whether we love the Lord or the hate the Lord – the various asuras like Kamsa have attained realization through hating the Lord. Whatever is to be achieved is just constant contemplation of the Lord – if this is achieved, it doesn’t matter as to how we achieve it. We find this real dharma being implemented by asuras and Yavana in this story. Yavana remembered Narada’s description of Krishna and started seeking him out.

Fighting with the Lord can be understood as Yavana trying to conquer the Lord who is so tough to conquer. Conquering the Lord is as simple as putting the Lord in the jail of our hearts – a devotee (one who is always remembering the Lord) is one who has jailed the Lord. For such a devotee, the Lord himself will make clear the reality that everything is the Lord alone (which the devotee is following unknowingly as his entire world becomes filled with the Lord) and thereby make the devotee realize in this very birth itself.

Though it might seem to be simple to conquer the Lord, it is very tough indeed as we will see in the next day.

Let us all try to slowly day-by-day implement this devotion/knowledge towards the Lord irrespective of whatever we are doing externally so that we may be able to always rejoice in bliss like the Mahatmas.

Seeing Yavana, Krishna turned around and started running. Yavana also ran behind Vasudeva who is very tough even for yogis to realize. Running a bit slow as if Yavana would catch him immediately, Krishna deluded Yavana. Doing thus the Lord entered into a mountain-cave.

Explanation

We learnt the previous day as to how tough is to conquer the Lord though it might seem very simple indeed. The toughest thing to achieve in life is conquering the Lord in our heart (which means realizing that everything is essentially the Lord alone).

Paramahamsa Yogananda in “Autobiography of a Yogi” speaks about his seeking out a saint (if memory doesn’t fail me, the saint was called glowing or awake saint as he used to always be awake as well as his body used to glow like a light); on the way to the place of the saint, he asks the direction to a couple of passers-by who direct yogananda in the wrong direction. He roams for an entire day and finally meets the saint. The saint proclaimed “do you think you can meet me without my permission?” and smiled.

This is very much like trying to conquer the Lord. The Lord is the substratum of the illusory world – the entire world is his creation; the world is totally under the Lord’s control as it is his Maya power which controls the world. Though the world is an illusion yet at the empirical level, it is controlled by the Lord. Therefore without the Lord’s permission it is impossible to conquer the Lord.

We may be able to fool a lot of people in the world but fooling the Lord is not possible without his permission. We may be able to convince many as to our spiritual nature, knowledge etc. but we can never fool the Lord as he knows everything. Trying to conquer the Lord is like trying to conquer the Sun – it may be possible (some day) to conquer the president of any country but it is impossible to conquer the Sun (at least today).

We don’t need to get worried or sad that we cannot conquer the Lord as conquering the Lord is the only way to get eternal bliss; most of the time, the toughest thing is the easiest and simplest to achieve in life. As Arthur Conan Doyle used to say through Sherlock Holmes that a puzzle seems quite easy and very simple when we know the solution to it, similarly conquering the Lord though is the toughest is also the simplest thing to achieve in life if we know the way to do it.

Conquering the Lord is very simple indeed as the Lord has a weakness like all of us. The weakness of the Lord is bhakthi or devotion. Devotion isn’t just wanting moksha or going to meet Mahatmas or trying to do spiritual activities – devotion is seeking the Lord at all times beyond any limitations whatsoever. This devotion is what Sankara and other acharyas speak about as knowledge (the knowledge that Lord alone is present here). When devotion and knowledge are present in a person, then he is a real devotee who is always contemplating on that Lord who alone is present here. The Lord is a servant of such devotee – such a devotee has conquered and jailed the Lord. This is clearly shown in the story of Ambariksha (which we learned earlier) when even the Lord couldn’t help Durvasa who had attacked Ambariksha but was counter-attacked by the Lord’s chakra. The Lord said he couldn’t stop the chakra and only Ambariksha can stop it from killing Durvasa – because the Lord was a servant and jailed by his devotees. It is this devotion through which the gopis were able to conquer the Lord – they didn’t have anything in life except pure devotion and surrender to the Lord. This surrender purified them as the Lord settled in their hearts.

Thus conquering the Lord is as simple as becoming a real devotee of the Lord. Real devotion is as simple as totally surrendering oneself onto the Lord with the knowledge that the Lord is the substratum of the illusory names and forms of the world.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us all try to conquer the Lord through pure devotion (along with the knowledge that the Lord alone is present beyond the names and forms of the world) so that we may be able to rejoice in bliss at all times which is the goal of life.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 05

2008-06-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

We learn yesterday as to that the Lord left Dwaraka after creating it, today we will try to discuss the witness-attitude of the Lord in which the Lord is completely detached to everything yet still is attached as well. This is the attitude of detached-attachment or witness-hood which we will discuss today.

Attachment/aversion to anything except the ultimate reality of Lord will only lead us to sorrow and finally destruction (this means making us take birth and death again and again in this ocean of samsaara). This is because the objects of the world (except the ultimate reality of Lord) are temporary. That which is temporary is ever changing and hence subject to birth-death. That which dies (meaning ceases to exist) cannot give us happiness; but since the object used to give temporary happiness when it existed, we get addicted to the happiness; once the object vanishes, we cry remembering the happiness that we had while possessing the object.

Is the Lord alone real and everything else is temporary?
Yes – the Lord is of the nature of Consciousness from which the world is created, in which the world exists and unto which the world vanishes during destruction. This clearly shows that the world is only an illusion and the Lord of the nature of Consciousness alone is real – it is this Lord who pulsates in each one of us as “I-exist, I-exist” at all times. This temporary nature of the world becomes clear if we take the analogy of dream – the dream world is always changing during dream. The dream world is created out of the dreamer, exists in the dreamer and merges unto the dreamer when the dreamer wakes up – thus the world is only an illusion in the dreamer – this means that the dreamer alone always exists, the world is temporary.

Thus the Lord alone is real and everything else is temporary. Since the world is temporary, it will only lead us to sorrow (as we saw earlier). In order for us to get eternal bliss, we have to concentrate on the real entity of Lord – as that alone can give us eternal bliss (since it is eternal).

Though we might contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord, yet the world still goes on. We will experience the world or the duality as long as we don’t realize our very nature of Lord and ever abide in it. Thus while experiencing the world, we have to get attached temporarily to objects. If we are not attached (even little) to the computer in front of us we will not be able to discuss Vedanta through Bhagavatham mails. Thus attachment is inevitable while living in the world. The solution to having attachment and yet ever contemplating on the Lord is detached-attachment. Detached-attachment means attachment in a detached way. This is that state wherein one minute we are attached but the very next minute we can walk out of the attachment – this is possible when externally we are attached whereas internally our mind is detached completely.

An incident in the life of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa brings this out clearly. Once Mathur Babu told his servant to tell one of the devotee (who had come to see Ramakrishna) to get out of the place. The servant thought he was tell to Ramakrishna. Thus the servant told Sri Ramakrishna to get out. Sri Ramakrishna without any expression change folded his mat and keeping it under his arms started walking from the place. Mathur Babu saw this and regretted; he came running and told Sri Ramakrishna to go inside. Sri Ramakrishna, again with no expression change, walked back into his room.

Sri Ramakrishna was able to leave everything in one minute and be attached in the very next minute. This is possible only if we are detached internally while displaying attachment externally. This is very much possible for any person as the various film actors do the same – they are externally displaying attachment in the film whereas internally they are totally detached to the character, people around etc. It is this state of being detached internally while acting externally that Vedanta calls saakshi bhaava or witness-hood.

Bhagavatham is here telling us through the Lord’s saakshi bhaava that we have to develop this witness-hood by having detached-attachment instead of mere attachment. Attachment will lead us to sorrow whereas detached-attachment will make our life blissful (even when the object is there with us and it is not there with us). It is this attitude due to which the Lord was able to be blissful at all times from his birth till his death.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us all try to slowly develop this attitude of detached-attachment so that we are able to rejoice in bliss through realization of the Lord in us which alone can make our life fulfilled.

Yavana came across the Lord of the yadus ( Krishna) who had taken the full form of Vishnu and was like a full-risen moon. Yavana decided that this was the Narayana mentioned by Narada.

Explanation

Though this portion seems to be something which is not that important or that which doesn’t seem to have any deeper import, yet there is some deeper significance over here with respect to Yavana’s identification of the Lord.

The deeper significance is that even a person who had devilish tendencies will very easily be able to find the divine power wherever it is and whichever form it is. It is for this reason that many people go to Mahatmas though these Mahatmas are like any normal being (even simpler than normal humans). Examples of this are Sadguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (commonly known as AMMA) and Prof. Balakrishnan Nair. AMMA wears white sarees and though is known throughout the world yet speaks only her native language of Malayalam. The way AMMA gives discourses itself shows that she doesn’t prepare like any great speaker and her discourses are as if she is conversing with a close person in colloquial language. Prof. Balakrishnan Nair is now quite old – wears a normal white shirt and white dhothi. He walks, speaks like any normal person.

Though these saints (who are ever residing in Brahman) live like any other human being, yet any person can clearly find them out in between a flock. It is for this reason that many people come to AMMA and they don’t agree that AMMA is God – but they say “there is some power”J.

The Lord beautifully explains as to why these Mahatmas stand out in a crowd of similar people:

Kaamakrodhaviyukthaanaam yatheenam yathachethasaam
Abhitho brahma nirvaanam varthathe vidhitaaatmanaam

One who is devoid of attachment and aversion; and has known the Self, around such person bliss dances (brahma nirvaanam).

It is this bliss which is the very nature of these Mahatmas wherever they are and whatever they are doing that attracts us quite a lot. This is because we seek bliss and that bliss is present in these Mahatmas. Thus unknowingly we are attracted to these Mahatmas though we may not believe them completely (even not believing their words that everything is Lord alone).

It is but a pity that most of fail to apprehend the reason for bliss being the essence and dancing around these Mahatmas. If only we apprehend the reason, we will also be able to become like those Mahatmas ever being blissful – this state of always being blissful is the goal of life (our life will be fulfilled and complete only we get to this realized state of being blissful).

The bliss emanating from these Mahatmas is due to their ever residing in Brahman or the ultimate reality of Lord. They are ever aware of the truth that everything (the duality that is perceived) is only an illusion of names and forms in the Lord which means that the Lord alone exists here, one without a second. This is not that tough as we think it to be; it is as simple as just remembering this truth whatever happens in life. Even as a lover remembers his love whatever happens – whether he is in office, whether he is happy, whether he is sad, whether his parents don’t like his love etc. Irrespective of the situation or surrounding, the lover always remembers his/her love. This is something that most of us have experienced or can imagine. If we are able to develop this love towards the Lord, it is called devotion and this alone is knowledge as well as we are aware of the truth that everything is the Lord alone (as the essence or substratum of names-forms). This devotion/knowledge always in our mind alone is enough to take us to the state of being blissful always.

Thus Bhagavatham here is pointing out that even a being with devilish tendency can recognize the Lord (which means that devilish tendencies can never overpower the person whose mind resides in the Lord).

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us all try to slowly day-by-day implement this devotion/knowledge towards the Lord irrespective of whatever we are doing externally so that we may be able to always rejoice in bliss like the Mahatmas.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 04

2008-06-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

The Lord thought – very strong Yavana has surrounded us; Jarasandha will come today or tomorrow to attack;

The Lord after discussing with Balarama came to a conclusion; it is not easy to handle both Jarasandha and Yavana now; hence let us create a town which is very tough to reach by humans; let us take the people safely to the town and then we can slowly try to kill Yavana.

Explanation

There is a famous war rule – if the enemy is stronger than you, you should run away from the enemy and encounter him after gaining more strength.

This might seem to be a small statement but this has a deeper significance with respect to spiritual seekers. Running away from the enemy might seem to be cowardice but facing the enemy only will kill the person not even giving an opportunity to live. If a person is not living, then what is the point of trying out or planning things? The life that has been given to us is very precious as humans alone have the capability to discriminate between real and unreal; choose as to whether to do the right thing or the wrong thing. The very purpose of life is to realize one’s own nature of blissful Lord – this alone can end the search for bliss in our life; this verily fulfils life.

In order for a seeker to be able to fulfill his life, he needs to live. Thus it is appropriate to escape from enemies which symbolize the various obstacles and hurdles that he might face in the spiritual path. A person who is not used to overcoming liquor cannot sit in a liquor shop and meditate; he has to get away from the liquor shop and meditate in a proper environment. It is not possible for a person to stand under the hot sun and be unaffected by it – he has to initially practice being unaffected by sitting under the shades of a tree. But by gradual practice, it would be possible for the same person to meditate even in a liquor place – it would also be possible for a person to stand under the hot sun and remain the same as if he is under the shades of a tree. This is what we find in the lives of Mahatmas like AMMA and in the very life of Lord Krishna. Whether he was surrounded by the gopis or by Jarasandha; whether he was doing dharma of being the charioteer or Arjuna or doing the normal adharma of helping in killing Drona; he was always the same. It is this state of being unaffected to environment and ever being steadfast with the mind always maintaining equanimity that is the goal of life – but as we are seekers who are still far away from that goal, we have to stay away from troubles until we perfect the art of remaining unaffected even while encountering those troubles.

What Bhagavatham thereby is telling us here is that initial seekers should try to stay from troubles as much as possible and spend maximum time in contemplation of the Lord so that they don’t get diverted away from the path; instead they progress in the path towards the goal of realization (which is the ultimate goal of life – which is the bliss that we are seeking each and every moment of our life).

The Lord here knew that he couldn’t defeat Jarasandha and Yavana together along with protecting the people; hence he entered into thoughts as to what is the best way out of this trouble. There is nothing wrong in thinking about what to do in our life with respect to protecting our spiritual path. It is wrong if a person doesn’t think about his spiritual path and the state of bliss that he would have attained through spiritual sadhana and grace of Ishwara. Thus the Lord’s thinking about the best way to handle the situation is a message to seekers that it is very important that when required we should think a lot and then make the right decision that will help in the spiritual path towards realization.

Let us try to always be focused on the Lord with devotion and knowledge (that everything is the Lord alone) so that we are aware of the tough spiritual path yet don’t fall down from the path due to various obstacles and hurdles in the path.

Thus deciding (to create a new place and take all the people of Mathura safely to that place) the Lord created a place in the middle of ocean. It was built beautifully and as per Vaasthu shastra. Seeing the beauty, Indra gifted many things including the Kalpa Vriksha. Due to Krishna’s yogic power, all the people of Mathura were very quickly transported to the new place. After settling people in their respective houses, Krishna (without wielding any weapon) came out of Dwaraka and started walking away.

Explanation

We can ask a lot of questions while reading the puranas and the particular portions where the Lord demonstrates tremendous and impossible powers doing activities which are impossible in the current-day. There are yet others who get so deluded into these miraculous demonstrations that they start asking for various miraculous powers and materials to the Lord.

We have to remember always that neither of these people (those who doubt the statements of the puranas and those who get deluded into the miracles) are able to get eternal bliss which is what we are searching each and every moment of our life and which is the real purpose of life. This purpose of life can only be achieved when we realize that everything that exists (whether it is a miracle or not) is only an illusion of names-forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. The Lord alone exists here as the substratum of the illusory names and forms. Only a person who remembers this reality always will be able to get eternal bliss. Gaining eternal bliss or moksha is not tough at all for a seeker – it is as simple as remembering that the Lord alone exists (who is our very nature of Consciousness).

A person who doesn’t remember this reality will never be able to get rid of sorrows and rejoice in bliss even if he seeks Mahatmas like AMMA. Realization is possible only through constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord remembering that the Lord alone exists and everything else is only an illusion of names-forms in the Lord. Even as various gold ornaments are mere names and forms in gold – an ignorant person might get deluded into the various names and forms whereas a gold-smith pierces through the names-forms and perceives only gold. Thus the gold-smith is not deluded and doesn’t suffer with the various gold ornaments whereas we get deluded by thinking that one gold ornament is better than the other thereby getting into the dual notions of happiness and sorrow. Similarly only a person who always remembers that the Lord alone exists and his very nature is that of Lord will be able to overcome the dual notions of happiness-sorrow thereby ever rejoicing in bliss.

People who doubt the statements of the puranas about miraculous incidents in fact forget the real essence of these statements which is that anything is possible in the world as the world itself is an illusion. Even as there are no rules in dream, similarly this world also doesn’t have any rules for the owner of this world (similar to the dreamer who dreams) who is the ultimate reality of Lord. The various avataras and Mahatmas are one with the Lord and hence they are able to demonstrate miraculous powers. The greatest miracle is that though the world is not real, yet we consider the world to be real so much that we argue at lengths about the unreality of the world. Another great miracle is that though we all are in essence the ultimate reality of Lord, we forget this – thus though we are blissful in nature, we ever are sad with respect to one thing or the other.

When we encounter such miraculous incidents, we should remember that those are only ways in which the puranas try to gain our devotion towards the Lord – that is the only purpose of mentioning these miraculous incidents. If we are able to gain devotion to the Lord by knowing that everything that is seen is only an illusion in Consciousness (which is the indwelling Lord in all beings), then we don’t need any miracles – such a seeker alone will be able to always focus on the Lord and realize the Lord in this very birth itself.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us all try to always remember that we should never get deluded into miracles but always should remember the ultimate reality of Lord as the only reality behind the illusory names and forms that we are constantly perceiving.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 03

2008-06-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

Ashamed of his defeat, Jarasandha went back to his kingdom. But he didn’t give up. In total he fought with the yadus for 17 times with the result being defeat each time.

Explanation

We find in Magadha King Jarasandha a very good quality if it is directed towards the right goal – this quality is DETERMINATION which is the WILL to seek the goal whatever happens. We have heard about this quality many times in the form of “try until you succeed”.

There is a beautiful incident in the life of Ramanujacharya which illustrates this quality of determination. Ramanuja wanted to get the sacred narayana mantra – but it should be got from an ideal person and only then will it be powerful. Ramanuja therefore sort Nambi for the mantra. Nambi refused. Ramanuja didn’t give up and asked again. Nambi refused again. This continued for sometime that even the Lord started asking Nambi as to why he is not giving the mantra to which Nambi replied that he should get convinced whether the seeker is really worthy. Ramanuja had to ask 18 times in order to get the mantra. Finally he got the mantra. If Ramanuja would have given up the 2nd or 3rd time, he would not have been able to serve the world by spreading the powerful narayana mantra.

We need to have strong will and faith in order to proceed in the spiritual path. The goal of Brahman or Lord of the nature of bliss isn’t something that easy to achieve. Though it is our very nature of Self, still it isn’t to achieve as we have been accumulating desires, vasanas, ego over many births. It therefore requires quite a lot of time and effort to remove all these. Moreover unlike external hurdles, we also will have to face the internal demons like kama, krodha etc. As if this wasn’t enough, the Ego (as Ramana Maharshi beautifully points out) comes to us in the guise of a friend when in fact it is leading us away from our nature of bliss and deluding us into sorrows. It is very easy to stay away from an enemy but it is very tough to stay away from a friend since we are not used to saying NO and we are so dependent – and cause we fear of being left alone in the world.

Though we are like drowning in the ocean of samsara, we strive to help others in the hope of saving other drowning people. There might be times when everything would go against us – during those hard times, we might falter and get away from the Lord. If this shouldn’t happen, then we need to have the strong conviction about the goal we seek – that this goal alone is eternal and blissful; everything else is only an illusion of names and forms thereby will lead us only to sorrow and sorrow alone. If we are able to remember this at all times, then we will develop the determination to proceed in the spiritual path whatever happens. Only this determination will finally grant us the fruit of bliss.

But instead of focusing on the Lord, if we focus on the wrong object with determination it will only lead to our destruction which is shown here through Jarasandha’s continuous defeat at the hands of Krishna.

Let us try to always be determined to attain the goal of eternal bliss by always focusing on the ultimate reality of Lord remembering that everything is but an illusion of names and forms in the Lord.

18th time Jarasandha decided to fight with Rama-Krishna again. At that time by due to Narada’s instigation a yavana surrounded Mithila with many mlecchaas. Seeing this the Lord started to think and worry.

Explanation

There are times when even the Lord starts to think and worry. How is this possible? Is this really possible as the Lord is ever realized?

It is for making us remember and understand that the spiritual path is not an easy one that Bhagavatham is here telling about the Lord entering into thoughts. This shows that even a person who is well advanced in the spiritual path might enter into worries. As long as a person is not realized, he can anytime fall down from the spiritual path. One wrong step and such a person will fall down till the lowest step. Nochur Venkatraman beautifully compares this with “kandukam iva pathathi” or falling down like a ball. We are standing on the 100th step with a ball in our hand. We put the ball down into the 99th step. We might think that this is just a small fall but with each and every fall, the ball gains more momentum. Gaining more and more momentum the ball comes and stops only at the 0th or 1st step. This is how tough the spiritual path – one small mistake can take a person right down to the very first step. In spiritual path, the first step denotes a state of total ignorance and living life like an animal (just doing eating, drinking, mating, sleeping); without using our intellect to discriminate real and unreal.

Thus any mistake however small or big is not be taken lightly. This also doesn’t mean that a seeker should always brood over his mistake. AMMA says that past is a cancelled check – we shouldn’t brood over it; we should just learn the mistake so that we don’t commit the same mistake again in the future.

Krishna while explaining to Arjuna as to how to control the mind says:

Yatho yatho nischarathi manah chanchalam asthiram
Tathastatho niyamya etat atmani eva vasham nayet

Whenever the unstable and unsteady mind runs here and there, bring it forcefully back again to the Self.

Instead of brooding over the past mistakes, we should learn from the mistake while leading it again to the truth so that we are always in the spiritual path. As long as we are in the spiritual path it doesn’t matter whether we are ahead in the path or just beginners. This is like two people who went away from the house – then forgetting their house; then they started walking towards the house; one person walked just few miles away from the house and hence he is closer to the house than the other person who walked many thousands of miles. Both of them are walking towards the house – which is what is important.

Thus Bhagavatham here is warning us that we should never be egoistic about our progress; we should always be humble and be devoted to the Lord so that we don’t enter into worries thereby making us fall down till the 1st step.

The Lord is not really worried here but Bhagavatham wants to show us as to how tough the spiritual path. The Lord is just playing his part very well – the part/role requires him to worry and which is what the Lord is doing. We will also see the next day as to why the Lord entered into thoughts.

Let us try to always be focused on the Lord with devotion and knowledge (that everything is the Lord alone) so that we are aware of the tough spiritual path yet don’t fall down from the path due to various obstacles and hurdles in the path.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 02

2008-06-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

Let us today try to again analyze on attachment and aversion (raga-dvesha). This is one of the very vital analysis as understanding of this can directly take us to state of eternal bliss.

The Lord speaks about attaining of prasadam with respect to raga-dvesha thus:

Raga dvesha viyukthaisthu vishayaan indriyaaih charan
Aatma vashyair vidheyaatma prasaadam adhigacchathi

One who uses his sense organ without any attachment and aversion to the sense objects perceived by the senses, such a person is always focused on the Self; as a result of focusing on the Self devoid of attachment-aversion, he attains Prasadam.

Is the prasadam some sweet or payasam?
The Lord says that this is the greatest of all prasadams.

Prasaade sarva dukhaanaam haanih asya upajaayathe
This prasada leads to complete cessation of sorrow.

It is this prasada to complete cessation of sorrow thereby rejoicing in bliss that we all are seeking. Irrespective of wherever we are, whoever we are and whatever we are doing we are all seeking eternal bliss – happiness that is ever-lasting and untainted by sorrow. If we need to get this bliss which is our own very nature of Lord, we have to get rid of raga-dvesha. Raga-dvesha is caused out of not knowing the entire world to be one reality of Brahman; not knowing that the duality we perceive is only an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord; it is not that easy to get rid of duality directly but it is very easy to get rid of raga-dvesha in our mind. The way to do this is to see oneness everywhere – to know that the entire world is an illusion of names-forms in the Lord which means that the world is the Lord thereby seeing the Lord as pervading the entire world.

Though it is vision of the ultimate truth that we are having (while seeing everything as pervaded by the Lord), still a sadhaka has to do the same with effort. Once a sadhaka progresses, he will find that it becomes natural and effortless – it is this state of natural and effortless remembrance of the entire world to be pervaded by Ishwara that Vedanta terms as moksha.

Some people get afraid of the term moksha – moksha is nothing but anandam or bliss. A state wherein we are blissful irrespective of external surroundings, environment etc. is the state of moksha. This state is untainted by sorrow as there are no raga-dvesha in it. Though a jeevan muktha might appear to get attached or averted to things externally, internally he will ever be rejoicing in bliss.

Sankara beautifully explains this in Bhaja Govindam as

Yoga ratho vaa bhoga ratho vaa
Sanga ratho vaa sangaviheenah
Yasya brahmani ramathe chittam
Nandathi nandathi nandathi eva

Whether doing yoga; or doing bhoga;
Whether getting attached; or totally detached;
One whose mind is ever residing in Brahman,
Such a person rejoices, rejoices and verily rejoices.

Thus through the example of Jarasandha, Bhagavatham is telling us to get rid of our raga-dvesha in the mind all the while externally playing the role that we have got in the world to perfection (getting attached, angry etc.) so that we may not enter into troubles that Jarasandha got into and will be ever blissful.

Let us all try to always see the world as an illusion of names-forms in the non-dual reality of Lord so that we are never tainted by the dual notions of happiness-sorrow and remain ever absorbed in the bliss of the Lord.

There will be no Bhagavatham mails until 9th June as am out of town meeting AMMA.

When Jarasandha was ready to attack Mathura, divine chariots came down from heaven in order for Rama and Krishna to fight Jarasandha. Rama and Krishna got into the chariots. They had a small army and encountered Jarasandha. Jarasandha’s entire army was destroyed completely. Rama pounced ready to kill Jarasandha. But Krishna stopped him as he knew that there were many more asuric tendencies that needed to come out of Jarasandha later. Therefore Jarasandha was not killed but left alive & free.

Explanation

We learn a couple of very important concepts in this part of the story. First is that help is available wherever the Lord or his name is being spoken (wherever the Lord is remembered). Second is that the world is a divine play of the Lord (lila) – it is very strange, cannot be judged by the intellect and is always mysterious.

Wherever the Lord is present or his remembrance is there, that place is a heaven – all Gods will be waiting to serve such a place. It is for this reason that it is said that wherever Ramayana is chanted there will Hanuman present there; and wherever Bhagavatham is discussed, Shuka will be present along with other sages & Gods.

Why is that wherever the Lord is present, all protection will be there?
This is because the Lord controls his power of Maya – that divine power which is responsible for the entire world (and control of the world). Even as the magical power or display of the magician is under the control of the magician, similarly the power of Maya is under the control of the Lord. If we gain control over the magician, we can control the magical display; similarly if we gain control over Maya, we can control the entire world.

Then will this not lead to a devotee controlling the entire world?
No, because the devotee knows that the Lord (who controls Maya) is blissful and more powerful than his power. We rarely seek talents as talents are insentient – therefore we seek people with talents. It is the people who is important and not their talents. When we gain control over magical power, it is of no avail as the magician might display new powers; but if we gain control over the magician, then all magical powers that might come out of the magician is controlled. A wise person will therefore seek the owner of the magical power and not control over the magical power. Moreover a devotee knows that the power of Maya is as illusory as the magical power of the magician or the dream world displayed by the dreamer’s innate tendencies; he also knows that the Lord is eternal and constant remembrance of the Lord will grant him eternal bliss (that which is being sought by each one of us every moment of our lives).

Therefore a devotee will not control the world but enslave the Lord through devotion. When the Lord enslaved, the devotee will ever be blissful. This is the reason why Meera drank nectar happily as everything is blissful once we realize the Lord and that the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord even as the dream world is an illusion in the dreamer. But the Lord since he has been enslaved by the devotee will always protect the devotee in the illusory world. The devotee doesn’t seek this protection as the devotee is always immersed in thought of the Lord and ever blissful – but still at the empirical plane, the devotee will always be protected by the Lord.

It is in order to drive this point that Bhagavatham shows here that the Lord is being protected and served by various Gods. This only denotes that wherever there is thought of the Lord and sincere devotion (real devotion is when the devotee always thinks about the Lord as the substratum of the illusory names and forms seen as the world), there will always be protection.

Brahma Sutra characterizes the world as “lokavattu tat leela kaivalyam” – that the world is a divine play of the Lord. We cannot figure out as to why this play, how this play etc. What we can do is surrender completely to the Lord by remembering that everything is but an illusion of names and forms in the Lord thereby enjoying the divine play like a witness enjoying a movie/drama/film. The world or the divine play of the Lord cannot be grasped by logic as it is like the dream world. But the Lord pervades his divine play – it is this fact that we should always remember while being in the world whether we experience good things or bad things. If we are able to remember that the entire world is just a strange, divine and illusory play of the Lord, we will never again be deluded into sorrows and our life will be filled with bliss each and every moment. This is the goal of moksha – that eternal blissful goal which we are seeking ardently here and there every moment of our life.

We will continue with as to how the Lord continues his divine play (all the while constantly remembering that the entire world is only an illusion of names and forms in the reality of Lord).

Let us all try to always see the world as an illusion of names-forms in the non-dual reality of Lord so that we are never tainted by the dual notions of happiness-sorrow and remain ever absorbed in the bliss of the Lord.

Story 50 – Story of Dwaraka Nirmaanam - 01

2008-06-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Introduction:

Once again before we start the next story of Srimad Bhagavatham today, let us remind ourselves to always remember that the import of all these stories is the non-dual reality of Consciousness who we term as “Lord” or “Ishwara” or “Bhagavan”. As we discussed in the previous day, it is very important to remember this import of Lord as anything apart from the Lord is but an illusion in the Lord – all illusions can lead us to only sorrow. But if we associate the Lord with all illusions (while experiencing the illusions), then it will lead us to a state of bliss (which Vedanta calls moksha).

This is the one recipe that the Lord gives in Gita in order for us to taste the bliss of Self thus:

Yat karoshi yad ashnaasi yat juhoshi dadaasi yat
Yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurushva madarpanam

Whatever you do; whatever you eat; whatever you offer to yajna; whatever you give to others; whatever austerities you do – do it as an offering unto me.

This is as simple of remembering that everything is but an illusion of names-forms in the reality of Lord and thereby offering everything unto him. Offering doesn’t necessarily mean offering but it is also enough to just remember the Lord and his nature of being the substratum of the illusory world.

The purpose of Lord’s avataras has been mentioned in Gita as 3:

Parithraanaaya saadhoonaam vinaashaaya cha dushkrithaam
Dharma samsthaapanaarthaaya Sambhavaami yuge yuge

1. To protect the good people
2. To destroy the bad people
3. To uplift Dharma

It is interesting to note that these three purposes are not for the external world but it denotes the purposes of the Lord and his thought in the life of spiritual seeker. A seeker is one who has the desire to realize, is not able to maintain good thoughts always in his mind and has bad thoughts.

Dharma means that which protects or upholds us – it is the Lord who upholds everything as everything is an illusion in the Lord. Thus uplifting dharma means realizing our own nature of all-pervasive Lord. Protecting good people means maintaining good thoughts which will lead us more towards dharma (realization). Destroying bad people means removal of bad thoughts which will take us away from dharma. Thus the thought of the Lord while doing all actions will help us in realization or dharma.

Thus the Lord’s avatara is not just for the external world but it is really for the seekers like us who want to get eternal bliss but are struggling to keep up with the spiritual path. The Lord’s avatara is not in dwaraka but it is in the heart of the seeker – when the Lord falls down (avatara means falling down from formless state to form state) from the state of Consciousness to the state of mind (Ego), then the very presence of the Lord fulfills the three purposes that will purify our Ego thereby making us realize our own nature of Consciousness (Lord).

All these stories of Bhagavatham praising Lord Krishna in fact show us that the thought of the Lord in our mind constantly will help us make our life fruitful by realizing the Lord and rejoicing in bliss.

In order for the avatara to fulfill its purposes, dharma should be degrading (people don’t seek realization), bad people prospering as well as attacking good people and good people not being able to keep up with the spiritual path. All these are beautifully depicted in the life of Lord Krishna wherein the Lord fulfilled all these purposes to perfection (which we will see in the next coming days).

We will start the story from the next day.

Let us remember that the dharma of life is to realize the non-dual reality of blissful Lord as the substratum of the illusory names and forms (collectively termed as world) so that we may be able to ever rejoice in bliss.

After Kamsa’s killing, his wives asthi and praapthi went to their father Jarasandha and informed him of everything. Magadha king Jarasandha took a vow to kill entire yadukula and thereby started with a huge army towards Mathura.

Explanation

All the troubles including sorrows that a person experiences in the world is due to the dual notions of raga-dvesha. Raga is getting overly attached to something and dvesha is getting averted to something. Raga-dvesha in turn lead us to sukha-dukha. When the person we are attached to suffers, we become sad & when the person is rejoicing, we become happy. Similar with a person we hate – when the person becomes happy, we become sad & when the person becomes sad, we become happy. Thus a person who has raga-dvesha will be deluded into sukha-dukha depending on the situation. It is sukha-dukha that makes life miserable.

Therefore if we need to get rid of sorrows in life, we need to get rid of raga-dvesha. Raga-dvesha in itself is due to likes and dislikes. We get attached to someone we like and we get averted to someone we dislike. Likes-dislikes are caused out of viewing things in the world as different from one another.

Even as the dream world is but an illusion of different names-forms in the dreamer, similarly the waking world is also an illusion in the reality of Lord (of the nature of Consciousness). As long as we perceive the dream world, it will appear to be real – but the moment we wake up, we will realize that there never was any dream world at all. Similarly as long as we perceive the waking world, it will appear to be real but in fact it is as unreal as the dream world. Existence or perception of the world doesn’t cause sorrows – it is considering the world to be composed of different objects which causes sorrows.

While we are waking in the desert, we see water. We go near and find that there is no water at all. Again we see water and walk towards it. If we are aware of the truth that there is no water at all in desert, we will not be affected by the outcome of the action of “walking towards the water”. We may still perceive water (though we know that there is no water at all) and may walk towards it along with the rest of the world but the knowledge and conviction that there is no water means that once we find that there is no water, we will not be sad as we already knew that there was no water.

In a similar way, it is not the world that causes trouble but our considering the world to be composed of different objects that causes trouble. If we are able to always remember that even as the dream world is nothing but the dreamer alone, the waking world is nothing but the non-dual reality of Lord then though we may perceive the world like any other person we will not be affected by the dual notions of happiness-sorrow as we are devoid of likes-dislikes.

Likes-dislikes are caused out of seeing difference in the world (ignorance) and since we perceive the Lord everywhere, we don’t have any likes-dislikes; thereby we will not be deluded into the dual notions of happiness-sorrow etc. This means that we will ever be blissful irrespective of the situation, surrounding, conditions etc.

Jarasandha was unable to apprehend the truth of non-dual Lord behind the dual world; thereby he was attached to Kamsa and averted to Krishna for killing Kamsa. We will see in the next day as to how this raga-dvesha lead to more sorrows for him than his current state of losing his son-in-law.

Let us all try to always see the world as an illusion of names-forms in the non-dual reality of Lord so that we are never tainted by the dual notions of happiness-sorrow and remain ever absorbed in the bliss of the Lord.

Story 49 – Story of Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam - 14

2008-05-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

Conclusion

Kamsa because of fear used to think about Krishna while drinking, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing etc. Therefore after leaving his body, he attained the form of Vishnu. Vishnu’s form is Brahman or ultimate reality of Lord. Hence Kamsa attained the Lord – this is because at the time of death, Kamsa’s mind was filled with the Lord alone (everything was ishwara mayam – filled with Ishwara). However the mind is, so will be life as well – this is the rule. It is not that easy to get the mind filled with Ishwara – Kamsa was able to achieve it even if it was through fear.

After killing Kamsa, Krishna stayed with his parents Devaki-Vasudeva and started living in Mathura itself. He consoled Nanda gopa and others thereby letting them go back.

Krishna who hadn’t completed his youth days displayed to everyone VISHWAROOPAM (that everything is one Lord alone) depending on the perspective vision of people – till killing of Kamsa. There is only the ultimate reality of Lord present here – but depending on our sankalpa (thoughts), we will view it differently – this is the law for the vasthu (reality) of Lord.

Explanation

We finally come to the end of this story of vishwaroopa pradarshanam in Srimad Bhagavatham.

We find two beautiful concepts mentioned here. One is about Kamsa’s devotion to Ishwara though it was out of anger and two is the truth about vishwaroopa & reality depending on the perspective vision of the seeker. Let’s try to see these two concepts in brief today.

We have seen many times before that devotion necessarily doesn’t need to be based on love or respect alone. Devotion just means that we are always thinking about Ishwara. Constant thought of Ishwara at all times is what characterizes devotion. This means irrespective of whether we are eating or drinking or walking or sleeping, we remember the Lord.

This has been explained by the Lord thus beautifully as:

Yat karoshi yad ashnaasi yad juhoshi dadaasi yat
Yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurushva madarpanam

Whatever you do; whatever you eat; whatever you offer; whatever you give; whatever austerities you do, O Arjuna do it as an offering to me.

Kamsa was able to pervade the Lord in all of his actions even though it was through anger. Therefore what we should really strive to achieve is constant remembrance of the Lord – depending on our nature and temperament we should utilize the easiest way to achieve this “constant remembrance” of the Lord.

A person who constantly remembers the Lord is a real devotee of the Lord. A real devotee of Lord never perishes and is always protected by the Lord. The Lord himself takes care of such a devotee ensuring that the devotee realizes his own nature of all-pervasive non-dual Lord in this very birth itself. This has been emphasized by the scriptures through the stories about various asuras like Kamsa and others getting realized by constant remembrance of the Lord through anger & by considering the Lord as their janma-shathru (birth-enemy).

The second concept that Bhagavatham is mentioning here is about perception of the reality. This is also based on the age-old saying that “what we think, that we become” and “what we want to see, we see it”. When ten friends go to a museum, each of them sees things that they want to see – all of them don’t see the same things. Also the external world is in fact a projection of our mind. Though the entire world is seen as blissful by saints like Ramana Maharshi (and our own Lord Krishna), we see it as a place of sorrow and suffering. This shows that the world in itself is not sorrowful but it is our perception of the world (our mental projection of the world) which causes sorrow to the world. The world is in fact the ultimate reality of Lord. But instead of seeing the world as an illusion of names-forms in the Lord, we see the world as names-forms. It is for this reason that the Lord qualifies the world as “anityam asukham” (temporary and sorrowful) – this is the nature of names-forms that we perceive. But the moment we realize through scriptural statements and logic that the world is filled with the ultimate reality of Lord even as gold pervades all ornaments made of gold, we will be viewing the world in its true nature of the ultimate reality of Lord. It is this vision that can give us bliss.

So depending on how we perceive or how we think about the Lord, we will reap the fruit of living in the world. This is the law of reality – though reality is one alone, still people see it in different ways depending on their mind. Through this explanation, Bhagavatham is telling us to view the entire world in its real form of Lord so that we will be able to live in the world all the while blissfully immersed in contemplation of the Lord in our mind.

Such a person is one who is really following the Lord’s view of the world rather than his own view of the world. Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam can also be interpreted as manifestation of the Lord as per the world (or people of the world) – which shows as to how different people see the one Lord. There is nothing wrong in having such visions except that if we don’t see the world as the Lord, then we will be suffering though bliss pervades the world. A wise person will understand this and thereby always contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord – such a person will be ever blissful irrespective of the conditions, situations, environments etc. he is in.

We will see a summary of this story of Bhagavatham in the next day before starting the next story.

Let us all try to remember to have the vision of the world as the ultimate reality of Lord so that such a vision of reality will give us bliss – that bliss which is being sought by us each and every moment of our life.

Summary

Let us see today a summary of this story of Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam in Bhagavatham.

We generally know Vishwaroopa as the Lord displaying a huge form almost covering earth and space. But we now know that Vishwaroopa is much more than that. Vishwaroopa is a Lord’s way of telling that different people perceive the reality in different ways yet in reality the Lord pervades everything in and out even as space pervades all objects of the world. We learnt the beautiful concept of “as is the mind, so will the vision; as is vision, so will be the fruit of the vision as well”.

All the various visions of the Lord depending on the nature of people can be categorized into just two – vision of knowledge and vision of ignorance. Vision of ignorance is when we fail to see the non-dual Lord and rather see the names-forms alone. This vision will only lead us to sorrow (it is this vision that the Lord qualifies as anityam asukham lokam or “temporary and sorrowful world”). Even though we may perceive the form of Vishnu or the form of Vishwaroopa (a huge form pervading the world), as long as we don’t realize that this Vishwaroopa is only an illusion in the form-less reality which pervades all forms we will only end up in sorrow. It is this form vision (of duality) that causes people following various form-Gods to fight amongst themselves as to which form is superior. Contrary to this vision of ignorance is the vision of knowledge wherein everything is seen in its true form of the ultimate reality of Lord. Even as a gold-smith sees all gold ornaments as gold, a person who knows everything to be the Lord sees the entire world as the Lord – this is vision of knowledge. Vision of ignorance is like the vision of normal people who see gold ornaments as different from one another. Any vision which is not the vision of knowledge is vision of ignorance and will lead us to sorrow alone even if that vision means meeting with Mahatmas like AMMA etc. or saints like Sankaracharya etc.

It is this concept that we have to remember always in order to get bliss. This remembrance is not for anything but for bliss (which is what we are constantly seeking in this world). A person who has the vision of knowledge and sees everything as an illusion of names-forms of Lord alone perceives Vishwaroopa in reality. Such a person is a jnaani and will very soon realize the state of eternal bliss.

It doesn’t matter if we are learned in scriptures, are devoted to Ishwara etc. in order for us to have Vishwaroopa darshanam (viewing vishwaroopa). The only condition for this is to view everything as the ultimate reality of Lord and have this vision at all times irrespective of where, when etc. Through Kamsa, Bhagavatham tells us that even if we have this vision through anger towards Ishwara, still we will realize the state of bliss. It is not how we gain this vision that matters, but what matters is whether we have this vision of knowledge. The attitude or mental state is what matters rather than how we gain the mental state through external actions. If we are able to get this attitude of remembering Ishwara at all times, then like Kamsa we will also be liberated from the ocean of samsaara never again to fall into it – this means that we will always be rejoicing in bliss.

After having learnt Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam (display of Vishwaroopa) by the Lord, let us try to view the world as the Lord so that we may be able to realize the reality of Lord in this very birth itself thereby ever rejoicing in bliss.

The ultimate reality – an analysis

Before we start with the next story of Srimad Bhagavatham, it is essential that we bring our focus back to the ultimate reality of Lord. It is the Lord who is the import behind all the stories of Srimad Bhagavatham.

Anything apart from the ultimate reality of Lord will only lead us to sorrow in the long run as everything apart from the Lord is not real. The scriptures proclaim that the Lord alone existed before creation – this means that the Lord alone is present always. That which is present only for a limited period of time is not real as it is only temporary. That which is temporary can only give us temporary happiness. That which is eternal alone can give us eternal bliss – this can be achieved only through the Lord as the Lord alone is eternal.

It is for this reason that we have always focus on the ultimate reality of Lord irrespective of whether we are doing a worldly activity or spiritual activity. The constant remembrance of the Lord (with the knowledge that everything is only an illusion in the Lord) alone can lead us to eternal bliss (that which is the goal that we have been seeking each and every moment of our life).

Remembering the Lord becomes more important while learning Bhagavatham because it is very easy to get deluded into the stories and miracles. When we go and hear a discourse about how the Lord killed Kamsa, we immediately get deluded and attracted to the miracle. This attraction will only lead us to trouble as we will be expecting the Lord to do some miracle in our life as well. All miracles are mere illusions like any normal activity. The waking world itself is a long dream world which only appears to be real but isn’t real at all. A person who gets deluded into miracles is in fact asserting his ignorance-view that the world is real. This will then lead the person to seek happiness from the world (miracles and even the various avataras of the Lord are part of the world). The Lord himself qualifies the world as “anityam, asukham” (temporary and sorrowful) – thus it can only lead us to sorrow and suffering.

If the avataras are also unreal, then what is the nature of the Lord?
The nature of the Lord is SAT CHIT ANANDA (Existence, Consciousness and Bliss). All existence that we perceive in the world is in fact existence of the Lord (but with a name and form). The moment we remove the names and forms, we will end up with the Lord. Names and forms are illusion and hence will lead us to sorrow whereas the moment we end up with the Lord everywhere there will be bliss alone everywhere. This is the state of moksha or realization wherein we see everything as the Lord (though externally they may appear to be different, we know them to be different names and forms in the reality of Lord even as various gold ornaments are mere illusions of names and forms in gold).

Thus remembering that the Lord alone is real and names-forms are illusions, we should pierce through any name-form asserting them to the Lord. This alone will take us from the state of suffering to the state of bliss. Let us try to always remember this thereby not getting deluded into the miraculous stories. Taking a pledge to always remember this, we will start with the next story of Bhagavatham from the next day.

Story 49 – Story of Vishwaroopa Pradarshanam - 13

2008-05-18T10:58:00.000-07:00

Krishna who reached the stage where Malla yudha was going on was perceived in different ways by different people: a sword to the Mallas, a king to humans, kaama deva for women, relative for gopaas, punisher for the wicked kings, dear child to father-mother, death for kamsa, vishwaroopa for those who haven’t known him in reality completely and Brahman alone for yogis.

Explanation

Here we find a very beautiful exposition of the fundamental concept of Vedanta that the objects and fruits that a person gets out of those objects is based on our perception. It is for this reason that Chinmaya beautifully says that VEDANTA IS SUBJECTIVE.

Ramana Maharshi used to say that there are two distinct visions possible. One is the vision of ignorance wherein the entire world is seen as different-different entities each of them leading us to sorrow (due to the dual vision). The second is the vision of knowledge wherein the entire world of names and forms is seen as nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord (termed as Brahman).

The vision of ignorance causes us to suffer in the ocean of samsaara though our very nature is that of bliss whereas the vision of knowledge will make us rejoice every moment in bliss.

In short, vision of ignorance is bandham or bondage whereas vision of knowledge is mukthi or liberation. A seeker who seeks eternal bliss should always try to have vision of knowledge. It is in order to drive forth this truth that Bhagavatham speaks about all different visions and ending with the vision of yogis.

We may think that yogi is a person who does astha anga yoga (eight fold yoga or Raja yoga) but Vedantic interpretation of a yogi is quite different from this. Krishna himself defines a Yogi as “samatvam yoga uchyathe” (oneness or equanimity of mind is called yoga). While explaining the state of a yogi, Krishna says that a yogi is one who has samadarshanam (vision of oneness) wherein he sees the Self in all and all in the Self (meaning that he sees everything as nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord). It is this vision which is the vision of knowledge wherein everything is seen as the ultimate reality of Lord and it is this vision that makes a person rejoice his life though he may be suffering as per the external world.

What does it matter whether we have vision of knowledge or vision of ignorance as both are visions?
The reason why vision of knowledge gives us bliss is because it is the real vision. Vision of ignorance is when we see a thing as something else – this is like seeing water in desert. This vision of water in desert will only lead us to sorrow as we will start running towards the water while not finding it and then crying. Instead the vision of knowledge is when we know the water to be nothing but desert – even though in this case we might run behind the water yet we are always aware that there is no water & hence will not get affected when we don’t find water.

Is perceiving everything as the ultimate reality of Lord vision of reality?
Yes it is. Even as the dream world is but an illusion of names and forms in the dreamer, similarly this entire world is an illusion in the non-dual reality of Lord.

Thus through giving different perceptions of the reality of Lord, Bhagavatham is telling us that if we need eternal bliss we need to have the vision of knowledge always by seeing the ultimate reality of Lord everywhere.

We will continue with the story in the next day.

Let us all try to avoid vision of ignorance wherein we see differences and have vision of knowledge wherein we see everything as mere names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord so that we may be able to rejoice in bliss.

When Rama and Krishna entered into the malla yudha stage, Chanura and Mushtika encountered them. Krishna started fighting with Chanura whereas Rama took over Mushtika. After doing malla yudha for sometime, both Chanura and Mushtika fell down dead. Then Krishna jumped right onto the throne where Kamsa was sitting. Kamsa took his sword and encountered Krishna. But Krishna caught Kamsa’s hair and send him to paraloka by putting him down on the floor even as Garuda kills a snake.

Explanation

When the apt time comes for us to get away from this world, nothing can really help. The only thing which can help us in facing death (not overcoming) is the knowledge that the ultimate reality of Lord alone exists here. This is not overcoming death as birth-death is only for the body – the Self or the pulsating Consciousness which pulsates each moment that “I-exist, I-exist” and is one with the ultimate reality of Lord can never take birth or die as it is eternal.

Facing death is shedding this body like we daily shed our clothes and like an actor sheds his role once the shooting for the film gets over. This is possible only if we always remember that we are beyond the body – the body is only an illusion of names-forms in the reality of Lord who is the underlying Consciousness in each one of us. The more and more we remember this, the more and more we will overcome death. And finally when the time comes for us to wake up from this long dream world (death), we will be able to happily embrace Yama (Lord of death).

Prof. Balakrishnan Nair beautifully says that if Yama comes, we should be able to say to Yama “come in and have a cup of tea before we leave”J. This is the state to be achieved through remembering that everything that we perceive is but an illusion in the reality of Lord even as various gold ornaments are mere names-forms in gold.

Since we never know when death is going to pounce upon us, we should not wait for the future to get rid of all our attachments. We should proceed in the spiritual path like we don’t have even one moment to live. This is what is termed as teevra mumukshutva or strong desire for liberation – this means we want moksha this very moment itself (moksha is nothing but always remembering the truth that Ishwara alone exists and everything else is only an illusion in Ishwara).

Once a person asks Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa as to when will he get liberated. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa immediately pushed him into the nearby pond and kept him immersed. The person couldn’t breathe and started shouting as much as he can. Finally when the state was that the person couldn’t survive without one breath of air, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa let him go. Then Ramakrishna Paramahamsa told him that when you call out for the Lord (yearn for the Lord) like you yearned for one breath of air inside the water, then you will instantly be liberated out of the bondages of samsaara.

Since death can pounce upon us at any time, we should strive for liberation this very moment. Mahatmas like AMMA and Prof. Balakrishnan Nair are so compassionate that they give us time till the end of this life. Most of us have many more years before death in order to completely seek moksha alone. But this doesn’t mean that we need not start on the spiritual path now and can start after the age of 60 years etc. A person who doesn’t start now will never start at all.

Kabir says

Kaal kare so aaj kar, aaj kare so ab
Pal mein parlai hoyegi, bahuri karoge kab

Whatever you have to do tomorrow, do it today; whatever you have to do today, do it now; because later something else will come up and you will not be finish the activity.

We will see the conclusion of this story in the next day

Let us all try to remember Krishna killing Kamsa so that we now that death is always ready to pounce upon us and therefore we need to start now itself on the path to realization of the ultimate reality of Lord being the only truth and everything else being an illusion of names-forms in the Lord.