Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Story 23 – Lord’s ascent in the form of a Boar
Srimad Bhagavatham - A Spiritual Insight - Story 23 – Lord’s ascent in the form of a Boar
Vidura wanted to hear further the glories of the Lord and hence Maitreya started explaining the various avatars of the Lord on Earth.
The first avatar or descent which Maitreya started explaining was the ascent of Lord in the form of a Boar. Initially when Manu was born (Swayambhuva Manu – he whose father was swayambhoo or Brahma who came without any birth as such) and he was aged enough, he and his wife Sataroopa went to his father Brahma asking him what should they do as service to the parents. Brahma replied telling that he was very happy with such children as children have the duty of serving the father. Brahma wanted to give Manu the task of looking after the current generation on Earth but could not help as Bhoomi Devi (Earth Goddess) was submerged in water at that time. Brahma then prayed to Lord that he may help them out. Suddenly out of one of his nostrils came a boar. The boar all of a sudden grew the size of an elephant. The various Gods started praising the Lord. The boar then went inside the sea and then rescued Earth from the sea. At that time, a demon named Hiranyaaksha attacked the Lord and the Lord without much effort killed him.
Thus, the ascent of Lord to protect the Earth was completed.
Explanation
Before the current chapter of ascent of Lord in the form of a boar, there comes a few chapters which explain creation process in detail and the various measurements of time like the yugas, day of Brahma, manvantara etc.
Creation is not as important for the seeker who gets the creation clearly from the Upanishadic text “tat sristhvaa tadeva anupravishet” – After creation, the Lord entered into the creation. This shows that creation is not different from the Lord. And as the Lord is one without a second (with no differences whatsoever), there can be no creation which is different from the Lord. Thus, the various scriptures proclaim that whatever is being seen as the created world is in fact the Lord only. Thus Vishnu Sahasranama starts with the naama “Viswam” or “He who is the world”.
The word Vaasudeva means one who resides in everything and in whom everything resides. Thus the ultimate reality of Lord praised by Sankara as Vaasudeva, Narayana and Vishnu in his commentaries and praised in the Upanishads as Siva and Vishnu.
Thus, the minimum what the seeker needs to know about creation is that the objects which are currently perceived are the Lord himself as the Lord is the material cause of the world and the effect is never different from the cause even as the pot (effect) is not different from its cause of mud.
Time has got much attention from the Vedic period itself. As we all are familiar, time has the three divisions of past, present and future termed in Sanskrit as Bhoota or Atheetha, Varthamaana and Bhaavi or anaagatha. Various philosophies have concentrated on this entity of time. According to the system of Nyaya-Vaisheshika as well as the Vishistaadvaita, time is eternal. According to the Sankhyaas, time is only a creation of Prakrithi or primordial matter. But these various views are not correct according to the Upanishads. The Upanishadic view is that time is eternal only from the empirical view. Time is not eternal as the ultimate reality of God as God is one without a second & there is no second entity other than God which is eternal. Time is only a creation in the ultimate reality of God. The moment creations starts through ignorance of one’s own nature & desire created out of the ignorance, time also is created. Thus we find that there is time in waking and dream state whereas time is not present in the deep sleep state. Only when a person wakes up from the deep sleep state, he finds time & says “I slept for 2 hours!!!”. Thus this time that he mentions as 2 hours is a creation in the waking state and not in the deep sleep state. If in deep sleep state itself time is not present, then what to speak about the state of realization or the natural state where there is nothing except the ultimate reality of Lord.
Thus, time is only a creation of the mind in the ultimate reality of God or Lord. Thus it is not very important to concentrate on the distribution of time and various categorization of time. What is required through knowing time and its classification is that this time is created by and in the ultimate reality of God who needs to be contemplated on instead of contemplation on illusory world and its objects.
But speaking in brief, there are mainly 4 yugas. These are Kritha or Satya Yuga, Tretha Yuga, Dvaapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. Currently we are in the Kali Yuga. One cycle of Yugas spans a number of years and many such yugas together comprise one single day of Brahma. Thus in a day of Brahma, many yugas pass and in the night of Brahma many such yugas pass!!! There is a person who is the son of Brahma who presides over a set of yugas – he is called Manu. Thus the period of a manu is termed as Manvantara (these are many yugas put together). There are totally 14 manvantaras starting from Swayambhuva Manu. We are currently in the reign of Vaivaswatha Manu – the 8th Manu.
Manu himself is created from the Lord and hence is temporary only. Thus, all these are mere illusions and their main aim is to point out the ever-present and eternal reality of God who is beyond them as their substratum.
The first Manu was called Swayambhuva manu as his father was swayambhoo or one who was born automatically (from the navel of Lord Vishnu). Here we find the real nature of a son towards his father. The very dharma of a child is to obey his father (as Brahma explains the same to Manu).
But it should not be forgotten that the ultimate goal in life should be realization of the ultimate reality of God – this should not be forsaken for any other thing let it be son or father or wife. Thus, people who quote this story to show that the children should marry, beget children and should obey their parents are real FOOLS who don’t understand the import and the nature of the father and son depicted here by Brahma and Manu. Manu was a real devotee of the Lord as was Brahma. Brahma never asked Manu to do things which take one away from the reality but he only first instructed Manu with the knowledge of Brahman. Of course the Manu Smriti is famous wherein devotion and other things are being stressed and brought out beautifully.
We find in two other places in Srimad Bhagavatham itself where a son rebukes against his father and a disciple disobeys his guru. The son of prahlada did not obey his father Hiranyakashipu’s order to worship him and not Vishnu. Similarly when Mahabali granted three feet land to Vamana, Shukracharya asked Mahabali not to give the land as he knew that it was Vishnu’s trick only. But still Mahabali did not heed to his Guru as he had given his word and he knew that it is something great if the Lord himself asks something from the devotee. But it is also important to remember that Shukracharya also was a brahma jnaani and hence he was just playing his role or act in the drama of world (as is very evident in the story depicted in Bhagavatham – we will be seeing it later).
Thus, what is important is not obeying father or mother or husband but it is whether the actions in the world are a hindrance to the spiritual progress towards the ultimate reality of God. If it is, then a real seeker will get out of such actions and bondages to progress in spirituality.
But once a person realizes the ultimate reality of Lord, then there remains no single moment when he doesn’t remember the Lord & hence the actions don’t bind him. Such a person is a jeevan mukta or realized being and hence he can have any actions or bondages as those affect only the Ego and not the Self.
Whenever a seeker gets some problems, he should seek out the ultimate reality of Lord. When a seeker seeks the Lord with earnestness, the Lord replies back with his help. This is what happened in the ascent of the Lord in the form of a boar. When Brahma and other Gods prayed the Lord, the Lord came to their rescue and thereby rescued the Earth after it was merged into sea.
Any avatar or ascent of the Lord has a purpose for the same. The purpose of this particular ascent is to protect Earth. It is really good to remember here that the all-pervasive Lord can never have an ascent but the Lord only seems to have taken a form and seems to do some action or seems to have a purpose for the same. Ascent is not possible for the all-pervasive and non-dual reality of Lord. These ascents are meant to create devotion in the mind of the seeker & thereby make the seeker concentrate the ultimate reality of Lord at all moments. As we have already seen in the starting of Bhagavatham where Shuka mentions ascents as the manifestations of the unmanifested or the Lord who cannot be manifest! Thus, these ascents are only for creating devotion and for contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord. The world itself is the Lord only and hence if a person were to claim the boar form as an ascent, then everything that we see is an ascent only. There is no difference whatsoever in the seemingly different objects as each object has Lord pervading in and out. Therefore everything is a manifestation of the Lord or everything is the Lord only (as manifestation is possible only when something is limited by space and time – Lord is beyond both and hence no manifestation is possible for him).
The Lord thus took the form of a boar and killed the asura Hiranyaksha (here taking the form also is empirical and not ultimately real but only real from the view of the long dream world of waking). Hiranya means Gold, aksha means eyes. Hiranyaksha can mean one who always sees Gold – this means one who is always seeking Gold.
Gold represents the sense objects and pleasures. The human mind is so tuned that it always seeks sense objects & when the mind seeks sense objects, it cannot realize its own very source of Self or Consciousness. Hence, the way to realize is to become introverted and take the mind away from the sense objects & into the Self. This is called killing of the mind by finding its source of Self. When the source of Self is found out, the mind vanishes & hence there are no further cravings for sense objects but what remains is only Lord and contemplation of the Lord.
This is what the Lord did to hiranyaksha. He killed the asura – thus the Lord is the killer of the mind and the Ego which identifies itself with the objects & craves for various objects. Thus, when the Lord is really sought out (either for devotion or for vengeance), the Lord helps the seeker by killing the Ego and making him realize his own very nature of Self or Consciousness (the story of hiranyaaksha will be coming very soon in future postings which will make this point clear that he realized his own very nature of Self or Consciousness or God). Kamsa sought out Krishna by wanting to kill him – it so happened that Kamsa used to always think about Krishna only and thereby Krishna came to him and killed his ego and made him realize his nature of Lord.
Thus here Bhagavatham says every seeker to seek the Lord unconditionally and totally. Even though there may be Ego but when the seeker surrenders completely and always thinks about the Lord, the Lord protects the devotee and makes him realize his own very nature of Self or God or Consciousness.
Vidura wanted to hear further the glories of the Lord and hence Maitreya started explaining the various avatars of the Lord on Earth.
The first avatar or descent which Maitreya started explaining was the ascent of Lord in the form of a Boar. Initially when Manu was born (Swayambhuva Manu – he whose father was swayambhoo or Brahma who came without any birth as such) and he was aged enough, he and his wife Sataroopa went to his father Brahma asking him what should they do as service to the parents. Brahma replied telling that he was very happy with such children as children have the duty of serving the father. Brahma wanted to give Manu the task of looking after the current generation on Earth but could not help as Bhoomi Devi (Earth Goddess) was submerged in water at that time. Brahma then prayed to Lord that he may help them out. Suddenly out of one of his nostrils came a boar. The boar all of a sudden grew the size of an elephant. The various Gods started praising the Lord. The boar then went inside the sea and then rescued Earth from the sea. At that time, a demon named Hiranyaaksha attacked the Lord and the Lord without much effort killed him.
Thus, the ascent of Lord to protect the Earth was completed.
Explanation
Before the current chapter of ascent of Lord in the form of a boar, there comes a few chapters which explain creation process in detail and the various measurements of time like the yugas, day of Brahma, manvantara etc.
Creation is not as important for the seeker who gets the creation clearly from the Upanishadic text “tat sristhvaa tadeva anupravishet” – After creation, the Lord entered into the creation. This shows that creation is not different from the Lord. And as the Lord is one without a second (with no differences whatsoever), there can be no creation which is different from the Lord. Thus, the various scriptures proclaim that whatever is being seen as the created world is in fact the Lord only. Thus Vishnu Sahasranama starts with the naama “Viswam” or “He who is the world”.
The word Vaasudeva means one who resides in everything and in whom everything resides. Thus the ultimate reality of Lord praised by Sankara as Vaasudeva, Narayana and Vishnu in his commentaries and praised in the Upanishads as Siva and Vishnu.
Thus, the minimum what the seeker needs to know about creation is that the objects which are currently perceived are the Lord himself as the Lord is the material cause of the world and the effect is never different from the cause even as the pot (effect) is not different from its cause of mud.
Time has got much attention from the Vedic period itself. As we all are familiar, time has the three divisions of past, present and future termed in Sanskrit as Bhoota or Atheetha, Varthamaana and Bhaavi or anaagatha. Various philosophies have concentrated on this entity of time. According to the system of Nyaya-Vaisheshika as well as the Vishistaadvaita, time is eternal. According to the Sankhyaas, time is only a creation of Prakrithi or primordial matter. But these various views are not correct according to the Upanishads. The Upanishadic view is that time is eternal only from the empirical view. Time is not eternal as the ultimate reality of God as God is one without a second & there is no second entity other than God which is eternal. Time is only a creation in the ultimate reality of God. The moment creations starts through ignorance of one’s own nature & desire created out of the ignorance, time also is created. Thus we find that there is time in waking and dream state whereas time is not present in the deep sleep state. Only when a person wakes up from the deep sleep state, he finds time & says “I slept for 2 hours!!!”. Thus this time that he mentions as 2 hours is a creation in the waking state and not in the deep sleep state. If in deep sleep state itself time is not present, then what to speak about the state of realization or the natural state where there is nothing except the ultimate reality of Lord.
Thus, time is only a creation of the mind in the ultimate reality of God or Lord. Thus it is not very important to concentrate on the distribution of time and various categorization of time. What is required through knowing time and its classification is that this time is created by and in the ultimate reality of God who needs to be contemplated on instead of contemplation on illusory world and its objects.
But speaking in brief, there are mainly 4 yugas. These are Kritha or Satya Yuga, Tretha Yuga, Dvaapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. Currently we are in the Kali Yuga. One cycle of Yugas spans a number of years and many such yugas together comprise one single day of Brahma. Thus in a day of Brahma, many yugas pass and in the night of Brahma many such yugas pass!!! There is a person who is the son of Brahma who presides over a set of yugas – he is called Manu. Thus the period of a manu is termed as Manvantara (these are many yugas put together). There are totally 14 manvantaras starting from Swayambhuva Manu. We are currently in the reign of Vaivaswatha Manu – the 8th Manu.
Manu himself is created from the Lord and hence is temporary only. Thus, all these are mere illusions and their main aim is to point out the ever-present and eternal reality of God who is beyond them as their substratum.
The first Manu was called Swayambhuva manu as his father was swayambhoo or one who was born automatically (from the navel of Lord Vishnu). Here we find the real nature of a son towards his father. The very dharma of a child is to obey his father (as Brahma explains the same to Manu).
But it should not be forgotten that the ultimate goal in life should be realization of the ultimate reality of God – this should not be forsaken for any other thing let it be son or father or wife. Thus, people who quote this story to show that the children should marry, beget children and should obey their parents are real FOOLS who don’t understand the import and the nature of the father and son depicted here by Brahma and Manu. Manu was a real devotee of the Lord as was Brahma. Brahma never asked Manu to do things which take one away from the reality but he only first instructed Manu with the knowledge of Brahman. Of course the Manu Smriti is famous wherein devotion and other things are being stressed and brought out beautifully.
We find in two other places in Srimad Bhagavatham itself where a son rebukes against his father and a disciple disobeys his guru. The son of prahlada did not obey his father Hiranyakashipu’s order to worship him and not Vishnu. Similarly when Mahabali granted three feet land to Vamana, Shukracharya asked Mahabali not to give the land as he knew that it was Vishnu’s trick only. But still Mahabali did not heed to his Guru as he had given his word and he knew that it is something great if the Lord himself asks something from the devotee. But it is also important to remember that Shukracharya also was a brahma jnaani and hence he was just playing his role or act in the drama of world (as is very evident in the story depicted in Bhagavatham – we will be seeing it later).
Thus, what is important is not obeying father or mother or husband but it is whether the actions in the world are a hindrance to the spiritual progress towards the ultimate reality of God. If it is, then a real seeker will get out of such actions and bondages to progress in spirituality.
But once a person realizes the ultimate reality of Lord, then there remains no single moment when he doesn’t remember the Lord & hence the actions don’t bind him. Such a person is a jeevan mukta or realized being and hence he can have any actions or bondages as those affect only the Ego and not the Self.
Whenever a seeker gets some problems, he should seek out the ultimate reality of Lord. When a seeker seeks the Lord with earnestness, the Lord replies back with his help. This is what happened in the ascent of the Lord in the form of a boar. When Brahma and other Gods prayed the Lord, the Lord came to their rescue and thereby rescued the Earth after it was merged into sea.
Any avatar or ascent of the Lord has a purpose for the same. The purpose of this particular ascent is to protect Earth. It is really good to remember here that the all-pervasive Lord can never have an ascent but the Lord only seems to have taken a form and seems to do some action or seems to have a purpose for the same. Ascent is not possible for the all-pervasive and non-dual reality of Lord. These ascents are meant to create devotion in the mind of the seeker & thereby make the seeker concentrate the ultimate reality of Lord at all moments. As we have already seen in the starting of Bhagavatham where Shuka mentions ascents as the manifestations of the unmanifested or the Lord who cannot be manifest! Thus, these ascents are only for creating devotion and for contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord. The world itself is the Lord only and hence if a person were to claim the boar form as an ascent, then everything that we see is an ascent only. There is no difference whatsoever in the seemingly different objects as each object has Lord pervading in and out. Therefore everything is a manifestation of the Lord or everything is the Lord only (as manifestation is possible only when something is limited by space and time – Lord is beyond both and hence no manifestation is possible for him).
The Lord thus took the form of a boar and killed the asura Hiranyaksha (here taking the form also is empirical and not ultimately real but only real from the view of the long dream world of waking). Hiranya means Gold, aksha means eyes. Hiranyaksha can mean one who always sees Gold – this means one who is always seeking Gold.
Gold represents the sense objects and pleasures. The human mind is so tuned that it always seeks sense objects & when the mind seeks sense objects, it cannot realize its own very source of Self or Consciousness. Hence, the way to realize is to become introverted and take the mind away from the sense objects & into the Self. This is called killing of the mind by finding its source of Self. When the source of Self is found out, the mind vanishes & hence there are no further cravings for sense objects but what remains is only Lord and contemplation of the Lord.
This is what the Lord did to hiranyaksha. He killed the asura – thus the Lord is the killer of the mind and the Ego which identifies itself with the objects & craves for various objects. Thus, when the Lord is really sought out (either for devotion or for vengeance), the Lord helps the seeker by killing the Ego and making him realize his own very nature of Self or Consciousness (the story of hiranyaaksha will be coming very soon in future postings which will make this point clear that he realized his own very nature of Self or Consciousness or God). Kamsa sought out Krishna by wanting to kill him – it so happened that Kamsa used to always think about Krishna only and thereby Krishna came to him and killed his ego and made him realize his nature of Lord.
Thus here Bhagavatham says every seeker to seek the Lord unconditionally and totally. Even though there may be Ego but when the seeker surrenders completely and always thinks about the Lord, the Lord protects the devotee and makes him realize his own very nature of Self or God or Consciousness.
# posted by vedanta : 9:58 AM
