Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Story 26 – Kapila Upadesha - Summary
Srimad Bhagavatham - A Spiritual Insight - Story 26 – Kapila Upadesha - Summary
Explanation
Knowledge starts with enquiry into the ultimate reality of God. Enquiry into the reality of God can happen only when a person realizes that he is in ignorance & he is suffering in the world. Thus it is sorrows, sufferings caused out of ignorance which are the cause for enquiring into the reality of God. Thus when Kapila’s father left home to contemplate on the Lord, Kapila’s mother Devahuthi was sad. From this sorrow, started an enquiry into bliss. As from childhood itself, we are taught that there is only one entity or being who can confer happiness unto us, which is God, we enquiry into God. This enquiry can happen either through faith from childhood or from logical analysis into the world. When logically analyzing, we find that the world is ever changing and hence temporary. Since it is temporary, there is only sorrow from it due to loss of objects which are loved or sought after. But there should be changeless entity behind any change. Thus there is an entity who is beyond the changing world and is the substratum of the changing world. This entity should be eternal and devoid of changes. Any entity with parts changes and hence this entity is partless. This entity since it is perfect and full need to be of the nature of Bliss. If we achieve that object which is blissful, we will get the bliss from that object. This entity is the creator of the world as its substratum. Thus in Upanishads, this entity is termed as Brahman. In puranas, this reality is variously called as Brahman, Paramatman, Ishwara or in simple terms God or Lord.
God is non-dual in nature as there is no creation apart from him & the entire changing creation is only an illusion in the reality of God. This reality when realized a person gets out of the sufferings which he is his ultimate aim as we have seen in a previous posting. Thus an individual can attain bliss if he realizes the ultimate reality of God.
Thus when Devahuthi was sad, she enquired into the reality from her son who was the Lord himself in human form. Thus Kapila started explaining various things to her – he started explaining to her about creation, about what happens after death and the path or places that an individual attains because of his actions after death. We have to remember that the statement of scriptures that a person who hasn’t realized the Self and who is not following the spiritual path would go to hell or naraka is only an arthavaada meant to instigate desire in the seeker to realize the ultimate reality of God. As Lord Kapila himself said, Naraka and Swarga are seen even in the world and here itself. So there is surprise about hell and heaven after death.
Then Kapila mentioned about the ultimate reality of God who is all-pervading and the various disciplines to be followed in order to realize the reality of God. It is important to again and again remember and contemplate on the reality that “there is no real attainment but only realization of one’s own very nature of God”. This is because wherever there is attainment, there will be loss also. Thus such an attainment will again be temporary as it will be lost later. Thus there is no real attainment or lost but only realization of one’s own very nature of Lord. Thus the reality is that “there is nothing apart from the Lord, one without a second”. It is only ignorance of this nature of Lord that causes a person to be like suffering in the world. When the various disciplines are followed, a person realizes his own very nature of Lord. The disciplines mentioned by Kapila and the scriptures are devotion, dispassion, various qualities of the mind etc. We have already enquired into these disciplines and hence not entering into it now.
Thus when a person realizes the ultimate reality of God through various practices, he gets liberated from the bondages of the world. The world itself becomes a mere drama, a mere dream world for such a person. Thus such a person always rejoices in the eternal bliss inherent in the Self.
And Srimad Bhagavatham clearly tells that Devahuthi realized the reality by constant contemplation on the Lord & thereby it shows us that each and every person irrespective of caste, creed etc. can realize the ultimate reality by constant contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord beyond all limitations.
Explanation
Knowledge starts with enquiry into the ultimate reality of God. Enquiry into the reality of God can happen only when a person realizes that he is in ignorance & he is suffering in the world. Thus it is sorrows, sufferings caused out of ignorance which are the cause for enquiring into the reality of God. Thus when Kapila’s father left home to contemplate on the Lord, Kapila’s mother Devahuthi was sad. From this sorrow, started an enquiry into bliss. As from childhood itself, we are taught that there is only one entity or being who can confer happiness unto us, which is God, we enquiry into God. This enquiry can happen either through faith from childhood or from logical analysis into the world. When logically analyzing, we find that the world is ever changing and hence temporary. Since it is temporary, there is only sorrow from it due to loss of objects which are loved or sought after. But there should be changeless entity behind any change. Thus there is an entity who is beyond the changing world and is the substratum of the changing world. This entity should be eternal and devoid of changes. Any entity with parts changes and hence this entity is partless. This entity since it is perfect and full need to be of the nature of Bliss. If we achieve that object which is blissful, we will get the bliss from that object. This entity is the creator of the world as its substratum. Thus in Upanishads, this entity is termed as Brahman. In puranas, this reality is variously called as Brahman, Paramatman, Ishwara or in simple terms God or Lord.
God is non-dual in nature as there is no creation apart from him & the entire changing creation is only an illusion in the reality of God. This reality when realized a person gets out of the sufferings which he is his ultimate aim as we have seen in a previous posting. Thus an individual can attain bliss if he realizes the ultimate reality of God.
Thus when Devahuthi was sad, she enquired into the reality from her son who was the Lord himself in human form. Thus Kapila started explaining various things to her – he started explaining to her about creation, about what happens after death and the path or places that an individual attains because of his actions after death. We have to remember that the statement of scriptures that a person who hasn’t realized the Self and who is not following the spiritual path would go to hell or naraka is only an arthavaada meant to instigate desire in the seeker to realize the ultimate reality of God. As Lord Kapila himself said, Naraka and Swarga are seen even in the world and here itself. So there is surprise about hell and heaven after death.
Then Kapila mentioned about the ultimate reality of God who is all-pervading and the various disciplines to be followed in order to realize the reality of God. It is important to again and again remember and contemplate on the reality that “there is no real attainment but only realization of one’s own very nature of God”. This is because wherever there is attainment, there will be loss also. Thus such an attainment will again be temporary as it will be lost later. Thus there is no real attainment or lost but only realization of one’s own very nature of Lord. Thus the reality is that “there is nothing apart from the Lord, one without a second”. It is only ignorance of this nature of Lord that causes a person to be like suffering in the world. When the various disciplines are followed, a person realizes his own very nature of Lord. The disciplines mentioned by Kapila and the scriptures are devotion, dispassion, various qualities of the mind etc. We have already enquired into these disciplines and hence not entering into it now.
Thus when a person realizes the ultimate reality of God through various practices, he gets liberated from the bondages of the world. The world itself becomes a mere drama, a mere dream world for such a person. Thus such a person always rejoices in the eternal bliss inherent in the Self.
And Srimad Bhagavatham clearly tells that Devahuthi realized the reality by constant contemplation on the Lord & thereby it shows us that each and every person irrespective of caste, creed etc. can realize the ultimate reality by constant contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord beyond all limitations.
# posted by vedanta : 9:07 AM
