Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Story 27 - Story of Daksha Prajaapathi - 1
Srimad Bhagavatham - A Spiritual Insight - Story 27 - Story of Daksha Prajaapathi - 1
Vidura asks Maitreya (when Maitreya said that Daksha was angry with Siva and fought with him)
Kastham charaachargurum nirvairam shaanthavigraham
Aatmaaramam katham dvesti jagato daivatham mahat
Who would really have aversion towards the Lord of the world of movable and immovable objects & who is an embodiment of peace and compassion & who is always established in the Self.
Maitreya answered thus to Vidura
Once there was a meeting at a place where a yajna was performed. All the Gods were seated there. At that time, Daksha arrived and was shining like the Sun. When Daksha arrived, everybody except Brahma and Siva stood up. Brahma was his father & hence he did not stand up. Siva did not stand up. Daksha was very angry with this. He started speaking against Siva at that time telling that Siva was not having respect towards others & he did not tell him before marrying his daughter. Thus Daksha verbally abused Siva at that time.
Explanation
We are currently analyzing the story of Daksha in depth (we have already discussed the essence two days before). The first sloka quoted above is a clear refutation of the views of various people who claim that Siva is BADDHA JEEVA and inferior to Vishnu who is the Supreme Lord and called Brahman in Upanishads.
Srimad Bhagavatham here in clear terms mentions Siva as “Jagato Mahat Daivatham” – the great Lord of the world. This clearly shows that the various scriptures never distinguish between various gods – they never have discrimination as inferior and superior. The various gods and goddesses have been mentioned in the scriptures so that the initial seeker can concentrate on those forms. We have already seen previously that Srimad Bhagavatham itself says that these forms are of the formless God which clearly means that none of these forms are real. These forms are just meant as a progressive step for the seeker towards the reality even as a child is initially shown a picture of elephant and finally shown a real elephant.
All the various forms point to the ultimate reality of Brahman or God who is beyond all limitations and cannot be limited to a form. Thus those who claim that Vishnu with four-hands is the ultimate reality are all into a big delusion (this has been stated explicitly by Sri Krishna in Gita in two places). Any form is subjected to change and death. Therefore the ultimate reality has to be beyond form and thereby formless. Since there is no specific form, there also cannot be any specific quality for Brahman as Brahman will be qualified by the quality (it is another limitation). Hence, we have to conclude that Brahman is without any qualities. Thus this goes against those people who claim that form God alone is real.
We have to remember that Vedanta never says form God is unreal but it only says that at the ultimate level, form God is not real. It is real and useful for the seeker at the empirical level. Thus those who fight amongst themselves as to whether Siva is great or Vishnu is great are real fools who don’t really follow the scriptures or even understand what the scriptures are pointing out. Thus the claims that Srimad Bhagavatham doesn’t praise Siva or it praises only Vishnu is also wrong.
As Rameshwara Suri in Nigamaartha Dipika says
“Vasthutasthu advaitavaadinaam asmaakam shivasya vishnor va utkarshaapakarshavichaarah anupayukta eva”
Really speaking, for people who follow the ultimate reality of Brahman as per Vedanta and for us who are people like that, the thought about Siva or Vishnu and about praising and cursing other is not at all valid.
Thus for a person who really follows Vedanta, there is no fight about any form God because for him all are nothing but the ultimate reality of Brahman with a name and form. Just wanted to show that Srimad Bhagavatham never differentiates between Siva and Vishnu – neither does it praise Vishnu and curse Siva but accepts Siva as the ultimate reality even as it accepts Vishnu in the same way.
For a real seeker, no arguments or debates are valid nor does he enters into any of those because for him there is only one goal in life & that is the ultimate reality of Lord. He always speaks about the Lord, he always thinks about the Lord and his all efforts are directed towards realization of the Lord alone. This is what is to be remembered by all seekers who want to realize the ultimate reality of Brahman or Lord.
Daksha was having ego attitude. What does it really matter if Siva did not get up? Nothing is going to matter there. Neither will the heaven fall down nor will earth be destroyed because of that. But Daksha was fully overcome by ego and pride, so he took this incident as an insult. This is what the biggest problem in life for any seekers is. If a seeker really thinks or remembers the reality of Lord and that Lord is present everywhere, he will not face such ego issues which in turn will lead to destruction alone. The Ego is so strong that a seeker is unable to compromise at the empirical level. A person always thinks about himself and not the society or world as a whole. Thus when something like this happens to him, he takes it personally and makes a big issue out of it. If only Daksha had said “it’s fine, what does it matter if my son-in-law did not stand up” and had kept in mind that “everything is the Lord alone, what if the Lord is sitting or standing – all the same I love him and he is dear to me”, then all problems could have been solved.
Thus a seeker should always try to remember the reality that “everything is Lord” and hence shouldn’t take things in the world personally. If there is something bad happening, still it is for the good only because any happening is by the WILL of the ultimate reality of Lord alone. Thus nothing wrong can happen to the devotee who dearly loves the Lord even as a mother can never do any bad to the child who loves her so much. Having this attitude, a seeker should always take things as a command from the Lord & constantly remember the Lord. If something good happens, it is time to enjoy by happily repeating the name of the Lord. If something bad happens, then it is time to cry out by singing the Lord’s name & calling out to him to help out from the situation. Thus the devotee is ever engrossed in the thought of the Lord and never affected by situations or surroundings or the environment.
Let us all try to be real devotee so that the Lord will always take care of us (as Krishna says Kauteya Prathijaaneethi na me bhakthah pranashyathi – O Arjuna! Know that my devotee never perishes). And thereby lead us to the ultimate reality of Lord which is the very nature of each and every person.
Maitreya Continued:
Thus there was enmity between Siva and Daksha at all times. Since Brahma had conferred the title of Lord of all Gods to Daksha, Daksha was full of pride and Ego. After having completed Vajapeya Yajna, he decided to perform the Brihaspathi sacrifice. For that Yajna, he invited all the Gods, goddesses, saints etc. except his daughter Sati and Lord Siva. Seeing many people coming to the sacrifice wearing good clothes, ornaments etc. Sati had the strong desire to attend the sacrifice. Having almost decided that she would attend the sacrifice, Sati spoke to Lord Siva that she wanted to go there as all her other sisters have come & she wanted to meet all of them & her parents.
Siva thus replied back to Sati:
A relative can go to attend any function of his relatives uninvited but when there is argument and enmity between people, and then they should never go to such functions as it will only lead to being treated badly. You will only be ill-treated if you go there and hence don’t go there. A person need not stand up when other people who think themselves as the “body” come but he is to be saluted who is always residing in the ultimate reality of Lord and constantly in the thought of Vasudeva.
Explanation
Here we find how the Ego is nourished in an individual. A seeker should never forget the reality about his existence as well as the existence of the ever-present and all-pervading Lord. The moment he forgets the Lord who is in the heart of all beings & beyond all distinctions, that very moment he enters into the ocean of samsaara which is full of sorrows and sufferings.
The Ego is that which identifies itself with the body whereas the seeker or “I” am not the body as the body changes from childhood to old age whereas I never change but am the same. When there is the Ego attitude, that moment the mind is extroverted and gets attached to various things. Attachment causes anger or aversion when the object to which the seeker is attached vanishes or undergoes decay and death. Thus if “I” am attached to a friend, “I” will become angry and sad when something happens to my friend. And this anger will be more when the friend vanishes one fine day. Everything in the world is illusory and always changing. Anything changing will only lead to destruction and death as the body and any object in the world. Thus if a person gets attached to the external objects, it will lead to complete sorrow when that object vanishes.
Thus the Ego is the cause of all sorrow because of getting attached to the worldly objects. When the Ego is surrendered to the Lord, that very moment the Ego vanishes – the seeker is thus always seeing the Lord everywhere, always singing praises of the Lord, always engaging in devotional activities. Such a seeker has no ego attitude as everything in the world is seen as “mine”. Therefore such a seeker has no attachment and aversion. Since there is no attachment and aversion, he doesn’t suffer in the world. Thus he is always happy and immersed in the thought of the Lord.
Thus the Ego is the cause of all sorrows and leads a person to destruction. Daksha had Ego and that was the starting of all problems which involved not just him but others also. That is what really leads to all problems and even destruction of himself and his daughter also. Thus Srimad Bhagavatham is telling each one of us to leave our egoistic attitude towards the world & to more and more concentrate on the ultimate reality of Lord and spend more time on contemplation on the Lord.
Another important obstacle for a seeker in life is ATTACHMENT. Attachment as such when it is directed towards the Lord is not bad but when it is directed towards the illusory and changing objects in the world, it is a problem. It is a problem because the objects themselves will vanish and thus there will sorrow out of the attachment for those objects. Thus attachment is yet another cause for sorrows and sufferings in the world. We see in the story of Daksha that Sati was attached towards her father. Seeing various people coming to the sacrifice, she also wanted to go. The attachment towards father is not bad but in this case it is bad because the father was against her and her husband. Also through this Srimad Bhagavatham wants to point out that there is always a chance of father and daughter fighting with each other for one reason or the other. Hence a seeker should never get attached to anything or anybody in the world – let it be one’s own father or one’s own partner.
What will happen if attachment is there?
It will lead only to destruction as it did for Sati who burnt herself as she was ill-treated when she went to the sacrifice being conducted by Daksha (this we will be seeing tomorrow).
Srimad Bhagavatham here also speaks about sacrifices or actions in general. Any action brings results. As the action is limited, therefore the result also should be limited – thus any action whether it be praying to God or doing some great sacrifice cannot lead one to eternal bliss as the result of actions are always limited. Thus if a seeker thinks that he can get eternal bliss out of actions, it is not correct – it is wrong if he thinks it that way. Such a person will always want to get eternal bliss through limited actions and thereby will always be deluded into those actions. Lastly he will have to leave this world without being content with whatever he has and without being satisfied with the achievements in life. As scriptures proclaim, as long as there is desire there will birth and death again and again. Only when a person seeks the God residing in the heart of all being can he overcome this cycle of birth and death. Such a seeker realizes that he himself is the Lord whom he was seeking and of the nature of eternal bliss. Such a seeker has no desire at all and therefore he always rejoices in the bliss inherent in the Self who is not different from the Lord.
Lord Siva brings out a very beautiful point in this part. He says that it is not necessary and not required to salute a person who thinks he is the body but it is important to salute that person who is established in the Lord and always sees the Lord everywhere. This is mentioned because Daksha who was egoistic and attached to the body (thinking that he is the body) became angry with Siva just because Siva did not stand up.
Vasudeva is not Vishnu with four hands but Vasudeva is that Lord who is all-pervasive and resides in the heart of all beings. The oft-quoted sloka from Vishnu Puran about Vasudeva is:
Sarvatra asau Sarmastham cha vasathi atra vai yathah
Tatah sah vaasudevam ithi vidhvadbhih paripatyathe
He who is present everywhere (all-pervasive) and in whom everything is present, He is called as Vasudeva by real knowers.
Thus Vasudeva defined here is the ultimate reality of Lord who is of the nature of Consciousness and Bliss absolute & who is the very nature of each and every being in the world. There is no separate individual different from Lord because there is only one real entity in the entire world which is of the nature of Consciousness.
Vidura asks Maitreya (when Maitreya said that Daksha was angry with Siva and fought with him)
Kastham charaachargurum nirvairam shaanthavigraham
Aatmaaramam katham dvesti jagato daivatham mahat
Who would really have aversion towards the Lord of the world of movable and immovable objects & who is an embodiment of peace and compassion & who is always established in the Self.
Maitreya answered thus to Vidura
Once there was a meeting at a place where a yajna was performed. All the Gods were seated there. At that time, Daksha arrived and was shining like the Sun. When Daksha arrived, everybody except Brahma and Siva stood up. Brahma was his father & hence he did not stand up. Siva did not stand up. Daksha was very angry with this. He started speaking against Siva at that time telling that Siva was not having respect towards others & he did not tell him before marrying his daughter. Thus Daksha verbally abused Siva at that time.
Explanation
We are currently analyzing the story of Daksha in depth (we have already discussed the essence two days before). The first sloka quoted above is a clear refutation of the views of various people who claim that Siva is BADDHA JEEVA and inferior to Vishnu who is the Supreme Lord and called Brahman in Upanishads.
Srimad Bhagavatham here in clear terms mentions Siva as “Jagato Mahat Daivatham” – the great Lord of the world. This clearly shows that the various scriptures never distinguish between various gods – they never have discrimination as inferior and superior. The various gods and goddesses have been mentioned in the scriptures so that the initial seeker can concentrate on those forms. We have already seen previously that Srimad Bhagavatham itself says that these forms are of the formless God which clearly means that none of these forms are real. These forms are just meant as a progressive step for the seeker towards the reality even as a child is initially shown a picture of elephant and finally shown a real elephant.
All the various forms point to the ultimate reality of Brahman or God who is beyond all limitations and cannot be limited to a form. Thus those who claim that Vishnu with four-hands is the ultimate reality are all into a big delusion (this has been stated explicitly by Sri Krishna in Gita in two places). Any form is subjected to change and death. Therefore the ultimate reality has to be beyond form and thereby formless. Since there is no specific form, there also cannot be any specific quality for Brahman as Brahman will be qualified by the quality (it is another limitation). Hence, we have to conclude that Brahman is without any qualities. Thus this goes against those people who claim that form God alone is real.
We have to remember that Vedanta never says form God is unreal but it only says that at the ultimate level, form God is not real. It is real and useful for the seeker at the empirical level. Thus those who fight amongst themselves as to whether Siva is great or Vishnu is great are real fools who don’t really follow the scriptures or even understand what the scriptures are pointing out. Thus the claims that Srimad Bhagavatham doesn’t praise Siva or it praises only Vishnu is also wrong.
As Rameshwara Suri in Nigamaartha Dipika says
“Vasthutasthu advaitavaadinaam asmaakam shivasya vishnor va utkarshaapakarshavichaarah anupayukta eva”
Really speaking, for people who follow the ultimate reality of Brahman as per Vedanta and for us who are people like that, the thought about Siva or Vishnu and about praising and cursing other is not at all valid.
Thus for a person who really follows Vedanta, there is no fight about any form God because for him all are nothing but the ultimate reality of Brahman with a name and form. Just wanted to show that Srimad Bhagavatham never differentiates between Siva and Vishnu – neither does it praise Vishnu and curse Siva but accepts Siva as the ultimate reality even as it accepts Vishnu in the same way.
For a real seeker, no arguments or debates are valid nor does he enters into any of those because for him there is only one goal in life & that is the ultimate reality of Lord. He always speaks about the Lord, he always thinks about the Lord and his all efforts are directed towards realization of the Lord alone. This is what is to be remembered by all seekers who want to realize the ultimate reality of Brahman or Lord.
Daksha was having ego attitude. What does it really matter if Siva did not get up? Nothing is going to matter there. Neither will the heaven fall down nor will earth be destroyed because of that. But Daksha was fully overcome by ego and pride, so he took this incident as an insult. This is what the biggest problem in life for any seekers is. If a seeker really thinks or remembers the reality of Lord and that Lord is present everywhere, he will not face such ego issues which in turn will lead to destruction alone. The Ego is so strong that a seeker is unable to compromise at the empirical level. A person always thinks about himself and not the society or world as a whole. Thus when something like this happens to him, he takes it personally and makes a big issue out of it. If only Daksha had said “it’s fine, what does it matter if my son-in-law did not stand up” and had kept in mind that “everything is the Lord alone, what if the Lord is sitting or standing – all the same I love him and he is dear to me”, then all problems could have been solved.
Thus a seeker should always try to remember the reality that “everything is Lord” and hence shouldn’t take things in the world personally. If there is something bad happening, still it is for the good only because any happening is by the WILL of the ultimate reality of Lord alone. Thus nothing wrong can happen to the devotee who dearly loves the Lord even as a mother can never do any bad to the child who loves her so much. Having this attitude, a seeker should always take things as a command from the Lord & constantly remember the Lord. If something good happens, it is time to enjoy by happily repeating the name of the Lord. If something bad happens, then it is time to cry out by singing the Lord’s name & calling out to him to help out from the situation. Thus the devotee is ever engrossed in the thought of the Lord and never affected by situations or surroundings or the environment.
Let us all try to be real devotee so that the Lord will always take care of us (as Krishna says Kauteya Prathijaaneethi na me bhakthah pranashyathi – O Arjuna! Know that my devotee never perishes). And thereby lead us to the ultimate reality of Lord which is the very nature of each and every person.
Maitreya Continued:
Thus there was enmity between Siva and Daksha at all times. Since Brahma had conferred the title of Lord of all Gods to Daksha, Daksha was full of pride and Ego. After having completed Vajapeya Yajna, he decided to perform the Brihaspathi sacrifice. For that Yajna, he invited all the Gods, goddesses, saints etc. except his daughter Sati and Lord Siva. Seeing many people coming to the sacrifice wearing good clothes, ornaments etc. Sati had the strong desire to attend the sacrifice. Having almost decided that she would attend the sacrifice, Sati spoke to Lord Siva that she wanted to go there as all her other sisters have come & she wanted to meet all of them & her parents.
Siva thus replied back to Sati:
A relative can go to attend any function of his relatives uninvited but when there is argument and enmity between people, and then they should never go to such functions as it will only lead to being treated badly. You will only be ill-treated if you go there and hence don’t go there. A person need not stand up when other people who think themselves as the “body” come but he is to be saluted who is always residing in the ultimate reality of Lord and constantly in the thought of Vasudeva.
Explanation
Here we find how the Ego is nourished in an individual. A seeker should never forget the reality about his existence as well as the existence of the ever-present and all-pervading Lord. The moment he forgets the Lord who is in the heart of all beings & beyond all distinctions, that very moment he enters into the ocean of samsaara which is full of sorrows and sufferings.
The Ego is that which identifies itself with the body whereas the seeker or “I” am not the body as the body changes from childhood to old age whereas I never change but am the same. When there is the Ego attitude, that moment the mind is extroverted and gets attached to various things. Attachment causes anger or aversion when the object to which the seeker is attached vanishes or undergoes decay and death. Thus if “I” am attached to a friend, “I” will become angry and sad when something happens to my friend. And this anger will be more when the friend vanishes one fine day. Everything in the world is illusory and always changing. Anything changing will only lead to destruction and death as the body and any object in the world. Thus if a person gets attached to the external objects, it will lead to complete sorrow when that object vanishes.
Thus the Ego is the cause of all sorrow because of getting attached to the worldly objects. When the Ego is surrendered to the Lord, that very moment the Ego vanishes – the seeker is thus always seeing the Lord everywhere, always singing praises of the Lord, always engaging in devotional activities. Such a seeker has no ego attitude as everything in the world is seen as “mine”. Therefore such a seeker has no attachment and aversion. Since there is no attachment and aversion, he doesn’t suffer in the world. Thus he is always happy and immersed in the thought of the Lord.
Thus the Ego is the cause of all sorrows and leads a person to destruction. Daksha had Ego and that was the starting of all problems which involved not just him but others also. That is what really leads to all problems and even destruction of himself and his daughter also. Thus Srimad Bhagavatham is telling each one of us to leave our egoistic attitude towards the world & to more and more concentrate on the ultimate reality of Lord and spend more time on contemplation on the Lord.
Another important obstacle for a seeker in life is ATTACHMENT. Attachment as such when it is directed towards the Lord is not bad but when it is directed towards the illusory and changing objects in the world, it is a problem. It is a problem because the objects themselves will vanish and thus there will sorrow out of the attachment for those objects. Thus attachment is yet another cause for sorrows and sufferings in the world. We see in the story of Daksha that Sati was attached towards her father. Seeing various people coming to the sacrifice, she also wanted to go. The attachment towards father is not bad but in this case it is bad because the father was against her and her husband. Also through this Srimad Bhagavatham wants to point out that there is always a chance of father and daughter fighting with each other for one reason or the other. Hence a seeker should never get attached to anything or anybody in the world – let it be one’s own father or one’s own partner.
What will happen if attachment is there?
It will lead only to destruction as it did for Sati who burnt herself as she was ill-treated when she went to the sacrifice being conducted by Daksha (this we will be seeing tomorrow).
Srimad Bhagavatham here also speaks about sacrifices or actions in general. Any action brings results. As the action is limited, therefore the result also should be limited – thus any action whether it be praying to God or doing some great sacrifice cannot lead one to eternal bliss as the result of actions are always limited. Thus if a seeker thinks that he can get eternal bliss out of actions, it is not correct – it is wrong if he thinks it that way. Such a person will always want to get eternal bliss through limited actions and thereby will always be deluded into those actions. Lastly he will have to leave this world without being content with whatever he has and without being satisfied with the achievements in life. As scriptures proclaim, as long as there is desire there will birth and death again and again. Only when a person seeks the God residing in the heart of all being can he overcome this cycle of birth and death. Such a seeker realizes that he himself is the Lord whom he was seeking and of the nature of eternal bliss. Such a seeker has no desire at all and therefore he always rejoices in the bliss inherent in the Self who is not different from the Lord.
Lord Siva brings out a very beautiful point in this part. He says that it is not necessary and not required to salute a person who thinks he is the body but it is important to salute that person who is established in the Lord and always sees the Lord everywhere. This is mentioned because Daksha who was egoistic and attached to the body (thinking that he is the body) became angry with Siva just because Siva did not stand up.
Vasudeva is not Vishnu with four hands but Vasudeva is that Lord who is all-pervasive and resides in the heart of all beings. The oft-quoted sloka from Vishnu Puran about Vasudeva is:
Sarvatra asau Sarmastham cha vasathi atra vai yathah
Tatah sah vaasudevam ithi vidhvadbhih paripatyathe
He who is present everywhere (all-pervasive) and in whom everything is present, He is called as Vasudeva by real knowers.
Thus Vasudeva defined here is the ultimate reality of Lord who is of the nature of Consciousness and Bliss absolute & who is the very nature of each and every being in the world. There is no separate individual different from Lord because there is only one real entity in the entire world which is of the nature of Consciousness.
# posted by vedanta : 9:11 AM
