Srimad Bhagavatham

Srimad Bhagavatham - A Spiritual Insight - Story 28 - Story of Dhruva - Introduction

Explanation

We will now analyze the story of Dhruva. The word Dhruvam or Dhruva in Sanskrit means that which is eternal. Eternality is what each and every seeker seeks at all times. The biggest fear in the world for a person is DEATH. This is due to the thought that with death, I will cease to exist. That which never ceases to exist is termed as eternal or Nitya. Since the seeker doesn’t want to cease to exist, he is knowingly or unknowingly searching for immortality or the eternal object called Dhruva. This eternal object alone can confer eternal bliss to the seeker. Thus Dhruvam is what a person is searching each and every moment – this is the ultimate goal of every living being..

Let us now try to analyze what is eternal in the world. Various mahatmas and rishis from time immemorial have analyzed this and the conclusion they came was that “there is only entity which is eternal” which is the ultimate reality of Lord or Brahman of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Lord alone is eternal – all other things which we perceive are changing each and every moment. That which is changing cannot be eternal as it will cease to exist at some point of time. All the objects that we perceive are changing constantly – the world itself is changing as we experience change in the world & as Sri Krishna says in Gita “anityam asukham lokam” – the world is temporary and sorrowful. If Lord alone is eternal, then what about the various conscious beings or jeevas? Vedanta answers that all the conscious beings are not different from one another – the essence of all living beings is the same Conscious being of Lord. This is very clear because all the conscious beings have Consciousness in common. This common Consciousness is called Antaryamin in Vedanta which is different notation for Brahman or Lord. Thus all beings are in essence eternal as they are one with the ultimate reality of Lord.

If I am eternal, then there should be no sorrow and sufferings for me, I shouldn’t seek anything in the world?
Yes, this is true. But somehow, the eternal being or the jeeva thinks he is limited as he forgets his nature. This is called Avidya or ignorance of one’s own nature of Consciousness or Lord. This ignorance has no cause or it cannot stand any logic. The reason why ignorance cannot stand any logic is that “there is really no ignorance” as the conscious being is self-luminous and can never be covered by ignorance even as darkness cannot cover light. Darkness is nothing but seemingly absence of light. Similarly there cannot be any ignorance for the jeeva but ignorance seems to be there. Therefore it is termed as indescribable or anirvachaneeya – the word only means that ignorance has no real existence at all even as water has no real existence in desert (mirage experience).

Therefore Vedanta says that the Self or jeeva has no ignorance at all but seems to be deluded into ignorance. This is like a dream world – a person who is wealth dreams that he is poor – he is not poor at all but seems to be poor. Similarly the jeeva is in fact one with the ultimate reality of Brahman but seems to be deluded due to ignorance. This ignorance makes the jeeva think that he is limited and thereby not eternal. Since he is limited, he feels that he is not of the nature of happiness. Thus the seemingly ignorant jeeva seeks the eternal being of Lord as only Lord can give a person eternal bliss. This is what Vedanta terms as spiritual path. There is really speaking no path at all because each and every seeker is the Lord only. But until this reality is known, there seems to be present ignorance and hence the jeeva seeks the Lord.

This is the story of each and every seeker in the world. Each seeker is the jeeva who is not different from the ultimate reality of Lord but due to seemingly appearing ignorance, he thinks he is limited & seeks the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus once he attains the Lord through sravana or listening of scriptural imports that “You are God”, manana or reflection on whatever has been heard and contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord that “I am that Lord”, he seems to be liberated but realizes that there never was any bondage to be removed. Thus he realizes that he never was bonded to be liberated – he was ever the eternal and ever-enlightened ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute.

This is what is symbolically mentioned in the story of Dhruva. The Puranaas and scriptures are very careful that they give significance even for names. Thus here is the story of the eternal jeeva called Dhruva. Dhruva is not happy with the happenings around him. He has forgotten his own very nature of eternal Self or Lord. Thereby he is deluded and becomes sad due to the world. Thus, he sets out to seek the ultimate reality of Lord. He then realizes the ultimate reality of Lord thereby becoming eternal. Here becoming only means that he realizes that he was eternal at all times but was ignorant about his eternal nature. When he realizes his own very nature of Lord, he then rejoiced in the bliss inherent in the Self. This is in short the spiritual path traversed by each one of us. We all are traveling in a path where we seek out a goal forgetting that we ourselves are the goal that is being sought out. Thus seeking the goal, the seeker proceeds and proceeds – as he proceeds, he finds himself turning introverted and inwards into the Self. Thereby he merges into his own very nature of Lord & realizes that the goal which was being sought out was always present in himself!!!

This is in short what is being signified through the story of Dhruva – a symbolic representation of the spiritual path of a seeker.
We will now analyze the story of Dhruva. The word Dhruvam or Dhruva in Sanskrit means that which is eternal. Eternality is what each and every seeker seeks at all times. The biggest fear in the world for a person is DEATH. This is due to the thought that with death, I will cease to exist. That which never ceases to exist is termed as eternal or Nitya. Since the seeker doesn’t want to cease to exist, he is knowingly or unknowingly searching for immortality or the eternal object called Dhruva. This eternal object alone can confer eternal bliss to the seeker. Thus Dhruvam is what a person is searching each and every moment – this is the ultimate goal of every living being..

Let us now try to analyze what is eternal in the world. Various mahatmas and rishis from time immemorial have analyzed this and the conclusion they came was that “there is only entity which is eternal” which is the ultimate reality of Lord or Brahman of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Lord alone is eternal – all other things which we perceive are changing each and every moment. That which is changing cannot be eternal as it will cease to exist at some point of time. All the objects that we perceive are changing constantly – the world itself is changing as we experience change in the world & as Sri Krishna says in Gita “anityam asukham lokam” – the world is temporary and sorrowful. If Lord alone is eternal, then what about the various conscious beings or jeevas? Vedanta answers that all the conscious beings are not different from one another – the essence of all living beings is the same Conscious being of Lord. This is very clear because all the conscious beings have Consciousness in common. This common Consciousness is called Antaryamin in Vedanta which is different notation for Brahman or Lord. Thus all beings are in essence eternal as they are one with the ultimate reality of Lord.

If I am eternal, then there should be no sorrow and sufferings for me, I shouldn’t seek anything in the world?
Yes, this is true. But somehow, the eternal being or the jeeva thinks he is limited as he forgets his nature. This is called Avidya or ignorance of one’s own nature of Consciousness or Lord. This ignorance has no cause or it cannot stand any logic. The reason why ignorance cannot stand any logic is that “there is really no ignorance” as the conscious being is self-luminous and can never be covered by ignorance even as darkness cannot cover light. Darkness is nothing but seemingly absence of light. Similarly there cannot be any ignorance for the jeeva but ignorance seems to be there. Therefore it is termed as indescribable or anirvachaneeya – the word only means that ignorance has no real existence at all even as water has no real existence in desert (mirage experience).

Therefore Vedanta says that the Self or jeeva has no ignorance at all but seems to be deluded into ignorance. This is like a dream world – a person who is wealth dreams that he is poor – he is not poor at all but seems to be poor. Similarly the jeeva is in fact one with the ultimate reality of Brahman but seems to be deluded due to ignorance. This ignorance makes the jeeva think that he is limited and thereby not eternal. Since he is limited, he feels that he is not of the nature of happiness. Thus the seemingly ignorant jeeva seeks the eternal being of Lord as only Lord can give a person eternal bliss. This is what Vedanta terms as spiritual path. There is really speaking no path at all because each and every seeker is the Lord only. But until this reality is known, there seems to be present ignorance and hence the jeeva seeks the Lord.

This is the story of each and every seeker in the world. Each seeker is the jeeva who is not different from the ultimate reality of Lord but due to seemingly appearing ignorance, he thinks he is limited & seeks the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus once he attains the Lord through sravana or listening of scriptural imports that “You are God”, manana or reflection on whatever has been heard and contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord that “I am that Lord”, he seems to be liberated but realizes that there never was any bondage to be removed. Thus he realizes that he never was bonded to be liberated – he was ever the eternal and ever-enlightened ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute.

This is what is symbolically mentioned in the story of Dhruva. The Puranaas and scriptures are very careful that they give significance even for names. Thus here is the story of the eternal jeeva called Dhruva. Dhruva is not happy with the happenings around him. He has forgotten his own very nature of eternal Self or Lord. Thereby he is deluded and becomes sad due to the world. Thus, he sets out to seek the ultimate reality of Lord. He then realizes the ultimate reality of Lord thereby becoming eternal. Here becoming only means that he realizes that he was eternal at all times but was ignorant about his eternal nature. When he realizes his own very nature of Lord, he then rejoiced in the bliss inherent in the Self. This is in short the spiritual path traversed by each one of us. We all are traveling in a path where we seek out a goal forgetting that we ourselves are the goal that is being sought out. Thus seeking the goal, the seeker proceeds and proceeds – as he proceeds, he finds himself turning introverted and inwards into the Self. Thereby he merges into his own very nature of Lord & realizes that the goal which was being sought out was always present in himself!!!

This is in short what is being signified through the story of Dhruva – a symbolic representation of the spiritual path of a seeker.
We will now analyze the story of Dhruva. The word Dhruvam or Dhruva in Sanskrit means that which is eternal. Eternality is what each and every seeker seeks at all times. The biggest fear in the world for a person is DEATH. This is due to the thought that with death, I will cease to exist. That which never ceases to exist is termed as eternal or Nitya. Since the seeker doesn’t want to cease to exist, he is knowingly or unknowingly searching for immortality or the eternal object called Dhruva. This eternal object alone can confer eternal bliss to the seeker. Thus Dhruvam is what a person is searching each and every moment – this is the ultimate goal of every living being..

Let us now try to analyze what is eternal in the world. Various mahatmas and rishis from time immemorial have analyzed this and the conclusion they came was that “there is only entity which is eternal” which is the ultimate reality of Lord or Brahman of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Lord alone is eternal – all other things which we perceive are changing each and every moment. That which is changing cannot be eternal as it will cease to exist at some point of time. All the objects that we perceive are changing constantly – the world itself is changing as we experience change in the world & as Sri Krishna says in Gita “anityam asukham lokam” – the world is temporary and sorrowful. If Lord alone is eternal, then what about the various conscious beings or jeevas? Vedanta answers that all the conscious beings are not different from one another – the essence of all living beings is the same Conscious being of Lord. This is very clear because all the conscious beings have Consciousness in common. This common Consciousness is called Antaryamin in Vedanta which is different notation for Brahman or Lord. Thus all beings are in essence eternal as they are one with the ultimate reality of Lord.

If I am eternal, then there should be no sorrow and sufferings for me, I shouldn’t seek anything in the world?
Yes, this is true. But somehow, the eternal being or the jeeva thinks he is limited as he forgets his nature. This is called Avidya or ignorance of one’s own nature of Consciousness or Lord. This ignorance has no cause or it cannot stand any logic. The reason why ignorance cannot stand any logic is that “there is really no ignorance” as the conscious being is self-luminous and can never be covered by ignorance even as darkness cannot cover light. Darkness is nothing but seemingly absence of light. Similarly there cannot be any ignorance for the jeeva but ignorance seems to be there. Therefore it is termed as indescribable or anirvachaneeya – the word only means that ignorance has no real existence at all even as water has no real existence in desert (mirage experience).

Therefore Vedanta says that the Self or jeeva has no ignorance at all but seems to be deluded into ignorance. This is like a dream world – a person who is wealth dreams that he is poor – he is not poor at all but seems to be poor. Similarly the jeeva is in fact one with the ultimate reality of Brahman but seems to be deluded due to ignorance. This ignorance makes the jeeva think that he is limited and thereby not eternal. Since he is limited, he feels that he is not of the nature of happiness. Thus the seemingly ignorant jeeva seeks the eternal being of Lord as only Lord can give a person eternal bliss. This is what Vedanta terms as spiritual path. There is really speaking no path at all because each and every seeker is the Lord only. But until this reality is known, there seems to be present ignorance and hence the jeeva seeks the Lord.

This is the story of each and every seeker in the world. Each seeker is the jeeva who is not different from the ultimate reality of Lord but due to seemingly appearing ignorance, he thinks he is limited & seeks the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus once he attains the Lord through sravana or listening of scriptural imports that “You are God”, manana or reflection on whatever has been heard and contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord that “I am that Lord”, he seems to be liberated but realizes that there never was any bondage to be removed. Thus he realizes that he never was bonded to be liberated – he was ever the eternal and ever-enlightened ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute.

This is what is symbolically mentioned in the story of Dhruva. The Puranaas and scriptures are very careful that they give significance even for names. Thus here is the story of the eternal jeeva called Dhruva. Dhruva is not happy with the happenings around him. He has forgotten his own very nature of eternal Self or Lord. Thereby he is deluded and becomes sad due to the world. Thus, he sets out to seek the ultimate reality of Lord. He then realizes the ultimate reality of Lord thereby becoming eternal. Here becoming only means that he realizes that he was eternal at all times but was ignorant about his eternal nature. When he realizes his own very nature of Lord, he then rejoiced in the bliss inherent in the Self. This is in short the spiritual path traversed by each one of us. We all are traveling in a path where we seek out a goal forgetting that we ourselves are the goal that is being sought out. Thus seeking the goal, the seeker proceeds and proceeds – as he proceeds, he finds himself turning introverted and inwards into the Self. Thereby he merges into his own very nature of Lord & realizes that the goal which was being sought out was always present in himself!!!

This is in short what is being signified through the story of Dhruva – a symbolic representation of the spiritual path of a seeker.
We will now analyze the story of Dhruva. The word Dhruvam or Dhruva in Sanskrit means that which is eternal. Eternality is what each and every seeker seeks at all times. The biggest fear in the world for a person is DEATH. This is due to the thought that with death, I will cease to exist. That which never ceases to exist is termed as eternal or Nitya. Since the seeker doesn’t want to cease to exist, he is knowingly or unknowingly searching for immortality or the eternal object called Dhruva. This eternal object alone can confer eternal bliss to the seeker. Thus Dhruvam is what a person is searching each and every moment – this is the ultimate goal of every living being..

Let us now try to analyze what is eternal in the world. Various mahatmas and rishis from time immemorial have analyzed this and the conclusion they came was that “there is only entity which is eternal” which is the ultimate reality of Lord or Brahman of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. Lord alone is eternal – all other things which we perceive are changing each and every moment. That which is changing cannot be eternal as it will cease to exist at some point of time. All the objects that we perceive are changing constantly – the world itself is changing as we experience change in the world & as Sri Krishna says in Gita “anityam asukham lokam” – the world is temporary and sorrowful. If Lord alone is eternal, then what about the various conscious beings or jeevas? Vedanta answers that all the conscious beings are not different from one another – the essence of all living beings is the same Conscious being of Lord. This is very clear because all the conscious beings have Consciousness in common. This common Consciousness is called Antaryamin in Vedanta which is different notation for Brahman or Lord. Thus all beings are in essence eternal as they are one with the ultimate reality of Lord.

If I am eternal, then there should be no sorrow and sufferings for me, I shouldn’t seek anything in the world?
Yes, this is true. But somehow, the eternal being or the jeeva thinks he is limited as he forgets his nature. This is called Avidya or ignorance of one’s own nature of Consciousness or Lord. This ignorance has no cause or it cannot stand any logic. The reason why ignorance cannot stand any logic is that “there is really no ignorance” as the conscious being is self-luminous and can never be covered by ignorance even as darkness cannot cover light. Darkness is nothing but seemingly absence of light. Similarly there cannot be any ignorance for the jeeva but ignorance seems to be there. Therefore it is termed as indescribable or anirvachaneeya – the word only means that ignorance has no real existence at all even as water has no real existence in desert (mirage experience).

Therefore Vedanta says that the Self or jeeva has no ignorance at all but seems to be deluded into ignorance. This is like a dream world – a person who is wealth dreams that he is poor – he is not poor at all but seems to be poor. Similarly the jeeva is in fact one with the ultimate reality of Brahman but seems to be deluded due to ignorance. This ignorance makes the jeeva think that he is limited and thereby not eternal. Since he is limited, he feels that he is not of the nature of happiness. Thus the seemingly ignorant jeeva seeks the eternal being of Lord as only Lord can give a person eternal bliss. This is what Vedanta terms as spiritual path. There is really speaking no path at all because each and every seeker is the Lord only. But until this reality is known, there seems to be present ignorance and hence the jeeva seeks the Lord.

This is the story of each and every seeker in the world. Each seeker is the jeeva who is not different from the ultimate reality of Lord but due to seemingly appearing ignorance, he thinks he is limited & seeks the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus once he attains the Lord through sravana or listening of scriptural imports that “You are God”, manana or reflection on whatever has been heard and contemplation on the ultimate reality of Lord that “I am that Lord”, he seems to be liberated but realizes that there never was any bondage to be removed. Thus he realizes that he never was bonded to be liberated – he was ever the eternal and ever-enlightened ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute.

This is what is symbolically mentioned in the story of Dhruva. The Puranaas and scriptures are very careful that they give significance even for names. Thus here is the story of the eternal jeeva called Dhruva. Dhruva is not happy with the happenings around him. He has forgotten his own very nature of eternal Self or Lord. Thereby he is deluded and becomes sad due to the world. Thus, he sets out to seek the ultimate reality of Lord. He then realizes the ultimate reality of Lord thereby becoming eternal. Here becoming only means that he realizes that he was eternal at all times but was ignorant about his eternal nature. When he realizes his own very nature of Lord, he then rejoiced in the bliss inherent in the Self. This is in short the spiritual path traversed by each one of us. We all are traveling in a path where we seek out a goal forgetting that we ourselves are the goal that is being sought out. Thus seeking the goal, the seeker proceeds and proceeds – as he proceeds, he finds himself turning introverted and inwards into the Self. Thereby he merges into his own very nature of Lord & realizes that the goal which was being sought out was always present in himself!!!

This is in short what is being signified through the story of Dhruva – a symbolic representation of the spiritual path of a seeker.