Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Story 29 - Story of Prithu – 2
Srimad Bhagavatham - A Spiritual Insight - Story 29 - Story of Prithu – 2
Prithu did a sacrifice and happy with the sacrifice, Lord Vishnu appeared in the sacrifice. After this, the people in the land started approaching Prithu and offering their prostrations to him. At that time, Prithu taught the ultimate reality to the people thus:
The Lord or the ultimate reality of Brahman is alone to be sought out by every person in the world. Those who are doing bad deeds in the world will be punished by me as the ruler of the Earth. The duty of the people in general is to prostrate and seek the ultimate reality of Lord. The Lord is he by contemplating on whose feet; a person gets rid of the sins acquired in many births. Ishwara or Lord is without birth, without change, without any form and all-pervasive.
Explanation
Prithu started his advice or teaching to the people in the world. Who is a ruler? A ruler is one who rules his people so that his people might live happily and peacefully. Thus it is the duty of the ruler to take care that his people are happy and blissful. This is possible only if the ruler imparts the knowledge about the ultimate reality of Brahman to his people because it is only when the knowledge of the ultimate reality is known that a person gets eternal bliss. This knowledge about the reality is not external knowledge about some God living some where far from Earth and amidst clouds but he is the reality which is present in the heart of all beings. It is the Lord who is situated in the heart of all beings. It is the Lord who is present as the entire world which we perceive. There is nothing apart from the Lord as the Lord alone exists, one without a second. Whatever duality and differences are being perceived are only illusions in the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. There is only the Lord here – nothing else. Thus the knowledge about the reality is realization that “I am the Lord, one without a second”. When this knowledge dawns, duality vanishes and thereby the faults arising out of dual perception also vanishes. Wherever there is dual perception even if it is between the devotee and the Lord, there are sorrows and sufferings arising out of likes and dislikes. The one and only way to remove these sorrows is to perceive oneness everywhere – this is by knowing that the Lord alone exists here. Whatever is seen is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord even though differences are currently perceived.
It might be tough to apprehend the reality that rulers are supposed to give Brahma Vidya and not mere worldly knowledge included with worldly pleasures. Thus we find Manu, Janaka and others imparting knowledge to their people. This is what was also happening in ancient times when Adi Sankara and others were present. For example: Vijayanagar empire had Vidyaranya as the minister and Vidyaranya was a person well versed in the scriptures. But it is sad that these days the ruler themselves are ignorant about the name of scriptures itself – so what to speak about the reality in the scriptures & instructing the people? Yathaa raja tathaa praja – as the king, so the people.
This is mentioned not to tell people to revolt against the rulers or to degrade the rulers, but just to mention about the pathetic condition in the country. As if this was not enough, we try to adjust and change ourselves to the culture which is foreign and against our tradition forgetting the fact that the people from those foreign cultures themselves are coming to India to learn the Vedantic tradition and Indian culture. We should each one of us try to not compromise on the philosophy as well as tradition. Tradition is as important as the philosophy because it is tradition which maintains an unbroken succession of people living for the philosophy. It is also the duty of each one of us to be well versed in our philosophy which is Vedanta that emphasizes on the ultimate reality of Lord as the very nature of each and every person.
Srimad Bhagavatham here emphasizes that the duty of a living being is not either having a good family, maintaining them, being a good citizen etc. All these are secondary and illusory alone. The real duty of a living being is realization of the ultimate reality of Lord who is his own very nature. Unless this duty is fulfilled, all other duties are futile as they will lead to sorrow alone. We have to thus contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord and realize our own very nature of Lord. As Prithu mentions, mere thought of the Lord will remove all sins which have been accumulated for births.
Adi Sankara in his Vishnu Sahasranama quotes from the Vishnu Purana and says
Jnaanatho ajnaanatho va api vaasudevasya keerthanaat
Tat sarvam layam yaathi toyastham layanam yathaa
As salt merges into water completely, similarly if a person worships the ultimate reality of Lord either knowingly or unknowingly, he overcomes all bondages, sins and sorrows.
Aham tvaa sarva paapebhyo mokshayishyaami ma shuchah – thus says Gita
I will take you out of sins and liberate you, do not worry.
There are many scriptural quotings which mention about the fact that if the Lord is thought by a person, all sins are removed. How is this possible? The answer is simple indeed. The Lord is that light which when known or thought ignorance or darkness vanishes. Sins are effects of ignorance – when the Lord who is of the nature of Consciousness or knowledge is thought or contemplated, ignorance vanishes. When ignorance vanishes, its effects of sins also vanish (when the cause of mud vanishes, the pot which is made out of mud also vanishes). Thus sins are removed by the mere thought of the Lord.
We find in hindu religion that worship of the feet of the Lord or the Guru is mentioned by almost all saints. The importance for the feet is because the feet is that which supports the entire body. The Guru or Lord is supported in the ultimate reality of Consciousness or Lord. Thus feet symbolizes the reality underlying the particular form of the Lord or the Guru which is the ultimate reality of Lord alone. Thus worship of the feet of the Lord or Guru is worship or contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord alone which removes all sorrows and sins in the life of a seeker.
We have to remember that the Lord is not somebody different from us but he is our own very nature itself. The Lord is without any form because form causes limitation as well as change. Lord is not limited as he is all-pervading, Lord cannot have change as he is eternal (change means death too and hence non-eternality).
As Prithu mentions, we have to contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord which is the one and only real duty for a living being in the world.
The Sanaka saints came to the palace of Prithu. Even though Prithu hadn’t seen them, but he could guess about them as their very presence was filled with lights of illumination which removes all sins.
Prithu offered his oblations to the saints and asked them a basic question “What is the easiest way to realization”.
Sanatkumara (one of the four saints who is the teacher teaching the student of Narada in Chandogya Upanishad) answered thus:
The question you have asked is for the welfare of the society because everyone will be benefited by knowing the answer to this question. There are mainly two things which a seeker requires to realize the ultimate reality of Lord – one is detachment from the illusory worldly pleasures or objects and the second is attachment to the ultimate reality of Lord who is Nirguna or without any qualities.
The various paths to achieve the above two things is “contemplation on the Lord, hearing his glories, singing his glories, ever steadfast in the Lord through Yoga or concentration”. A seeker should overcome attraction to the various forms like Siva, Vishnu etc. and be detached and thereby get attached to the Nirguna Brahman apart from attraction to the worldly objects which are neither Sat nor Asat (neither real nor unreal).
Explanation
We will try to cover the teaching of Sanatkumara to Prithu in a couple of postings – even though the instruction is very small but it has lot of things to be understood and implemented in life.
Sanakaadi saints are maanasa putras or mental children of Lord Brahma. The four saints are Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanaatana, Sanatkumaara. It happened that these four were created by Brahma so that they would take care of creation which was his job. It so happened that after their birth, they came upon Narada. Narada found out that they were eligible enough for the ultimate reality of knowledge and hence imparted them the knowledge that the external world is illusory & knowledge alone can confer eternality to a seeker. Thus they started searching for a Guru. Lord Siva out of compassion took the form of Dakshinamurthy who was very young and sitting under the shade of a tree. The Sanaka saints saw and were attracted. They sat near Dakshinamurthy. Dakshinamurthy did not open his eyes – thus the sanaka saints too closed their eyes and went into Samadhi. As a result of this, they realized the ultimate reality of Lord or Brahman which is one’s own very nature. This is an epic found in Puranas.
Sanakaadi saints are said to be always young meaning that they don’t have any death. The reason for this being that they had realized the ultimate reality of Lord and that “I am that Lord” – since Lord has no death or birth, “I” too have no birth and death. Thus they were every young. IT is mentioned in different puranas that these saints had no distinctions at all and are mentioned as examples of Jnaanis or jeevan muktas apart from Shuka Deva.
These saints are mentioned in the puranas to indicate to us that if a seeker realizes the ultimate reality of Lord which is his own very nature, he never enters into the vicious circle of birth and death. This is what we normally call as liberation or realization.
Prithu asks a very simple and basic question as to the easiest path to the ultimate reality and its realization. This question has been dealt with by many saints from ancient times. We have to remember that whatever be the path to the reality, the reality is ONE alone – the final goal is “realization of one’s own very nature of Lord” – this is what is called as JNAANA. Thus whatever be the path that a person follows, he has to get JNAANA which is the goal. There need not be futile discussions or arguments regarding this because we can take it for granted that since ignorance is the cause of all sorrows and sufferings as well as since we experience eternal bliss as our nature in deep sleep, the ultimate goal is JNAANA or knowledge which alone can remove ignorance. But Prithu is asking this question so as to get that path which is easier to realize the goal of JNAANA or knowledge that “I am the Lord and not different from the Lord”.
The easiest path to the reality is mentioned by Sanatkumara as detachment to the world and attachment to the ultimate reality of Lord or Brahman. There are two different things which are essential for a seeker who is following the spiritual path. One is “removal of prathikoola or obstructing things” and “accepting of anukoola or those actions which help in the spiritual path”. Detachment to the world is “removal of the obstacles” in the form of attachment to the world which means the world is considered as real. Since the world is considered as real, the dualities perceived in the world is also considered as real. Thus when there is something happening to the world, the seeker is affected. This is what we call as sorrows and sufferings. This can be removed only when the world is known in its real nature as changing and illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord. Detachment from the world alone is enough but a seeker needs to get attached to the ultimate reality of Lord else it will be like a person getting detached from the world because his wife expired. This is temporary and not real detachment. Thus attachment to the ultimate reality of Lord is also essential.
This attachment to the ultimate reality of Lord is strengthened and achieved through the various spiritual practices or disciplines like “hearing and singing the glories of the Lord, contemplation on the Lord, establishing oneself in the ultimate reality of Lord, always following ahimsa and compassion towards the beings in the world” etc. All these are different means to get attachment to the ultimate reality of Lord. When this attachment matures, it results in the knowledge that “I am not different from the Lord – but I am the Lord one without a second” – this is realization and liberation.
Prithu did a sacrifice and happy with the sacrifice, Lord Vishnu appeared in the sacrifice. After this, the people in the land started approaching Prithu and offering their prostrations to him. At that time, Prithu taught the ultimate reality to the people thus:
The Lord or the ultimate reality of Brahman is alone to be sought out by every person in the world. Those who are doing bad deeds in the world will be punished by me as the ruler of the Earth. The duty of the people in general is to prostrate and seek the ultimate reality of Lord. The Lord is he by contemplating on whose feet; a person gets rid of the sins acquired in many births. Ishwara or Lord is without birth, without change, without any form and all-pervasive.
Explanation
Prithu started his advice or teaching to the people in the world. Who is a ruler? A ruler is one who rules his people so that his people might live happily and peacefully. Thus it is the duty of the ruler to take care that his people are happy and blissful. This is possible only if the ruler imparts the knowledge about the ultimate reality of Brahman to his people because it is only when the knowledge of the ultimate reality is known that a person gets eternal bliss. This knowledge about the reality is not external knowledge about some God living some where far from Earth and amidst clouds but he is the reality which is present in the heart of all beings. It is the Lord who is situated in the heart of all beings. It is the Lord who is present as the entire world which we perceive. There is nothing apart from the Lord as the Lord alone exists, one without a second. Whatever duality and differences are being perceived are only illusions in the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss absolute. There is only the Lord here – nothing else. Thus the knowledge about the reality is realization that “I am the Lord, one without a second”. When this knowledge dawns, duality vanishes and thereby the faults arising out of dual perception also vanishes. Wherever there is dual perception even if it is between the devotee and the Lord, there are sorrows and sufferings arising out of likes and dislikes. The one and only way to remove these sorrows is to perceive oneness everywhere – this is by knowing that the Lord alone exists here. Whatever is seen is only an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord even though differences are currently perceived.
It might be tough to apprehend the reality that rulers are supposed to give Brahma Vidya and not mere worldly knowledge included with worldly pleasures. Thus we find Manu, Janaka and others imparting knowledge to their people. This is what was also happening in ancient times when Adi Sankara and others were present. For example: Vijayanagar empire had Vidyaranya as the minister and Vidyaranya was a person well versed in the scriptures. But it is sad that these days the ruler themselves are ignorant about the name of scriptures itself – so what to speak about the reality in the scriptures & instructing the people? Yathaa raja tathaa praja – as the king, so the people.
This is mentioned not to tell people to revolt against the rulers or to degrade the rulers, but just to mention about the pathetic condition in the country. As if this was not enough, we try to adjust and change ourselves to the culture which is foreign and against our tradition forgetting the fact that the people from those foreign cultures themselves are coming to India to learn the Vedantic tradition and Indian culture. We should each one of us try to not compromise on the philosophy as well as tradition. Tradition is as important as the philosophy because it is tradition which maintains an unbroken succession of people living for the philosophy. It is also the duty of each one of us to be well versed in our philosophy which is Vedanta that emphasizes on the ultimate reality of Lord as the very nature of each and every person.
Srimad Bhagavatham here emphasizes that the duty of a living being is not either having a good family, maintaining them, being a good citizen etc. All these are secondary and illusory alone. The real duty of a living being is realization of the ultimate reality of Lord who is his own very nature. Unless this duty is fulfilled, all other duties are futile as they will lead to sorrow alone. We have to thus contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord and realize our own very nature of Lord. As Prithu mentions, mere thought of the Lord will remove all sins which have been accumulated for births.
Adi Sankara in his Vishnu Sahasranama quotes from the Vishnu Purana and says
Jnaanatho ajnaanatho va api vaasudevasya keerthanaat
Tat sarvam layam yaathi toyastham layanam yathaa
As salt merges into water completely, similarly if a person worships the ultimate reality of Lord either knowingly or unknowingly, he overcomes all bondages, sins and sorrows.
Aham tvaa sarva paapebhyo mokshayishyaami ma shuchah – thus says Gita
I will take you out of sins and liberate you, do not worry.
There are many scriptural quotings which mention about the fact that if the Lord is thought by a person, all sins are removed. How is this possible? The answer is simple indeed. The Lord is that light which when known or thought ignorance or darkness vanishes. Sins are effects of ignorance – when the Lord who is of the nature of Consciousness or knowledge is thought or contemplated, ignorance vanishes. When ignorance vanishes, its effects of sins also vanish (when the cause of mud vanishes, the pot which is made out of mud also vanishes). Thus sins are removed by the mere thought of the Lord.
We find in hindu religion that worship of the feet of the Lord or the Guru is mentioned by almost all saints. The importance for the feet is because the feet is that which supports the entire body. The Guru or Lord is supported in the ultimate reality of Consciousness or Lord. Thus feet symbolizes the reality underlying the particular form of the Lord or the Guru which is the ultimate reality of Lord alone. Thus worship of the feet of the Lord or Guru is worship or contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord alone which removes all sorrows and sins in the life of a seeker.
We have to remember that the Lord is not somebody different from us but he is our own very nature itself. The Lord is without any form because form causes limitation as well as change. Lord is not limited as he is all-pervading, Lord cannot have change as he is eternal (change means death too and hence non-eternality).
As Prithu mentions, we have to contemplate on the ultimate reality of Lord which is the one and only real duty for a living being in the world.
The Sanaka saints came to the palace of Prithu. Even though Prithu hadn’t seen them, but he could guess about them as their very presence was filled with lights of illumination which removes all sins.
Prithu offered his oblations to the saints and asked them a basic question “What is the easiest way to realization”.
Sanatkumara (one of the four saints who is the teacher teaching the student of Narada in Chandogya Upanishad) answered thus:
The question you have asked is for the welfare of the society because everyone will be benefited by knowing the answer to this question. There are mainly two things which a seeker requires to realize the ultimate reality of Lord – one is detachment from the illusory worldly pleasures or objects and the second is attachment to the ultimate reality of Lord who is Nirguna or without any qualities.
The various paths to achieve the above two things is “contemplation on the Lord, hearing his glories, singing his glories, ever steadfast in the Lord through Yoga or concentration”. A seeker should overcome attraction to the various forms like Siva, Vishnu etc. and be detached and thereby get attached to the Nirguna Brahman apart from attraction to the worldly objects which are neither Sat nor Asat (neither real nor unreal).
Explanation
We will try to cover the teaching of Sanatkumara to Prithu in a couple of postings – even though the instruction is very small but it has lot of things to be understood and implemented in life.
Sanakaadi saints are maanasa putras or mental children of Lord Brahma. The four saints are Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanaatana, Sanatkumaara. It happened that these four were created by Brahma so that they would take care of creation which was his job. It so happened that after their birth, they came upon Narada. Narada found out that they were eligible enough for the ultimate reality of knowledge and hence imparted them the knowledge that the external world is illusory & knowledge alone can confer eternality to a seeker. Thus they started searching for a Guru. Lord Siva out of compassion took the form of Dakshinamurthy who was very young and sitting under the shade of a tree. The Sanaka saints saw and were attracted. They sat near Dakshinamurthy. Dakshinamurthy did not open his eyes – thus the sanaka saints too closed their eyes and went into Samadhi. As a result of this, they realized the ultimate reality of Lord or Brahman which is one’s own very nature. This is an epic found in Puranas.
Sanakaadi saints are said to be always young meaning that they don’t have any death. The reason for this being that they had realized the ultimate reality of Lord and that “I am that Lord” – since Lord has no death or birth, “I” too have no birth and death. Thus they were every young. IT is mentioned in different puranas that these saints had no distinctions at all and are mentioned as examples of Jnaanis or jeevan muktas apart from Shuka Deva.
These saints are mentioned in the puranas to indicate to us that if a seeker realizes the ultimate reality of Lord which is his own very nature, he never enters into the vicious circle of birth and death. This is what we normally call as liberation or realization.
Prithu asks a very simple and basic question as to the easiest path to the ultimate reality and its realization. This question has been dealt with by many saints from ancient times. We have to remember that whatever be the path to the reality, the reality is ONE alone – the final goal is “realization of one’s own very nature of Lord” – this is what is called as JNAANA. Thus whatever be the path that a person follows, he has to get JNAANA which is the goal. There need not be futile discussions or arguments regarding this because we can take it for granted that since ignorance is the cause of all sorrows and sufferings as well as since we experience eternal bliss as our nature in deep sleep, the ultimate goal is JNAANA or knowledge which alone can remove ignorance. But Prithu is asking this question so as to get that path which is easier to realize the goal of JNAANA or knowledge that “I am the Lord and not different from the Lord”.
The easiest path to the reality is mentioned by Sanatkumara as detachment to the world and attachment to the ultimate reality of Lord or Brahman. There are two different things which are essential for a seeker who is following the spiritual path. One is “removal of prathikoola or obstructing things” and “accepting of anukoola or those actions which help in the spiritual path”. Detachment to the world is “removal of the obstacles” in the form of attachment to the world which means the world is considered as real. Since the world is considered as real, the dualities perceived in the world is also considered as real. Thus when there is something happening to the world, the seeker is affected. This is what we call as sorrows and sufferings. This can be removed only when the world is known in its real nature as changing and illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord. Detachment from the world alone is enough but a seeker needs to get attached to the ultimate reality of Lord else it will be like a person getting detached from the world because his wife expired. This is temporary and not real detachment. Thus attachment to the ultimate reality of Lord is also essential.
This attachment to the ultimate reality of Lord is strengthened and achieved through the various spiritual practices or disciplines like “hearing and singing the glories of the Lord, contemplation on the Lord, establishing oneself in the ultimate reality of Lord, always following ahimsa and compassion towards the beings in the world” etc. All these are different means to get attachment to the ultimate reality of Lord. When this attachment matures, it results in the knowledge that “I am not different from the Lord – but I am the Lord one without a second” – this is realization and liberation.
# posted by vedanta : 9:38 AM
