Srimad Bhagavatham

Muchukunda continued:

It is the same body that seeks your refuge when tough times have passed by – which (body) was earlier traveling around in chariots and on elephants. A king conquering his enemies, gaining power over them and having himself worshipped by the conquered enemies spends time inside his palace engaged in sexual activities with women like a play-doll. At that time he doesn’t know as to what is nirvrithi (moksha) not even for a moment. And later after getting renunciation towards worldly objects, he follows the spiritual sadhanas of japam (chanting), tapam (austerity) etc. and realizes as to what is the real moksha bliss. Once he rejoices the bliss of the Atman, he never again gets the Ego that “I am the King”.

Explanation

Bhagavatham here through Muchukunda beautifully describes the two states of before realization and after realization. There is no point of arguing that “I am ever-realized” and that there is no before & after realization – a person who is realized will never make such argument as he doesn’t differentiate between anything (as he sees the Lord as pervading the illusory names and forms of the Lord); the only other person who can argue is one who is seeing duality – as long as we see duality, the distinction of before-realization and after-realization is valid and this will in fact help us in identifying as to what is the difference between both thereby working towards the realized state.

There is only one difference between the before-realization and after-realization states – as actions happen in both the states; world exist or may exist in both the states; happiness-sorrow exist in both the states. The difference is with respect to Ego as Muchukunda beautifully explains here. The before-realization state is wherein the seeker identifies the real “I” of Lord with his limited “I” that is associated with the body-mind-intellect. The after-realization state is wherein the seeker doesn’t identify himself with the limited “I” – thus actions go on like with respect to a egoistic person but the realized master is not associated with the doer “I”. Since the realized master is not the kartha or doer, therefore he is not the bhoktha or enjoyer as well. This means that irrespective of whatever actions are done by the Ego, irrespective of whether happiness or sorrow is encountered, irrespective of whether the world is posing a trouble or helping out the realized master is ever blissful.

He who is not the doer cannot be the enjoyer. He who is the doer will be the enjoyer as well. This is the law of karma. Actions and fruits will happen but it matters whether we are the doer in which case we will also be the enjoyer.

The spiritual master makes us realize that we are not the limited “I” which is the doer but we are the eternal “I” which is the witness and substratum of all actions. It is this Conscious “I” that is one with the ultimate reality of Lord. It is this “I” that is bliss in nature. Thereby such a realized master will always be rejoicing in bliss unlike the egoistic ignorant person who will be indulging in worldly pleasures not knowing that the worldly pleasures are limited and that there will be a time when he will have to face sorrow rather than happiness. Since he overly enjoys in happiness, he will overly become sad during sorrow. But a spiritual master is beyond the Ego as he is associated with the witness “I” or Lord; therefore he ever rejoices irrespective of whether the limited “I” is experiencing happiness or sorrow.

Now that we know we have to get rid of the Ego in order to rejoice in bliss, the next question is as to how to overcome the Ego which we will see next through Muchukunda’s words.

Muchukunda continued:

Complete devotion with the reality of Lord knowing that you alone are present as everything is possible for a seeker only through association with Mahatmas (satsanga).

Explanation

Last day we saw a comparison of the before-realized and after-realized state. To sum it up, the before-realized state is a state full of sorrow whereas the after-realized state is full of bliss. A realized master will be ever blissful irrespective of the situation, environment, conditions etc.

The Lord beautifully explains this blissful state in Gita as:

Kaamakrodha viyukthaanaam yatheenaam yathachethasaam
Abhitho brahma nirvaanam varthathe vidhitha aatmanaam

A realized master who has known his Self, is beyond attachment/aversion and is ever steadfast in the Lord will be always surrounded by bliss; bliss will be dancing around such a realized master.

Here Bhagavatham through Muchukunda is giving us the way out of sorrow. The way out of sorrow is association with realized masters. This is termed as satsanga. SAT SANGA means association with the truth or the Lord. Since Mahatmas or realized-masters are ever abiding in the truth, association with them will make us as well abide in the truth. There is no other direct way to become a realized master than by always contemplating on the truth and following the spiritual path with strength, devotion and knowledge. All of this will easily happen when we are in the presence of a Mahatma. The Mahatma will make us remember the Lord as that will be the crux of the presence and words of the Mahatma. We will also be made to progress in the spiritual path as the Mahatma is like a mirror in which one’s face is reflected; in the Mahatma’s presence, all the impurities in our mind (which veil the indwelling Lord) will be brought up and thereby removed. Therefore it happens often that the more and more we spend time with a Mahatma, the more and more we feel the spiritual path becoming tougher. Testing in the form of obstacles will be more when we spend more time with a Mahatma. These obstacles are not what the Mahatma puts in front of us but it is the Mahatma bringing out the impurities out of us – when the impurities come out, we will have to put a lot of effort to get rid of them. When we are afflicted by fungus, it will be very painful when the fungus is brought out. This is the case with diseases as well – when we are having a disease, we will not know much pain but when the disease is being cured, we will feel the pain. It is for this reason that operations require anesthesia so that we don’t feel the pain.

AMMA says that a Mahatma is like a doctor who cures the seeker of all impurities of the mind. But this doctor is special in that he wants the seeker to know as to what is happening – thereby there will be no anesthesia. Thus the more obstacles we face in the spiritual path, we can be sure that we are in the right direction towards the truth. The truth will be obtained by a seeker who has the strength to withstand the obstacles – the Mahatma is one who will help us at times of obstacles by guiding us through advice and words. If we have the devotion towards the Mahatma considering him the Lord, then very easily we will be able to conquer our obstacles and realize the ultimate reality of Lord in this very birth itself.

Sankara speaks about as to how satsanga will lead a seeker to realization thus in Bhaja Govindam:

Satsangatve nissangatvam nissangatve nirmohatvam
Nirmohatve nischalatattvam nischalatattve jeevanmukthi

Association with Mahatmas will lead to being disassociated with the illusory world; disassociation with the illusory world will lead to removal of delusion; when delusion of removed, then there will be no fluctuations or vibrations in the mind; such a state wherein the mind is without any fluctuations and thereby ever blissful (this is the realized state also known as jeevan mukthi).

Thus Bhagavatham is telling each one of us to get more and more association with Mahatmas (realized masters) so that we will be able to progress quickly in the spiritual path and realize the ultimate reality of Lord in this very birth itself.