July 30, 2017 archive

Bhagawatam 146: Kardama Prajāpati seeks permission from son Kapila Maharishi and leaves for forests.

Aniruddhāya namah

Seeing the infant, Lord Brahma said, “Srihari, the primordial being and the Lord who fulfills all desires of every living being, has using His own illusory powers, taken on a body and has incarnated as your son Kapila.

O daughter of Manu! This Lord who possesses golden hair, lotus eyes, lotus feet, who has the imprints of lotus on his feet and who is the destroyer of demon Kaitabhasura, has entered your womb and incarnated as Kapila.

He will shred the subtle impressions of past actions (vasanas) in those living beings who are desirous of understanding Srihari through Self-knowledge and who, through the Yoga known as dedication towards the Self, aim at reaching Him. Vāsanas are the root for all fruitive actions. They are responsible for binding the living entity. Shredding spiritual ignorance and tearing the knot of doubts i.e. the hridaya granthi in those who are desirous of Self-realization, he will travel across the globe.

This boy will be the Lord of all accomplished beings (siddha gaṇā). Sānkhya Shastra proves and validates Supreme Knowledge. He will be highly revered by exponents of Sānkhya Shastra. He will be famous as Kapila and will enhance your fame”.

Having said this, Lord Brahma left for his abode seated on his Swan vehicle. Maharishis Narada, Sanaka and other eminent saints followed him.

Thereafter Kardama Prajāpati offered his daughters in marriage to other Prajāpatis in accordance with the directions of Lord Brahma.

His daughter Kala was married to Maharishi Marichi, Anasuya to Maharishi Atri, Shraddha to Maharishi Angirasa, Havirbhava to Maharishi Pulastya, Gati to Maharishi Pulaha, Kriya to Maharishi Kratu, Khyāti to Maharishi Bhrigu, Arundhati to Maharishi Vashishta and Shanti to Maharishi Atharva. It is because of Shanti that all Yagnas attain prosperity.

Kardama Maharishi gave plenty of gifts to the newlyweds and pleased them. The saints, who were satisfied, took permission from Maharishi Kardama and together with their wives went to their respective hermitages.

After all of them had left, in a secluded place Kardama Maharishi approached his son Kapila, who was none other than the Supreme Lord, who makes himself visible only in the three Yugas and who is replete with the six auspicious traits.

He offered his obeisance to the Lord and said, “How astonishing! After such a long period of time, in this hellish samsāra where living beings suffer tremendously, the Devatas have obtained happiness. This is undoubtedly true.

Due to relentless practice of the discipline called Yoga across many births, Yoga becomes firmly established in the aspirant. As a result, the mind of the aspirant becomes completely pure. He will then sit in meditation in an isolated place, trying to obtain a vision of Lord Srihari.

Sa eva bhagavān adya helanaṁ na gaṇayya na

Gṛheu jāto grāmyāāṁ yaḥ svānā paka-poaa 

The Supreme Lord is always by the side of his sincere devotees. He eternally strengthens them. For this reason, leaving the company of accomplished yogis and without even hesitating that He would lose his respect, He has today taken birth in the home of ignorant people like us.

O Lord! You enhance the glory of your devotees. In order to propagate Sānkhya Shastra in this world and in order to fulfill the promise that You had earlier given to me, You have incarnated in my home. O Lord, inherently You are devoid of any form. Nevertheless, all those forms that are dear to your devotees are also dear to You!

You are that Divine Lord whose lotus feet are eternally worshipped by learned scholars who seek to know the Absolute Truth. You are the Lord endowed completely with the six traits of prosperity, fame, knowledge, dispassion, strength and beauty. I surrender totally to You!

Paraṁ pradhānaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntaṁ kālaṁ kavi tri-vta loka-pālam

Ātmānubhūtyānugata-prapañcaṁ  svacchanda-śaktiṁ kapila prapadye

You are beyond Nature (Prakriti). You are the form of Nature which is the material cause (upadāna) for this entire creation. Mahat tattva i.e. cosmic intelligence; time that causes turbulence in this cosmic intelligence; egoism along with three attributes of goodness, passion and ignorance as well as Indra and all other Devatas are Your manifestations. You are omniscient. You are a witness for all the changes that take place in Nature. With Your own will You create the universe and then absorb it back into You. All the various energies reside within You. In You, O Bhagawan Kapila, I seek refuge.

You are the Lord of all living beings. O Lord, I seek your permission. As You are born as my son, I am freed from all types of indebtedness (ruṇam). With your blessings all my desires have been fulfilled. I am now going to take up sanyāsa ashrama. Focusing my mind wholly upon You, I will be peaceful and happy”.

Kapila Bhagawan was immensely pleased to hear these words. He said, “In all worldly as well as spiritual actions, My words are law. They are the authoritative dictates for all beings. Only to fulfill my promise to you, I was born as your son.

The subtle body binds the ignorant persons who have an impure mind. In order to free oneself from this bondage, it is imperative to have the discretionary wisdom of the Supreme Essence. Only through this, Self-realization can be attained. Only to impart the knowledge of this Supreme Essence (tattva) I have incarnated now.

Eṣa ātma-patho ’vyakto naṣṭa kālena bhūyasā

Taṁ pravartayitu deham imaṁ viddhi mayā bhtam

This path of liberation known as Self-knowledge is the most secretive one. It is subtle. Due to the passage of time, it has simply vanished. Understand that I have taken on this body purely to re-establish it back in this world.

I am permitting you to take up sanyāsa. Leave fearlessly. Although it is difficult to conquer death and obtain liberation, it can be attained by offering all actions to Me. Along with this, worship Me.

Mām ātmānaṁ svayaṁ-jyotiḥ sarva-bhūta-guhāśayam

Ātmany evātmanā vīkṣya viśoko ’bhayam ṛcchasi 

I am Self-effulgent. I am the one who resides within the cave called the intellect (buddhi) of every being. Using your intellect see Me as the Self (atma) that resides within you. Your grief will be dispelled in totality. You will be blessed with the ultimate liberation.

I will impart the knowledge of the Self to mother. She too will cut through all these bondages and will be freed from this fear called cycle of re-births”.

Kardama Prajāpati took the permission of his son Kapila. In immense happiness he circumambulated around Lord Kapila and left for the forests.

Aniruddhāya Namah.

Permanent link to this article: https://puttugam.com/bhagawatam-146-kardama-prajapati-seeks-permission-from-son-kapila-maharishi-and-leaves-for-forests/

Datta Maata 60: What is Guru dakshina?

Let us learn about the concept of Guru dakshina (offering made to Guru) with the respect to worldly and spiritual education. In the worldly life, the comfort levels between the Guru and student denote Guru dakshina. Hence, based on the mutual understanding, the Guru (teacher) is paid by the government and stipend is given to the student. How strange! Coming to the spiritual field, one has to undergo many obstacles during the process of sadhana (spiritual practice). The scriptures proclaim that the interest that the disciple exhibits towards overcoming difficulties encountered can be considered as Guru dakshina. In today’s world, just like in business, there is heavy competition even in the field of education. Currently, we see people being lured by advertisements like “we provide good education for high fees” or “we provide very good education for a nominal fee”, so on and so forth. In this way, such groups are increasing their strength and money. Simultaneously, they are increasing the competition for earning money. In order to avoid all such mess, elders have decided that government must play a role to decide the Guru daksina. When the government itself decides, they need not collect fees from the students.

Guru dakshina does not only take the form of money because when such a method of offering Guru dakshina is implemented without any rules, not everybody can be happy in the society. Hence, society must receive knowledge through education, service and humility. Disciple must never give up facing the obstacles and he must persistently go on with his spiritual practice. At the same time, Guru must have the belief upon the disciple that he would work hard to do the sadhana. When this happens, Guru will not care for any hard work that he has to put in for the sake of the disciple. The Guru only wants the disciple to do the spiritual practice and attain the pinnacle of spirituality. He considers this itself as the Guru dakshina. This is the quality of a spiritual Guru. Making Guru happy is the quality of a good disciple.

In today’s society, we must design the relationship between Guru and disciple in such a way that there is a balance between the worldly and the spiritual education. May this message reach the hearts of the intellectuals and let the relationship between Guru and disciple prosper in the society causing mutual benefits. When there is a mutual understanding in the field of education, then education reaches all. It is not just about merely opening schools and sending children to them. With a proper code of conduct and without expecting any fees from the students, the government must develop the sector of education. This is the real asset of the country. Any asset can be stolen except education. Any amount of money will go away but education cannot. May Lord Datta bless everyone with such intellect and enlightenment! The government must take care such that the worldly education also reaches all just like the spiritual education reaches to the disciples from the Sadguru.

Jai Guru Datta! Sri Guru Datta!

Permanent link to this article: https://puttugam.com/datta-maata-60-what-is-guru-dakshina/

Datta Maata 59: Selfless action (Nishkāma karma)

Doing any karma (activity) without even a single desire (Nishkāma karma) is not possible for the seeker at the very beginning. But, one must necessarily do it. Because, such karma performed in this birth will not go in vain. If we do such Nishkāma karma once, it will not create any obstacle in the future births. Say, some karma happens in the world.

The jeevi (being) always attaches doer ship to his/her self. Because of that, the jeevi experiences the fruits of that karma. He cannot escape the fruits of it. Attaching the fruits of karma to the jeevi is attaching the karma to the doer. When the fruits of karma are attached to a doer, it is said to be “sakama karma”. If it is not attached then it is known as “nishkāma karma”. This is what we must learn.

Lord Krishna told about Nishkāma karma thus:
If one tries for nishkāma karma, then such a person will not incur any loss even if the effort fails. Instead, the fruits of the spiritual practice will lead him to heaven. After experiencing the fruits of the merit accumulated, he will take re-birth on Earth. It is such a good topic from Bhagavad gita. We must practice it. We should read a chapter from it or at least a shloka every day. Such a person will get the energy without any efforts to continue the spiritual practice (sādhana) from where it stopped in the last birth. In this birth, he will be born in a family where he can continue the sādhana. We often see people with such fortune.

These were the words of Lord Krishna. There should not be any doubts regarding the words uttered by Krishna so clearly because he is Jagadguru. Nishkāma karma will not be finished in a birth. The efforts must continue. This is what we learn here. Many ask how it is possible to do karma without any desire. Because we do the karma with a desire, it is not fulfilled. Then, we will not have any interest on the karma. Hence, we must do any karma without any desire on it and without any expectation for the fruits thereafter. Many go to temple, Guru and follow yantras and mantras only if some good fortune comes to them. Holding onto yantra and mantra may be illusory but approaching a Guru is not so. If we feed the hungry, then we must do so as nishkāma karma. Instead, it is wrong to be egoistic for feeding the hungry. At the same, it is a big mistake to either insult the person or boast about oneself after offering the food. Nishkama karma is a very good penance for one’s life. It involves no expectation. You will emerge victorious for taking up any karma being duty-bounded.

Jai Guru Datta! Sri Guru Datta!

Permanent link to this article: https://puttugam.com/datta-maata-59-selfless-action-nishkama-karma/

Load more

X

Forgot Password?

Join Us

Password Reset
Please enter your e-mail address. You will receive a new password via e-mail.