August 19, 2017 archive

Nārāyanāya namah

Understand the depth of spiritual essence hidden within every prayer.

Lord Indra prayed, “O indestructible Lord! O Srihari! In this form You are ruling the world. You are deathless. You appear as if akin to everything in this creation You too are subject to destruction. The truth is that You are beyond destruction.

Equipped with weapons in all Your 8 hands, You are destroying the demons who despise the Devatas. This transcendental form of Yours is pleasing to the eyes and mind”. He thus praised the complete form of the Lord.

The wives of the priests prayed, “O Padmanābha! You are the personification of Yagna! Brahma created Yagna so that people could worship You through this process. Daksha decided to begin one such Yagna. However, his anger turned out to be an obstacle for the Yagna. Angered at Daksha’s behavior, Shiva destroyed the Yagna. All the activities in this sacrificial hall have come to an end due to this destruction and now this place resembles a crematorium. O Lord, with Your lotus eyes please glance once at this sacrificial hall and thus purify the area”.

Thereafter the Maharishis prayed,

Ananvitaṁ te bhagavan viceṣṭitaṁ Yad ātmanā carasi hi karma nājyase

Vibhūtaye yata upasedur īśvarīṁ Na manyate svayam anuvartatīṁ bhavān

O Supreme Lord! Your glories are unsurpassed and wonderful! This is because although through the medium of a body You are eternally engrossed in actions, You do not have the feeling that ‘You’ are performing the action. Neither do you expect any resultant fruit for your action. You are unattached to Your actions.

Desiring wealth, people worship Goddess Lakshmi. Such Goddess Lakshmi always follows You. Even then You are unattached towards wealth or towards Goddess Lakshmi. You do not have pride that You are her husband”.

Siddhas prayed, “O Lord, it is impossible to tie this mind, which is like an enormous elephant. Perhaps it could be possible to tie down an elephant, but it is impossible to control this mind. This mind is tormented by afflictions known as spiritual ignorance (avidya), egoism, likes-dislikes and fear of death, due to which, it cannot be contained.

It is excessively driven towards fulfilling desires. It eternally desires to sleep, eat and enjoy bodily luxuries and comforts of all kinds. It wants to enjoy tasty food. It loves desires and anger.  It seeks all forms of wealth. It wants to own limitless buildings and properties. When the mind is enveloped with such desires it becomes impossible to tie it down.

Tormented by huge forest fire, the elephant becomes thirsty. It refuses to return from the river and settles comfortably in those flowing waters. Likewise, O Lord, our mind is seated comfortably in the river known as Your divine stories.  Due to the power contained in Your stories, our minds have become strengthened and we are no longer tormented by impurities.

Our minds are now totally focused upon You. Hence, we are absolved from the fear that we could slip down. We are happy and contented and thus are unable to remember our troubles. Lost in listening to Your delightful stories, we forget the world and all its troubles. This is the benefit of seeking shelter in Your lotus feet.

A person who has tasted nectar cannot relish any other taste. Likewise, the person who surrenders totally to Your feet, can never remember any worldly trouble.

To reach this stage, first of all dedicated efforts should be put in by the person. He should make attempts to remember the Lord’s feet at all time! The more he focuses, the less will be the worldly memories and pain.

Keshavāya namah

Rudra prayed, “O Srihari! O bestower of boons! In this creation, everyone worships Your lotus feet. This includes both the deluded living beings who are full of desires and Maharishis who are absolutely desireless. My mind is exclusively and firmly fixed upon such holy feet. Hence, even if an ignorant person falsely accuses me, I do not attach any importance to it”.

Swamiji explains:

When my mind is totally fixed upon the Lord, where is the scope for feelings such as ‘I and mine’ to enter into it? Even if perchance the feeling of ‘I’ enters into my mind, then such feelings of ‘I’ also end up in Your feet, since my mind is focused upon them. I am merely an instrument.

Just like an electric wire that transmits electricity I am a wire that transmits everything to Your lotus feet. When power supply is cut off, the electric wire has no role to play. Cut it off and throw it to the ground, it will gradually dissolve into the soil. It does not have an independent existence. Likewise, when my mind is totally and exclusively focused upon Your feet then like that wire I no longer function independently. Hence even criticisms directed at me, do not belong to me. Similarly if anyone applauds me, it does not belong to me. I transmit both the praises and the criticism to You.

Rudra continued, “As my mind is fixed exclusively upon Your lotus feet, all the worship done to me, belongs totally to You”.

Maharishi Bhrigu prayed, “O Supreme Lord, all beings beginning from Brahma are unable to cross Your illusion and are totally under its sway. As a result of this illusion, living beings are unable to understand their true form. This includes Brahma and other Devatas too, who are sleeping in ignorance due to which they are unable to know You, who exist as the Self (atma) within every living being.

Lord, You reside within the being. You are the existence. You are the movement within them. Although they acknowledge it verbally and to certain extent in their actions, from deep within their hearts they do not truly believe that You are everything”.

Swamiji explains:

Some preach the methods by which this ocean of samsāra (repeated births) can be crossed, some even help others cross this ocean but they themselves are unable to cross it. This is māya! ‘I have been able to help many cross the ocean, therefore I too can easily cross’ they say, but the truth is that they are unable to cross.

Hence it is better to first cross the ocean and then help others who are submerged in it. It is incorrect to try to help others when you are struggling to reach the shore. You should attempt to help others only if you have the right wisdom needed for your own journey. Not otherwise.

In the form of the Self, the Lord resides within us. We reside within Him. Here Bhrigu Maharishi asks the Lord ‘I am unable to recognize the Lord who is residing within me. How do I recognize You? In which form do you reside?’

He resides in all forms. This is the meaning of the hymn- yā devi sarva bhuteśu .. namas tasyai namas tasyai namas tasyai namo namah. This hymn states that the Supreme Mother exists within every living being in the form of his body, his mind, his intelligence, his action, profession etc. The list is long and it incorporates every possibility. To the Lord who exists as everything, I offer my obeisance, says the hymn.

Although we chant this hymn, we are unable to understand Him, who in reality exists within us. We do not even attempt to understand the significance of the hymn.

Maharishi Bhrigu continued, “You are the true friend and relative of all. You are the atma bandhu. May you be pleased with me”.

Thereafter Brahma prayed, “O Lord, the ignorant human being who sees the world through the medium of the senses, is able to perceive only the differences that exist within the objects. He considers objects to be separate entities. He segregates objects into big, small, heavy, light, bitter, opaque, transparent, sweet, solid, liquid and so on. Therefore he is unable to know the real essence. As long as the being focuses upon such differences in the objects, he will never understand Your true form and essence.

The truth is that there are no differences within You (abheda). You exist in all objects equally. Only when this knowledge is grasped, Your true essence will be understood. This is because You are the knowledge, You are the intelligence, You are the object and You are the sense organ that perceives the object. You are everything”.

Swamiji explains:

Light, dark, opaque, transparent, heavy, bitter, sweet – we should have the intelligence that these differences are God. Even that intelligence through which the person is able to see differences within objects is God. The person should develop feelings of non-duality towards the Lord. ‘You and me are one and the same’- he should think.

As the first step you acknowledge that ‘those’ objects are nothing but manifestations of the Supreme Lord. Thereafter you need to realize that the knowledge about these objects as well as the ‘I’ which is seeing these objects also are God. ‘I, You and that knowledge which teaches about You’- everything is God. This realization should arise from within.

Kesavaya namah

The assembled guests continued to pray,

“In this world, dualities such as happiness-sorrows, victory-loss are the deep pits into which people keep falling repeatedly. In addition, people suffer terribly due to existence of ferocious wild animals known as ‘wicked persons’ in the society. There is no limit to their suffering.

O Lord, in this forest called samsāra the huge fire called grief eternally burns. In this path, human beings carry huge luggage known as body, house, wealth and struggle under its weight. They eagerly chase mirages known as sensory pleasures. It is desire that causes people to be infatuated towards this worldly path. If only such foolish persons would hold on to Your lotus feet, O Lord, definitely they would obtain protection. When will they learn to seek shelter under Your feet, O Lord?”

Swamiji explains:

Even after endless suffering why are people unable to surrender to You? They would be freed from their afflictions if only they surrender. They complain of bodily pains, but not even once do they offer that pain to Paramatma. These foolish people believe that Paramatma has no role in it, as it is their body that undergoes pain. They consider this body to be everything. Bodily pleasures themselves are liberation according to them.

The physical as well as mental agony that a being undergoes is limitless. He suffers in all his 3 bodies. If only he had surrendered whole-heartedly to the Lord, definitely the Lord will protect.

What is this illusion that has trapped people? At every moment, feelings of ‘me and mine’ run in their mind. ‘This is ‘mine’, he is ‘my’ relative, she is ‘my’ daughter, this is ‘my’ body and since it is diseased, ‘I’ need to heal it by undergoing an operation; this is ‘my’ pain’ – this is their way of thinking. It is not that pain should not be attended to. Going to a doctor and taking treatment is the right course, but meanwhile offer this body and this pain to the Lord. After all, one day you have to let go off this body. Even after taking extreme precautions to preserve the body from diseases, even after having given it endless treatment to set it right, the truth is that one day you have to let go off this body! You cannot take it with you.

You say, ‘at least as long as I live, I must be comfortable in this body’. Does it mean that you are not seeking happiness after leaving your body? If at all you seek happiness even after giving up this body, then offer the senses together with the pain to the Lord. ‘Let this body undergo pain. It is my destiny after all. I need to experience this’. Why can’t any person develop such stubborn attitude towards suffering and pain?

In every other aspect, the person is adamant. He is adamant that his desire should be fulfilled; he is adamant that he wins every argument; he is adamant that he should recover from his illness and so forth. Here once again I re-iterate that I am not against medication and treatment. I do not say that confusions and misunderstandings at home should not be set right. However along with your actions towards recovery, mentally surrender to the Lord! Why are you unable to put this into practice? This is what the assembled guests questioned. Now let’s get back to Bhagawatam.

Rudra then prayed, “O Srihari! O bestower of boons! The deluded living beings who are full of desires and Maharishis who are absolutely desireless- everyone in this creation worships Your lotus feet”.

Swamiji explains:

It is a misconception that people worship the Lord purely for fulfillment of desires. The truth is that even those who are desireless worship His holy feet. They seek shelter under Him. They seek to obtain the Supreme Lord itself! The one who has desires has love towards his body.

In the person who is desireless such attachment and love towards the body would have died down. He realizes that for having taken up a body, experiences are a must. So he retains only that much body-identification as is needed for existence. He eats only as much as needed for survival. He breathes only because life should continue. He does not struggle beyond this.

As against this, we struggle eternally for maintaining our body. More important than this is our dedication towards acquiring assets. Do you even know why you are struggling to acquire them? You struggle seeking the well-being of the children but in the process children do not know what it is to struggle and earn. Even a bird allows its babies to fetch their own food once they develop wings. The bird struggles and finds its own way. This is the rule of karma.

Human beings however are dependant up to the age of three upon parents. Only when the infant is properly nourished by the mother for three years, it survives. All other living beings live and earn their food independently right from beginning.

Sri krishnāya namah.

Thereafter Daksha, seeking permission from Lord Brahma, reinstated the Yagna fire and together with the priests and other sages, sat down to complete the remaining rituals.

As Veerabhadra and other warriors had damaged the sacrificial hall and fires, the Yagna had been rendered impure. In order to bring purity to the Yagna and to ensure that it would be completed without any obstacles, the Brahmins organized 3 Purodaśa vessels (pātra). Completing the rituals and offering oblations as stipulated, they worshipped Sri Mahāvishnu.

While the chief priest Maharishi Bhrigu was holding the offerings, Daksha, the performer of the Yagna, meditated upon Sri Mahāvishnu with a pure inner mind.

Immediately Srihari, the Supreme Lord, manifested there. He was seated on His vehicle Garuda, which has the Sāma veda hymns known as Bṛhat and Rathāntara as its wings.

With His arrival, the 10 directions glowed luminously. In front of this illumination, Brahma and other Devatas appeared lusterless and pale.

With His dark complexion, golden waistband, golden-yellow silken clothing around His waist and with a crown that dazzled like the Sun, the Supreme Lord glowed vibrantly. The curly hair which resembled black bees and the glittering earrings decorated His face beautifully.

In His eight hands, which were decorated with golden ornaments, He held the conch, lotus, discus, bow, arrow, sword, mace and shield. It appeared as if He was in a hurry to rescue His devotees with these weapons. The Lord who was holding these weapons resembled a huge blossoming tree.

With Goddess Lakshmi on His chest and the long Vanamāla garland, He looked divine. With His charming smile and tender gaze He was showering limitless love and causing happiness to the entire world. The white vinjāmara fans that were on His either side looked like royal swans. The beautiful white umbrella over His head resembled the beautiful full moon. Together with all these decorations, He was looking extraordinarily beautiful.

Brahma, Shiva, Indra and all other Devatas, Maharishis, priests and the assembled invitees saw the Supreme Lord and instantly stood up to offer obeisance. In front of His supreme radiance, all the Devatas appeared pale and lusterless. Seeing this divine auspicious form in front of them, the Devatas were mesmerized and speechless. In nervousness they quickly folded their hands above their heads, fell on the ground and prostrated before Him.

Srihari is that Supreme Essence who cannot be understood through any definite decisive proofs! He is beyond them all! When this Supreme Essence appeared before them, all the Devatas stood up and reverentially worshipped Him!

The divine transcendental glories of the Supreme Lord are beyond the understanding of even Lords such as Brahma. His beauty, His glory cannot be understood by the mind. Even then the compassionate Lord, who treats His devotees as His children, appeared before them and blessed them with His darshan. Such is His grace! Enthralled by this love shown, each of them praised the Lord according to his capacity and understanding.

Each of the assembled guests praised the Lord according to the feelings that existed in his/her mind, according to his/her level of understanding of the Supreme Essence, according to the manner in which he/she perceived the Lord at that point of time.

Whenever He manifests, devotees arrange all the items in clean, beautiful puja-plates and offer them to Him. He then accepts them. Likewise, Daksha, with pure focused attention, meditated upon the Lord and the Lord accepted His prayers.

The Lord was accompanied by His attendants, Nanda and Sunanda. Daksha Prajāpati folded his hands and with feelings of total self-surrender, prayed as follows,

“In the Pure Consciousness (atma chaitanya), everything shines. Yet, the merits and demerits of the illumined objects cannot influence the Pure Consciousness. For this reason, it is absolutely pure. It has no second. It has no fear.

Even though the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep exist within this consciousness, it remains beyond them. Such Pure Consciousness is itself Your form!

O Lord, You are independent and above the scope of illusion (māya). You, an embodiment of knowledge, remain eternally in Your original form. Nevertheless, due to Your illusory powers, You appear as if You have taken on a human form and are impure”.

The priests then prayed to the Lord,

“Tattvaṁ na te vayam anañjana rudra-śāpāt  Karmaṇy avagraha-dhiyo bhagavan vidāmaḥ

Dharmopalakṣaṇam idaṁ trivṛd adhvarākhyaṁ  Jñātaṁ yad-artham adhidaivam ado vyavasthāḥ

O Lord! You are the Self (atma) that exists within the different living entities. Even then, the sins committed by those varied bodies do not touch You. Due to Nandi’s curse, our mind is eternally inclined towards fruitive actions and we have been unable to understand Your real form.

Yagna, which regulates people to walk on the path of the dharma and which is explained in all the three Vedas, is Your form. You manifest in the form of Indra and other Devatas. These Devatas and these disciplines manifest along with You solely to ensure successful completion of the Yagna”.

The assembled members prayed,

“O Lord, who protects one and all! Ignorant foolish persons are walking on the path called samsāra mārga i.e. they are eternally rotating in the repeated cycle of births and deaths. In this path, when the ferocious snake called death continually chases the persons, there is none to rescue them.

In this path of repeated births and deaths, afflictions known as spiritual ignorance (avidy), sense of I-ness (ahamkara), likes-dislikes (raga-dweśa) and fear of death (abhiniveśa) are the huge boulders that are impossible to cross over.”

Srikrishnāya namah.

Haraye namah

“Eṣa te rudra bhāgo ’stu yad-ucchiṣṭo ’dhvarasya vai

Yajñas te rudra bhāgena kalpatām adya yajña-han

O Rudra! After completion of Yagna, may everything that remains belong exclusively to You! May it be Your share. May this Yagna be completed with Your portion of offerings”. In this way, Brahma prayed to Rudra.

With this the sixth chapter of the fourth canto comes to an end.

Fourth Canto Chapter Seven

In this chapter, Mahavishnu manifests in the sacrificial hall when Daksha, Shiva and other Devatas pray to Him. With His blessings, Daksha re-starts the Yagna.

Maitreya Maharishi continued, “O Vidura! Hearing the prayers of the self-created Lord Brahma, Shiva was pleased. Smiling cheerfully He replied,

“O Lord Brahma! Being influenced by illusory power (māya) Daksha and other persons have lost their wisdom and intelligence. I do not even consider their mistakes as serious offences. Even then, finding the appropriate time, I have punished them for their mistakes.

Due to this punishment, Daksha Prajāpati’s head was chopped off and thrown into the fire pit. Henceforth he will have a goat’s head. Bhaga Devata, who lost his eyes, will hereafter see his share of sacrifice through the eyes of Mitra Devata.

Puśa Devata will be able to chew and eat, items made of flour, through the teeth of his Yajamāni (the patron conducting the sacrifice). The Devatas have offered to me everything that remains in the Yagna, therefore all their injured limbs will be healed and they will as robust as before.

The priests who lost their hands will have to work through the hands of Ashwini Devatas and through the forearms of Puśa Devata. Bhrigu Maharishi, who lost his mustache and beard, will henceforth have a goat’s beard” -Shiva thus showered blessings upon them.

Devatas who heard this were overjoyed. They applauded and appreciated Lord Shiva, the giver of boons. They invited Shiva to the Yagna. Together with Brahma and Shiva, the Devatas and Maharishis returned to the place of Daksha’s Yagna to complete the sacrifice as instructed by Shiva.

The head of the sacrificial goat was fixed to Daksha’s headless body. Shiva showered His compassionate gaze upon Daksha, who was now goat-headed. As easily as a person wakes up from sleep, Daksha returned back to life. He opened his eyes and saw Shiva standing before him.

Previously Daksha’s mind was polluted due to his aversion for Shiva. However now due to Shiva’s compassionate gaze and due to the fact that he had the darshan of Shiva immediately upon being revived, Daksha’s mind was totally cleansed. Just like the clear autumn waters of the lake, Daksha’s mind shone with purity.

He wanted to glorify Shiva but suddenly he remembered his daughter Satidevi, who was no more. With this, his mind was engulfed with feelings of affection and agitation. He shed profuse tears and could not get himself to speak.

Although Daksha was well-learned scholar his mind had succumbed to feelings of love and affection. With great difficulty he restrained his mind. With feeling of absolute devotion, he prayed,

“O Lord Śiva, I have insulted You. I am a sinner. Even then, You first blessed me in the form of punishments. Thereby You purified me.  By restoring me back to life You have blessed me once again. Thus twice You have showered limitless mercy upon me. Your action is supremely astonishing, O Lord.

Neither You nor Srihari ever disregard even the worst, useless Brahmin. This being the case, would You ever disregard those people who have diligently taken the vow towards Yagna? It is impossible.

O Parameśwara! You are all pervading. At the beginning of creation, with the intent of protecting Vedas and Self-knowledge, You manifested as Brahma. From that face You created Brahmins. Through strict adherence to the disciplines linked to austerities, through penance and through following the path of knowledge, these Brahmins have been protecting the Vedas. Hence, when they are in distress You rush and protect them.

A cowherd uses a stick to regulate the movement of cows that go astray. Thereby he ensures their protection. Likewise You punish the wicked. Through the medium of punishment You actually ensure their protection. Through this You ensure protection of the Vedic regulations. The punishment that You have awarded to people like me is for my benefit and protection!

I was an ignorant fool who had no idea of Your divine reputation. In that fully-packed gathering, I insulted You by uttering harsh words that pierced you like sharp arrows. Being an epitome of compassion, O Lord, You did not even take them seriously. You are supremely venerable. When I was about to fall into hell, because of the sin incurred by insulting You, You showered Your compassionate gaze upon me and saved me.  I do not have in me the capacity to satisfy and please You. But yet, You have blessed me abundantly.

O Lord, with Your extreme broad-mindedness and out of Your own will, be happy with me since I do not in me have the capacity to please You.”In this way, Daksha Prajāpati sought pardon from Shiva for his earlier sins.

He now regretted his earlier deeds. He grieved that he lost his daughter in the process. He realized that in the form of punishment i.e. destruction of the Yagna, the Lord had actually been merciful towards him. After punishing him for his misdeeds, the Lord now restored him back to life and enabled him to continue with his yagna. Due to the Lord’s grace, his desire to complete the Yagna and to adhere to his prescribed duties was fulfilled. Towards this, the Lord’s grace was limitless. It was supreme. Hence Daksha was thankful to Him.

Haraye namah