Puttugam2

Incarnation as Prithu: In the ninth incarnation, the Lord, as an answer to the prayers of eminent saints, incarnated as King Pṛthu. He milked all the medicinal properties from Mother Earth, who was in the form of a cow. “O Maharishis, as a result of this, the incarnation as Emperor Pṛthu is considered very auspicious.”

Incarnation as fish (matsya): After the completion of the Chākśusa Manvantara, all oceans merged and entire land was inundated with sea waters. At that time the Lord took on the form of a fish and protected Vaivaswata Manu by keeping him on Earth, which was in the form of a boat.

Incarnation as tortoise (kurma): In the eleventh incarnation, the all pervading Mahavishnu, incarnated as a tortoise (kurma) at the time when the celestials and demons were engaged in a ferocious battle. He retained the Mandara Mountain on his back and supported it during the churning of the ocean.

Incarnation as Dhanvantri: This was the twelfth incarnation. Dhanvantri emerged from the ocean together with a pot of nectar and taught the knowledge of Ayurveda.

Incarnation as Mohini: This was the thirteenth incarnation. The Lord as Mohini enchanted the minds of the demons and ensured that the celestials (Devatas) drank nectar.

Incarnation as Narasimha: This was the fourteenth incarnation. As Narasimha He tore open, with his finger nails, the stomach and intestines of the demon king Hiranyakashipu by placing him on his thigh.

Incarnation as Vāmana: This was the fifteenth incarnation. With the intent that Heaven which was in the custody of Emperor Bali should be retrieved and handed it over to Lord Indra, the Lord went to the Yagna being conducted by the Emperor. On the pretext of seeking 3 feet of land, the Lord handed over Heaven to Lord Indra.

Incarnation as Paraśurāma: This was the sixteenth incarnation. Paraśurama was infuriated upon seeing the cruel behavior of kings who were arrogant and who totally disregarded the Vedas. He went around the Earth 21 times and freed it from all arrogant and cruel kings.

Tataḥ saptadaśe jātaḥ satyavatyāṁ parāśarāt

Cakre veda-taroḥ śākhā dṛṣṭvā puṁso ‘lpa-medhasaḥ

Incarnation as Vedavyāsa: This was the seventeenth incarnation. The Lord incarnated as Krishna dwaipāyana, the son of Maharishi Parāśara and Mother Satyavati. Seeing the dull headed humans, He segregated the vast tree called Veda and divided into various branches. Due to this work He was awarded the title of Vedavyasa. ‘Vedavyāsa’ means ‘He who has segregated the Vedas’.

Incarnation as Rāma: With the intent of destroying the demons such as Ravana, Kumbhakarna and others, the Supreme Lord incarnated for the eighteenth time as Prince Srirama. He performed many extraordinary deeds such as building a bridge across the ocean.

Incarnations as Balarama and Krishna: In the nineteenth and twentieth incarnations the Lord took birth in the lineage of Yadu. The nineteenth time He incarnated as Balarama. The twentieth incarnation was that of Srikrishna. In the form of these two brothers He reduced the burden of Mother Earth.

Incarnation as Buddha: In the twenty-first incarnation in the future period at the beginning of Kali Yuga, in order to delude the atheists, the Lord will incarnate as Buddha in the Kingdom of Magadha.

At the time when Maharishi Suta was teaching Bhāgawatam to Shounaka and other saints, the incarnation as Lord Buddha had not yet taken place. This is understood from this verse.

Incarnation as Kalki: Towards the end of Kali Yuga, when the rulers would have turned into robbers and would have usurped almost all the wealth belonging to the citizens, the Lord will incarnate as Kalki, the son of Vishnuyash. This will be the twenty-second incarnation of the Lord.

With this the twenty two incarnations of the Lord were briefly explained. We had said at first that we would be discussing twenty four incarnations of the Lord. If we add the incarnations as Hayagriva and Hamsa, which will be addressed in the future chapters, it totals to twenty four incarnations.

O Maharishis! Just like thousands of tiny streams emerge from the never ending lake filled with water, innumerable incarnations emerge from Lord Srihari, who is a personification of goodness. The Celestials, saints, emperors with commendable prowess, Manu and his descendents and various Prajapatis (leaders of people) are merely aspects/ portions of that Supreme Lord.

Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam

Everyone is only the partial incarnations of the Supreme Lord. But Krishna is Mahavishnu himself! All these partial incarnations are taken up by the Lord to protect the world when it is unduly tortured by the demons. This takes place in every yuga (eon).

Janma guhyaṁ bhagavato ya etat prayato naraḥ

Sāyaṁ prātar gṛṇan bhaktyā duḥkha-grāmād vimucyate

The person who, with a pure mind, reads this sacred secretive scripture that contains the story of the Lord’s incarnation, twice daily, will obtain total relief from all his sufferings! He will be relieved of this bondage called samsāra (cycle of repeated re-births).

The Supreme Lord is formless. He is an embodiment of illumination (chaitanya). With the help of Mahat (cosmic intelligence) and other effectual energies (karya roopa) of the Lord’s illusory power (māya shakti), this entire world is created. However in reality this creation is contained purely within the Self (atma)!

Clouds take shelter in wind. Although the wind carries the clouds, people say that the sky carries them. Smoke is nothing but a transformation of the dust that belongs to the earth but yet this smoke is attributed to fire.

Likewise towards the Self (atma) the action of seeing (drśyatvam) is being imposed. Those who impose the ‘action of seeing’ upon the Self, which is nothing but a witness, are lacking in intelligence.

The Lord who has knowledge as His form does not have a gross body that consists of hands, legs etc. Instead He has another different body that is over and above the trigunās (three attributes) and which is not subject to transformation. It is unseen, unheard and of a subtle existence. This is called ‘subtle body’.

Om Namo Narayana.

In the universal form of the Lord there is not even a trace of passion/action (rajas) and ignorance (tamas). It is in the form of pure existence (suddha sattva) which is beyond any form of comparison. In other words, it is the form of total purity.

Paśyanty ado rūpam adabhra-cakṣuṣā

Sahasra-pādoru-bhujānanādbhutam

Sahasra-mūrdha-śravaṇākṣi-nāsikaṁ

Sahasra-mauly-ambara-kuṇḍalollasat

This universal form (Virad roopa) of the Lord glows resplendently in His earrings. Great saints see this Universal form of the Lord with their transcendental eye (jnana netra).

This Universal form i.e. the incarnation as Adi Nārāyana, is the foremost of all incarnations. From Him, many incarnations emerge and after the completion of their purpose, they merge back into Him! This universal form is a fractional part of the Supreme Lord.  Lord Brahma emerged as a fractional aspect of this Supreme Lord. From Him came Marichi and other eminent Maharishis. From them are born celestials, humans, animals, birds and all other forms of living beings.

24 incarnations of the Lord:

First incarnation: Lord Adi Nārāyana, who is the Universal form, accepted the forms of eminent Maharishis Sanaka, Sananda, Sanātana and Sanat kumara. In these four forms He practiced the most difficult and strenuous vow of Brahmacharya (walking on the path to realize God) without any hindrances.

Incarnation as a boar: The Supreme Lord is the Yagneshwara i.e. the Lord of all sacrificial rituals/ Yagnas. For the well-being of this earth He accepted the form of the boar (Yagna-varāha). He lifted and rescued the earth which had sunk into the nether regions (pātāla).

Incarnation as Maharishi Nārada: In the creation filled with saints, Lord Sriman Nārāyaṇa incarnated as the divine saint Maharishi Nārada. He taught to the devotees the Pancarātrāgama, which talks about actions (karma).

In the normal course, actions are the cause for all bondages. But due to adherence to good deeds (sat karmas) taught by Maharishi Nārada, the mind gets purified. This becomes conducive for attaining liberation. Through this approach, the Supreme Lord in the form of Nārada, preached liberation itself!

Incarnation as Nara-Nārayana: In the fourth incarnation, the Supreme Lord was born as Nara and Nārāyaṇa, the sons of King Dharma. These Maharishis totally controlled their minds and undertook severe strenuous austerities that were impossible for others to accomplish.

Incarnation as Maharishi Kapila: The Lord incarnated as Kapila Maharishi, the Lord of all Siddhas. He defined all the principles (tattvas) and preached the Sānkhya Shastra to Maharishi Āsuri. In course of time, this sacred scripture has vanished.

Incarnation as Dattātreya: The sixth incarnation of the Lord was Dattātreya, the Son of Maharishi Atri. He was born to Mother Anasuya as an answer to her prayers.  He taught the knowledge of the Self to Alarka, Prahlada, Yadu, Kartavirya and others.

Incarnation as Yagna: The Lord incarnated as Yagna, the son of Prajapati Ruci and his wife Ākuti. Together with his sons Yāma and other divine troops he saved the period of time known as Swāyambhuva manvantara. Yajna was the seventh incarnation.

Incarnation as Rṣabha:  The Lord who is all pervading and who can take huge steps, incarnated as Rṣabha, the Son of King Nābhi and his wife Merudevi. To those who possess right judgment and discriminative capacity he showed the path of ultimate knowledge which is revered by people from all orders of life.

Om Namo Narayana.

Vāsudeva-parā vedā Vāsudeva-parā makhāḥ

Vāsudeva-parā yogā Vāsudeva-parāḥ kriyāḥ

Vāsudeva-paraṁ jñānaṁ Vāsudeva-paraṁ tapaḥ

Vāsudeva-paro dharmo Vāsudeva-parā gatiḥ

Vedas preach Vāsudeva as the ultimate supreme goal to be attained. Vāsudeva is the essence of the entire knowledge of Vedas. He is the ultimate object of Vedas. All Yagnas (sacrificial rituals) performed are solely for Vāsudeva. All actions are ultimately offered/ surrendered into Him. He is the ultimate goal of all Yoga. All actions ultimately end in Him. Vāsudeva alone will be obtained through attaining knowledge (jnāna). All austerities (tapas) and adherence to rules of righteousness (dharma) are undertaken for Vāsudeva alone. The fruits of all actions including attaining heaven ultimately merge into Vāsudeva.

Vāsudeva here refers to the Supreme Godhead, Paramātma! Everything attains fulfillment only when it merges into Paramātma. This is the implied meaning of this verse.

Let us discuss about the subtle aspects pertaining to the creation of this world.

The all-pervading Paramātma is over and above the illusory power (māya śakti) which is composed of the triguṇās (three attributes of Nature).  At the beginning of creation, the Lord takes the help of this illusory power, which consists of the cause and effectual energies, to create this entire universe.

Thereafter He enters into this material world that had been created from the trigunās. These trigunas are the sportive forms of the ‘illusory power’. With His consciousness (chaitanya shakti) the Lord illumines all the objects and appears as if He is enveloped by illusion. The truth is that He is inherently shining everywhere. He is transcendental. The truth is that He is inherently is devoid of any trait or property!

(Triguṇās are the three attributes of Nature i.e. traits of goodness (sattva), traits of passion (rajas) and traits of ignorance/ inertia (tamas)). 

When logs of wood are enveloped by fire, it appears as if there are many fires burning, when in reality there is only one fire. Similarly, even though a single Paramatma pervades all beings, it appears as if there are many different beings.

There is one single Lord who exists within all the objects and shines through them all. But to us it appears as if there are many Paramatmas; as if He is many. The illumination that is present within every object of the creation is itself Paramātma! 

With the help of the trigunas which manifest in the form of gross elements, senses (indriyas) and mind, Paramātma created the universe replete with all living beings. Thereafter entering into it, He appears as if He is experiencing these objects of sense perception through the subtle sensory perceptions (sound, taste, form, smell and touch).

He takes great delight in playfully incarnating as celestials, animals, birds, humans and so on and through traits of purity and goodness (sattva guṇa) protects all these various planes thus created. Although He is non-dual, He loves to incarnate in various forms! This is the decisive truth!

With this the second chapter of the first canto comes to an end.

First Canto Third Chapter

In this chapter the 24 incarnations of the Lord have been briefly described. In response to the question asked by Maharishi Śounaka and other saints, Maharishi Suta says-

“In the beginning of creation, Paramātma took on the form of Puruśa (Self) which had in it the principles of Mahat tattva (cosmic intelligence), ahamkara, and pancha tanmātra (subtle sense perceptions).

This form consisted of 16 basic principles viz., 5 organs of perception (jnanendriya), 5 organs of action (karmendriya), mind (antah karana) and 5 gross elements. The term ahamkara here does not refer to arrogance. Omniscience is the characteristic of Paramātma. This is being referred to as ahamkara in this context.

From the lake called the navel of Sri Mahavishnu, who was in lying down in Yogic-sleep in the waters of the ocean, the four faced Brahma who is the leader of all Prajapatis (creators of the living beings) was born.

This entire universe is nothing but the extensive body of Sri Mahavishnu! In other words, the universal form of the Divine Lord, known as vishwaroopa or virādroopa, is nothing but this entire vast extended universe! Every visible portion of this universe is one of the parts of the body of that Supreme Lord! Innumerable galaxies and planets exist. Each of them is one of His body parts.

On Namo Narayana!

We have discussed that the trigunas viz., traits of goodness (sattva), passion (rajas) and ignorance (tamas) are the Lord’s power of illusion (māya shakti). The Supreme Lord who is over and above this power of illusion, who is non-dual and complete, combines with these three traits and for the purposes of creation, sustenance and absorption of this creation transforms into Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. They can be called the symbolic forms He takes on. Amongst them, through Mahavishnu, who is a personification of sattva (goodness), ultimate benefit can be obtained by mankind!

Smoke emerges from firewood which is nothing but transformation of earth. From smoke fire, which is the root for all Vedic activities, is born. However firewood is superior to earth; smoke is superior to firewood and fire is superior to smoke. We are speaking of 4 elements here- earth, firewood, smoke and fire. We have said that wood is born from earth but is superior to earth; smoke come from firewood but is superior to firewood and fire is superior to smoke.

Likewise, rajo guṇa (passion) is superior to tamo guṇa (inertia, dullness, laziness). Traits of purity and goodness (sattva guṇa) are superior to traits of passion. Why is this so? This is because traits of goodness illumine Parabrahma. Through sattva guṇa the person can realize Absolute Truth.

Previously great sages sought shelter in complete pure traits (shuddha sattva) and rendered services to Lord Mahavishnu who is viśuddha sattva (over and above the trigunas). Those humans who offer services to such revered sages and who abide by their dictates also attain auspiciousness. 

Those who are predominantly of pure traits should not worship or render services to the ferocious forms of the Gods (Ugra Devatas). Those whose thinking is pure and unblemished are known as pure persons. Such persons should worship Vishnu, who is of pure traits. By worshipping the ferocious forms of the Lord, they may acquire traits of passion or inertia (rajas, tamas). This is not right.

You acquire traits based on your actions. Based on the food you eat, its traits are imbibed by you. This is why food plays a very, very critical role. If you eat pure sattvik food, you will develop pure traits. Those who eat rajasic and tamasic foods remain in that state of passion and ignorance. They cannot acquire traits of purity.

Those spiritual aspirants who seek to imbibe pure traits should not worship the ferocious forms of the Lord such as Bhairava, even though they do not find any faults in them. They should instead focus on and worship the peaceful, auspicious forms of Lord Mahavishnu or His partial incarnations and render services to them.

Did we not state that not all people are of pure traits? Did we not state just now that based on the characteristics of the food eaten, our nature is acquired? We become what we eat. Similarly when we worship a God who has pure peaceful tendencies, we also imbibe those qualities that are pure and peaceful.  

Those who are predominantly filled with passion and ignorance worship forefathers, demigods, Prajapati etc. seeking wealth, prosperity, power, children or other materialistic comforts. Such persons are deeply stuck to this world. They are glued to desire, anger, greed and other evil passions. They believe that these passions lead to the welfare and prosperity of their family. They also believe that safeguarding family wealth or the positions of power is the essence of life. To a certain degree they do have faith in God. That’s all. But what kind of devotion do they have? It is a ‘trading relationship’ with God. ‘I will offer you money if in return I am blessed with something.’ ‘My name should be put up on the board. Please mention that I have contributed for annadanam.’

But what special benefit do such persons obtain from these deeds? It will bless them with a good name and fame in this birth. They will be blessed with good children or good prosperity in this materialistic world. If at all they seek to move towards pure light/ illumination, they have to give up worshipping these intermediary Gods or the ferocious Gods. How can a person move towards purity while simultaneously continuing these activities?

There are many devotees who approach Swamiji. They read out an enormous list of their desires and wants that seek that Swamiji should bless them. Finally they conclude by asking to be blessed with ‘peace of mind’ and ‘liberation.’ Is this liberation some yantra or mantra that can be given? Is it something that can be bought in a shop? What am I supposed to say to such persons? Can I say ‘give up all your wealth; give up your large home; give up your children?’ Will they listen to me if I were to make such statements? They will leave me and go away but they will never give up their material connections. Now at least occasionally they come for Guru darshan; I will be spoiling even this little goodness in them by making such statements.

Therefore such persons should be gradually reformed. ‘Not now. Tomorrow we have Bhagawatam chanting. Please come and attend that function. Listening to Bhagawatam will lead to your welfare.’ At times it is even essential to utter small lies in order to get these people on to the right track. ‘By listening you will get back your lost items. Your power will remain as is’. Then putting the entire load on Lord Krishna I say to Him, “Krishna, using your name I have had to lie to these people. My only goal is to ensure that they tread the right path. I have no personal benefit in this”. It is also possible that they could really recover the lost items. If at all they do not then it will amount as if my words were wrong. At such times consider the amount spent on this as a charitable deed and let go.

It is extremely complicated to teach about traits of goodness and about liberation to those who are brimming with traits of passion and ignorance (rajas, tamas). Teaching or explaining to them about liberation is like a huge penance. It is a Yogam.

Om Namo Narayana.

By relentlessly reading Bhāgawatam or serving great saints who are eternally devoted to the Lord, the inauspicious impure tendencies are almost totally destroyed in the person! With this, he begins to develop unflinching love and devotion towards the Supreme God. 

I am re-iterating the same points again and again so that they get drilled into your mind!

When this state of unflinching devotion is attained, kāṃa (desires), krodha (anger), lobha (greed) and other emotions that arise out of the traits of sattva (goodness), rajas (passion) and tamas (ignorance), fail to have any impact on the mind! Freed from evil tendencies the mind seeks shelter in purity (shuddha sattva) and enjoys supreme peace! 

Having a mind is not great; having a pure mind is great! In this manner, by having a mind that is totally tuned towards the path of devotion (bhakti) of the Supreme Lord and due to the endless connection that has been established with Him, the person enjoys total peace. Such persons are able to develop dispassion towards the useless objects/ matters pertaining to this world.

Those who have consecrated the Supreme Lord in their minds believing Him to be everything are persons who are predominantly have traits of goodness (sattva). They would have washed away all impure tendencies from their minds. They spend all their time and earnings for God related activities.They utilize their body, their entire time-  in fact they dedicate their entire life for God. In their completion of duties if they have to deviate from the rightful path, for example if they have to utter lies, they just dump that entire task and stay away from it. They have attained the supreme peace. Such people have no inclination towards these worthless issues/ objects of the world.

Such people will not speak uselessly. They will not declare to others “God has done this to me. God has asked me to speak in this manner. God sits on my tongue and hence every word I utter is God’s word”. We do come across many people who make such wasteful indiscriminate comments. “God has asked me to abuse and condemn you”- there are people who speak in this way to their enemies. Well, it is possible that the enemy retaliates by saying- “God has come to me and asked me to smash you”. What answer can the former person have for this? His opponent will mercilessly hammer him and break his bones claiming that it was in accordance to God’s will. This is not the way to speak. We should not speak so cheaply about the Supreme Lord! We should not drag Him to such low levels.

A person who is predominantly of pure traits will not speak so cheaply. He will be soaked in bliss. For having been born in this world, he will flawlessly complete all the duties that have been assigned to him and spend his entire remaining time for Paramātma.

Many others waste their free time pondering about ways to cheat, ways to make easy money, how to trouble others and so on. There are many who are going in this wrong path. This should not happen.

Every person should try to be pure in nature. Who are you? From where did you come? What is your lineage? As a human being how should your nature and behavior be? Are you living per those norms? One should ask himself these questions and on this basis rectify his lifestyle and habits to bring them on the correct path.

Such devotees are blessed with the vision of the true/ actual form (yathārtha roopa) of that Lord! ‘God is in that form.’ ‘He looks like that’- but what is His actual form? These people are able to see the actual form of the Supreme Lord!

Bidhyate hridaya granthiḥ chidyante sarva samshayāh 

Sheeyante cāsya karmāṇi dṛiśta evātmanīśwarī 

Only when the vision of Paramātma who is the form of the Self is attained, the knot in the heart (hṛdaya granthi) called ahamkāra (sense of I-ness) is cut. 

There are many knots (granthis) in our body such as Vishnu granthi etc. Vishnu Sahasranama, Lalita Sahasranama refers to these knots. But there is one knot called ‘ahamkāra granthi’. This knot gets cut only when the vision of the Supreme Lord is attained! It means this knot is cut when the person is able to realize the Supreme Lord as a form of his Self (atma roopa)!

Where is Paramātma? He is the form of the Self (atma)! Is God the heart that beats within us? No, the Self is invisible. Then who is Paramātma? Is he the life force (prana) within us? You can say it is the form of prana or you can say it is the form of the heart. He is the Self!

Only when ‘vision of the Self’ is attained, the knot of ahamkara (sense of I-ness) gets cut. Once ahamkara is destroyed, you are free. This is the meaning of bliss (ananda). All speculations get cleared. In such a Jnāni the chain of karma (action and experiencing the results of action) gets destroyed.  Only prārabdha karma(collection of past actions the result of which needs to be experienced) remains. In other words, only future actions remain.

For this significant reason, intelligent human beings, fix their mind solely upon Lord Krishna, who incarnated as the son of Vāsudeva, and proceed strictly on the path of devotion. With this they earn peace of mind and in turn enjoy supreme bliss!

Sattva (purity), rajas (passion) and tamas (inertia, dullness) are the attributes of the Lord’s power of illusion (māya shakti). Very often we come across these terms. In Vedanta and in Purāṇās we come across them. But what exactly are these qualities/ traits? So far we have explained this from the point of ahamkara. We said that this is absence of ahamkara or the bliss enjoyed after ahamkara is destroyed.  In this manner a little essence we have discussed.

The Supreme Lord who is over and above the power of illusion (māya), who is non- dual and complete, takes the help of these three attributes (trigunās) and for the creation, sustenance and absorption of this creation, manifests as Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra. 

Om Namo Narayana.