Dhruva meditated upon Srihari, who exists as Pure Consciousness, with feelings of oneness. Using his sense organs, he blocked the movement of the life-force. As Dhruva had attained oneness with Pure Consciousness, when he blocked the movement of life-force, all beings in this creation including the guardian deities were choked, breathless and restless. Instantly the Devatas prayed to Lord Srihari and sought refuge.
“O Lord, breathing has stopped within every movable and immovable entity in this creation. Never before have we faced such situation! Please save us from this torture. We seek refuge in You.”
Lord Srihari, who heard their prayers, replied,
“mā bhaiṣṭa bālaṁ tapaso duratyayāt nivartayiṣye pratiyāta sva-dhāma
yato hi vaḥ prāṇa-nirodha āsīd auttānapādir mayi saṅgatātmā
O Devatas! Do not fear! Uttānapāda’s son Dhruva has merged his mind into that of mine. He has fully merged into Me, the form of the world. Due to his severe penance, you are getting suffocated. I will ask him to stop his terrible austerities. Please return to your homes”.
With this the eighth chapter of fourth canto comes to an end.
Fourth Canto Chapter Nine
In this chapter, Dhruva is blessed with the darshan of Lord Srihari. The hymn that he composes for the Lord, his returning back to his kingdom and accepting the Kingly duties are also covered.
Maitreya Maharishi continued, “In this way, Srihari reassured the Devatas. In the past, this Lord had dispelled fears of the Devatas by measuring the three worlds with his vast steps. With this assurance, they offered obeisance to Him and fearlessly returned back to heaven.
Desiring to meet Dhruva, Srihari mounted his vehicle Garuda and reached Madhuvana. Srihari exists in the form of living beings. All living beings are His forms, isn’t it? For this reason, He has innumerable heads.
Dhruva’s practices at remaining in the final stages of meditation (samādhi) had ripened. He was totally absorbed in meditating upon the Lord, who dazzled in the form of lightening within his heart-lotus. For this reason, he could not see Srihari who was present outside of him.
All of a sudden, the form of lightening upon which he was meditating vanished from his heart. With this his meditation was disturbed and he opened his eyes. He could see the same form, upon which he was meditating within his mind, outside of him.
Dhruva, the five year old boy, was anxious upon seeing this form of the Lord. Immediately he prostrated before the Lord in reverence. He looked at the Lord keenly with overflowing love. It was as if he was drinking in the form of the Lord with his eyes, as if he was kissing the Lord’s face. Without blinking an eyelid he joyously looked at the Lord as if the Lord was embracing him with his four hands.
In the form of Pure Consciousness Lord Srihari resides not just in Dhruva’s heart, but also in the heart-cave of every living being.
Little Dhruva wanted to glorify the Lord, he wanted to talk to Him, but being a child did not know how and what to say. The Supreme Lord understood the feelings of the little child. With limitless mercy, He touched Dhruva’s cheek with his conch, which is the embodiment of Vedas. That very instant the knowledge from the Vedas, which extol the greatness of Lord Srihari, dawned upon the child. The complete knowledge of the Lord, the Supreme Truth, was now clear to him, who was on the verge of obtaining a permanent position.
Without any agitation or anxiety, with a heart that was overflowing with devotion, he calmly prayed to the Lord.
He said, “
yo ’ntaḥ praviśya mama vācam imāṁ prasuptāṁ
sañjīvayaty akhila-śakti-dharaḥ sva-dhāmnā
anyāṁś ca hasta-caraṇa-śravaṇa-tvag-ādīn
prāṇān namo bhagavate puruṣāya tubhyam
O Supreme Lord! With all Your energies You are a personification of completeness. You have entered my heart and are the inner being. With Your illumination You have awakened my sleeping senses i.e. my speech, hands, eyes, ears, skin and other organs, and have enlivened them. I offer obeisance to You.
O Lord, You are non-dual. Your energy is known as ‘illusion’. It is composed of three attributes of goodness (sattva), passion (rajas) and ignorance (tamas). Using this illusory energy, You create everything right from Mahat (cosmic intelligence) up to the gross elements. Due to the magnitude of these principles, this visible world has emerged. All objects in this creation have emerged from the mixing of the three attributes of this illusory energy.
You enter into the world in the form of Self and cause it to exist. You illumine the world. This world does not have any authentic existence or energy. Its existence is purely illusory.
In such a world, that is full of varied names and forms, You alone exist. Just as fire enters different types of wood and burns accordingly in different shapes, You illumine in different forms that exist in the world!”
Vishnāve namah
