Srimad Bhagavatam Skanda 1 - The Virtue of Forbearance, Internal Happiness, and Having Heard
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| Hare Srinivasa |
My salutations to you.
Singing the glory of Lord and his attributes, Goddess Bhoo Devi had said,
सत्यं शौचं दया त्याग: सन्तोष आर्जवम् ।
शमो दमस्तपः साम्यं तितिक्षोपरतिः श्रुतम् ॥
We had noted the process of worshipping the Lord by hearing, recollecting, contemplating, and meditating his various attributes including Satyam, Saucham, Daya, and the benefits of doing so! Continuing the same, Goddess Bhoo Devi calls Lord,
तितिक्षा or forbearance to
provocation or offense or even attack. By worshipping Lord having the attribute
of तितिक्षा or forbearance, by
propitiating him, he would bless us with this attribute of forbearance to
happiness & sorrow in the cycle of death & birth. This attribute of
forbearance is the advanced stage of practice in Yoga. Hence, accomplished
Yogis have been singing this attribute as भक्त अपराध सहिष्णु or Bhakta apradha sahishnu or Lord has forbearance to
the offenses or crimes done against him by his dear devotees.
Dharma
Purusha! Such Lord who had enormous forbearance has left this earth to his
abode of Vaikunta. This loss has become unbearable to me.
In Bhagavad Gita, Lord
Sri Krishna says to Arjuna,
यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ ।
समदु:खसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ॥ BG-2-15॥
Oh
Arjun! Those dear devotees who are blessed with forbearance do not get elated
during happiness nor miserable during distress. They remain balanced. Such
devotees of mine will be eligible for liberation from the bind of death &
birth.
The
next attribute of Lord Sri Krishna that Goddess Bhoo Devi praises is उपरति or Uparati. Which means he is delighted with himself.
Also, known by स्वरुपरति or being delighted
because of his own charm and स्वरमण or engrossed in his immeasurable happiness.
By
worshipping him as Uparati or doing yoga with this attribute of being engrossed
in bliss for himself; he requires no external aspects to influence his
happiness; this entire creation including living beings or non-living things is
just a sports charm bringing no benefit, nor loss, nor happiness or sadness to
him; Lord will bless us with काम कर्म निवृत्ति or retirement from
doing actions with desire or expectation.
One will forego सकाम, the acts desire or
expectations.
In
Bhagavad Gita, Lord Sri Krishna says to Arjuna
श्रेयो हि ज्ञानमभ्यासाज्ज्ञानाद्ध्यानं विशिष्यते ।
ध्यानात्कर्मफलत्यागस्त्यागाच्छान्तिरनन्तरम् ॥BG-12-12॥
Better
than activities or actions to please me is Knowledge. Better than knowing me
through Knowledge is Meditation. Better than Meditating on me is foregoing
expectations or the fruits of activities or actions. Nishkama dhyana or
foregoing expectations or fruits of meditation leads to Moksha.
Also,
in The Subject, Eligibility, and Fruit where we discussed the second verse of prayer
of this Srimad Bhagavata, Lord Veda Vyasa saying,
धर्मः प्रोज्झितकैतवोऽत्र परमो निर्मत्सराणां सतां वेद्यं वास्तवमत्र वस्तु शिवदं तापत्रयोन्मूलनम् ।
श्रीमद्भागवते महामुनिकृते किं वा परैरीश्वरः सद्यो हृद्यवरुध्यतेऽत्र कृतिभिः शुश्रूषुभिस्तत्क्षणात् ॥
Srimad
Bhagavata contains the complete knowledge of Dharma which holds one from
falling down, purifies, and puts on to the path leading to The Lord. This path
seeks continued practice of honoring, worshipping, admiring & praising The
Lord without any jealousy or expectation nor being deceptive. While being on
the path removes all sorts of difficulties, bestows prosperity, makes one
sajjana or virtuous and solidifies bhakti or devotion. Hence, Srimad Bhagavata
composed by The Lord Veda Vyasa himself is great and guarantees to reveal The
Lord who is always present in the heart of all the individuals.
In our
day to day happenings, most of the acts we do are with desire or expectations.
Also, many acts are of no use to us and are just a waste of precious time.
However, doing yoga or worshipping this attribute of uparati in Lord and
his acts are sports charm without any benefits, the compassionate Lord would
not only bless us retirement from doing actions with desire but also doing
actions having no use or are wasteful. These are nuanced aspects of worship
appreciated by accomplished Yogis who have reached closer to the Lord doing अन्तरङ्ग साधन or deep and
advanced practices.
श्रुतम् or Shrutam or
having heard is the attribute of Lord sung by Bhoo Devi! Lord hears from
everything that exists in this Universe and of every hertz. He has an
immeasurable number of ears omnipresent without a limitation of time. He is
hearing all which we had spoken, what we are speaking, and what we are going to
speak in the future. He is omniscient by
hearing every sound of immeasurable quality to even Goddess Lakshmi. Lord has सर्व श्रावणत्व or having the ability
to hear everything of all time.
The
another dimension of this attribute seen by Bhoo Devi is that Lord Sri Krishna as
her husband was bringing delight to her by hearing all her wishes. And also,
all scriptures are only presenting Lord and hence he has this attribute of
being heard in all Vedas, Vedantas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas.
By
worshipping him as Shrutam or doing yoga with this attribute of having heard
everything and being heard everywhere, Lord would bless us with the ability to
store & recollect all information in Shastras or the divine indoctrination
we have heard. He would bless us with elephant memory! And this would linger as
thoughts guiding us from straying and holding us on the righteous path
While
we have been hearing the attributes of the Lord and trying to understand the
benefits of hearing, recollecting, contemplating, and meditating the same, the question would arise as to how and what is the process?
Modern
day science describes various processes to Power the Subconscious mind.
Following are a few examples:
- Power of Suggestion involving the psychological process by which the conscious mind could guide the thoughts, feelings, or behavior
- Autosuggestion by self-hypnosis to enhance the effectiveness of self-suggestion
- Heterosuggestion involving the psychological process by the suggestion of others
- Counteraction for Negative suggestion
- Assumption of a Premise
However, by pursuing these without spirituality connected with Atma and Paramatma, or pursuing materialistic benefits would lead to Hell. We have already seen the reason for the same in
“The Pursuit to hone Bhakti,” we noted,
यदनुध्यायिनो युक्ताः कर्मग्रन्थिनिबन्धनम् ।
छिन्दन्ति कोविदास्तस्य को न कुर्यात् कथारतिम् ॥
The thread of actions of life getting bunched up and tangled results in
tight knots. These knots get tangled over several births with further knots. A thoughtful and introspective person with a sword called Meditation of Lord
would shear these knots. Wouldn’t the wise love to hear such stories of the
Lord which helps to meditate! Ascertains Sri Suthacharya.
यदनुध्यायिनो That Lord whom we
propitiate through hearing, singing, and meditating all three times of the day
by tying our minds to him or practicing The Yoga of Mind.
कर्मग्रन्थिनिबन्धनम् – The attraction of the materialistic world is making us do more and more Karma or Actions by tying
down to samsara or the cycle of death and birth. We encounter difficulties on a
continuous basis and have to put up a fight! A fight against obstructions that
we encounter to complete a Job. Or issues of a relationship involving
self-entitlement or I am Good and the other is bad or one-upmanship! Parents
need to manage the relationship with Children. So too, the children. The
relation between colleagues, fellow residents, co-travelers, etc. Maybe
regulatory issues like license, Taxes, certificates, etc. Maybe a vehicle or
transport breaks down! An accident or untoward! Sometimes, out of the bad mood
and so on.
With all materialistic activities, there are Issues.
Why! Because of our karma or actions. All karma or actions are attached
to Sins. Let’s take a look at a simple example and a basic requirement of
having staple food like rice or wheat. To grow this, land needs to be plowed by
the farmer. This not only involves disturbing all the habitation in the field
including grass, weed, earthworms, insects, etc. but also hurts the mother
earth. Then these crops are chopped alive. This way, the rice or wheat keeps
accruing the action of sins. When we prepare and eat the food, the sins get
transferred to us.
Hence, many a time it could so occur that even if we are not involved,
suddenly a situation arises and we get sucked into it.
In fact,
the actions or Sins have high potential.
We should analyze all such difficulties that we encounter. Most of the
time, we overrule with a sense of entitlement and bulldoze ahead with
enthusiasm. This keeps us dark without understanding the reasons for
difficulties or its potential in the future. As the saying goes, the devil is
in detail. A sense of entitlement or enthusiasm keeps us blind from seeing and
avoiding such a devil. These actions or Sins get bunched-up, entangled, and get
knotted. Maybe it would be blunt, but all of us suffering from one or the other
disease is an effect of such Karma entangled, knotted, and thriving in the body.
The root cause for all our sorrows is the deed or act that we have done
previously or in our previous life. Every being having Ananta karma or the
Actions are tightly wrapped over the soul. This has been in the form of tangle
or knots. These knots have in turn knotted. Hence we have moved far away from
the characteristic of our Soul or the Truth. This gives us a sense of a
distorted “I”. The “I” which we claim better than he or I have trumped them.
Hence, we would never be able to unknot. Even understanding itself is difficult
to let alone unknot. Many of us go to astrologers seeking remedies. Such
remedies lead to more actions or sins rather than unknot the existing.
Sri Suthacharya is telling that all those कोविदा or learned by यदनुध्यायिनो propitiating the Lord through hearing, singing, and meditation on the attributes and glory of the Lord at all times of the day tie up their minds to him or practice The Yoga of Mind which has the capacity to छिन्दन्ति or sheer these knots and tangle that has wrapped our Soul.
|| Hari Om ||
|| Sri
Krishnarpanamastu ||
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