Jul 31: First Anniversary – Rukmini Kalyanam
For any activity to succeed, be it spiritual or otherwise, we need the grace of Lord. How do we know that our activity is being blessed by Lord? The Lord’s presence can be felt in various ways, like through pleasant showers or a great Mahan comes when we undertake the activity (like Vamana in Bali’s sacrifice), or unexpectedly anything auspicious happens.
Likewise, our Friday satsangs started on August 1, 2008 and today is the first-year completion of the satsang and it happens to be on an Ashada-Friday A Friday on Ashada (Aadi) month is considered auspicious, because it is special to Lakshmi Devi. What to say of today, when it is verily Varalakshmi Puja! It is indeed a blessing.
The grace of Mahalakshmi is required to attain the Lord. In Srirangam, only after Mother’s darshan and after a big Pradakshina around the temple, can we have Lord Ranganatha’s sanctum. By the time we reach the Lord’s sanctum, it is said, that the Mother quickly goes from her place to the Lord’s sanctum and apprises of our ensuing visit and places a recommendation on our behalf to show His compassion on us! In Tirupati, Lakshmi Devi resides in the heart of Lord Balaji. Everytime a devotee comes and falls at the Lord’s feet, Mother looks at us and then at the Lord to see if the Lord blesses him. First her divine sight (‘kataksha’) falls on us. In Vaishnava Sampradaya, Lakshmi Devi’s krupa only can reach us to the Lord. Even the fact that Varalakshmi Puja precedes Janmashtami by 2 weeks shows this very fact!
We sometimes mistake that Lakshmi is the goddess of monetary benefits alone. However, that is incorrect. There are 8 different Lakshmis. Even those who wish for Moksha have to pray to Moksha Lakshmi. Let us pray to Mahalakshmi and our Sadguru Maharaj that our satsang flourish in a grand manner, and more and more devotees get an opportunity to attend satsangs.
Signifying the fact that there are 8 forms of Lakshmi Devi, In Srimad Bhagavatam, the birth of Mahalakshmi is in the 8th Canto – 8th Chapter – 8th Sloka. During the churning of the milky ocean, she appears with enchanting beauty as a lightening.
Then it mentions how everyone wants to marry Lakshmi Devi, while the mother sees that everyone has a vice if he has a virtue. There was no one other than Lord Vishnu who did not have a vice, but only had virtues. And it was only the Lord who stood without any expectations. Hence she chose Lord Maha Vishnu as her match – ‘ramaa mukundam nirapeksham iipsitam’
Lakshmi Devi wishes to to be with the Lord in every of His avatars. Another wedding of Lakshmi Devi, this time in the form of Rukmini Devi, with her consort, Lord Krishna is described in great detail. Today we shall listen to “Rukmini Kalyanam” by Gayathriji from Boston.
Following this, Gayathriji gave a wonderful talk on Rukmini Kalyanam.
We talk a lot about the necessity and importance of Satsang. We all desire. The best desire is to desire for Lord – the more we listen to the glories of the Lord, our desires for the Lord increases. Rukmini’s wedding is an illustration of this very fact.
The Lord created Dwaaraka and he ruled it. The wedding of Balarama with Revathi was also over, and it was time to get Lord Krishna married.
Bhishmaka was the king of Vidharba. He had 5 sons – Rukmi, Rukmaratha, Rukmakesan, Rukmabaahu, Rukmamaali, and a little daughter – Rukmini. She gets a lot of satsang through Sadhus in the palace. They talk about the creation of the Universe, Matsya Kurma Avatars, Dhruva Charita, Prahlada Charita, and Rama Avatar. They say, the very valorous Lord Rama has now incarnated as Lord Krishna. They talk about the Lord’s birth, Puthana Moksha, Shakatasura Vadham, Navaneetha Lila, Brindavan Lilas, Vanabhojanam, Yagna Patni Uddharana, Kaliya Moksha, Govardhana Uddharana , Murali gana, Rasa Kreeda and Kamsa Vadam. The very same Lord is now ruling Dwaraka.
Rukmini would long to marry Krishna and look at her dad. Her dad knew his daughter’s heart. The 5 sons never had a chance to have satsang, so these stories do not interest them. Her dad would think, ‘Will I be fortunate to have Lord Krishna as my son-in-law?’ The next day, in court, he expresses this wish. Everyone but Rukmi is happy about the decision. He opposes it and says, ‘Dad! Are you a lunatic? Krishna’s status is no match to us! He is pitch dark, while our Rukmini is golden. He is a cowherd. He has no education! He went to school only for 64 days! His parents were in prison! He is hiding from his enemies and lives inside the seas!’
Bhishmaka stopped him short and said, ‘You talk so because you lack Satsang. You cannot bad mouth someone because you don’t know about him. Do whatever you like.’
Rukmi decided that Sishupala, his close friend and the son of Dhamagosha (king of Chedi) was the apt match to Rukmini and he sent invitations to everyone for the wedding. Rukmini was in the ‘kanya matam’ and when she learned of this news, she was depressed and broke down. ‘Who will meet my Gopala and convey my message to him! There is just one day to go’, she thought. ‘Can I send the cloud as the messenger? No! the cloud will be busy drinking the waters of the seas. Can I send the bee? No, it will be lost in the honey of the Lord’s Vyjayanthi Mala. How about my companions? No, its not possible in a day. Mind is the fastest! So why not send it? If my mind goes to Sri Krishna, how can it ever return?’
One should not go in search of a Guru. We donot have the intellect to judge a Guru. If our thirst for God is true, the Lord sends a Guru. That was when the Guru came in the form of a Bhagavata, singing ‘Kshemam kuru Gopaala…’. Consoled, she invited the Bhagavata and the girls, after paying respects, conveyed this information.
The Bhagavata said, ‘Lord Krishna would certainly be a great suit to you. Don’t worry, these invitations are only man-made. Don’t worry about it. I am on my way to Dwaraka, I will take your message.’ The Guru takes the message of the devotee to the Lord. Rukmini wrote 7 crisp, sweet slokas as her message for Krishna.
The Bhagavata appeared at Krishna’s court in Dwaraka in no time. The Lord paid his respects and inquired. ‘I am coming from Vidarbha and I have a message from Rukmini.’, said the Bhagavata. ‘Go on, read it yourself’, said the Lord.
He read it wonderfully, just as Rukmini would herself read it for Krishna.
Shrutvaa gunaan bhuvanasundara shrunvataam te
Nirvishya karna vivarair haratonga taapam’
Rukmini debates on how she would address the Lord.
“ ‘Swami’ ? No, he would think I am saint. How about ‘raaja raaja raaja..sri..’ No. it would seem like a citizen with a petition! How about ‘Prabhu’ ? no it would mean I am a beggar expecting money. How about ‘Prananatha’? No! Krishna may think, how dare this girl address me as her saviour even before marriage!”
Finally she picks the word ‘Bhuvanasundara’ – a word that describes the sum and substance of the Lord’s beauty and prods Krishna to read further.
The letter contained answers to all of Krishna’s questions if he read the letter.
Krishna, ‘Bhuvanasundara! Hmm! Are you entranced by my looks? Do you know about my character?’
She says, ‘Shrutvaa Gunaan!’ – I have heard all about your character.
Krishna, ‘What have you heard about me?
Rukmini, ‘Your character is such that all the worldly miseries are lost by merely listening to them. Only one misery(‘thaapa’) is left behind – and that thaapa is the longing to attain Your Feet. ‘
Krishna, ‘Now that you have heard about me, have you seen me?’
Rukmini, ‘Roopam – akilaartha laabam’ – Your form is the essence of the world. The more I listen to your glories, the more I get your form in my Dhyana and that is how I have seen you.
I am not an expressive girl. I am a shy person by nature. Now I overcome my shyness and write this letter. Please understand how desperate I am to reach you, Oh Krishna! Not only me, any one who listens to your glories and gets your form in Dhyana, will long to attain you!’
Krishna, ‘You desire to attain me! Have you done enough merits to attain me?’
Rukmini, ‘poorthe ishta datta dharma’. Yes Indeed I have done all the merits. But Krishna! You are not the one that can be reached by accruing merits, are you? How can you be reached? You can be reached only by ‘aatma samarpana’ (surrendering oneself to You). Here I surrender myself. Please accept me.’
Krishna, ‘Well, If I do accept you, you are going to be in the women’s harem and I am a king. How am I to meet you?’
Rukmini, ‘My marriage with Sishupala has been arranged. In our family custom, the bride will perform Gauri Pooja before the wedding and so I will be there and you can take me from there.’
Krishna, ‘Should I elope with you?’
Rukmini, ‘Nay! Only a coward does that. You are a man of courage and valor. Please bring your bow ‘saarnga’ and defeat anyone who opposes you and rightfully take me as kanyashulkam.’
Krishna, ‘Okay, If I don’t show up at the Gauri temple on the day of the wedding, are you going to marry Sishupala?’
Rukmini, ‘I will take hundreds of births to attain you. Not in one birth shall I get wedded to anyone other than you.’
Saying so, Rukmini signs ‘-Yours Rukmini Devi’.
The Lord is extremely pleased with this surrender of Rukmini Devi, gets his chariots ready and goes to Vidarbha desa followed by Balarama.
Rukmini is dressed like a bride in a magnificent silk saree with borders of swan-designs. Her hair is beautifully plaited and decked with ornaments and flowers. Her earrings are moving back and forth. She sports a beautiful ‘kasturi tilaka’ on her forehead and wears different kinds and sizes of ornaments on her neck. Her fingers shine with finger rings and wears a toe ring on her toe. Her head is bent down and she walks at the pace of a swan, holding a lotus on one hand and her friend’s hand with the other. She gets the blessings of all elderly women there.
Suddenly, she hears the sound of Panchajanya and senses the smell of Tulsi, which gives away the fact that the Lord has arrived there to take her. At that moment, she sees the Bhagavata – her eyes well with tears of gratitude and folds her hands in respect. After all, can we ever repay a Guru who takes us to the Lord?
The princes waiting to see Rukmini are blinded by the glitter on the gems in her finger-rings. As her head bends down in shyness, her curly hair falls on her forehead. In the pretext of setting it right, she raises her forehead and her eyes meet with that of the Lord. The moment their eyes meet, the Lord takes her on His chariot and rides her away in a flash. The enemies see with awe at the divine couple. One of them shouted, ‘Hey! Krishna has taken away the bride. Let’s chase him!’ the other, still unable to come out of the awe, ‘Oh! What a wonderful sight it was!’
When Shishupala hears the news that Rukmini has been taken by Krishna, he screams at Rukmi in anger, ‘I trusted that you will get me married to her. You betrayed me!’. Rukmi waged a war against Krishna and the Yadava, but eventually loses. Rukmi, out of shame, goes to a place called Bhojagatam.
Krishna brings Rukmini to his parents – Devaki and Vasudeva. On an auspicious day, when all the Mahans, Rishis, Sadhus, Bhagavatas Devas and other elders are present, the Divine Couple are united in a wedlock, as described by Sri Narayana Thirtha in his ‘Kalyana tharangam’.
“Acharya vachanaat sarvam akarotu yadunandhanah vaachaama gocharaatmaanam vasudevasva maayayaa
Dwaarakaa nagari madhye sahasrasthamba mantape
Rathna simhasanaaroodam sagalatram jagusurah
Alokaye rukmini kalyana gopalam….
Neelamegha nibhaakaaram baalaarka samaana chelam
nilambaranujam gopa baalakam neelalakandham ”
Nishaji added something that she listened to Sri Ramuji’s speech about this: ‘When Rukmini heard Govardhana Udharanam lila, she was pretty sure the Lord will accept her, for that Lila verily goes to show that the Lord does not forsake anyone who surrenders unto Him.’
Narayananji added, ‘Our Swamiji would say that all our Puranic stories have philosophies behind them but it is not necessary to look at philosophies when it comes to Bhagavatam, for the very stories are filled with Bhakti Bhaava. Still, if there is a dry-hearted person who wants to look at philosophy behind this particular episode, there is certainly one!
Rukmini Devi represents the Jivatma which longs to attain the Paramatma and Lord Krishna is the Paramatma. The 5 brothers of Rukmini represent the 5 senses. These five senses always try to get us into worldly matters and away from God. When the quest for God is true, the Guru comes by Himself and takes the message of the devotee to the Lord. If the message is delivered by the Guru, the Lord Himself comes. We usually imagine that it is we who who have to go to temples to see the Lord. But the fact is, the Lord Himself comes right to our place and takes.
‘Rukmini Kalyanam’ is indeed the merger of the Jivatma into the Paramatma.
The satsang ended with prayers with Mahamantra Kirtan.
Jul 24: Andaal
The Nama Sankirtan was lead by Ramaniji and his family.
Narayananji from Boston talked about the significance of ‘Shravana’ as expounded in Srimad Bhagavatam in the episode of King Prithu.
In Srimad Bhagavatam, the lineage of man is being described, where the creation first starts, with Svayambhuva Manu, and Shatarupa being the first couple for procreation. They had two sons – Priyavrata and Uttanapada and three daughters Akuti, Devahuti and Prasuti. The lineage of Uttanapada starts with his son Dhruva, who performed penance when he was five years old and saw the Lord face to face. The lineage of Dhurva is mentioned in a very elaborate manner. Anga was Dhruva’s son and Vena was Anga’s son. Vena was extremely sinful and hence the Rishis, not able to stand his atrocities, cursed him to death. As there was no ruler, the kingdom was filled with dacoity and hence the rishis decided to take Vena’s corpse and churn it. When his shoulders were churned a beautiful couple – Prithu who was verily the form of Mahavishnu and Archis (form of Maha Lakshmi Devi) emerged.
Prithu was a glorious ruler. It is thanks to him that we enjoy all the natural resources on earth – he was the one who showed the way to tap the natural resources from Mother Earth. Prithu happened to be a illustrious king and was praised by all his subjects. But Prithu says that it is only the Lord Almighty that is worthy of praise. Humans are in no way, praiseworthy.
Prithu also says that our biggest enemy that cannot be pardoned is the one who wastes our time. Any one who wastes our time from thinking about the Lord is our biggest enemy.
When granted a boon, Prithu says that he would ask for a thousand ears. Even with a thousand ears, one cannot get tired listening to the glories of the Lord.
Thus the more and more we listen to the glories of the Lord we acquire Bhakti to reach the glories of the Lord. Such is the glory of Sravanam.
Aravindji from Orlando gave a discourse on life and Bhakti of Andal given the next day was Aadi Puram, the birth star of Andaal.
When we go to a store and purchase some toys and gadgets we get an instruction booklet. Even though everyone knows how to use these things we are given an instruction booklet. But what is the instruction booklet for life? The instruction booklet for life is verily the scriptures – Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, etc. The whole purpose of the scriptures is to tell us the goal of life is God Realization. So the question arises that, if God-Realization is the goal of life then who is God? What does he look like? It is said that the Lord we see in the temple is same as the one we may see once we realize Him. But since God is an unknown factor for most of us, the saints have done a great benefit by bringing the god to a specific form, which is none other there what we see in the temples. What is the proof that God worshipped this way will lead to liberation? The proof is in the life of saints. Today we are going to see the life of one such saint – Andaal.
In the temple town of Srivilliputhur lived a pious Brahmin named Vishnuchitta. He was a great Bhagavata and all he loved doing pushpa-kainkarya (offering flowers) to Lord Vatapatrasayee of Srivilliputhur. He was very strict in making sure his pushpa service to the lord was immaculate.
His only desire that was not fulfilled was his longing to have a child. One fine day in the month of Aadi (Ashaada), he went to his garden and he heard a big noise that shattered the silence of the entire place. From this emerged the goddess who resides in the heart of Sri Ranganatha; the goddess who is the embodiment of compassion with a parrot in her hand. Once Sri Vishnuchitta emerged from the shock he noticed a very beautiful girl lying on the ground. Sri Vishnuchittar named the girl Kothai (Godha) since she had a beautiful locks of hair.
Children usually imitate their parents. Thus Kothai’s one and only enjoyment was Nama Sankirtan and playing with her toys as though they were verily Lord Krishna. Every day Sri Vishnuchitta used to narrate to Kothai about the lilas of Bhagavan. As Kothai grew up, her Bhaava also grew. She started composing pasurams at an early age. [Pasurams are devotional verses sung in the praise of the Lord, which are part of the Nalayara Divya Prabhandam]
Our Guru Maharaj says that if we think about only one mantra or any one thing constantly, it will arise from our consciousness automatically after a time. All around her house Kothai had written “Krishna” everywhere around her house. Sri Vishnuchitta started noticing these things and he praised her for her Bhakti. He started narrating to her the Shthala Puranas of the various deities. One of the deities captured Kothai as no other and that was Sri Ranganatha of Sri Rangam.
As a girl growing up, Kothai started telling her father that she would marry Sri Ranganatha when she grows up. However, hearing this everyone in the village started making fun of her. They also started spreading rumors that Kothai has gone mad without understanding her Bhaava. This started upsetting Sri Vishnuchitta a lot. He tried reasoning with Kothai about how it was not feasible for the Bhagavan to come and marry her. Being completely immersed in the thought of marrying Krishna, Kothai couldn’t bear to hear these words from her own father.
As she grew older, her Bhava started getting stronger. She would start rolling in the sand claiming that it was the same earth that was covered by the Lord during His Tiruvikrama Avatar. She would see a snake and pick it up thinking it was the snake on which the Lord was rests. She would embrace fire and feel as if she had embraced Lord Krishna.
Sri Vishnuchitta got very worried about these developments. So he called a doctor to diagnose her illness. When the doctor asked her hand to check a puilse, she rebuked him that he would never understand her disease, which was Krishna Viraha (pangs of separation from Lord Krishna). Every now and then, Kothai would start crying since she could not bear everyone making fun of her and she felt the Lord did not care enough about her to understand her pain.
One fine day when Sri Vishnuchitta was reading Srimad Bhagavatam when Kothai heard him recite a sloka about the Gopis praying to Godess Kathyayani during the month of Margazi and doing a vratha (fast) in order to attain Lord Krishna. This led Kothai to consider a similar path and the outcome of this was a collection of pasurams called Thirupaavai. During this time, she had a dream that Sri Ranganatha would come and marry her. Hearing this and having no other way to convince her otherwise, Sri Vishnuchittra told Kothai that if she had such dreams then Lord Ranganatha would definitely come in person and marry her.
We saw how Sri Vishnuchitta was known for the pushpa service of the Lord. Once he prepared the garland for the Lord but had to leave urgently for an errand. During this time, Kothai in her bhaava wore the garland. When Sri Vishnuchitta came back and saw his daughter wearing the garland, his patience ran out and he considered this a sacrilege. He chastised Kothai for her act but realized he had to make a new garland. So he hurried to the garden, prepared a new garland, and ran to the temple to hand it over to the priest right on time. When the priest placed the garland on the Lord, the garland fell. After repeated attempts both priest and Sri Vishnuchitta were shocked. Then the priest heard a voice, which told him to fetch the garland that Kothai wore. So Sri Vishuchitta ran back to the house to fetch the garland and told Kothai about the incident. Kothai’s joy grew leap and bounds hearing this and she was happy that the Lord actually accepted her.
Once a woman fortune-teller came to their house and told Kothai that Sri Ranganatha himself would come and marry her. This again increased Kothai’s happiness. When Kothai offered the fortune-teller a piece of cloth, she tied it on her head like a man. This puzzled Kothai. During this time, Sri Vishnuchitta woke from his sleep and told Kothai about a dream he had. When he explained his dream, it was absolutely similar to the real incident that Kothai had just experienced with the fortune-teller who visited her. Sri Vishnuchitta said that it was Lord Ranganatha himself who came as the fortune-teller thus explaining the reason why the fortune-teller tied the cloth as a turban like a man.
On an auspicious day, in the month of Panguni on the Uttara star, a huge procession came into the village. The villagers had never seen such a big procession and hence it caught everyone’s attention. In one of the palanquins was a very handsome man the town folks ever saw. Everyone followed the procession to see where it was headed. The procession stopped in front of Sri Vishnuchitta’s house. Once Sri Vishnuchitta saw the handsome man, he realized it was Sri Ranganatha himself. He informed this to Kothai. Since Kothai was waiting for this moment, she was not at all surprised. She took her time to dress up in the most beautiful bridal garment. Then, she accompanied the Lord and both went to Srivilliputur temple and got married. After this, everyone went to Sri Rangam.
Once in Sri Rangam temple, the Lord took Kothai’s hand and walked into the sanctum. Kothai merged with Lord Sri Ranganatha.
Sri Vishuchitta, though pleased with all these events, requested the Lord with to take care of Kothai well and blessed them. Because the Lord became his son-in-law, Sri Vishuchitta is called Periaazhwaar, meaning the great Alwar.
If one reads Thirupavai, Kothai repeatedly talks about the glories of the Lord and prescribes Nama Kirtan as the easiest way to reach Him. Since she captured everyone’s heart, Kothai is called Andal.
The satsang ended with prayers and Nama Sankirtan.
Jul 17: Pattinathar
The Nama Sankirtan was lead by Aravindji from Orlando.
Srimad Bhagavatam talks of the story of a king called Muchukunda from the Solar Dynasty. Once Lord Subramanya [Deva Senapathy] wanted to take some rest and so went on a vacation. In his absence, Lord Indra wanted to take care of his army and hence requested Muchukunda to take care of his army. Being an able king, he led many battles won many wars. From the earth, he went to the heaven to wage war to assist the Devas and against the Asuras. Lord Indra thanked Muchukunda his services and let him return to earth to rule the kingdom. When he descended to the earth, things were totally different, for, one day in Deva Loka is many thousand years on earth. Indra, looking at his predicament granted him any boon that he desired. Muchukunda told him that he needed rest as he was feeling very tired and wanted to sleep for ages together and anyone who disturbs him in the sleep will be burned to ashes. So, Muchukunda was asleep in a cave, and thousands of years passed.
Once, an Asura by name Kalayavana was chasing Lord Krishna in a battle and reached the cave in which Muchkunda was sleeping. Kalayavana thought that Muchukunda was Lord Krishna in disguise and so he went and kicked him, waking him up. The moment Muchukunda woke up and saw Kalayevan, the latter was burnt to ashes. At that moment the Lord gave darshan to Muchukunda. Muchukunda immediately recognized that it was Lord Krishna and sang the praises of the Lord. When asked to request for a boon, Muchukunda said, “I shall not be foolish to ask for any more worldly boons!” He says that when it is time for the people to attain the Holy Feet of the Lord, there are some indications -
“Bhavapavadh go bramato yata bhaveth janasya thasyath chuta satsamagama
Satsangamo yaryhi thadaiya satgathou paravaresyae thvayi jayathae mathihi”
If one is bestowed with satsang, then it is a clear indication that it is indeed his last birth. It is very lucid that the Lord’s compassion has fallen on him. The moment one is associated with satsang which is the divine association with a mahatma, they develop Bhakti and that will automatically take the individual to the holy feet of the lord. Such is the greatness of Satsang.
Sriramji, from Houston talked about Pattinathaar. He started off the lecture by explaining how the Guru relieves the fear of samsara.
“The Guru makes us enjoy samsara and the life beyond by inducing the fear of samsara and then dispels the fear by making the path very easy through Nama Sankirtan. In any holy text, the crux of the text can be found in the beginning, the end and in the middle of the text. In Srimad Bhagavatam, we start off with ‘Janmadyasa..’ and end with ‘Namasankirtanam…’. The heart of Srimad Bhagavatam is Ajamila Charithra in the sixth canto.
There are twenty eight infernal regions (hells). When King Parikshit starts to wonder about these infernal regions Sage Shuka says that these are very much true! ‘Why go that far, these very much exist in our daily lives!’. Our Guru Maharaj gives a very profound example of this hell. Bull is the beast of burden in Indian villages. When the new baby bull is born, the humans do a lot of cruel things to it. It is in the bull’s fate (karma) to undergo these sufferings. Nobody can actually escape bad times.
Our Guru Maharaj actually gave a different perspective about Gajendra moksham in Srimad Bhagavatham. The elephants were lead by Gajendra (the king of the elephant herd) and they were playing in the water. They were in a way destroying the plant habitat and other aquatic habitat when a crocodile catches his feet. This is described ‘deiva choditam’ (God-orchestrated). The moment this incident happened, the immediate relatives of Gajendra started to cry and after some time, they thought that it wouldn’t take much time for the crocodile to come and catch them and hence they stepped out of the pond and watched the scene from outside!
There is a lot of impermanence in this world. One classic example is money. Money can get one a very comfortable bed but can get it bring sleep? There is one thing that is permanent in life and it is none other than our Sadguru’s holy feet. Pattinatar very beautifully says –
“Sadguru Paadhathai notram vitte iru
vaazhvai kudam kavizh neer enre ninai
Suttrathai verum sandhai koodam entre iru
Madathe! Unakku upadesam idhuve!”
Take refuge in the Sadguru’s feet. Consider the life to be a as the water in a pot (it can topple anytime). Live as if family/friends are akin to the random people whom we see in a bazaar. Oh Mind! This is the teaching for you!
Pattinathaar was born in a place where Cauvery joins the ocean. In those days people used to trade with other countries through ships and to carry out such a trade, they traveled in groups. When his son was a little older, Pattinathar decided to send him to do business. He taught him the tricks of the trade.. His son soon set out on a trade-voyage and months passed by. It was time for his return. Pattinathaar eagerly waited for his son’s arrival but his son did not come. He enquired about his son to his friends who reached safely and they mentioned that they set out in different groups and that his son was not part of that group.
Days passed by and a storm was brewing in the ocean. This stressed Pattinatar even more. He went to Lord Shiva and begged him for the safe return of his son. “I can’t care lesser for money! Even if I have to live in a hut drinking porridge, that is okay. But Oh! Lord, please save my son! I need my son back” Lord Shiva answered his prayers and his son returned safely. Pattinathaar was in a state of ecstasy and his joy knew no bounds.
His son came home and relaxed for a while. Then Pattinathaar went to his son and asked him, “Oh my son! How did the trade go? Did you make any profit.?” In reply to this, he said, “Yes Father! the trade went fine and I have a small box that I wanted to show you”. When he opened the box, he was agitated to see the box being filled with cow-dung cakes. The furious Pattinathaar asked for the money and in reply his son replied, ‘Dad! Did you not pray to Lord Shiva that you don’t expect a dime out of the trade and you simply wanted me back alive? And now you ask for money/gold?”
“kaadhu arundha oosi varaadhu kadaivizhuthu kaal”
A useless needle that has lost its ears will not come with you in the last moments of one’s life. On hearing this, Pattinatar was greatly impacted. This led him to renounce all his wealth. He sat under a tree and kept on contemplating on the one-line advice of his son. The king who was close to Pattinatar saw him in this state walked him to him and asked him if he earned anything out of renunciation! “Ithanai panni enna kandeer?”
Pattinatar aptly replied, ‘Nee nirka nan amaara idhai kandom’
While as a king, all your subjects stand in front of you, now, you are standing in front of me while I am seated! This is owing to the renunciation.
All of Pattinathar’s compositions are full of Bhakti and Vedanta. Our Guru Maharaj conveys a very beautiful point. Only if you think of the non-permanence will one be bestowed with dispassion. Dispassion is a critical secret for attaining the Holy-Feet of the Lord. Pattinathar was once walking on the road when he came across a funeral. A typical funeral scene it was, as a lot of people were crying vehemently. Pattinathar started crying louder than those people!
When inquired if he was related to the dead, he said
“Setha pinathai sutri saaga pogum pinangal ellam koodi koodi azhuvadhai kandu azhugiren!”
I wail witnessing the state of all of you, who are corpses to-die and yet lament for the loss of a just-died corpse!
All of us often have this question in our lives, “Where will I go after I die?” Our Guru Maharaj explains what happens after death. In our dreams we see ourselves. We experience things. We have our manas [mind] and feelings associated with it. For example, we dream of going to a temple and do Pradakshina to the Lord. We have intellect in the dream state. But when the dream ends, the shooksma sharira is gone and we come back to our senses. Our Guru Maharaj compares this to the life after death.
In death, the gross /physical body dies. The sookshma sharira (subtle body) [that also experienced the dream] will go to teh Swarga / Naraka depending on the merits / sins accrued in that birth, and based on the karmas, is born again.
One takes an umbrella to take shelter during the monsoon. The Divine Name that we chant is verily the umbrella that can provide us shelter after death.
If we take to dhyana/yoga/tapas, we believe in our own ability to take us to the Holy Feet of the Lord, and we are likely to fall at any stage. In Bhakti Marga, we are not dependent on the individual’s ability but only on the sheer grace of the Lord, which translates to unlimited Guru Krupa.
Yama Dharma Raja refuses to touch those devotees who have chanted the Divine Names of the Lord. This was clearly seen in the case of Ajamila! Do we need any more assurance about the potency of Nama Kirtan, than verily the God of Death?”
The satsang ended with prayers and Namasankirtan.
Jun 12: Bhagavatam and Mahans
The Namasankirtan was led by Sri Aravindji from Orlando, FL.
After introductions, Mukundji from Redding CA talked on Bhakti and Bhagavatam.
In Bhagavatam, Prahalada very beautifully mentions the types of Bhakti:
“Sravanam Kirtanam Vishnoh smaranam pada sevanam archanam vandamam dasyam sakhyam athma nivedanam”
Sravana ( is hearing about God’s Lilas , his virtues and stories),
Kirtana (singing of His divine glories),
Smarana (remembrance of His name and his charithra),
Padasevana (service of His feet),
Archana (worship of God). Our Guru Maharaj always says that one should do bhakti in a very soft way (lalitham). One should place the flowers at the Lord in a soft manner and instead not throw them/
Vandana (prayer and prostration to Lord),
Dasya (cultivating the servant sentiment with God),
Sakhya (cultivating the friend-Bhava) and
Atma-Nivedanam is complete surrender of the self to God.
Our Guru Maharaj often tells His devotees that there is no such thing called big or small when one performs service [kainkaryam] to the Lord. If one person gets to lift the deity using his shoulders and another carries the umbrella for the Lord, both the services are considered the same. This is Dasya Bhakti.
Sakhya Bhakti – one can confide their sufferings and troubles to the Lord. Doing so, the Lord will alleviate us from the sufferings or make the suffering not a burden on us. But on the other hand, if we whisper our sufferings and troubles to our friends, they will only mock at us instead of being any help!
It is a fact that mere reading of Srimad Bhagavatam leads to liberation. This is very lucidly seen in the case of Atmadeva’s Charithra where Gokarna performed Srimad Bhagavata Saptham for his brother Dundukari, who attained the Holy feet of the Lord by listening to Srimad Bhagavatam with rapt attention. Such is the greatness of Srimad Bhagavatam. Read about this story in detail here.
Let’s take another example that lucidly shows the importance of reading Srimad Bhagavatam. There was a great Mahan by name Poondhanam. He lived in Kerala and was an ardent devotee of Lord Guruvayurappan. He used to do Bhagavata Parayanam on a daily basis since he believed that Srimad Bhagavatam is verily Lord Krishna. When his family commitments increased and it was becoming difficult to read Bhagavatam in peace, he was on the look for a suitable place outside his house and he found a good place in his own garden. The spot was between two banana trees. Having found the place, he prepared a seat to keep the holy text and placed flowers on it everyday. He very much liked the third canto which describes the Vaikunta, the abode of Lord Vishnu.
He had a desire to visit Vaikunta. So he pleaded to the Lord, to show him the greatness of Vaikunta. So that very night, the Lord gave him a glimpse of Vaikunta. While he was going round Vaikunta, he saw two Vishnu Dhutas(aides of Lord Vishnu) approaching him and they immediately fell at his feet and got his blessings. This scene completely shook Poondanam and was wonder struck as to why they fell at his feet. Nervous as he was, with a little courage he went and asked them as to why they fell at his feet. They started to explain what had happened to them. They were the banana trees that were planted in Poondanam’s garden. Since they were fortunate to listen to Srimad Bhagavatam on a daily basis, they were blessed to become Vishnu Dhutas(aides of Lord Vishnu)! They were very grateful to Poondhanam because of whom they reached Vaikunta. After witnessing this scene in his dream, he woke up from his sleep and stepped outside his garden. He saw that the two banana trees had fallen.
Thus it is clearly seen that by performing Srimad Bhagavata Parayanam can certainly lead one to Mukti.
Narayananji from Boston shared some thoughts after the lecture.
In most Puranas, we often read many seemingly unrealistic stories. But incidents that we see in the life-history of Mahans very similar to these stories prove that they indeed are true. One example we can quickly think of is from Narada’s life-history. By consuming the Uchchishta( food left-overs) of the Sadhus, he gained Jnana. A very similar incident can be found in the life-history of Sri Bodendra Saraswathi Swamigal where Swamigal’s uchchishta made a deaf and dumb boy chant and dance in Bhakti. Read more about Sri Bondendral here.
Another example that one can quote is from Srimad Bhagavatam. Kubera had two sons, Nalakoobura and Manigriva. They are enjoying with some women unmindful of anything else near Mandakini river in Kailash and that instant, Sage Narada passed by and his eyes caught sight of this loathsome sight. Any other normal human-being would have become very angry on seeing this sight. The women, on seeing him, fled away. However the two siblings who were drunk, stood in front of him. But the sage, who was compassion personified, says, “Oh! My sons of Kubera, for this act, you shall be born as trees”. He further added that Lord Krishna will come and free them.
Sage Narada’s words came true and they were born as Arjuna trees in the back-yard of Lord Krishna’s house.
Yashoda Maiya tied Krishna in a rope to a mortar and Krishna goes through these two trees with the mortar. When he squeezed through the trees with the mortar tied around his waist, the trees break up and the two sons of Kubera came out and immediately prostrated unto the Lord’s feet. They sang a beautiful stuti singing the glories of the Lord. They say that the Lord gave ears only to listen to the glories of the Lord. He gaves us mouth and voice only to sing His glories and Divine Names.
Lord Krishna, having listened to the Sutti, spoke to the siblings on the glory of the mahatmas. He told them it is because of the will of Narada that he had come to deliver them. When a Mahans’ sight falls on us, then the darkness (sins) are vanquished and it is imminent that we reach the holy feet of the Lord. Srimad Bhagavatam is verily Lord Krishna. Akin to how the Lord relieved the two sons of Kubera, the Lord in the form of Srimad Bhagvatham liberated the two banana trees. There it was Sage Narada was instrumental for their liberation through Lord Krishna and here, its Poondhanam who was instrumental in the liberation of the banana trees through Srimad Bhagavatam.
Aravindji from Orlando mentioned about the significance of guru and divine names of the Lord. He briefly talked about Gajendra Moksha and also an incident from Yogiramsurathkumar’s life. One night Yogi in the middle of the sleep suddenly woke up and walked to a well. He found a horse lying deep inside the well. No sooner he started chanting the divine names of the Lord than the horse jumped from the well and ran away.
The satsang concluded with prayers and Namasankirtan.
May 22: Jnaneswar
The Nama Sankirtan was performed by Mukundji, Sriramji and family from California.
In the eleventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, talks about supreme Vedantic Truths. Akin to Geetopadesha to Arjuna, the Lord gave Upadesha to Uddhav, a Prema Bhakta. The eleventh canto starts with the Nava Yogi Charitra, in which the yogis expound on the Bhagavata Dharama, and the Yuga Dharmas. Then comes the dialogue between Lord Krishna and Uddhava. The first message that Lord Krishna gives to Uddava is about the twenty-four gurus, which is called the ‘Avadhoota Gita’. Avadoota had twenty four different gurus and learnt different things from each of them.
When Uddava questioned him on the easiest way to attain the Lord, Sri Krishna replied that the easiest means is the path of Bhakti. In order to cultivate Bhakti, the spiritual aspirant needs to be in the divine association of a Jivan Mukta. The Lord replied that he resides in the heart of these realized souls. Lord Sri Krishna revealed a secret to Uddhava.
Na rodayati maam yogo na saankhyam dharma eva cha
na svaadyaayastapas tyaago neshtapoortham na dakshinaa
vrataani yagnaschandaamsi thirthaani niyamaayama:
yatavarunde satsanga: sarvasangaapaho hi maam ||
‘Oh Uddhava! It is only satsang that entices me. Yoga, Svadhyaya, penance, meditation, renunciation, sacrifices, charity, recitation fo the Vedas and undertaking pilgrimages, observing strict austerities – none of these allure me as does satsang’
The Lord also gives a long list of great devotees who have attained His feet only due to Satsang – starting from the Devas and Asuras.
Satsang is the preliminary requirement in Bhagavata Dharma. We are indeed fortunate to have taken refuge in our Guru Maharaj, chanting the divine names of the Lord, making it a great satsang.
It was then followed by introductions after which Ramyaji from San Jose talked about Sant Jnaneshwar.
The devotees of Lord Panduranga in Pandarpur have sung crores and crores of abhnags. Abhangs are musical compositions in bhujangam style. One abhang stands out and is like this: “Namacha Bazaara Pandari Namaacha Bazaar”. Unlike a fruit or a vegetable bazaar where one pays moneys to get something, people give only one thing and get the same thing in return. And it is verily Nama. A unique bazaar isn’t it!. So what do we benefit out of this bazaar? The abhang says “Koti kulavudar”. It says just not you but all your ancestors are greatly benefited by the mere chanting of Nama. All the great devotees of the Lord have lucidly shown the path of Bhakti. The term Bhakti comes from the root “Bhaj” which means attached to god. It is pure and unconditional love for the Lord. How should one perform Bhakti. Sadhana Bhakti is the first step in the path of Bhakti. Lord Prahalada very beautifully mentioned the different ways to do sadhana bhakti.
“Sravanam Kirtanam Vishnoh smaranam pada sevanam archanam vandamam dasyam sakhyam and athma nivedanam”
- Sravana ( is hearing about God’s Lilas , his virtues and stories),
- Kirtana (singing of His divine glories),
- Smarana (remembrance of His name and his charithra),
- Padasevana (service of His feet),
- Archana (worship of God). Our Guru Maharaj always says that one should do Bhakti in a very soft way (lalitham). One should place the flowers at the Lord in a soft manner and instead not throw them/
- Vandana (prayer and prostration to Lord),
- Dasya (cultivating the servant sentiment with God),
- Sakhya (cultivating the friend-Bhava) and
It is said that “praptam durlabham haridasyam”. It is rare thing for even Lord Brahma to do service to Lord Hari. Having given a good health with all limbs intact the nama should always be in our lips forever. One great devotee of the Lord says “Bhava Brihmaadi Sura gana manyoham Bhuvantra yepi dhanyoham”
In which that devotee says that he is the blessed one in all the three worlds when compared to Lord Brahma, Indra and the Devas. Why? It is because he has the divine name of Lord Hari in his lips.
Arunagirinathar in his Thirupugazh says
“Maa malargal kondu malaigal panindhu maa padam anindhu paniyaenae”
He expresses his desire to place flower at the holy feet of the Lord.
It is also said that a Bhakta (devotee of the Lord) should be in the company of the like minded people.
Andal says, “Koodi iruthu koolir thaelor embavai”
Sag Sukha when he was about to expound on Srimad Bhagavatam, says “Rasikhaha Bhuvi bhavukaha”. He calls all the like-minded people to come and listen to Srimad Bhagavatam.
Our Guru Maharaj says that this nava vida bhakti should be congenital and not something that should be inculcated by someone. If that is the case, then that is pure bhakti. This is very clearly seen in Jivan Muktas. Sri Seshadri Swamigal did penance ever since he was a child. Tulasidas was chanting the Rama nam when he was a child. This is the case with Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Meera and other great devotees of the Lord. It is also said that one needs certain sounds (sabdas) to go reach the state of tranquility. It is verily the sound of Nama Sankirtan that will take us to that state.
It is always said that one needs to be indeed blessed to be bestowed with good things in worldly life. Say a good husband/ good wife/ lucrative job/ fit health etc. If these things itself needs blessing from the Lord, then what to talk about attaining the holy feet of the Lord.
Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada in his Viveka Chootamani says there are three things that are indeed very rare: The first of them being Manusyatvam (blessed with a human birth), Mumukshyatvam (thinking about the means to attain the Lord after being blessed with a human birth) and lastly “Maha Purusha Samsrayam” (one who is in the association of a Jivan Mukta).
It is said that Jivan Muktas are very rare to be seen in the age of Kali. It is only once in so many thousands of years that a realized soul is born. In the life-history of Jnaneshwar we see tht just not him but all his siblings are all Jivan Muktas.
Vittoba was a ‘vairagyasali’ – deeply dispassionate person. His mind was set upon attainment of the Lord as his goal in his life. He had won over all his ‘indriyas’ – senses. Nothing affected him, neither happiness nor sorrow. There was no happiness or sorrow experienced by him. He sought nothing of the Lord. His mind was set on embracing an ascetic life. One night, he lay on the banks of the Chandrabagha river in Pandaripuram. Lord Panduranga and His wife Rukmini are on their rounds. Wherever there is a temple, the God of that temple goes wandering around at night. Looking at this lone Vittoba, Rukmini’s heart goes out to him. She points out Vittoba to Panduranga and requests of Him, “Please do something for Vittoba”. Panduranga asks, “What do you want me to do?” Rukmini said, “Find a nice girl for him to marry”.
Lord Panduranga appears in Vittoba’s dream and informs him, “Tomorrow a brahmin couple will come to you offering the hand of their daughter. Accept the offer and marry her”. The aghast Vittoba tells Lord Panduranga, “Lord! You do know that I am totally dispassionate towards this world. Nothing matters to me. Please do not ask me to marry.” Panduraga points out, “Well, then, it is all the more easy for you to marry and live in this world. It is my wish and Will that you marry this girl and lead a householder’s life.”. And Panduranga also appears in the Brahmin couple’s dream and instructs them, “Go to the banks of Chandrabagha river tomorrow, taking your daughter along with you. You will find Vittoba (the Lord here describes the physical attributes of Vittoba to the couple) there. Offer the hand of your daughter in marriage to this young man.”
The brahmin couple do as they are bid. Vittoba gives his consent to the marriage. The marriage is conducted as laid down by the Shastras (‘vaidihic way’). They live together happily but no child is born to them even after many years. So, Vittoba feels he could now leave the family and embrace ’sanyasa’ (ascetic life). He quits home and goes to Kasi (Varanasi) where he meets Ramananda, a great Mahatma, with 800 sanyasi disciples. Kabirdas was also the disciple of Ramananda. When Vittoba puts forth his desire and is accorded sanyasa.
Here at home, Rukmini is in grief over her husband’s disappearance. She enquires of everyone but is unable to learn of his whereabouts. Ramananda undertakes a pilgrimage along with his disciples. Vittoba offers to stay back to take care of the ashram. This is because in their wanderings the Master might pass through Ramananda’s native place and he might happen to meet his relatives. He does not desire any such meeting and wishes to avoid it. Ramananda, during his wanderings reaches Prathishtanapura. He spends some days here. Rukmini, Vittoba’s wife, is told that circumambulating the peepul tree will bring her husband back to her. So, she visits the local temple and goes around the peepul tree every day. It so happens that Ramananda notices this lady going around the peepul tree every day. Rukmini finds crowds of people going to meet someone and on enquiry learns that a Mahatma has come to the town. She, too, pays a visit to him. She prostrates before him and Ramananda blesses her with a fruit and the words ‘puthravathi bhava!’ (let you be blessed with children!) Only a childless woman goes around the peepul tree. Since Ramananda had noticed her going around the peepul tree, he blesses her, “puthravathi bhava”. The distraught Rukmini confides to the Mahatma, “Swami! You have blessed me so. But I know not the whereabouts of my husband”. Ramananda very kindly enquires about all that had happened. Rukmini explains, “We were leading a happy and peaceful life. There has been no reason whatsoever for my husband to quit home. But on enquiry I heard that he is in Kasi and has embraced ’sanyasa’. I also learn that one Ramananda, a great Mahatma, has initiated him into the ascetic life.”
Ramananda learns that her husband’s name is Vittoba. His other disciples inform the Mahatma that they have heard Vittoba mention this as his native place and this must be his wife. Ramananda immediately sends a sepoy to Kasi to bring Vittoba. Ramananda informs Vittoba all that had taken place and tells him. “My words cannot be a bluff. It is Bhagavan who has made me utter these words. You must at once shirk the ascetic life and return to a householder’s life. Do not worry about the repercussions for, I take the responsibility. So do not worry about it and do as I instruct”. Vittoba has no second thought over the matter. All he desires to do is obey his Master’s order. When the Guru instructs you to act in a certain way he takes responsibility of all the repercussions. The four ashramas in a brahmin’s life is ‘Brahmachari’, ‘grahastha’, ‘vanaprastha’ and ’sanyasi’ – life as a celibate, life as a family man, life in the forest and finally the ascetic life. In this order of life, one can move from brahamcahri to grahastha to vanaprastha to sanyasi and never the other way round. From the first to the next way of life one can move but not vice versa. And to turn from an ascetic life to the householder’s life is verily a grave sin. Unpardonable one! But here Vittoba, a deeply dispassionate person, enters the householder’s life in sheer obedience to the Master. Adhering to the words of one’s Master is the biggest dharma. And four children are born to this couple. Though Vittoba had spent many a year with his wife earlier no child had been born but now (only) due to the blessings of the Mahatama, four children are born to him. Nivritti deva – was the first to be born, Jnaneshwar the second child, Sopana – the third and Mukta bai the last. Nivritti is the incarnation of Parameswara (Lord Siva), Jnaneshwar of Lord Vishnu, Sopana of Lord Brahma and Mukta bai of Goddess Durga. They incarnate only to show and spread the glory of Nama Sankirtanam in the world. Vittoba, having spent the life as bid by his Master, now decides to quit home and spend the rest of his days on the banks of the Ganges. Rukmini, too, joins him.
The small children are left to fend for themselves. Days pass by and Jnaneswar feels it is time for them, the boys, to be initiated into ‘upanayanam’ (the thread ceremony for the Brahmins). Jnaneshwar approaches the local elders to help initiate them into upanayanam. The locals rebuke the children, “All of You are children of an ascetic. We cannot perform upanayanam for you. However, go seek the advise of the scholars. ” Prathishtanapura was filled with Scholars (Vidwans). So, Jnaneshawar along with his siblings meets the Vedic scholars. They ask, “What is your gothra?” (Each brahmin family bears the name of the particular Rishi as its ‘gothra’, in whose lineage the family has descended). Jnaneswar replies truthfully, “We do not know. But the shastras say that one who is not aware of his ‘gothra’ can adopt the ‘gothra’ of the one who performs the upanayana ceremony to him”.
The scholars scoff at him, “Oh! you know shastras?” Jnaneswar asserts that he sees Brahman in the form of Panduranga in everything around and so he is a brahmin. Jnaneswar explains, “Everything is Panduranga. You, I and everything around is Panduranga”. The Scholars laugh at the child. They think that this young boy must be speaking from what he must have heard from someone or read about it in some book. Just then a buffalo passes by and they order the child, “You seem to know everything. If everything is Panduranga as you say, is this also Panduranga?” Jnaneswar say, “Yes, of course! this is also Panduranga!” The Scholars then throw a challenge to the child, “Lord Panduranga likes ‘Sama ganam’. If this buffalo is also Panduranga make this buffalo chant the Sama Veda.” Jnaneshwar moves up to the buffalo, caresses it and says, “Hey! Panduranga! Chant the Sama Veda!” and lo! The buffalo chants Sama Veda to the astonishment of the on looking Brahmins! Jnaneswar truly saw everything as Lord Panduranga and that is why he addressed the buffalo as ‘Panduranga’ and did not look at it as a buffalo. The difference lies only in the external form; only the Lord permeates everyone and everything. With our mind as the base we see one as a man another as an animal or a bird and so on. The dumbfounded Scholars realize that these are not commonplace children. They declare, “You do not need the upanayanam at all, for, you are knowledgeable.” The buffalo, however, continues to chant the Sama Veda and the shocked owner refuses to take back his buffalo! None in the town is ready to take the buffalo that chants the Sama Veda! So, it falls on Jnaneshwar to take it along with him. The Samadhi of the buffalo is found in this region and people throng here to worship the buffalo.
Jnaneshwar later wrote a commentary on the Bhagavat Gita and it was called ‘Jnaneshwari’. It is a wonderful piece of work. While writing ‘Jnaneshwari’, at the end of the commentary for each verse, he used to read it to the buffalo beside him and only after it nodded its head in acceptance did he proceed to the next verse!
Sarngadeva was a siddha who lived in the same town as Jnaneshwar and his siblings. He was a thousand years old! It is said that as soon as he completed a hundred years, he would leave the body and hide himself in a nearby tree. Seeing the body lying down dead, Yama (the god of death) would leave, satisfied that the work had been done. As soon as Yama left, he would get back into his body and live another hundred years. In this way he had lived a thousand years! He performed miracles that attracted people from all over the country. One should never develop bad habits, for, habits die-hard. He lived in a huge palace attended by thousands of disciples. Wealthy devotees surrounded him. Performance of miracles is a very silly affair. A true Mahatma ignores it. This Sarngadeva used to walk on water, produce objects, etc. Ignorant as they are, it is miracles that attract people. A real Mahatma, a Sadguru blesses ‘jnana’ (knowledge) to the people and does not entertain them with miracles. Sarngadeva developed the ’siddhi’ of reviving the dead! So the dead were brought to his doors. Every morning there was a long line of the dead brought by ‘its’ relatives. Sarngadeva would touch the dead and the body would jump up and walk away! That which had been brought in by four people now jumped up and walked away on ‘its’ two legs!
One day, Muktha bai, the three-year old sister of Jnaneshwar happened to see the long line of dead surrounded by relatives. The little one went up to one of them and inquired what it was all about. They tried to send the child away saying, “You are but a child. These are dead bodies. You may get frightened seeing them. Go away from here.” But the child insisted in knowing what was going on. So they explained, “Sarngadeva, living here in the big palace, is a great Mahan. He bestows life to the dead. So we have brought our dead to him.” To their surprise, the three-year old Muktha bai said simply, “Is it just this? Even I can bring them around to life!” The people took it to be a disoriented talk of a mere child and tried to send her away. But she was not to be thrown out so easily. Some of them said, “Well! Why not let the child try?” Muktha bai went up and whispered, “Vittala!’ into the ears of the dead, one by one. And all of them were up and what did they do? Unlike the ones risen up by Sarngadeva who uttered some worldly gibbering, those that were brought to life by Muktha bai with their hands held up and clapping, cried out ‘Vittala’ ‘Vittala’ and danced away! When Sarngadeva came out that morning he found an empty front yard! Though wonder struck for a moment he drew up the conclusion that his power must have increased to the extent of the dead being revived with the mere proximity to the walls of his palace! To his disappointment, he soon learnt that a mere child had brought all the dead to life! And it was none other than the three-year old sister of Jnaneshwar, against whom Sarngadeva nurtured enmity.
A man who performed innumerable miracles, who lived in a huge palace, who had people thronging his palace, who had the wealthy at his beck and call, who had innumerable disciples serving him, was jealous of the poor Jnaneshwar who lived in a hut with his brothers, sister and just a handful of friends! He had attained ’siddhis’ and performed miracles but could not win over desire, anger, greed and lust. He was jealous of Jnaneshwar! Sarngadeva decided to settle matters with Jnaneshwar right away by showing off his ‘powers’! He, therefore, saddled a lion with a snake (!) and rode on it to Jnaneshwar’s hut. People thronged to see the ‘great man’ riding a lion. Jnaneshwar was repairing the broken down wall of his hut! When he saw Sarngadeva come riding on a lion, Jnaneshwar sat on the wall and patted it. The wall moved up – ‘tut, tut, tut’! Sarngadeva was aghast. The foolish people looked at Jnaneswar with amazement. To ride a lion is not great for the lion is a living creature. But to make a non-living (‘achetanam’) thing move! The mortified Sarngadeva jumped down from the lion and moved towards Jnaneshwar prostrating to him with every step taken! He did not feel mortified because of Jnaneshwar’s ability to make the wall move. But due to the blessings (‘Kataksham’) of Jnaneshwar the fountain of devotion had sprung up in his heart. And he sought refuge in Jnaneshwar and begged to be shown the right path. Jnaneshwar asked Muktha bai to initiate him. Accordingly, Muktha Bai initiated him into the Nama of ‘VITTALA’. Sarngadeva at once, then and there, threw away everything – his palace, wealth, the foolish disciples and devotees – and going to the banks of Chandrabagha river carried on the incessant chanting of the Nama ‘VITTALA’ and attained salvation. When I see the beautiful roses being sold I always wonder, “What greater thing could this person buy with the money earned in selling these beautiful roses!”
Sopana means staircase, Nivrithi means liberation/renunciation, Jnaneshwar means knowledge and Muktha means ‘avidyai’- removal of ignorance, true knowledge. Durga is one who cuts asunder the ignorance and shows the light of knowledge. Jnaneswar, Nivritti deva, Sopana, Muktha Bai, Nama devar, Jana bai were all great Mahans who lived to show the way of Nama Sankirtanam for the attainment of the Lord.
The satsang ended with Nama Sankirtan prayers, led by Sri Mukund from California.
May 15: Vrittrasura & Purandaradasa
Nama Sankirtan was performed by Sri Nagarajan’s family and Sri Thiagarajan’s family from Dallas.
Narayananji from Boston talked about the significance of Satsang.
We all know that there are twelve cantos in Srimad Bhagavatam. The sixth canto talks about the glories of Divine Names of the Lord. But then we look at the Purana Lakshana (the characteristics of a Purana), the sixth canto talks about Poshana. Poshana refers to the compassion and mercy of the Lord. No matter how wicked, cruel, or ignorant or dirty we are, the Lord is so compassionate that he takes all of us unto his Feet by some means or the other. That’s the definition of Poshana. The episode of Vritrasura who is an asura, shows the love for the lord by a demon.
Virtrasura was born so, because of the mistakes done when chanting the Vedas when praying to bestow him with a strong person who can kill Indra. Instead of praying for this, they started praying “Oh Lord! Please bestow me with a strong person who can be killed by Lord Indra”. As a result of the prayer, Vritrasura was born and was indeed a very strong person. As expected Lord Indra was not able to confront Vritrasura by himself. He went to a great sage who was called as Dadichi and requested for his back-bone. Sages who are compassion-personified gave away his back-bone and with that Indra made a weapon called “Vajrayuda” and with this weapon he went to accost Vrithrasura. One should note the Viveka (discrimination) and knowledge that Virdhrasura possessed. On seeing Indra, he just laughed and said, “Oh Indra, Do you think I am a coward and will run away? Oh! Not at all. There is the Almighty who is very compassionate and he knows how to take our lives. It is destined that you will kill me and it will happen that way”. But, he requested Indra to wait as he had to complete his morning prayers. It was not a long drawn pooja routine. He had just four Slokas which he recited every morning. However, he did not disclose his prayers. Prayers done with love are not normally boasted about.
The four slokas are as mentioned below –
“Aham hare tava padaika moola dasanu daso bhavitaasmi bruthya:
Manah smaretaasu pater gunaamste grneeta vak karma karotu kaaya: || (6.11.24)
Na naga prushtam nacha parameshtyam nasarvabhaumam narasadhipathyam
Nayogi sidhir apunarbhavam samanjasatva virahaiya kaankshe || (6:11:25)
Ajatha pakshad iva maataram kaaga: stanyam yata vatsadhara sudhartha: |
Priyam priyaeva vyushitam vishanna Manoravindaasksha didrukshate tvaam” || (6:11:25)
Oh my lord, Let me always be in your service. If I am not able to be in your service then please bless to be in the service of your greatest devotees. If I am not fortunate enough to be in the association of your greatest devotees, then let me be in the divine satsang of their devotees (dasanudasa). When I am in the service of all your devotees, then I offer my body, mind and thoughts unto you.
And then in his second sloka, he says, let me always be in contact with you. If you offer me anything that removes the contact with you, then I don’t need it even if it is the greatest heaven. In his third sloka, he says, “Oh Lord, Take me unto you akin to how a small bird is being taken care by its mother bird, a calf craving for the love of its mother-cow and a fiancee waiting to join her fiance.
His fourth sloka has a very deeper meaning. He knows that it is not easy to get the divine company of the Lord. So he says,
“Mamottama sloka janeshu sakyam samsara chakre bramtah smakarmabi: |
Tvan maayayaatmatmaja daara geheshu asakta chityasa na naatha bhooyaat”
He says,”Oh Lord I know that I am caught deep inside the ocean of Samsara from which it is not very easy to be absolved. If at all you are an epitome of compassion then may I request you to do one thing? Please put me amidst a group of devotees in a satsang.
Make me friends with those devotees who are in a satsang and that way everything will fall into place. That is the greatest compassion and path that you can show and that way I will be freed from this samsara as well.
So what is a satsang? It is a divine association with a Jivan Mukta and who is ever chanting the Divine Names of the Lord and is in the eternal bliss.
This was followed by introductions and Nishaji from Houston discoursed on the life-history of Sri. Purandaradasa.
India is a land of Mahans. Akin to how certain type of soil is conducive to grow specific plants for example, southern India’s staple crop is rice whereas the northern part of India is fertile to grow wheat. Similarly the soil of India grows Mahans. Right from the time of great sages like Vashishta, Vishwamitra, India has been a home to enlightened souls.
In the life-histories of Mahans, we see that some incident usually triggered the spitritual quest and they did not stop that quest till the end. If we take the life-history of Sadasiva Brahmendra, he went and asked his mother for food. She told him that it would take some time and he thought that what is the use of this house when one cannot get food when he is hungry. He left home at that instant of time. Hunger brought a great change in his life.
Another classic example is Sri Tulasidas. He went in search of his wife who was at her parent’s place. He encountered many hardships to reach his in-law’s place. Upon reaching, his wife tells him that the earnestness with which he had to come to see her, if he had a quarter of it to see lord Rama, he would have had the darshan of Rama long ago. That comment totally changed Tulasidas’s life. Another great mahan whose life was totally changed was Sri Purandara Dasa. We all know him as the grandfather of carnatic music. Apart from this, we should all see the Bhakti he possessed towards the lord. He was never like that since birth. Let us see what changed him.
The earlier name of Purandara Dasa was Srinivasa Nayaka who was born to a devout couple, who were childless for a long time. They had begotten him after praying to Lord Srinivasa. Srinivasa Nayaka’s father, Varadappa Nayaka was an affluent person and was a pawn-broker by profession. He was very devout and did lot of charitable deeds. On the contrary, when Srinivasa Nayaka grew up, he was a miser. He took over his ancestral business but charity was not in his blood at all. When his father was ailing, he refused to spend for his medical treatment and this eventually led to the death of his father. This however did not disturb him at all. On the other hand, his wife was very generous and she always wanted to gift people. This was the situation when Lord Panduranga Vitala decided to make Srinivasa Nayaka his devotee.
He came to his shop in the guise of a poor Brahmin. He begged for alms for his son’s upanayanam. Srinivasa Nayaka in his customary style drove him away and asked him to come back the next day. The Lord came the next day as well and he kept sending him away. This happened for about six months and everyday the Brahmin came back in a persistent manner and Srinivasa Nayaka did not have the heart to give him a dime. After six months, Srinivasa Nayaka gave the Brahmin a fake coin which was given to him by his father when he was a child. The Brahmin very well knew that it was indeed a fake coin and he took that coin and went to his wife and he pretended that he didn’t know that Srinivasa Nayaka was her husband. He told her that some pawn broker had given him a fake coin after asking him to come for six months. She immediately knew that the pawn broker was none other than her husband and she felt very ashamed of her husband’s act.
So she gave away her nose ring. The Brahmin promptly took the nose ring and went to Srinivasa Nayaka’s shop and he requested him to pawn the nose-ring. As soon as he saw the nose ring, he recognized that it belonged to his wife. He immediately locked the nose ring in his shop and went to confront his wife. He asked her to show him the nose-ring. Unable to accost him, she prayed sincerely to the Lord and found the nose-ring in her home, miraculously. She immediately went to give it to her husband. He went back to the shop to see if the nose ring that he had kept inside was safe. But he was not able to find it.
This incident completely changed his life. He realized the futile life that he had been leading all along. He could vividly see that it was the Lord who had disguised himself as Brahmin. He renounced himself and along with his wife and four children he took to the streets and since then sang praises of Lord Vittala. His songs are popular even today.
One should note the Bhakti that Purandaradasa had for the Lord. An interesting point to note here is that, he was a great devotee of Sri Hari and he has composed several kirtans on Lord Krishna, before he found a guru. His guru was Vyasa Theertha. He was the one who conferred on him the name Puranadara Dasa. In one of his kirtans, he sings “My only refugee is the feet of Vyasa Theertha. I could understand Purandara Vittala only through his grace.” Purandara dasa was a great devotee of the Lord before he met his guru. After meeting his guru, he said that is when he understood the Lord himself.
See the humility in some one to whom Lord Panduranga himself appeared in person!
He is among the many Mahans who has sung the glories of Nama Kirtan.
In one of his kirtans, he pleads the Lord for his grace so that he can always remember the Lord’s name.
“nArAyaNA ninna nAmada smaraNeya sArAmrtavenna nAligege barali”
He says “Narayana, let the sweet nectar of the essence of your name come in my tongue”
Whatever situation I am in be it prosperity, poor let your name as Krishna Krishna be in me.
In the final verse he says “santata hari ninna sAsira nAmavu antarangada oLagirisi
entO purandara viTTala rAyane antya kAladalli cintisOhAgE”
He says “Oh Lord! Please place your hallowed names in the depths of my heart and Vittala please shower your grace on me so that I remember your name in my last moments of my life”.
Our Guru Maharaj emphasizes that the key thing in our lives is to remember the lord in one’s last moments. If we think of god during our final moments then we are saved. This fact is also emphasized in Ajamila Charitra in Srimad Bhagavatam.
In our last moments we will think of whatever we have been doing all our life. If we are not chanting the divine names of the lord in our lifetime then it is very difficult to think about the lord in our final moments. When the fear of death overpowers us, we fill try to find solace in whatever we have been doing all our lives. If there is no Namakirtan in our entire lives, then how will it come in our last moment? That the reason we have to chant the names of the Lord and that is a practice for us to think about the Lord in our last stages of life.
Our guru maharaj in one of his lectures mentioned that there is a test to see if one has reached the state to think Lord Narayana in his final moments. If one reminisces about the satsang and about the Lord when we come home after satsangs, then there is a chance that we think about the Lord in our last moments. If we delve into the materialistic chores and not think about the satsang that we just attended, then we are not there yet!
The satsang ended with Nama Sankirtan by the Dallas satsang members.
Apr-24: The story of Atmadeva
The Mahamantra was led by Zivanji and family from Chicago.
Narayananji from Boston gave a short talk on the significance of satsang:
In Priyavrata’s charitra in Srimad Bhagavatam, the king’s great qualities are highlighted. After tgatm Sage Suka continues to narrate Priyavrata’s lineage. His son was Nabhi and Nabhi’s son was called Rishaba. Rishaba Yogeeshwara was a personification of dispassion. He gave away his entire kingdom to his sons and wandered from place to place like true renunicate.
Bharatha was his eldest son who ruled our land and hence the name Bharata Desha.
In today’s satsang, let us reminisce the other nine sons who were great Yogishwaras themselves – Kavi, Hari, Antariksha, Pippalayana, Prabuddha, Avirhotra, Drumila, Chamasa and Karabhajana. Once these nine great men showed up at the court of King Nimi, who ruled over the Videha kingdom. They shared their pearls of wisdom at the sacrifice in Nimi’s court, which forms part of the eleventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam that speaks about the greatest truths.
Nimi welcomed them and said,
“Durlabho Manusho deho dehinaam kshanabanguraha
Thatrapi durlabam manyae vaikunta Priya darshanam”
King Nimi says that it is very difficult to be blessed with a human birth, and even when thus blessed is highly fleeting. However, the rarest of all is to have the darshan of someone who is a realized soul.
He further goes to say,
“…samsaaresmin kshanaardhopi satsangah sevadhir nrunaam”
In this world of mundane desires, even half a moment of true satsang is precious, he says. A satsang is either the association with a realized soul or a place where the Divine Names and glories of God are spoken about. Our Friday satsangs are examples.
Then, Zivanji lectured on the importance of Srimad Bhagavatam as seen in Padma Purana. He quoted the story of Atmadeva to outline the glory of Srimad Bhagavatam.
On the banks of Tungabdra river, lived a well learned person by name Atmadeva. He was good natured person, while on the contrary, his wife, Dunduli always liked to talk about others and cause chaos in other families. The fact that he was not blessed with a child made Atmadeva a very sad man. He performed Putra Kameshti Yagna and other rituals, but of no avail.
Atmadeva lived with a ray of hope that someday he will be blessed with a child. However, as years passed by, his hopes started to diminish and one day unable to control his emotions, set out of the house. He didn’t know where he was going and finally reached a jungle. He was sitting under a tree and there was a beautiful river in front of a tree. After some time, he saw a sage taking a dip in that river. His eyes caught sight of Atmadeva and seeing him in a very depressed state walked towards him and enquired about him. As we all know, Sadhus are compassion personified and seeing the Sadhu, Atmadeva couldn’t control his emotions told all about him. After hearing his desire to be blessed with a child, he started to perceive if he was fortunate to have a child in that birth.
The Sadhu could foresee that Atmadeva was destined with no child birth not only in his present birth but also in all his future births. Hearing this from the sage’s mouth Atmadeva broke down and the sage was unable to console him. The sage tried to advise him that as the number of relationships (like the father-child/ husband-wife) increases, they are accompanied with joy and sorrow as well. The sage talked to him on the realties of life and advised him to take the path of an ascetic. The only relationship that an ascetic life has is that of a Guru-Sishya and that path has only eternal happiness.
Atmadeva was not ready to hear it. He started to reason out as to why he didn’t want to adopt to the path of a sanyasa. It is said that in our shastras, there is forgiveness for the sins that one commits in a worldly life, but once if we take the path of Sanyasa then there is no forgiveness for any sins that a Sanyasi might incur. Atmadeva declined and he told him that he was not ready for it yet. He still insisted that he wanted a child.
Seeing Atmadeva in that state, the sage gave Atmadeva a fruit and requested his wife to eat it and told him that they will soon be blessed with a child upon eating the fruit. Mahans have divine powers that they can even change the fate of a person as seen above. Atmadeva was destined to not have a child in all his births, but an acquaintance with a sadhu changed his fate. The mahans due to their intense penance can play football with all the nine planets and change the destiny of any person.
Overjoyed by this, he thanked the sage and came back to his house and asked his wife to eat the fruit. His wife was not very happy to hear this. She did not want to have a child as she was not prepared to bear the pain during the child birth. She devised a plan and asked Atmadeva to go out on a pilgrimage tour before the child was born. Atmadeva agreed to this and happily set off. In the meanwhile, she threw the fruit in her cow shed. She was curious to see the outcome of the sage’s prediction and so she waited to see if the cow gave birth after eating the fruit. In the meanwhile, her sister also gave birth to a child and she had already decided to adopt that child and had already had planned to inform her husband that it was indeed their child who was born after eating the fruit. Meanwhile, the cow also gave birth to a human who had cow’s ears.
Atmadeva returned from his tour and was very excited to hear the great news. He named his first son as Dundukari, who was born through his sister-in-law and named the other son who had cow’s ears as Gokarna. As expected, Gokarna had all divine qualities while Dundukari had all the vices.
Over time, Dundukari started to abuse his parents and this really worried Atmadeva. Seeing his father being abused by Dundukari, Gokarna requested his father to renounce the world and requested him to go to forest to do penance and read Srimad Bhagavatam. This was what the Sadhu had earlier told him to do!
Sadhus and Mahans speak very little. Their actions are only for our well-being. So obey the sadhus orders without questioning it. Atmadeva promptly abided to his son’s words and left the house and set out to forest. He did penance after couple of years attained the lotus feet of the Lord. Gokarna left his house after his father’s departure. Dunduli who couldn’t bear her son’s torture ended her life as well.
As years passed by, Dundukari started to commit more and more sins by bringing women folks to his house. The women folks who couldn’t withstand the torture decided to punish him and they killed him and ran away from that place. The news spread far and wide and Gokarna on hearing his brother’s demise and Dunduli’s death , after performing the final rites in Gaya decided to return to his house. When he returned, a very gory sight caught him. His house was in a very terrible state. He sat in his usual spot in his house to do penance when he heard a strange voice. He started moving in the direction towards the voice and along his way he sprinkled water. At that moment he saw a very horrible face. Upon enquiry he found out that it was Dundukari.
Dundukari told him that the sufferings that he was currently undergoing was inexplicable and was due to the sins that he had committed and requested Gokaranan to find an elixir for the sufferings that he was currently undergoing so that he can reach the holy feet of the Lord. Gokarna decided to help his brother. He went around asking people on the remedy and everybody told him that the final rites which he performed in Gaya would suffice and if that didn’t help then nothing else would help! But Gokarna was not dithered by this and he continued asking many learned scholars and one of them advised him to ask verily the Sun God. So Gokarana went to Lord Surya and asked him for the remedy. ‘ Perform Bhagavata Saptaham’- came the reply. That is the only resort for the soul to attain Moksha. So he immediately made all the arrangements for the saptaha. The arrangements were akin to that of a grand wedding.
In addition to this, he bought a bamboo shoot with seven nodes and installed Dundukari’s soul onto it. At the conclusion of everyday’s Parayana of the Saptaha one node would burst open, signifying that each and every day of the Saptaha bestows good merits. At the end of the seventh day, all the seven nodes burst open, Vishnu Dhootas arrived in a vehicle from Vaikunta and took Dundukari along with them.
Such is the prowess for Srimad Bhagavatha Saptaham. When the villagers questioned as to why it was only Dundukari who attained the holy feet of the Lord and not them, it was because he listened to the whole Saptaham with full devotion and concentration.
Thus Sanatkumaras narrate the glory of the Bhagavata Saptaham to Sage Narada.
The satsang ended with prayers and Namasankirtan.
Feb 27: Why did God create us?
Madhura, Sriramji and Nishaji performed Nama Sankirtan and started the Satsang. Followed by this, AravindJi from Orlando gave a talk on what is the purpose of our creation and what the world teaches us.
When Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Swamigal was appointed the next Peetathipathi of Shankara Mutt, he was 13 years old. So when old devotees of the mutt arrived, they asked to meet the Jagatguru sarcastically. Meaning how could a 13 year old boy be considered a Jagatguru and be appointed as the Peetadhipati (head) of a Mutt. When they were shown to Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamigal, he explained to them that the Sanskrit word Jagatguru must be understood word by word as in its split as ‘Jagat’ and ‘Guru’. He further explained what each word translates to that is Jagat meaning World and Guru meaning teacher, thus proclaiming the world is my Guru.
He said whatever the world teaches every moment is what I preach to my devotees. Now the learned devotees feel at the lotus feet of the 13 year old Jagat Guru to pardon their ignorance and bless them to relieve themselves of their ego.Now going by what Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamigal or affectionately called Maha Periyava says that the world is the Guru. Let’s look at the world and understand what it teaches us. Take an example of a family, why do we get married and procreate children knowing the time, effort and responsibility involved in bring up a child?
The simple reason is we want to share our love, to watch the small baby, to cuddle it, though we also know that they will one day grow up, go miles away for their living and get married and start their own family. But we still want to see them happy and shower our unconditional love wherever they are.
There will be times when the child has gone to a foreign land and does not call his/her parents for months. Even then the parents will always live in the memory of their child and praying for their well being. They may try to send a message through a relative or a friend who plans to visit the same place where their child currently resides. When this friend informs the child that his parents are eagerly waiting to hear from him/her at the earliest and still the child ignores the pleas as he/she is busy in their own life. But one fine day due to some need, the child suddenly calls the parents, the joy is over bound.
They will have tears of joy flowing to hear the well being of their child and be so happy that the child remembered them. They will be over exhilarated to help their child even after being ignored for several years. All they want is the happiness of their child.
That is exactly what God wants. He has created us to share his love. He has created us in the same form like Himself by giving us this human body to share the beauty of the world and all his creations with us. He is our father and mother. He always wishes well for us even when we don’t think of him. He always wants to show only love like our own parents.
A mother makes food, keeps our home clean, takes care of our health and provides us will all the nice things in life for the child. But the child takes everything for granted. But if one day the child turns to tell his/her mother, ‘your food was delicious today.. Thank you Ma’. Imagine the joy the mother will feel, she will be the happiest person on earth as her child though about what the mother has done to keep him/her happy and appreciates her efforts. That’s how God is! He has blessed us with so much of goodness in life. But do we thank him for every single thing? But if one day we turn to God and thank him for all he has been to us, imagine the joy God will feel? That his child has though about him! If we take 1 step towards God, he takes 10 steps towards us. But we should take the initiative to take that first step.
The sun shines everyday for everybody. It does not see any distinction towards anybody. But if we keep our doors and windows closed then we are the ones to lose the sun shine and light. Hence we should be open to receive the love God shows by his creations. We call this God with several names he is all pervading and all the same. Like a person can be a mother to a child, she can be a wife to her husband; she can be a daughter to her parents or a friend to someone. So each one calls the same person with different relationships such as mother, wife, daughter, friend, sister. Thus God also appears as different forms to different people. So finally all we have to do is call him and show him love. He will be happy, the world will be a happy place and we’ll also be happy.
A siddha has sung the following verse ‘Aasaiai arumin! Aasaiai arumin! Eesanodu aayinum aasaiai arumin!’ which means ‘Renounce all desire! Renounce all desire, even if it be for God’. When looked at superfluously we may wonder, “how could a saint ask us to give up the desire for God?” But, when seen in the right perspective we will understand what the saint really means – “Give up even the desire for the Lord and just love Him.” True love seeks nothing whereas a desire expects something in return. And when we fail to get what we seek/expect then it might turn into hatred.”
In Srimad Bhagavatam, a bunch of verses called “Venu Gitam” describes the beauty in the flute recital of Lord Sri Krishna. There it is mentioned that both the doe and the male deer worshipped the Lord by mere looks of affection and love.Sri Sri Swamiji, in His kirtan “Karunamurthy Nee allavo Kanna”, speaks of the love, grace and compassion of the Lord. His compassion and grace is so unique; He magnifies even our smallest offering and gives us unimaginable, multifold returns. The incident referred to in this context is the fruit seller’s episode. An old lady selling Jaumoon fruits, sees the little Krishna. On seeing such a beautiful child she offers a few fruits to him out of spontaneous love. Bhagawan’s tiny hands could have received only two or three fruits from her. Later the fruit seller finds that her Basket is filled with precious gems. Bhagawan had gifted priceless gems for a few fruits, returning her loving offering multifold!
Lets take a very worldly example of an ox and a dog. When an ox works so much to plough the farmer’s field, the dog just cuddles in one corner of his home. But the dog gets more attention and care, doesn’t it? What is the reason? It is because it is the dog showers its love on its master, while the ox only knows to work hard. Thus, the more you shower your love, the more you get back.
When we shower pure love on the Divine, we reach unto Him and get Him in our hearts. The easiest way of showing our love and gratitude to the Lord is by chanting His Divine Names.Lord Sri Krishna in is last verse to Sri Narada says that he does not reside in Vaikunta, he does not reside in the heart of Yogi’s who have conquered the world, but he verily resides amidst a gathering of people who sing his names and glories.
Naham Vasaami Vaikunte Na Yogena Hrudeya Ravau
Mad Bhakta: yatra Gayanti Thatra Thishtami NaradaSo verily Nama Sankirtan and satsang will lead us to love the glorious one and that is what we precisely are doing every week, without fail due to His grace.
We have nothing to worry and all will be well as we follow Mahans’ words.
This was followed by announcements and prayer requests after which a Mahamantra Prayer Session was held in the closing.
Feb 13: Glory of Bhagavatam
Feb13’09 Telecon Satsang Blog-Roll
The telecon satsang started with NamaSankirtan led by Bhoomaji from Dallas. After a brief round of introductions, Narayananji from Boston briefly talked about the two types of Dharma and Sriramji from Houson talked about the significance of Srimad Bhagavatam.
There are two types of dharma, namely Vaidika Dharma and ‘Poortha’ Dharma. Vaidika Dharma advocates the path to attain the lord while Poortha dharma preaches the ways to lead a happy and a prosperous life. The most appropriate vaidika dharma for this age is Bhagavata Dharma which has been clearly advocated by great Mahatmas and Gurus. Bhagavata Dharma is done by Bhagavatas and is the dharma for everyone irrespective of any caste and creed. The primary essence of Bhagavata Dharma is Nama Sankirtan. With this very thought in mind regular satsangs are conducted with Nama in the beginning and at the end of satsang. The satsangs also extol the glories of the Lord. We are indeed blessed to follow Bhagavata Dharma.
Followed by introductions, Sriramji from Houston lectured on the significance of Srimad Bhagavata Srimad Bhagavatam.
In general there are two kinds of states for any living being- drinking and eating. And these two states have their body as the base.
“Aanando Brahmeti Vyajanat” That is how the Upanishads are trying to explain the state of a Brahma Jnani. When a human being lives his life and he continues to progress in his life thinking that it is the body that is the cause of real happiness. When they die, they come back to earth as any life forms that think they are the body. They come back to earth to any life form that can basically eat and drink.There are a few others who have a little more discrimination (Viveka) who are able to recognize that the Self is beyond the body and relate it with the Prana the life-force (as one would realize when he sees a corpse). When they die, they are blessed to go to the Pitru Loka (the world of the manes).
This thought is not completely right either, for if the Prana is the true Self, a sleeping man (who still has life-force in him) should realize happiness and sorrow. But that is not the case. Then one realizes that it is the mind that is the Self. Our experiences and activities are driven by the mind (eg. Dreams). A blind man has a vision based on his mental capacity. A person who thinks so and walks on the path of Vaidika Dharma reaches ‘Swarga’ (heaven).
Then there is this set of people who identify the Self with the intellect (the ability to rationalize based on previously known facts). They prepare for the life after death by doing Upasana of their favorite deity. After they leave their mortal coil, they go to different places in the heaven based on the fruits of their Upasana and Tapas.
Now coming to the Upanishad Mantra, “Aanando Brahmeti Vyajanat’ – It is the state of a Jivan Mukti. They are completely immersed in the “Brahma Swaroopam”. Their state is inexplicable. They are in a state of eternal bliss.
That eternal bliss that was attained in Krita Yuga through meditation, and through sacrifices in Treta Yuga and through Puja in Dwapara Yuga is attained through Nama Sankirtan in Kali Yuga.
So what does this got to do with Srimad Bhagavatam?
The essence of Srimad Bhagavatam is to explain the very fact that in Kali Yuga, Nama Sankirtan is one of the easiest ways to reach the ultimate.When Avatara Purushas are born and descend on the earth they come down with a purpose in their mind. And they will not rest until it is achieved. One such Avatara Purusha was Sage Veda Vyasa. He classifed all the Vedas and the Upanishads and all gave all the Puranas. In spite of all his great works, he was feeling depressed. At that time, Sage Narada came along to Sage Veda Vyasa’s ashram to alleviate his stress.
Sage Veda Vyasa is none other than Lord Narayana himself. Sage Narada is a great Bhakta. The greatness of Sage Narada is that he was welcomed by Sage Veda Vyasa by offering Pujas to him!
Sage Narada advised him to expound on the glories of Lord Vasudeva and until he does that, the sorrow in his mind will not go away. Sage Veda Vyasa did not take this Avatar to give all the Vedas and Shastras but to give us Srimad Bhagavatam which talks about the glories of Lord Vasudeva. Sage Veda Vyasa initially was clueless on how to start Srimad Bhagavatam and requested Sage Narada to help him get started on it. Sage Narada explained how he had attained the lotus feet of the Lord by serving the Sadhus.
He also told him that by consuming the food consumed by Mahans (‘Uchchishtam’) one would get Bhakti. He told Sage Veda Vyasa that by elaborating on the life histories of the devotees of the Lord will instill Bhakti and devotion in the listeners.
Accordingly, the first nine cantos in Srimad Bhagavatam talk about the Bhakta Charithra, to name a few, Dhruva, Prahlada, Ajamila, Jadabharata etc.
Srimad Bhagavatam prepares one and all to listen the stories of the devotees of the Lord. One can cross the ocean of samsara by listening to stories of the devotees of the Lord rather than to stories of the Bhagawan Himself!
Srimad Bhagavatam deals with ‘Keerthana’ (singing the Names and glories of the Lord) and ‘Katha Sravanam’ (listening to His stories).
No sooner was Sage Shuka born (he was born as a young man) than he left his family as he was a born Jnani. Once Veda Vyasa asked some of his disciples to go to the forest to collect wood. The forest posed a threat of wild animals and hence the disciples were scared to go to the forest.
Sage Veda Vyasa realizing this, taught them the beautiful sloka…
“Barha Pitam Nata Vara Vapuh karnayo Karnikaram
Bibrath Vasah kanakapisham vaijayanthim cha malam…”
(A sloka from the Venu Gitam 10:21 of Srimad Bhagavatam that describes the enchanting form of Lord Sri Krishna while describing Lord Krishna’s playing of the flute)Once Lord Rudra, all the Devas and Goddess Saraswati descended to the Earth to listen to Lord Krishna’s flute rendition. The master of ‘Sama Gana’ that Lord Siva was, He could not comprehend the Raga that emanated from Sri Krishna’s flute, when Goddess Saraswati immediately told him not to analyze the Raga, but enjoy the ‘Anuraaga’ (the grace and love expressed by Lord Krishna’s flute rendition), for the only sound that came from the flute was ‘Radhe! Radhe! Radhe! Radhe!’
Sage Veda Vyasa taught this sloka to his disciples and assured them that this would transfix any wild animal and hence would render the forest safe for the disciples!
Sri Shuka who was in the forest heard this sloka and was attracted by the beauty of the Sloka. He immediately approached the disciples and begged them to take Him to their Master who taught them such a wonderful Sloka. Thus Bhagavatam united Sri Shuka finally with his father Sage Veda!
The story continues as to how Sage Veda Vyasa taught Srimad Bhagavatam to Sage Shuka and how he in turn narrated it to King Parikshit who attained Moksha by listening to Srimad Bhagavatam in rapt attention.
The Lord is blamed of being partial to His devotees when it comes to showering His grace! In order to wipe off this blemish, the Lord hands Srimad Bhagavatam to the devotee and with that as an excuse, showers His blessings on the soul! Thus, if we are even able to lay our hands on this sacred Purana, it is only because of His sheer grace.
It is said that King Parikshit by listening to Srimad Bhagavatam attained the lotus feet of the Lord instantly at the end of seven days. Our Guru Maharaj says that Katha Sravana (listening to stories of the lord) is the first step to Bhakti.
After this blissful satsang talk, Sri Thiagarajan from Dallas mentioned a key take away point. When we start to chant the Divine Names of the Lord, the lord enters our hearts and resides there that very moment. So when we do any false act it is not only we who are responsible for this wrong doing, but also make God as an accomplice. So let us avoid any wrong doing that we do intentionally in our daily lives.
The satsang wrapped up with prayers and NamaSankirtan.
