The wheels of our cars and our minds headed towards and stopped at the Jain Temple in Milpitas, our Naimisaranya for a week beginning April 9.^th We listened enthralled, to the timeless and purifying stories of the Lord and his devotees from the first Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, related in lucid detail and utmost devotion by our Acharya Prabodh Chaitanya in his first Jnana yagna in San Jose.

The analogy of an exquisite painting full of minute detail, placed on a person’s desk was used to describe how Srimad Bhagavatam qualifies as a Mahapurana. The painting, though exquisite is barely noticed because of its small size and its placement, where not many people have access to it.  When the same painting is enlarged to a size big enough to fill the wall of a room, it invites more attention and admiration.  But when the painting is blown up to the size of a billboard and placed on a busy thoroughfare, it becomes an attention getter and far more people are aware of it and benefit by its beauty.  The Upanishads are like the painting on an individual’s desk, Prabodhji explained; though perfect and complete, because of their concise nature and limited access, the average man sadly does not have access to them.  The Bhagavad Gita is like the painting on the wall that provides access to more people in greater detail.  But Srimad Bhagavatam is like the billboard on a freeway!  The same theme and essence of the Vedas that is present in the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita is presented in a simplified form here and it gives an opportunity for the highest good to the greatest number; hence it is a Mahapurana!

Bhagavat Mahathmyam

The intoduction to Srimad Bhagavatam is given by another Purana, the Padmapurana where the Mahathmyam or glory of Srimad Bhagavatam is described in the form of a dialogue between Suta Maharishi and a group of rishis led by sage Shaunaka.   A large number of ascetics had gathered at a sacred place called Naimisaranya to perform austerities for the welfare of the world, where sage Suta happened to visit them.  He was welcomed to their congregation as he was highly respected for his mastery of the Puranas (the word Purana means that which reveals the most ancient and eternal truth).

During breaks in their rituals, the sages had many questions for sage Suta.  Addressing him as the Sun who had the power to dispel the darkness of their ignorance, they asked him to give them the essence of all stories, which would be like nectar to their ears and would destroy maya or delusion.  Sage Suta, pleased with their quest for this knowledge, told them that what they sought is Srimad Bhagavatam, as narrated by sage Sukadeva to King Pareekshit.  Sage Suta said that Bhagavatam is the essence of all philosophies that has the power to destroy the fear of samasara.  Lord Narayana himself gave the eternal teaching to Brahmaji.  Brahmaji then taught it to his son sage Narada, who then taught it to Veda Vyasa.  Sage Veda Vyasa composed the Bhagavatam out of love for his son Sukadeva, knowing it had the power and beauty to keep his son from renouncing the world at birth itself!  It was Sukadeva who taught the Bhagavatam to King Pareekshit in seven days (Sapthaha), on the banks of the Ganges as the great king waited to cast off his mortal body.  Sage Suta was among the great rishis who were present during this time and is hence considered to be a disciple of sage Sukadeva.  This is the guru-shishya lineage that brought the Bhagavatam to Naimisaranya.

The story of Bhakti mata

Sage Suta narrated the story of how an agitated Narada met the Sanatkumaras after visiting the earth where he noticed that Kali (which means kalaha -to fight or quarrel) was present.  He observed a general lack of happiness, obsession with materialism, dull wittedness, harsh language and laziness pervading even the so-called holy places on earth.  In this agitated state, he encountered a young beautiful woman, surrounded by several attendants, grieving over her two old unconscious sons.  When Narada enquired the reason for the young woman’s distress, she identified herself as Bhakti, the mother of her two unconscious sons – Jnana and Vairagya.  Bhakti implored the sage to help revive her sons.  She also narrated her peculiar story to him.  She said that she was born in Tamil Nadu and grew up in Karnataka.  She matured in Maharashtra and became old in Gujarat.  Through all this time, her sons were with her, but she was unable to understand the reason for their current unconscious condition. Sage Narada recited the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and other Vedas to try and revive the unconscious men, to no avail.  Baffled, he promised to find a solution and that is when he met the Sanatkumaras who reminded him that it is listening to Srimad Bhagavatam alone that will help Bhakti and her sons.  The great sage Narada then conducted a Bhagavaha Sapthaha which mother Bhakti attended and this revived Jnana and Vairagya and made them youthful and vibrant again!

The symbolism of this story is that when knowledge and dispassion are dormant, devotion is not happy.  For bhakthi to be fulfilled, knowledge and dispassion should be alive and well.  Sage Narada was puzzled by this entire episode.  He asked the Sanatkumaras why the chanting of the Upanishads and other Vedas did not revive Jnana and Vairagya.  The Sanatkumaras responded with a beautiful analogy.  Just like there is ghee in milk, but is not readily available because the churning has not yet been done to bring it out, so it is with the Upanishads.  The ghee is not readily available because one has to know how to taste it.  But Srimad Bhagavatham is the churned milk, ready with the ghee floating on top, and this helped revive the two sons of bhakti right away! 

Gokarna Upakhyana

The rishis then asked Sutaji about the purifying capabilities of Srimad Bhagavatam.  That Bhagavatam is capable of purifying even the worst sinner is illustrated through the story of Gokarna Upakhyana.  A wise and learned man named Atmadev had a shrew of a wife called Dhundhuli, who as her name suggests was an empty pot that made a lot of noise.  Atmadev’s greatest sorrow in life was that he didn’t have a child. So, he appealed to an ascetic to grant him a son.  Reluctantly, (because the ascetic knew that Atmadev was not destined to have children) the ascetic gave him a divine fruit to be consumed by his wife while observing strict austerities for a year.  The wife, who didn’t want a child in the first place and was certainly not prepared to observe any austerities, gave the divine fruit to a cow and passed off her sister’s son as her own.  She also insisted on naming the child Dhundhukari, after herself.  The cow gave birth to a beautiful pious son with a cow’s ears - Gokarna, while Dhundhukari grew up to be a shame of a human being with every imaginable vice.  Atmadev, frustrated and dejected with such a son was advised by Gokarna to renounce everything and take to the forest.  He did so and attained liberation. Driven to distraction by her cruel son, Dhundhuli killed herself and Dhundhukari, now unchecked went to the extent of bringing home five prostitutes who demanded things of him constantly.  He committed heinous crimes to satiate them, but ended up being killed by them in a gruesome manner.  Gokarna, who went on a pilgrimage after Atmadev left his home, came back to find that Dhundhukari was dead, but was still haunting the place as a ghost. The ghost of Dhundhukari begged his pious brother to find some way to release him from his pitiable state.

Gokarna promised to help him and through his yogic powers, he appealed to the Sun god to show him the way.  The Sun asked Gokarna to conduct a Bhagavatam Sapthaha.  Gokarna did so and Dhundhukari, even though a ghost, attended this Sapthaha, hidden in a hollow bamboo staff, which was bound by a rope with seven knots.  With each day of listening to the Bhagavatham, one knot unraveled and finally on the seventh day, celestial beings in all their finery came in person to escort Dhundhukari to the heavens!  Despite his sinful life, Dhundhukari was granted liberation because he not only listened to the Bhagavatam, but his desire for liberation was so intense that he did constant reflection on it with complete faith and an attitude of surrender.

The story of Dhundhukari is of course symbolic.  Atmadev as his name suggests, represents the Jiva.  His demanding and controlling wife is the intellect.  Dhundhukari represents the mind and the five prostitutes with their insatiable demands are the five sense organs.  Through satsang, represented by Gokarna, and the Lord’s grace, the mind can be purified, and the Jiva can be united with the Supreme.  The Mahathmyam portion of the Bhagavatham ends with this story, and Prabodhji started his discourse on Srimad Bhagavatam proper.

Adhikari Skandha

The first canto of the Bhagavatam is also known as the adhikari skandha because it deals with the requisite qualifications of a good student; one who is qualified to achieve liberation through listening.  It is composed of nineteen chapters, which are divided into three sections.  The first three chapters detail the dialogue between the rishis led by Shaunaka and sage Suta at Naimisaranya.  The next three chapters describe the interaction between sage Narada and Bhagwan Veda Vyasa.  The last thirteen chapters prepare the groundwork for the meeting of sage Sukadeva and the great king Pareekshit.

Prabodhji started each evening’s discourse with an invocation prayer.  The absolute reality is indicated through something that we can relate to, in this prayer.  This indicator is described as that ultimate source from which all creation has originated.  The invocation prayer is a salutation to that absolute reality which by itself is free from Maya.

In the first three chapters, the rishis led by sage Shaunaka ask sage Suta a series of questions about the Almighty:

• What is the essence of the Scriptures? What is the absolute good for all human beings as indicated by the Scriptures?
• Why did Lord Krishna come down to earth?
• When He came here, what did He accomplish?
• Tell us about all the avatars of the Lord.
• Please describe Krishna avatar in detail.
• When the Lord decided to depart where did dharma reside?

In answer to their questions, Sutaji describes the four pursuits in life namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.  Dharma, or performance of one’s duty, may be carried out with two attitudes: Sakama karma is that duty, which is performed to derive selfish benefits; and Nishkama karma, which are selfless actions which leads one to liberation.  Kama or desire prompted actions are performed for the sake of enjoyment.  Artha or wealth is required to satisfy kama, or Artha can be used for the sake of Dharma.  In other words, both kama and moksha give happiness, but the difference between the two is that the happiness from kama is temporary (anithya), while the enjoyment that Moksha confers is eternal (nithya).  Sage Suta states in unequivocal terms that the objective of human life is to seek liberation.  The means to achieve liberation is to listen to the Lord’s glories and to develop love for the Lord.  This results in all doubts being removed, all knots becoming untied and the ending of all accumulated karmas.

The Lord descends to the earth to destroy evil and to protect his devotees who live their lives upholding dharma. The Lord has taken 24 avatars, some of which he assumed to complete specific tasks.  But Rama avatar and Krishna avatar are complete avatars.  In reply to the last question asked by Uddhavji about what would happen to dharma when the Lord departed, the Lord replied that He would reside in verbal form in the Bhagavatam!

Bhagawan Veda Vyasa composed the Bhagavatam after having compiled the Vedas and imparting each of the four Vedas to his specific disciples.  Maharishi Romaharsha, the father of Sutaji was the recipient of the fifth Veda (the Itihasas and Puranas).  After this, Veda Vyasa also composed the Brahmasutras and the great epic Mahabharata.  Despite these stupendous achievements, Veda Vyasa did not have a sense of fulfillment.  He felt that he had not made the path to liberation achievable enough for the average person.  Predictably, sage Narada arrived there at that moment, correctly diagnosed Veda Vyasa’s condition and suggested that Vyasa sing the glories of the Lord exclusively and that the appropriate way to do so would be revealed to him through meditation.  He gently admonished Veda Vyasa by describing the lack of a scripture on devotion as a place of pilgrimage, which is visited by crows and not by swans!  Bhagawan Veda Vyasa was not sure if he would be given the divine vision to compose such an exalted scripture.  Sage Narada guaranteed him this vision, offering his own life as the proof and left!

Seated on the banks of the river Saraswathi, Veda Vyasa meditated and saw the Bhagavatam revealed to him in only four verses (Chatushloki Bhagavatam).  Then Vyasa expanded on this concise version and wrote the Mahapurana, his last composition, comprising twelve volumes or skandhas with a total of 335 chapters and over 18,000 shlokas! The Bhagavatam with its numerous stories and narrations is an exquisite tapestry where devotion and knowledge are inextricably woven together.  Vyasa sought the ideal person to impart this knowledge to.  He knew that person to be his own son Sukadeva.  Though Sukadeva was known to be a person who would not stay long in any one place, his intense and unconditional love for the Lord made it possible for him to stay and listen to the entire Bhagavatam.  The objective of all stories and narrations of the Bhagavatam is to help one develop more love for the Lord and more dispassion towards the world.

King Pareekshit’s Lineage

Sage Sukadeva imparted the knowledge of the Bhagavatam to King Pareekshit, the grandson of Arjuna, through a Sapthaha.  The impeccable lineage of King Pareekshit who was fit to receive this knowledge is illustrated through three stories. The magnanimity of Draupadi, King Pareekshit’s grandmother is revealed when she forgave Drona’s son Ashwathama even though he had mercilessly murdered all her five sons while they were asleep.  She did not want Ashwathama’s mother to experience the grief that she herself was suffering with the loss of her children! Arjuna’s unwavering faith in Lord Krishna is shown when he sang a hymn in praise of the Lord when Ashwathama aimed the Brahmastra at him.  Kunti’s devotion to the Lord is illustrated when she asked for more difficulties and sorrows so that the Lord’s presence would become necessary to solve those problems, and so she would get to see more of Him!  Such was the lineage of King Pareekshit; his family remembered the Lord at all times, when faced with sorrow, joy or even when indifferent to both as in the case of the grandsire Bheeshma who recited the beautiful Vishnu Sahasranama in praise of the Lord while lying on a bed of arrows, waiting for a vision of the Lord before giving up his body!

King Pareekshit’s birth too was a divine event.  After the Mahabharata war, when the Kauravas were vanquished, a vengeful Ashwathama aimed the terrible Brahmastra at the womb of Uttara, the widow of Abhimanyu, who was carrying Pareekshit.  Ashwathama’s intention was to wipe out the Pandava dynasty.  When Uttara sought the Lord’s protection to save her child, the Lord entered the womb of Uttara to protect the child within her.

The greatness of King Pareekshit as a righteous king is narrated through the story of the weeping cow (mother earth) and the injured bull (dharma).

Prithvi and Dharma

During one of his routine inspections of his kingdom, King Pareekshit once came upon a strange and horrific scene.  He saw a bull trying to walk on just one foot; its other three legs were broken.  He also saw a grief stricken cow that had tears streaming down her face, and worst of all, he saw a man dressed in royal clothes, hurting both the animals!  Upon enquiry he came to know that the cow was mother earth who was lamenting her fate after the departure of her beloved Lord Krishna.  The bull was Dharma whose three legs, which represent Austerity, Purity, and Compassion, were mutilated because of the conditions in the Kali yuga.  Its fourth leg, the only one left, represents Truthfulness.  The man hurting the animals represents the spirit of Kali.  Moved and outraged at the pitiable plight of Dharma, King Pareekshit healed its condition by reestablishing the four pillars of Dharma.  At the same time, he punished Kali by banishing him from the kingdom, but did not kill Kali because Kali surrendered to the king completely.  Kali asked for only four places where he could reside because every place around him belonged to King Pareekshit! King Pareekshit granted him these abodes, which were: gambling dens (representing falsehood), slaughterhouses (representing enmity), alcohol and lust.  Not satisfied, Kali asked for one more place and chose gold, which represents greed.  With the establishment of Dharma once again, mother earth was no longer anguished.  This episode is a reminder to us that it is in our hands to establish righteousness in our own lives and unless we do so consciously, values in society will deteriorate very quickly.

The Inevitable End

Despite King Pareekshit’s impeccable character and lineage, he once committed an ignoble sin for which he was cursed to die by snakebite after seven days!  While hunting in the forest one day, the mighty king got separated from his companions.  Hungry, thirsty and exhausted, he came upon a hermitage where he rushed eagerly for some rest and nourishment.  He saw an ascetic (Samik Rishi) meditating there and asked for water.  The sage, who was deep in meditation, did not hear the king.  The king felt insulted and in a fit of anger, he put a dead snake around the sage’s neck, and left the ashram.  The sage’s son who returned to the ashram shortly thereafter, saw the gruesome sight, learned what had happened, and cursed the king that he would die from the Takshaka snake’s bite in exactly seven days.

Upon returning to the palace, the king was overcome with remorse and prayed for swift retribution for his deed.  When news reached him about the curse that he had incurred, the king was relieved that he now had the opportunity to achieve Vairagya or dispassion!  He promptly gave up his kingdom and all his relations and left for the banks of the Ganges to await his death.  The king’s amazing reaction to the curse attracted the attention of great saints and sages who gathered around him near the Ganges.  Sage Sukadeva was the last one to arrive there.  King Pareekshit understood the honor that was bestowed upon him by the mere presence of the great sage.  He asked sage Sukadeva numerous questions about the Lord and his stories, knowing that the greatest merit a dying man can acquire is to think of the Lord right up to the end.  It is in response to those questions that King Pareekshit got to listen to the Bhagavata Purana in the form of a Sapthaha. Exulting in the Self Knowledge that he received from sage Sukadeva, King Pareekshit gave up his body without any qualms on the seventh day, as predicted in the curse.

In symbolic terms, we are all Pareekshits too.  We too will die sometime between Sunday and Saturday (seven days!).  This is what makes the Bhagavatam so universal and relevant.  With bhakti and satsang, we too can overcome our obstacles and achieve greatness, even at the time of death!

Hari Om!