With the eyes closed, invoke to evoke.
Shri Shuka said, “Now came the most auspicious and favorable time, when the star Rohini was ascendant and all the other stars and planets were in a beneficent disposition. Peaceful silence reigned in all the quarters. The stars were shining clearly in the sky. All the villages, cowherd settlements, mining quarries, saw the dawn of a prosperous era. The rivers flowed with placid water, and the tanks were full of lotus blossoms, the woodlands were resonant with the chirping of fluttering birds, and the buzzing of bees from trees and creepers heavy laden with flowers. Soft blew the breeze, dust free and fragrant and gently glowed the fires in the sacrificial hearths of the holy. Except in the minds of evil ones like Kamsa, the minds of all good humans felt peace within. In the heavens, the kettledrums of the celestial sounded announcing the imminent birth of the Lord who has no birth. The Kinnaras and Gandharvas said, Sidhas and Charanas hymn, the Vidyadharas and Apsaras joyously danced, the munis together with the devas showered flowers with delight and the clouds roared gently in tune with the ocean. At such a time, in the pitch darkness of midnight, Maha-Vishnu the resident in the hearts of all, was born of the divinely beautiful Devaki, like the full moon rising on the Eastern Horizon. Lotus eyed, four armed, sporting the conch, mace and other weapons, with the luminous Srivatsa mark on the chest and the shining Kaustuba on his neck, wearing a yellow cloth and possessed of the majesty and grace of a heavy rain cloud with locks gleaming with the lustre of the diadem, and earrings studded with precious stones, bedecked with splendorous ornaments like bracelets, armlets and waist girdle. Such was the luminous form of the unique child that greeted Vasudeva’s vision”, or our vision.
Let us open our eyes now. Where did we feel Bhagavan Krishna was being born? In a jungle, in a shack with hay? We felt Him in every part of our being. Our course is intentionally called Vedanta in Bhagavata. Veda means to know, anta means within or inside and Bhagavata is another word for Bhagavan — To know within oneself, or to know oneself as Bhagavan.
This birth is not the birth of ‘The Bhagavan Krishna’, but it’s the birth of “THE BHAGAVAN KRISHNA”. Bhagavan Krishna is an Avatara of Maha-Vishnu. For those who have studied Bhagavad Gita, the logic of an avatara is one who restores balance. When adharma grows and dharma shrinks, Bhagavan comes to balance. In the ninth skanda, when Bhagavan Krishna’s Avatara was being introduced, the logic of His Avatara was grace. Why did He manifest? Simply to grace us, to bless us, to help us. What we reflected on last week, in the tenth skanda, the logic of Bhagavan’s Avatara is to guide. To guide Mother Earth through these Asuras who have disguised themselves as leaders — a variety of reasons why Bhagavan manifests. If we go back into Bhagavata, Jaya and Vijaya, the guards of Bhagavan Narayana were cursed to become Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha, to become Ravana and Kumbhakarna, to become Dantavaktra and Shishupala. And we observe that with every birth, they became weaker. In the Mahabharata, Danatavaktra and Shishupala hardly did anything. They did much more as Ravana and Kumbakarna and the most as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. This shows their evolution from vices to virtues, and finally they went back to be with Bhagavan.
In terms of Kamsa, when he is told that the eighth child of his sister would kill him, where did he see and feel Bhagavan? Everywhere! This is a very powerful sentiment, and it shows he is an aastika or theist. Nastika is an atheist. We are only afraid of what we believe to be real, and it shows how much of an aastika Kamsa is.
We read about Bhagavan’s birth and now again we listened to it again. Whatever is inside of us will come outside. That is why we are investing in what is inside of us and not in what is outside of us. And don’t we feel richer inside? Bhagavan Krishna is the inside! And whatever is inside will come outside, and we get to hear about the birds and the bees and the clouds and we will explore more of the details.
Skanda 10:3:45: This is Bhagavan Narayana as Bhagavan Krishna speaking to His parents, Shri Vasudeva and Shrimati Devaki. “You have this feeling that I am your son, but know that I am not just your son, I am Brahma. I am Brahman. I am Infinite and I have come about to bring about this bhaava. If you think of Me like this, you will come to Me. This goal is paraam or the highest”.
When Bhagavan Krishna was born, He was born as what we see in our icons, with four hands, with a conch, lotus, etc… Though our children feel like Bhagavan, they don’t look like Bhagavan. Shri Vasudeva and Shrimati Devaki know that this is Bhagavan. And they are holding this infant, and Vasudeva says “You are the cause of all these effects, but these effects can never know that You are the cause”.
There is deep Vedanta here. Can our ears taste strawberry ice cream? Can our tongue hear Vedanta in Bhagavata? These effects have a very limited scope with other effects. Even the mind and intellect cannot know the cause. The implication of this statement is for us to let go of logic and to hold onto faith. We are in the portion of Shrimad Bhagavata that is even beyond faith, and that is trust — Ashraya.
Shrimati Devaki tells her infant, “Forever, the serpent of death has been chasing us, now in the form of myr brother Kamsa, so close to biting us. But those who have found Your feet, that serpent turns away. Imagine a dog is chasing you, and then you go to another side of the fence or indoors, then the dog goes away. The serpent of death is chasing us as well and the only way to stop this is to find His feet.
Bhagavan Narayana explains to them why He is born to them. He says, in the past, they were Prishni and Sutapa and that He has been born to them many times, but they never knew Him as God. So now He is manifesting His divinity in a most overt way so that they realize that He is God. This is Vedanta, and it doesn’t need any more explanation. Everything we experience is divinity, but we keep using our eyes, not our vision. Then Bhagavan Narayana turns into an ordinary infant, and He starts to cry.
Bhagavan Krishna then summons Devi Yogamaya and says to her, “In Gokula, Devi Yashoda just gave birth to a child. He asks her to go and be that child”. So as she leaves, the guards go to sleep, the locks in the prison all open up. Then as Vasudeva is holding Bhagavan on his head, Adi Sesha (Shri Lakshmana or Shri Balarama) appears and has his hoods over Bhagavan Krishna protecting Him from rain. When they arrive at the Yamuna, the Yamuna parts, like the ocean allowed Bhagavan Rama to cross.
In the stories, where the river doesn’t part, it keeps rising, and rises just enough to touch Bhagavan Krishna’s feet that are hanging outside the basket. Bhagavan just gently hangs His toe until His father’s nose mark, and the Yamuna rises just enough to touch His feet. So the serpent of death goes away, as soon as it finds the feet of Bhagavan.
When Vasudeva arrives at Devi Yashoda’s home, he switches the infants and takes Devi Yogamaya with him. Some of us may think — Didn’t Devi Yashoda know if she had a boy or a girl? She may have been tired and probably didn’t care if it was a boy or a girl as long as the baby was healthy. Then Vasudeva returns with Devi Yogamaya.
Vedanta: So much of what has come into Devi Devaki and Vasudeva’s lives, they did not ask for that. Such a noble couple, and the hardships that they had to endure! The sign of someone who is wise is that whatever comes to them, asked or unasked, they are cheerful. And that seems very difficult to practice. But how we can practice is by adapting to whatever comes our way and growing from it. No worldly perspective will ever help us understand cheerfully what comes to us asked or unasked. This demands a spiritual or vedantic perspective. And a fine display of this is Prince Arjuna. When Prince Arjuna expresses his difficulties, what is the first message that Bhagavan Krishna gives him? Know vastness. Know that we are Infinite and that we are getting lost in the finite. Prince Arjuna has difficulty internalizing this, so Bhagavan Krishna comes down a perspective and asks him to Know change. He tells Arjuna that his thoughts are revolving around life and death, and since he knows everything changes, so life and death should be taken less seriously. So Know Change. Prince Arjuna is still having trouble, so Bhagavan comes down yet another perspective, but does not go lower than this. He says Know Responsibility and that what he has to do is his responsibility.
We should adapt and know that whatever has happened in our life, will happen and is happening in our life, is for our development. This makes us more responsible and more insightful about change. Finally we feel our infinitude. Know the Acronym VCR — Know Vastness, Know Change, Know Responsibility. That is the only perspective that will allow us to go through our difficulties.
Skanda 10:4:39 — Rishi Shuka is speaking to Raja Parikshita and who is Raja Parikshita secretly? It’s us or anyone who is inquiring. Pariksha means examine. That person is Parikshita, one who is inquiring. Not just someone who is dying as death is a given.
The foundation of Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism is Bhagavan Narayana. How does one live Sanatana Dharma? Through following, protecting Brahma. Brahma means devas in a literal sense, but means creation. Wherever Brahma is, that is where creation is. So to follow and further creation.
Go — creation expresses in a very functional way as cows or animals
Vipra — more evolved humans, in this case those who study and share the Veda.
Tapa, Yajna, Dakshina — Tapa means to grow into this, Yajna means to be dedicated to this and Dakshina means to support this.
Coming back to our Katha, when Devi Yogamaya is in the hands of Vasudeva and Devi Devaki, that infant starts crying and the guards wake up and run to Kamsa to tell him that the eighth child is born. And he runs there in a daze and is shaking out of fear and anger. He grabs the infant by the legs and is about to smash that infant on the stone ground, but the infant comes out of his hands and Devi Yogamaya laughs and calls him a Fool and says ‘I’m not the eighth child’, and that she was the sister of the eighth child and that the eighth child is already freed. She tells him to go search for his death. Then says that she was going to manifest in all Holy places — what it means is that maya was going to be the knowledge, to be the servant of Bhagavan. Generally the way we live, Bhagavan is the servant to Maya. But when we go on a yatra or to an ashram, don’t we feel that Maya is quieter, and that Maya is controlled by its owner?
Now Kamsa has a dialogue with Vasudeva and Devaki and he says to them, that birth and death are due to one’s karma. This is Kamsa who is telling the parents of the kids he just killed, to not be sad. He says it’s their karma and that just like pots are made and broken nothing happens to the mud, so too nothing has happened to their children. They are mud. But these parents are so great, that even after they are released, they hold no negativity towards Kamsa.
Shrimati Devaki is an icon of Sanatana Dharma, in that it is facilitated by Yajna or dedication. She hears the voice that she would give birth to eight children, and also hears Kamsa say he would kill them. These are not accidental births or miscarriages. She consciously has all these children even though she knows they will be killed as she is dedicated to the eighth child, that will support Sanatana Dharma.
After they are released, Kamsa goes to his ministers and asks what they should do. So they decide to stop Sanatana Dharma and he specifically instructs all these Asuras who are shape shifters to go and kill all infants. And they are excited about this.
Now going to Gokula or Vrajabhumi where Shriman Nanda lives. He sees his infant, the factual Bhagavan Krishna and is feeling so grateful, that he just starts to express generosity.
Vivekji, shared an interesting passage:
- Objects gain purity by the passage of time
- Bodies gain purity by bathing and rubbing
- Places become pure by cleaning
- Egos become pure by disciplines
- Senses become pure by austerity or tapa
- Rituals or karma becomes pure by sacrifices or yajna
- Wealth becomes pure by gifts or dakshina
- Mind becomes pure by Peace or Shanti
We have all of this and know how to make all of it pure. In Shriman Nandas case he is distributing his wealth, since he is feeling that purity within and is spreading that purity.
Vedanta:
In the ninth skanda, Vivekji shared that Bhagavan was born to grace us and in the Tenth skanda to Guide us. When we try to search for this divinity just like these Asuras are, we feel the pressure or weight of negativity or vices. Because Bhagavan Krishna was born, all these Asuras came out. When we start to search for the divinity inside of us, we too will start to see all this negativity come out. They are like shape shifters as well, as sometimes we justify our anger, sometimes we are proud of our jealousy. Never give up. This is the message we get from Bhagavan Krishna’s life and these Asuras as well. They never give up. When did Ravana give up, when he didn’t have any option but to give up. We should always strive to have that feeling of surrender.
The only one who can control maya is Bhagavan. Nothing in the world can help us with Maya, because the world is Maya. When we work with or through Maya, doing so helps us to find Bhagavan. Yogamaya herself said she was going to holy places. So there are ways out of Maya. The guru shishya parampara is an example. Yogamaya tells Kamsa that his death has been born, so he went to find his death. And all the Asuras that followed as well. When we start to find our way out of Maya, all of the negativities or vices will come out, so tapa or endure. Stamina is required for enlightenment.
Puta means dirty, impure. Na means not. What did Bhagavan Krishna do to Putana? He established the Na of her Puta. We too have to be the same way.
Discussion: What has been the most difficult experience in your life that you have endured?
Vivekji shared that a friend he went to school with just committed suicide. He was a jovial friend. About how difficult living is and how it creates more difficulties. No worldly perspective will let us be cheerful when going through any difficult situation. We should know vastness, change and responsibility.