ViBha Class Notes – November 19, 2023

We are taught by those who are wise that we should use samsara to reach Bhagavan, that we should use society to reach Divinity. If we pause and reflect, is this really the sequence that we follow? For most of us, we use Bhagavan to reach samsara – more pleasure, more possession, more position, instead of us being freed from depending on pleasure, possession and position. Vedanta in Bhagavata is a course, a program, to reorient how we are using our experiences and opportunities, not for more samsara, but for more Bhagavan, more Divinity. This course is sharing what is obvious to all of us, but quite often we are oblivious to what is obvious. So, we are trying to see what is obvious, so we can live accordingly.

Those who thrive on being an intellectual are really those who deflect or escape. Such a way to live does not help us to be happy. Whenever someone offers us feedback that can help us to grow, if we intellectualize, deflect or escape from this, then we will not grow into happiness. This is why having a Bhakti course in our lives is critical, so that we can shift from this being intellectual to this being feeling oriented – from deflection to reflection, from escaping to embracing. 

We are in Skanda 12, the final section of Shrimad Bhagavata, and we are in Chapter 12 the second last chapter. In this chapter, Rshi Ugrashava is reviewing Shrimad Bhagavata. Raja Shaunaka’s questions have been asked, and have been answered, and this is like a summary slide of a presentation. We have been flowing through Bhagavata since January 2019 and our review matches this review, but we are taking this at a slower pace. Vivekji will be sharing a total of 54 points from 13 sections of the Bhagavata, the Mahatmya being one section. So 4 points per section will be shared and an additional two points from Skanda 10 which is on Bhagavan Krshna, as it is the heart of Shrimad Bhagavata.

Thus far, in our month-long review, we have reviewed Section 0, which is the Mahatmya in Sansktam, meaning glory. When we know that the Bhagavata is glorious, we will respect it more and receive it more. We have completed reviewing Section 1, which is  Adhikari or disciple. Raja Parikshita is an ideal disciple who is constantly reflecting and that one moment when he didn’t reflect, that led to his death. But even as he was dying, he reflected even more. What an icon of aging gracefully!

We completed reviewing Section 2 which is on Sadhana or discipline and The discipline is Contemplation – To contemplate that We Are Divinity, for us to feel Aham Brahma Asmi – I Infinity Am. 

Now we come to Section 3. Here are some highlights – 

1. The 3^rd section is on Sarga or Creation – basic creation, fundamental creation. In Chapter 12, Verse 9, the contents of the whole 3^rd section is reviewed. In this verse, Rshi Ugrashava is sharing with Raja Shaunaka – 

Skanda 12:12:9 –

tataḥ prākṛtikaḥ sargaḥ
sapta vaikṛtikāś ca ye
tato brahmāṇḍa-sambhūtir
vairājaḥ puruṣo yataḥ

The creation, affected by the agitation of the modes of material nature, the seven stages of evolution by elemental transformation, and construction of the universal egg, from which arises the universal form of the Supreme Lord — all these are thoroughly described.

What is the Cosmic Egg? The Brahmanda. What is the agitation of the material modes? The Gunas. 

2. In this section, one of the first negative personalities we come across is Hiranyaksha. Hiranya means gold and aksha is eyes – the one whose eyes are always on gold or materialism. He is very bad for the Earth, like an icon of negative climate change. The one who corrects this negativity is Bhagavan Varaha who goes to the center of creation to uplift the Earth. He is an icon of positive climate change. He is very good for the Earth. 

3. Another highlight of this section is – Who is Hiranyaksha? This is the whole story of Jaya and Vijaya who are close companions of Bhagavan Narayana and how for a moment they stopped reflecting on what their responsibility in life is, which is to serve, and they started to act in a prideful and egotistical way. Naturally, they had to be corrected. So, Jaya and Vijaya kept on incarnating in ways where they could learn to not be prideful or egotistical. For us to personalize this, Jaya is the body and Vijaya is the mind. Our body and mind are to serve Divinity and not be the doer in reference to Divinity. Jaya and Vijaya incarnated three times as:

• Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu
• Kumbhakarana and Ravana
• Dantavaktra and Shishupala

What is special is that there is so much love for Jaya and Vijaya. Who cursed Jaya and Vijaya? The Sanata Kumaras, and they felt so bad that they also incarnated. They incarnated as Prahalada. They incarnated as Vibheeshana. They were always there to help these pairs of negative personalities. 

4. The final highlight is an amazing dialog between Rshi Kapila and his Mother, Devi Devahuti. What is beautiful here is that more important than a familial relationship is a spiritual relationship. Our family relationships may fray while we are alive, and when we pass away, they will definitely end, but a spiritual relationship will neither fray nor end. Vivekji has shared many times that over the past 5 years, he has met Swami Tejomayananda only once, but that their relationship is now brighter than when he was living with him at Sandeepany. Rshi Kapila teaches his mother about Sankhya. The essence of Sankhya is that Purusha and Prakriti are different, that Spirit and matter are different. He provides a system. When teachings are systematic, they become clearer to us. 

Next we come to Section 4. Some highlights are – 

1. The 4^th section of Bhagavata is called Visarga or Diversification – when creation starts to diversify, it becomes a special creation. Creation of the elements, then the elements combine and permutate to become more. What is contained in the 4^th section? 

Skanda 12:12:14 –

nava-brahma-samutpattir
dakṣa-yajña-vināśanam
dhruvasya caritaṁ paścāt
pṛthoḥ prācīnabarhiṣaḥ

Also described are the children of the nine great Brahmanas, the destruction of Daksha’s sacrifice and the history of Dhruva Maharaja, followed by the histories of King Prithu and King Prachinabarhi, as well as the discussion between Prachinabarhi and Narada and so on.

In this verse, four distinct names are given. We have lots of details on Daksha, Dhruva, Prithu, and Prachinabarhi in this chapter. 

2. The 4^th section describes the Purusharthas. The whole structure of the 4^th section revolves around the purposes in life. How do we know what our purpose is? We know our purpose – when we complete that purpose, we have no other purpose. How do we know we have reached our destination? We turn our GPS off. So even though our scriptures talk about having four purposes, there is only really one purpose and that one purpose is Moksha or freedom. The other three purposes are to align or direct us to that freedom. In this section, there is a confusion amongst these four personalities about purpose, but by the intervention of the Divine, they become clear about purpose. These four personalities are Daksha – his katha is about Dharma; then Dhruva – his katha is about Artha or possession; then we have Prithu – his katha is about Kama or pleasure, and finally we have Prachinabarhi who is also known as Puranjana and his katha relates to Moksha or Peace. This is a very simple section.

So the first highlight is about Diversification and the second highlight is on Purpose. 

3. The third highlight is about Raja Prithu. Raja Prithu’s daughter is Prithvi. Who did Raja Prithu come out of? He came out of Vena, one of the worst personalities in all of Bhagavata. From Vena came Prithu, but we can even find the positive from the most negative. Raja Prithu was a humble leader. He led himself and in doing so, he led others. He shared that a humble leader has three responsibilities. We should try to remember these as we go about leading others –

– Provide ease – Typically provide safety, but better is to help others feel at ease, allow others to be themselves around us 

– Provide employment – For us, all who are included should not just feel included through emotions, but also through actions. That is why everyone who comes to Chinmaya Mission should do some seva. Someone should vacuum, someone should clean, someone should put up the flag, someone should teach, and so on.

– Provide education – A humble leader should facilitate education. The education being referred to here is not IQ, but EQ, SQ. All of us inevitably have got an IQ, but here we are learning the Bhagavata as we realize that SQ is more valuable. For example, on college campuses, instead of facilitating more academics, more socializing, even more culture like Garba, Sanskrtam, one should facilitate more self-development as that’s what college students need – more reading groups,  writing groups. When Raja Prithu is talking about education, that is what he is referring to. 

4. The final highlight from this section is for our Karma to lead us to Jnana. A lot of us engage in rituals, but it doesn’t make us more spiritual. If what we are doing is not helping us to know ourselves, then we have mixed up the means and the ends. So a simple way to internalize this is – we know that we are growing from karma to jnana if we become more of a long term thinker. 

Now we come to Section 5. 

Skanda 12:12:15 –  

nāradasya ca saṁvādas
tataḥ praiyavrataṁ dvijāḥ
nābhes tato ’nucaritam
ṛṣabhasya bharatasya ca

The life of Maharaja Priyavrata is shared. Then, O brāhmaṇas, the Bhāgavatam tells of the character and activities of King Nābhi, Lord Ṛṣabha and King Bharata. 

Here are some highlights – 

1. This 5^th section focuses on Sthana or Position. The 3^rd section is on basic creation, the 4^th section is on special creation and the 5^th section is on human creation. It is creation whereby humans can live and thrive. 

2. The personality we are introduced to right at the beginning of this section is Rshabha, also popularly  known as Rshabhadeva, an incarnation of Bhagavan Narayana. He was an ideal householder and renunciate, the one who used to keep a stone in his mouth as he would have to be more careful when speaking and when eating. And he had a son called Bharata and he was so great that the country he lived in came to be known as Bhaarata. It is from Rshabha to Bharata to Bhaarata. What is unique about Bharata, unlike his father Rshabha who was already perfect, Bharata made mistakes. One of his most significant mistakes was that he got attached to a deer. So he was called Jada Bharata, the one who was attached to that which is not important. But he learned not to be attached, so he too became perfect. For us, it is important to know of such personalities to learn that we are not born perfect, but through practice we can be. 

3. The third highlight from this section is – there are many details about the waters of this multiverse, about the lands of this multiverse, specifically Earth, and what we can reflect on from this is that our multiverse and Earth is well designed. The tectonic plates, the height of Mt. Everest, the fact that we can survive on water and breathe oxygen, is all well designed. If we know that an entity is well designed, don’t we take care of it much better? Do we feel the same way about our own world, about our own Earth? 

4. The fourth highlight is about position. It is not just the Earth’s position in the solar system and in the multiverse, but what is beneath the Earth’s surface. It is Naraka or hell. Here is a list of different hells, from closest to farthest – Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Talatala, Mahatala, Rasatala, Patala. 

Next we come to Section 6. Some highlights are –

1. Section 6 is called Poshana – Grace. This is one of Vivekji’s favorite sections as the people in this section do not deserve Grace, but they got it anyway. Vivekji does not feel that he deserves the Grace he has, but he got it anyways. 

Skanda 12:12:17 –

dakṣa-janma pracetobhyas
tat-putrīṇāṁ ca santatiḥ
yato devāsura-narās

Tiryaṅ-naga-khagādayaḥ

The rebirth of Prajāpati Dakṣa as the son of the Pracetās, the progeny of Dakṣa’s daughters, who initiated the races of the Semigods, demons, human beings, animals, serpents, birds and so on — all of this is described in this section.

2. Another word for Poshana or Grace is Krpa or Anugraha. How does Grace come into our lives? Nigraha. The more we live by discipline, the more we will find our life becomes easy. The more undisciplined we are, the harder life becomes. The way that we can initiate this flow of Grace, it starts with Svakrpa. When we start to live by discipline, we are gracing ourselves, which then triggers Sadguru Krpa. If we are a great disciple, our Master will give us more opportunities, which initiates Shastra Krpa. The closer we are to our Guide, the closer we become to our Map also, which then initiates Bhagavan’s Krpa or Ishwara Krpa – God’s Grace. When we engage in our own discipline, Grace flows into our lives. Another distinction between Krpa and Anugraha in this section – Krpa is general Grace and Anugraha is specific Grace. When we engage in specific disciplines, our lives in general will become easier. 

3. The next highlight in this section is the personality who didn’t deserve Grace, but got Grace – Ajamila. As Ajamila was dying, he uttered Narayana, and who came to help him? Narayana. Another personality is Vrtra. Pujya Swami Tejomayananda’s most favorite part of Shrimad Bhagavata is when Vrtra, an Asura, is speaking to Indra, a Sura, saying – Come and kill me. By killing me, you will get pleasure, possession, position, but I will get peace, that you will get Bhagavan’s army and I will get Bhagavan. What is special about Ajamila and Vrtra is that Ajamila used Bhagavan’s nama and Vrtra used Bhagavan’s rupa. On the battlefield, Vrtra was amazed by Bhagavan’s rupa. How we can learn from this is – Most of us who take a medicine do not know the composition of the medicine and how it works. It still works however. That is like Bhagavan’s nama and rupa. We may not know how it works, but it works, so take it. Take it recklessly! 

4. The final highlight in the last portion of this section is Raja Chitraketu. Do we all remember him and his infant who was poisoned? His infant was poisoned and they were all at the funeral. He then asked Rshi Angiras and Rshi Narada to pull back the Jivatvam or the ego of his infant who was dead. They cautioned him about wanting to interact with this Jiva and in his attachment he said Yes. So this Jiva came out of the body and Raja Chitraketu said – My son, why have you left me? I’m your father. And this Jiva said – Which father are you? This Jiva has had millions and billions of fathers, and that really put Raja Chitraketu in his place. We tend to think that we are the most important person in another person’s life – that is attachment. In this dialog, what Raja Chitraketu learned and hopefully we are learning is to not be attached as it doesn’t make sense to be attached. This body we have, even if we are 70 years old, we have had ten of the same bodies. Now if we start putting in lifetimes, we have had billions of bodies. So, being attached to it doesn’t make sense. 

The next section is on Uti or Nature which we will start to review at our next class on Sunday, December 3^rd. 

Discussion: What are noticeable differences between those who feel Bhakti and those who do not? 

• Vivekji shared that one who is following Bhakti does not ask – Why me? Asking such a question implies that they know more and Bhagavan knows less, and that there is a miscalculation there. Others shared that those who follow Bhakti are more collected. As Bhakti is depending on Bhagavan, they are not scattered here and there. Some shared that such bhaktas follow Hari Ichcha, so they do not complain about anything, especially when things do not go according to plan. Some others shared that they are more serene and humble. They make those around them more comfortable. They are more accepting. They are content and they are at peace. 

RAW: Every day for 30 minutes reflect and/or contemplate on – There is no creation. Let go and just be.