Vivekji started by sharing a new prayer that humanity most definitely needs today. Here’s the translation –
May the multiverse be healthy and happy.
May those who are agitated or mean be peaceful and cheerful. When we come across a mean person, there must be a root cause so may they be cheerful.
May all creatures pray for mutual Shivam, which means egolessness, for peace and mutual respect.
May our minds flow towards the Creator without the intention of getting. Our minds do flow towards the creator, but typically out of begging or out of fear. May our minds flow towards the creator as that is the only way to be Happy.
At a recent camp in Cleveland conducted by Vivekji, they studied about heroes past, present and potential. The past heroes they studied were Devi Sita and Devi Devaki, the present heroes were Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel, and the potential heroes are all of our kids.
Devi Sita is an icon of focus. And when she walked, she was always focused on Bhagavan Rama’s footsteps so that she didn’t step on them out of respect. Just once her focus shifted from Bhagavan Rama’s feet to the Golden deer. It’s not natural to see a golden deer, but when we’re distracted, strange things happen. We stop being logical. Devi Sita, however, regained her focus when Ravana captured her and never stopped chanting Ram, Ram, Ram since that distraction.
Devi Devaki is an icon of resilience. and no one has gone through more hardships than Devi Devaki. Seven of her infants were murdered, and she was informed previously that all of her eight infants would be killed. She still resiliently went through the experience with the hope that the eighth child would redeem her, would redeem all. We too should be resilient like Devi Devaki and be able to talk freely about miscarriages.
Once we go deep enough into God, we start experiencing only God in ourselves, in all humans, in all animals and plants. If we don’t go deep enough, then we don’t see God anywhere, not in ourselves, not in others. Our course is a course in long term thinking and deep thinking. The fact that we are here learning Bhagavata proves that we know there is more to life than what we are experiencing and therefore want to immerse ourselves in Bhagavata.
Our multiverse is sometimes known as a MritaAnde which means an inert shell or dead egg, till the presence of Surya Narayana enters this dead egg or shell and makes it alive, or conscious. That’s why Surya Narayana is known as Marthanda (Sun). We measure time by the Sun in Sanatana Dharma. Bhagavan Vishnu’s discus Sudarshana is also always moving and is time. The Sun’s movement also decides the nakshatras or constellations. Makara Sankranti is the change in the direction of the Sun’s movement and the days get longer. And again we will see another change in the Sun’s direction in July, when the days become shorter. The science of these details is explained in our canto on Sthana or positioning. If we’re born on earth, we have a mixture of merit and demerit. If we’re born above earth we have more punya, if we are born on earth we have a mixture of both, and if we are born below earth we have more papa, but we have to be careful in interpreting these details.
Mahabali lives in Sutala, a region below the earth. There is a story where Mahabali is being sarcastic with Indra and tells him how foolish he is to pray to Bhagavan for a geographical space. He says, “Look what I got, God is now my guard.” Mahabali is supposed to be egotistical and an Asura, but we see how thoughtful he is. The idea for us is to not be lost in comfort that heaven is comfortable and hell is uncomfortable. It’s all in our head. Indra is the most insecure person in Bhagavata and Mahabali is the most secure person. This canto ends with details on Naraka.
The original dialogue is between Rishi Shaunaka (representing us) speaking to Rishi Ugrashavas (representing our guide) about sukha prapti. Rishi Shaunaka has everything like us, but actually more than all of us combined. He knows the difference between absence of pain and the presence of peace. He wants to know how to be peaceful.
The sixth skanda is called Poshana. Pushan is one who nourishes. Poshan elaborated is Tat anugrahaha. Tat means divine, anugrahaha means to hold completely. So poshana is when Bhagavan is holding onto us tightly, but only when we are holding onto Bhagavan tightly. The sixth skanda focuses on redemption. This skanda focuses on raksha or protection. We should become more courageous as we internalise this chapter and get more clarity with the details shared in this chapter.
The difference between kripa and anugraha is that we all have kripa or general grace. Kripa is when there is an acquisition of pleasure, possessions, and position to make you independent. Augraha, on the other hand is special grace, when there is renunciation of dependency, when we don’t depend on all that we acquire. A peaceful person does not look for pleasure or fun, as they are happy where they are. Only an unhappy person needs to look for fun.
In this skanda, the two focuses are nama and rupa.The narration relating to nama is about Ajamila and the one relating to rupa is about Indra. The most moving part of Shrimad Bhagavata is in this skanda, a prayer and shlokas given by an asura, Ritra Asura. He is saying to Indra that he knows Bhagavan is in front of him, and his longing for Bhagavan to take his life away. We least expect to get such a deep message of Bhagavata from an asura on a battlefield, but why not? We are also on a battlefield; the weather is our battlefield. We are all asuras as well, to an extent, and one extent is relating to how late we stay up.
The fifth skanda ends with Raja Parikshita worried about naraka. When we’re a papi, we should feel remorse and engage in prayashchita or atonement. Prayashchita is when our mind is so disciplined that we do not make the mistake again, just like Mother Sita. When we are remorseful, we reconcile our experience and evolve.
Yama’s messengers are asking Yama, how for someone like Ajamila, a lusty personality, Bhagavan Narayana’s messengers have come to save him. When someone chants out ‘Na ra ya na’, then all their impurities are cleared and that’s how Ajamila is saved.
Ajamila is born a Brahmana and one day as he is walking to collect flowers for his puja, he sees a merchant go into the jungle with a prostitute and they seem happy. When he comes back to his house, all he can think about is how happy that man is. He is not thinking about his own grace or his own wife, and is only thinking about that prostitute. As you think, so you develop. So one day, he kicks his wife out of his house and starts being nice to the prostitute and brings her to live in his house and eventually they have a child. He goes from someone who is worshipping God to someone who is worshipping his senses.
One day a wandering sadhu looking for food in Ajamila’s village, asks the villagers who is known for their charity in that village and they sarcastically say Ajamila.So The Sadhu goes to the house. Ajamila is out at that time and the sadhu realises where he is. He sees this boy running around and asks what the boys name was, and the prostitute says that he was never given a name as there was no one wise to be at his Namakarana. It shows how poor that parenting is. Secondly, it shows that we shouldn’t give our child a casual name. A sadhu or someone wise should know the parents and know who the child will be and the name should be given accordingly. The sadhu names the child Narayana.
Ajamila living an indulgent life becomes very sick. As he is dying, he calls for his son Narayana, but becomes unconscious and goes into a coma. Yama’s messengers come to take him and find that Bhagavan Narayana’s messengers are also there to take him. So they free Ajamila and
when he remembers all of this, Ajamila mends his ways to become a Brahmana, leading a disciplined life, and goes to Haridwara and gets liberation.
What Yama’s messengers say to Bhagavan Narayana’s messengers is that Ajamila followed no Dharma, and Dharma comes from the Veda. So he had no respect or love for the scriptures. Bhagavan’s messengers say that they are right technically, but the Veda comes from Bhagavan Narayana, and Ajamila went past Dharma and Veda to the very source when he called out His name in his last moments. So Ajamila is following the Dharma and Veda and Dharma and Veda should lead to Bhagavan. We don’t need to study the Veda to be enlightened, but we should follow Dharma and Veda.
Mother Lakshmi, who feels that Bhagavan travels too much and doesn’t spend enough time with her, says to Bhagavan that Ajamila wasn’t even calling Him and that he didn’t love Him either. But Bhagavan responds, “He may not be calling Me, but I know My name.” God loves us so much that He will find any excuse to hold us tight — anugraha. Bhagavan says, ‘He doesn’t know my name, but I do. He doesn’t know what he needs, but I know what he needs.’
All we need in our life is japa. If we want to be enlightened, we should engross ourselves in Bhagavan’s japa.
Discussion: What do you have faith in? And why?
Vivekji’s thoughts: What we have faith in is perception. Why we have faith is because we don’t have faith in anything deeper. We should be more disloyal to our perception or superficial faith. We will then find the deeper faith in God or Guru.
Vivekji shared the framework for our evolution. At the beginner level, one feels divine by seeing God in a murthi. Intermediate level is to see Bhagavan in yourself. If you only see God only in a murthi, then you are just doing karmas and karmas don’t lead to Moksha. The evolution is from seeing God in yourself to seeing Bhagavan in all life around you. We are stuck in the beginner level as we keep investing in a murthi, and not in ourselves. We need to truly feel the divinity in ourselves before we can truly serve humanity. Only a happy person can help someone else be happy. Unless we see the divinity in ourselves, can we see it in others.
Vivekji’s thoughts on bringing a friend to satsanga: The greatest fortune is to have satsanga everyday, as it’s like having a Guru in one’s life. If you are truly a shishya, she or he is always in mind. The friend that brings you or introduces you to satsanga becomes your best friend.