ViBha Class Notes: March 20, 2022
Karma Yoga has the purpose to quieten the mind. Jnana Yoga has the purpose to still the intellect. Dhyana Yoga has the purpose to silence the ego. In our course, Jnana is replaced by Bhakti. Bhakti Yoga is to know Bhagavan. Dhyana Yoga remains the same in terms of purpose, that is to silence the ego, but this is felt differently by a Bhakta. It is to surrender the Bhakta. So in Dhyana Yoga that is backed by Bhakti, we are surrendering the Bhakta, surrendering not just the bad like negative thoughts, the past actions, but we are surrendering the good also, like our sattvik intellect, our desire for freedom. In Vedanta in Bhagavata, the trajectory is for Dhyana, to surrender.
This is most acute when one experiences the tenth Saknada which is on Ashraya. One trusts Bhagavan so that one can surrender the Bhakta, surrender oneself. In Bhagavata circles, there is a saying – Dashamasya Vishudhyartham Navanam Iha Lakshanam.
Dashamasya – for the tenth Skanda
Vishudhyartham – to ensure this is very clear
Navanam Iha Lakshanam – are there the previous nine Skandas
The first nine Skandas are all preparation, pointing to the tenth Skanda. Keeping this insight in mind, here is a review of the entire tenth Skanda, in sections of ten chapters essentially. We began the tenth Skanda on September 13, 2020.
Chapters 1-9 – The highlight of these chapters is when Bhagavan Krshna’s presence is announced. All come to know through the Akashvani that Bhagavan Krshna is going to be born, and shortly after He manifests (we have to be careful not to limit the word born to a birth like ours). Sadly for Bhagavan Krshna, as soon as He becomes active, many try to deactivate Him, try to kill Him, starting with Putana. But what does Bhagavan Krshna do to her? He makes her pure. In these Chapters, Bhagavan also assumes another name we love – Damodara, the one whose udara or the stomach region Devi Yashoda tries to tie with a rope, but she is always two fingers short in tying that rope. Everytime she makes the rope longer, she still falls short of two fingers each time, the implication being – that’s how dvaita is. Duality will always feel short, and will always make us feel incomplete. So what should we do? We should be disciplined with all.
Chapters 10-19 – The highlight here is that Bhagavan Krshna leaves Gokula to go to Vrindavana. He lived in Gokula until He was around three years old, and now He moves to Vrindavana. It was too dangerous to live in Gokula as so many were trying to kill Him. Another highlight is Bhagavan Brahma being insecure because of Bhagavan Krshna. Bhagavan Brahma thinks he is the Creator, not realizing that his boss, Bhagavan Krshna is now in creation. We also navigated through Bhagavan Krshna’s experience with Kalia, this poisonous being. Kalia symbolizes cruelty, and the antidote for cruelty is compassion. One practices compassion by having a passion to help others. Though compassion is a beautiful quality, people don’t know how to practice this. Understanding this better in the context of the Holi festival, Holi is a day to analyze ourselves. Are we Holika or are we Prahalada? Holika is one who uses others, Prahalada is one who is useful to others. Holika is cruel; Prahalada is compassionate.
Chapters 20-29 – Some of the main experiences here were – Bhagavan is observing the seasons, and we also come to know of the glory of Bhagavan Krshna’s flute. Our aspiration in life is to become His flute, to empty ourselves so that we feel His breath. Another beautiful portion is about the Govardhana Parvata. Bhagavan Krshna lifts this entire mountain with His left hand, little finger and holds it for a week. The vedanta here is – Go means senses, Vardhana means to lift up. So Govardhana is to lift one’s senses up, which means to not let them fall into the world. So we need to lift our senses up from creation to the Creator.
Chapters 30-39 – In Chapter 29, the brink of this section, begins the Rasa Pancha Adhyayayih, which means the five chapters that focus on the Raasa or Rasa or Joy.
Chapter 29 – Pranaya Gita is explored.
Chapter 30 – Aradhitah – Bhagavati Radha is indicated. Her name is not used in Bhagavata, but the specific word Aradhitah, which means the one who worships, the one who loves Bhagavan Krshna, is described.
Chapter 31 – Gopi Gita
Chapter 32 – Saantva, where this longing for Bhagavan Krshna is settled and there is shanta.
Chapter 33 – The Leela
Here is more context to the importance of these five chapters. The Gopi Gita in Chapter 31 symbolizes Mumukshutva, the desire for desirelessness. Chapter 32 symbolizes Moksha as once we experience desirelessness, that is freedom, Independent Joy. And Chapter 33 symbolizes Bhakti. In Bhagavata, there is only purushartha which is Bhakti. The previous four Purusharthas – Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha – facilitate Bhakti.
Looking at this in one more way – The tenth Skanda is known as the Hrdaya or the Heart of Bhagavata. In this heart, these five chapters are known as the Prana. What the heart depends on is blood, and this is the blood of the heart. Within the five Pranas, Chapter 31 is the Udana shakti. Udana is that part of our physiological system that helps us take up another body. Layering it with vedanta, it is that Mumukshutva. Our intense desire for desirelessness changes our life. If we don’t have that intensity, our life doesn’t change. These are an amazing ten chapters that we experienced.
Chapters 40-49 – In Chapter 39, Bhagavan Krshna moves to Mathura. He lived in Vrindavana from around the ages of four to six. Then, they moved again to Nanda Grama, and He lived there from the ages of six to twelve. And then He moves to Mathura when He is twelve years old. This ends the childhood of Bhagavan Krshna, and begins His adulthood. In this section, He also defeats Kamsa, the first asura mentioned in this Skanda, even before Bhagavan Krshna was born. Also in this section, Bhagavan Krshna sends Uddhava to Vrindavana to be with the Gopis, and He sends Akrura, His uncle, to Hastinapura to be with the Pandavas. This showed us how Bhagavan Krshna’s responsibilities were growing and He had started to delegate. We can relate to so much in terms of Bhagavan Krshana.
This completed our first year of study of the tenth Skanda. We began exploring the next section, Chapters 50-59, on September 12, 2021.
Chapters 50-59 – What is unique about this section is that Bhagavan Krshna has His vivaha with Devi Rukmini, His first Devi, and His first child is Pradyumna. Also in these Chapters, Bhagavan’s vivahas to seven other Devis are also mentioned (in the order they are married) – to Devi Jambavati, Devi Satyabhama, Devi Kalindi, Devi Mitravinda, Devi Nagnajeeti, Devi Bhadra, and Devi Lakshmanaa. This section is completed with Bhagavan Krshna defeating Mura, and He comes to be known as Murari, the one who feels Bhagavan Krshna is his enemy. Bhagavan Krshna does not feel that Mura is His enemy, but it is the other way around. Then Bhagavan Krshna goes on to defeat Bhauma Asura, who is popularly known as Narakasura, which we celebrate during Deepavali. And Bhagavan Krshna marries sixteen thousand more Devis.
Chapters 60-69 – In Chapter 60, Bhagavan Krshna tests Devi Rukmini. He shares with her that she made a mistake by marrying Him. He goes on to share that there are so many more Princes who are richer than Him, better looking than Him, but Devi Rukmini is unshaken. Nengate – no flickering! That was a really love-filled portion. In this section, we also meet our favorite, Paundraka, who thinks “fake it until you make it” with the fake arms and the fake discus, which works in the world, but does not work with enlightenment! And there was a lot of completion in these Chapters. We are describing this as completion because if we just follow Bhagavan Krshna’s day, we will feel Bhagavan Krshna. Bhagavan Krshna’s Dinacharya is described in Chapters 69-70. Bhagavan Krshna’s day flows through Dhyana, Dama, Daana, Dharma – in English translated as Contemplation, Conversation, Contribution, Concentration.
Chapter 70-79 – Bhagavan Krshna continues to defeat Jarasandha, a powerful personality. Then He defeats Shishupala and Dantavaktra. If we recollect, a lot of Bhagavata relates to Jaya and Vijaya who continue to take reincarnations that are over with Shishupala and Dantavaktra. Then in these Chapters, Duryodhana’s fall is highlighted. Where he thinks there is water, there is land and where he thinks there is land, there is water. And everyone starts laughing at Duryodhana, especially Bhagavan Krshna, but this is how He facilitates His leela! It is Raja Yudhishthira who is most upset. He is a truly dharmik personality in Bhagavata.
Chapters 80-89 – In these Chapters, there is a very special portion about Shridama, commonly known as Sudama. Shri and Su are synonymous with each other, meaning noble. The vedanta of this portion is that we all have a choice to make – we can either choose Bhagavan or bhagya. Sudama chooses Bhagavan, and his wife chooses bhagya. The choice is always between Peace and prosperity, and we have to remember that prosperity excludes Peace, but Peace includes prosperity. So it should be a very obvious choice for us – to choose Bhagavan! This section of Chapters ends with great detail on love. There are a lot of interactions at Syamantapanchaka, the festival at Kurukshetra. The Devis share how much they love Bhagavan Krshna, the parents share how much they love Bhagavan Krshna, the Vedas share how much they love Bhagavan Krshna! This section ends with Bhagavan Narayana sharing how much He loves Bhagavan Krshna and Prince Arjuna and how much they love us. Bhagavan Narayana became Rishis Nara-Narayana in order to help us. Intense love is shared in this section.
Skanda ten contains ninety Chapters. Here is the last paragraph of the last Chapter –
By constant and continuous practice of hearing, singing about, and remembering the glorious deeds of the Lord, man’s devotion to Him grows day by day, and by virtue of it, he attains to the state of the Lord, overcoming the otherwise irreversible, and inevitable approach of death which engulfs all beings. It is seeking that state that kings go to the forest abandoning their kingdoms.
This last line in this last paragraph is to remind us that this dialog is between Rishi Shuka and Raja Parikshita. What condition is Raja Parikshita in? He has been told that he is going to be killed. We are all going to die, but not all of us are going to be killed, but Raja Parikshita is going to be killed and there is an active reason for his death that is going to happen. So that is why Rishi Shuka is sharing that he has done the right thing by prioritizing Bhagavan, and not bhagya (in a lighter sense), and that this will work. So the message for us too is that this is working, and that we should let it continue to work until Bhagavata Idam, when we feel we belong to Bhagavan. And the completion of that is that we will feel that He belongs to us. What is going to kill Raja Parikshita? What is going to cause us to die? Kala, and who is Bhagavan Krshna? Mahakala!
A further transition into Skanda eleven – At the end of the Mahabharata war, Bhagavan Krshna is feeling very sad seeing the millions of deaths and fires around Him, and at that time Raja Dhritarashtra and Rani Gandhari also come. Rani Gandhari is not able to handle the devastation as she is the mother of many of the children and grand-children who have died and she shares with Bhagavan Krshna – The way You have caused the death of my family, I curse You for You to experience the death of Your family. And that’s how the first Chapter of the eleventh Skanda begins. We can see how this curse is playing out in different ways, shared both in the Mahabharata and in Bhagavata.
Skanda 11:2:4 – Shri Vasudeva, Bhagavan Krshna’s father, is speaking to Rishi Narada and he says – O noble one! Your noble journey to relieve the sadness of beings, like a father does for a child that is helpless – we can relate to this more, when a parent helps his child who is helpless, but for a noble person, they do the same, but this is not based on any relationship. It is based on oneness. This relief is not just of those who are sad, but also of those who are seeking Bhagavan – for those who are searchers and for those who are seekers.
This observation from Shri Vasudeva leads into a great deal of jnana that we will begin in full measure in our next class. This verse was shared for us to feel the Presence of Bhagavan Krshna. Bhagavan Krshna’s limbs are the Shastra, and the Sadguru, and those are easily accessible to us. This means that Bhagavan Krshna is looking at us, looking after us, and Shri Vasudeva is openly stating this. Let us feel this to celebrate Holi. We keep describing Holi as the festival of colors and keep externalizing this. It should really be the festival of the colorless, that is the Presence of the Infinite, of our Original Parent, not externally, but internally.
Discussion: How is Shrimad Bhagavata helping you to become more objective?
General observations: Have faith that there is a big picture. Care for the younger generation, not just for your children. Be more foundational, that way we become more functional.
Vivekji’s observations: This discussion subject relates to the RAW from last week – to reflect on a traumatic experience, what happened in the trauma, and what has happened since then. The observation here is that Bhagavan Krshna is most detached. His whole family is going to be corrected if they become arrogant. The one who is most detached is the one who is most objective, is the one who is most helpful. The trauma happened to us because that’s Bhagavan Krshna’s way of calling us back to Him, sometimes we have to be screamed at, sometimes this is shared in a kind way.
RAW: Share one insight from Shrimad Bhagavata with another person everyday.