ViBha Class Notes: December 5, 2021

The less mature we are as a seeker, the more the teaching is of kartavya karma which means we should do this because this is our responsibility. The more mature we are in general, especially as a seeker, then we evolve from kartavya karma to Bhagavata Dharma, where we are still engaged in our responsibilities, but not in the sense of “I have to do this, or I’m supposed to do this”, but rather this is an expression of love. With kartavya karma there are conditions — space, matter, time. With Bhagavata Dharma, it doesn’t matter what space, what matter or what time we are in, we feel this love and we want to express this love. And the greater our altar, the greater our joy. In a micro example when Bhagavan Hanumana’s altar was Sugreeva, he was marginally great and happy, but when Bhagavan Hanumana’s altar became Bhagavan Rama, then he became infinitely great and infinitely happy.

The vision of Vedanta in Bhagavata is to be more joyous. How? To have not a great altar, but the greatest altar. Our default altar is our personality. In Meaningful Mornings, Vivekji has described this as Vasana or Varna. If we are invoking more love or evoking more love, we then shift our love from a person to persons (family, community), greater than this — is purpose. It could be dharma or seva. But the greatest altar is Presence — Bhagavan Rama or Bhagavan Krshna, one’s nature. This is what we are trying to do class after class, year after year. In a simple way, we have to grow out of Karma Yoga and into Bhakti Yoga.

In Chapter 70, we explored the Dina or day in the life of Bhagavan Krshna. And Bhagavan’s day flowed through Dhyana, Dama, Dana and Dharma. In the most recent happiness series: Day 4 — Dhyana related to Sat, Day 3 — Dama related to Satya, Day 2 — Dana related to Sattva, Day 1 — Dharma related to Satsanga. When we live a day like Bhagavan from the frameworks shared, then we will feel the “Shad Urmayah” less. We will feel less hungry, less thirsty, when our day is filled with Satsanga, Sattva, Satya, Sat.

In Chapter 71, Rishi Narada comes to Bhagavan Krshna and shares the intention of Raja Yudhishthira to engage in the Rajasuya yajna. At the same time there is a message from a large group of kings who are suffering and they need help. So Bhagavan Krshna as Rishi Uddhava what He should do. And Rishi Uddhava shares that He should help the kings first because that is elemental to be able to engage in the Rajasuya yajna. Bhagavan Krshna nods and thanks him, saying he hadn’t thought of that. This is all Bhagavan Krshna’s graciousness to not take credit.

Once Guruji shared that the original social media was Saints like Rishi Narada, Rishi Uddhava who spread the word of Bhagavan!

In Chapter 72, the focus is on Jarasandha, the one Bhagavan Krshna defeated seventeen times and then as if lost once and then finally defeated again.

In Chapter 73, when Jarasandha was destroyed and when these kings who were rescued saw Bhagavan Krshna, they saw a vision of rain and earth mixed together. They saw Bhagavan Krshna’s blue skin as rain, and His clothes as earth — they saw nature. They used every facet of their sense organs to input more and more of Bhagavan Krshna — their hands being a part of his Hands, and in this experience they shared with Bhagavan Krshna that they would not like to be saved from Jarasandha, but be saved from samsara.

Skanda 10:73:9 — Here the prisoners, who are now free, are speaking to Bhagavan Krshna. They share that they have no resentment towards Jarasandha. They feel no sadness that he took away all their position, possessions, pleasure. Why is this? Since he was the one who brought them to Bhagavan Krshna. If there were no Jarasandha, there would be as if no Bhagavan Krhsna. This is exactly what Sugreeva says to Bhagavan Rama about Vali. Who is Sugreeva’s best friend? Vali, since he brought Bhagavan into his life.

We should reflect on this and think of all of the suffering and negativity that we have experienced, are experiencing, and will experience. Can all of this help us to remember Bhagavan? These leaders share that pleasure, possession and position in their lives had made them aviveki or indiscriminate. And in this forgetfulness, they had become competitive, fighting against each other, making it easier for Jarasandha to capture them. When we forget what is important, we become exclusive, and when we remember what is important we grow in inclusivity.

These Kings now seek Bhagavan’s grace and want His guidance to become free, not just physically, but metaphysically. Bhagavan Krshna gives amazing guidance to everyone. This is most practical. “Knowing that the body and all things which have a beginning are sure to have an end, be thoughtful and introspective. Worship Me with sacrifices and protect your subjects according to the laws of Dharma. Beget worthy progeny. In joy and in sorrow, in prosperity and in adversity, remain with firm faith in Me. Living without much attachment to body, wealth, etc, ever finding joy in the Atman, observing strict discipline in life and fixing the mind in Me, you will in the end attain Me, Brahman, without difficulty”.

Bhagavan Krshna helped all of these leaders. He physically freed them and honored all of them. He had them bathed, gave them possessions and now gave them guidance as well. So they all lived happily ever after. And then Bhagavan Krshna, at the end of the Chapter, returns to Raja Yudhishthira who is so overwhelmed that Jarasandha is destroyed and Bhagavan was back with him, that he couldn’t speak.

Skanda 10:74:46 — Rishi Shuka is sharing with Raja Parikshita. The three births of Jaya and Vijaya have now been completed and in each of these births these persons were constantly engaged in Dhyana on Bhagavan. And on the completion of this, they became Bhagavan.

For a Rajasuya yajna to happen –

1. It starts with Dikvijaya — One works to unify all leaders. Jarasandha has been defeated, so all leaders are united. So this task is complete.
2. Agrapuja — One remembers that all of this unification happened because of one being, that is to praise the most important. All Devis and Devas are engaged in dialog to determine this personality who is to be honored.
3. Rajasuya yajna

Engage in dhyana of the sentiments being shared. Try and internalize this –

1. Thousands have gathered and a dialogue is being facilitated on who should be identified for the Agrapuja. Raja Yudhishthira begins and shares — “O Lotus eyed Lord, O all pervading One, that thou of such transcendent nature should carry out the directions of persons like us who are subject to various sorrows, but pretend to be lords, is only a feature of thy mysterious divine play.”
2. Raja Yudhishthira continues, “As the light and heat of the sun remain the same, in spite of continuous burning, no action can enhance or dim the spiritual glory of thee, the one without a second, the Brahman, the Supreme Spirit.”
3. Of all the brothers, Sahadeva is known to be most intelligent. He shares, “Therefore, let Krshna be worshipped as the first amongst the honored guests. By so doing, we shall be worshiping all beings, including ourselves.”
4. Sahadeva continues, “Those who wish the fruits of their gifts to be endless, should offer them to Krshna, The soul of all beings, The perfect, The supremely peaceful, in whose eyes nothing is different from Himself.”

Have we decided who should be selected for the Agrapuja? All are in agreement, except Shishupala. Shishupala is Jaya — he is one of Bhagavan Narayana’s guards. He is arrogant and was cursed and yet blessed to become Hiranyaksha, Kumbakarana, and now Shishupala. When he was born, he was born with four arms which is fascinating since as a guard who would he always be looking at? Bhagavan Narayana who has four arms. And there was a prophecy that in whoevers lap this infant sits and two of these arms fall off, that being will be the cause of the death of this infant. When Bhagavan Krshna came to Shishupala’s home when he was an infant, and when he was placed in Bhagavan’s lap, two of his arms fell off. So Bhagavan Krshna was to be the cause of Shishupala’s death.

In this Sabha, Shishupala states that Bhagavan Krshna has no Dharma — obviously, since He was the one who originated Dharma! Bhagavan Krshna has no pura or city since He built a city in the ocean. Shishupala had felt that he is the fiance of Devi Rukmini, so there is a lot of negativity that he was feeling towards Bhagavan Krshna. So he starts being abusive towards Bhagavan Krshna in front of everyone in the Sabha and the Pandavas are infuriated by this. Bhima and Arjuna get up and Shishupala gets up to fight them as if he has lost his mind.

When Shishupala’s mother had noticed that two of his arms had fallen off and that Bhagavan Krshna would be his death, she asked Bhagavan to not be the cause of his death. And Bhagavan tells her that He would openly forgive her son for ninety-nine insults, but for the hundredth, he would not. So in this Sabha, Shishupala flings abuse after abuse and Bhagavan is just counting until the hundredth time. Immediately, the Sudarshana Chakra appears and destroys Shishupala. And just like Ravana, the light of Shishupala merges with Bhagavan Krshna.

A guard is always looking at whom they are guarding. Shishupala was Jaya, and he was not cursed, but blessed since every time he incarnated, there was more purity of mind. He as if hated Bhagavan Krshna the most, so who did he think of the most? Bhagavan Krshna, and when his mind was completely purified, he merged with Bhagavan Krshna. The message is not to hate Bhagavan Krshna, but to purify our minds.

10:75:38 — Rishi Shuka is speaking to Raja Parikshita about Duryodhana. When Bhima saw Duryodhana fall, he started to laugh and all the people, the devis and the devas in the Sabha started to laugh too. Raja Yudhishthira tried to stop them, but Bhagavan Krshna didn’t stop them from laughing and encouraged them to laugh. This becomes the direct seed for the Mahabharata war which is the container for the Bhagavad Gita. If we don’t believe in leela, look at the details of this leela, how everything is perfectly designed.

In the Rajasuya yajna, Raja Yudhishtira was the Project manager and he assigned responsibilities to everyone: Bhima controlled the kitchen, Duryodana the treasury — everyone who came to the Rajasuya yajna brought gifts, Sahadeva was in charge of reception, Nakula was entrusted with the collection of all stores, Arjuna was engaged in serving the elders, Krshna washed the feet of guests on arrival, Draupadi attended to serving of food while the liberal-minded Karna supervised the bestowal of gifts or dana. Raja Yudhishthira felt that everyone was family and he treated Duryodhana and Karna as his brothers.

Upon the completion of the Rajasuya yajna, everyone is in Raja Yudhishthira’s Sabha and everyone is happy. In all this merry-making there are many details about how people are throwing color at each other in powder and liquid form, like during Holi. And Raja Yudhishthira has a huge smile on his face and right beside him is Bhagavan Krshna. Rishi Shuka says that Bhagavan Krshna is like Raja Yudhishthira’s eye. What a beautiful thought and He is our eye; we just forget that.

Now Duryodhana, was in charge of the treasury, and the more gifts that came, the more jealous he became. It is shared that Duryodhana had part of the spirit of Kali as he was forever burning, starting with, for Draupadi. He wanted to be with Draupadi. Then Indraprastha — when the Pandavas came back, the Kauravas didn’t want to give them half of Hastinapura and instead told them to take this barren land. That barren land became more prosperous than Hastinapura and Duryodhana became intensely jealous. And while everyone is relaxing, he comes into this Sabha shouting, belittling all the guards with his weapons raised. This Sabha or room was created by Maya, a magician, and the magic of this palace or courtroom is that it is very difficult to make the distinction between land and water, water and land.

When Duryodhana walks into the Sabha, looking in front of him he perceives water and pulls up his dhoti and it turns out to be land and that continues to the devolving of his feelings. Now he sees even more wrongly as he perceives land and it ends up being water and he falls into that water. Bhima and everyone start to laugh while Raja Yudhishthira tries to stop them, while Bhagavan Krshna is winking and knocking everyone with His elbows.

Vedanta: We decide the emotions we feel. Shishupala decided to hate Bhagavan Krshna. Duryodhana decided to be jealous of Raja Yudhishthira. Who fertilizes our thoughts? We do. It’s our post office. Do we want to open our gas bill or the gifts we get from our family or friends? We decide that!

A communal discussion — one proactive way and one reactive way to deal with jealousy. Vivekji shared that to inhibit jealousy, we should remember that the grass is greener where we water it. Be more grateful, as our lives have been custom designed for us. Reactive way to deal with jealousy is with Japa. As you think, so you feel. Duryodhana kept on thinking about Raja Yudhishthira, hence the jealousy.