When Bhagavan Krishna was an infant and Putana, the rakshasi, poisoned her breasts and tried to feed Bhagavan, He thought of her as His mother and removed the poison and granted her Puta, purity or freedom. It is described in Shrimad Bhagavata that occasionally when Bhagavan Krishna looked in a mirror, the mirror was attracted to Him. When people saw Bhagavan with His crown, armlets and anklets, they thought He looked better without them. He was so beautiful and these ornaments were hiding His beauty. Sometimes in battle, even the enemy was so enamoured by Bhagavan Krishna that they would forget to fire their weapons at Him.
When we know details about God and God’s life, we start to have faith that God is. For most of us, God is an idea. The vision of our course is to know the details of God and God’s life, so that God is no longer an idea, but we start feeling that God is. If we are clear that God lives inside of us, then we would never have a negative thought. If we knew that God is our spouse or child, we would be completely selfless.
The fourth skanda focuses on the purusharthas. Purusha is human, and artha is meaning. So we should relate this to ourselves. So Purushartha is the purpose or meaning of being human. And when one gains purushartha one feels purna or completeness, independence. Dharma, kama and artha are anithya or temporary and are sadhyas that which can be gained, and all that can be gained can also be lost. Position, Possession and Pleasure will not lead us to purna or make us feel happy. Moksha or sidha is that which is already gained and can never be lost. Moksha is nithya or forever and that leads to the feeling of purna, makes us feel happy once and for all. We just have to feel it or have the bhava for who we are. By understanding this, we will begin to regulate how much we live for pleasure, possession and position.
The first purushartha is Dharma and Daksha prajapati is the example that is used. When mother Sati is immolating herself, Daksha doesn’t even move his little finger to help her. When Bhagavan Shiva finds out, He plucks a lock of his hair and throws it with force to the ground and Veerabhadra is born. Veerabhadra destroys Daksha and all related to Daksha. To be noted is that Bhagavan Narayana and Bhagavan Brahma are not at this yajna, as where there is no dharma or satsanga, there can only be dussanga. Finally Bhagavan Shiva does go to the yajna and brings Daksha back to life. Daksha praises Bhagavan for correcting him and not punishing him showing Bhagavan is full of compassion. So Dharma is only meaningful in reference to Moksha.
The next purushartha we studied is Artha and Dhruva is the personality described. Rishi Narada meets and tests Dhruva and tries to dissuade Dhruva from taking on this tapa, and tells him to celebrate his brother. What we can learn here is that when we come across people who are superior to us in qualities, we should be happy for them, and not jealous. When we meet someone who is inferior in qualities, we should sympathise. Our reaction instead, is to feel proud. If someone is equal to us in qualities, then we should be their friend so that we can encourage each other. Dhruva finds that Artha is meaningless and that the only Artha is Bhagavan.
Raja Dhruva is an awesome ruler and once during his rule, he is in an intense battle with Kubera, who is known to be ugly as all he thinks of is money. Then Raja Manu asks him why he is battling Kubera as the purpose of life is not to accumulate more artha. So Raja Dhruva backs off and forgives Kubera. We should remember that historically the ones who are remembered are not the ones with money, but the ones who have expansion capacity, those who shared or helped others with their earnings or money. All the artha in our life will come and go, but devotion to Bhagavan is the highest artha.
The third purushartha is kama and the personality teaching us about kama is Raja Prthu. Raja Vena is a tyrant and Raja Prthu is known to be impartial, one who doesn’t operate on likes and dislikes. He is described as the Sun. Mother Earth has taken away all the resources because of Raja Vena. So Raja Prthu is angry with Mother Earth as people are suffering. Mother Earth then tells Raja Prthu that she knows He is Bhagavan Vishnu and that He came to save her before as Bhagavan Varaha and now He is angry at her. This shows that Bhagavan Vishnu treats everyone impartially.
Raja Prthu, being an amazing ruler, teaches his people the four responsibilities of a Raja as his kingship is coming to an end. In our case, His teachings are telling us about the one who is responsible –
- Dandadhara: justice — with a stick we can encourage people or prevent them; it is not just for punishing people
- Rakshita: protection — children and those in need are first protected
- Vrittidha: employment — ensure all subjects are employed or have a livelihood
- Sthapita: order — practice Dharma
If we engage in the above responsibilities as a raja, a leader, a parent, then whoever we are responsible for, one sixth of their punya comes to us. Thus there is a lot of gain for us. However if we are irresponsible and fail to engage in the above responsibilities, then not only do we lose all our punya, but we also gain all the papa that has been created because of our irresponsibility. Thus there is a lot of loss.
Bhagavan incarnates to promote dharma and remove adharma and therefore in our culture, a leader or Raja is treated or envisioned like Bhagavan. We are all leaders in some way or the other and everyone is watching us all the time.
Raja Prthu shares with his praja or us, especially the brahmanas, that those who follow these responsibilities, encourage these responsibilities and those who appreciate these responsibilities, they all grow at the same level, all benefit in the same manner. Imagine if we followed, encouraged, and appreciated these responsibilities, how sattvik our life would be! If we lived such a sattvik life, then even Bhagavan would want our darshana. This section on Raja Prthu is most relatable to us, as each one of us can do this and live like this.
Vivekji’s thoughts on discussion questions:
- How do we practice tapa? What should our focus be in voluntary tapa?
We should hold onto balance as we practice tapa — calmness of body, stillness of mind and clarity of thought and engage in voluntary tapa where the context is trying to make you imbalanced. Its very easy to get comfortable. So we should consciously engage in tapa or discipline. We should therefore challenge ourselves to eat less, sleep less, serve more, donate more, speak less.
- How is dukha nivritti different from sukha prapti?
Dukha nivritti is when you identify with none. Sukha prapti is when you identify with all. If we have an intense back pain and take a pill, it is an absence of pain. But Sukha prapti has no limits, as if we had a back pain and we go help someone else with that pain and no longer feel our pain.
- How can our actions deepen to purification?
If all our actions are done in game mode, without the fear or focus on the results, that is purification.