ViBha Class Notes: January 23, 2022

One of the most important days in the year for a seeker is Mahashivaratri, Bhagavan Shiva’s “Birthday”. When we celebrate Mahashiva’s ratri, what kind of icons or articles do we see around and on Bhagavan Shiva? One of the icons we see is Bhagavan Shiva’s Trishula or Trident. The word shula means affliction and there are many frameworks of afflictions upon us, such as:

• Avidya, Kama, Karma — we feel incomplete, so we have desires and so we have to be busy
• Moha, Bhaya, Shoka — we are confused about what to do, so we are afraid of tomorrow and this settles as sorrow
• Tired physically, bored mentally, frustrated intellectually

Bhagavan Shiva’s Trishula is the way to end these afflictions and there is no other way. So many of us are analysts and we try to create solutions. The only solution to these frameworks of afflictions is BHAGAVAN and that is what this course is flowing through and to Bhagavan.

In our past chapters we found ourselves in Symantapanchaka. All the people who lived around the area gathered there. They gathered for protection, for purification, and they hadn’t been together for a very long time, so everyone was talking. Reviewing some of those thoughts –

Shri Vasudeva shares with his sister Devi Kunti, that there is no purpose in complaining or blaming or annotating as it is All Hari Ichcha, because of God’s will. If we reflect on this, we will practice this and we will become more accepting. What does it feel like to be more accepting? We become more adapting. If we accept, we will adapt. Gauging ourselves, if we are not adapting, then we are not accepting. Then we are more like Devi Kunti in this context than like Shri Vasudeva.

Bhagavan Krshna is sharing with the Gopis that they are all Bhagya or fortunate as they have devotion to Him, because that is the only way to experience Amrita. Without this Bhakti, there is no Amrita — mrita means death, amrita means no death. None of us has experienced death before, so what does it look like in our day? No change. Death is an extreme experience of change. Change is happening all around us, but what does it feel like inside of us? Fear. So Amrita is No death, No change, and the feeling is of No Fear. We are fearless in all that which comes with it, so no regrets, no anxiety. The only solution is BHAKTI.

Skanda 10:83:39 — Everyone is still at this festival in Symantapanchaka. Here Devi Lakshmana, the youngest and the newest of Bhagavan Krshna’s principal Devis (Devi #8), is speaking to Devi Draupadi. Devi Draupadi is asking all of Bhagavan Krshna’s Devis how they met, how they got married, and all of the Devis share individually how they met and got married to Bhagavan Krshna. Devi Lakshmana shares last and what she shares is — Bhagavan Krshna is our Atma. Our marriage is not an external marriage only. We have always been married or always been one. How did this happen? We feel that we are his dasikah or servants. In our home, that is how we live. We have let go of all other relationships. We have attachment to none other than the One we serve and we feel in our hearts. This is how we live, this is our tapas or lifestyle.

Leading up to this portion of the Chapter — The Devas like Raja Yudhishthira, Shri Vasudeva are all with Bhagavan Krshna. He was just with the Gopis and now He is with them and they are praising Bhagavan Krshna. Are we in Symantapanchaka, eavesdropping? They share with Bhagavan Krshna that He is the one who is deeper than the intellect. Where does the ego first express itself? In the intellect. So being deeper than the intellect means that He is the one who is Real. We feel we are the ego, but the truth is that Bhagavan is us. They share that Bhagavan manifested to resuscitate the Veda. This is such an honest sharing as they are all scholars of the Veda, but they are not living by the Veda. So that is why Bhagavan Krshna has been born to resuscitate the meaning of the Veda. So that is what the Devas are doing with Bhagavan Krshna.

Devi Draupadi wanders towards all the other Devis and asks them how they met and got married. And many of the Devis share with Devi Draupadi “veerya ashulkam”. Ashulkam essentially means dowry, that which is given by the bride’s family to the groom and the groom’s family for the marriage to happen. Bhagavan Krshna gave veerya to the Devis’ families. He showed His courage, He showed His brilliance and that is why they were married. Dowry has been so wrongly interpreted in society. The right implication of dowry is that when you have an awesome bride, she deserves an awesome groom and vice versa.

Reflecting on the idea of letting go of all other relationships and attachments and only having a relationship with Bhagavan Krshna — Acharya Shankara compares those who are attached to silkworms. What comes out of this worm is silk. But where does the silk go? That same silk cocoons this worm. That is what attachment is. Let us think of our attachments. If we don’t know what they are, here is a simple test. Imagine some of the relationships we have not being there tomorrow, and whatever is making us very sad is what we are attached to. All of us are indeed going to be sad if that relationship is no more there. But it is that shoka, that “very sad” which is indicative of that attachment. What causes raga or causes us to be attached to Being A, Being B, or Being C? It is vikshepa or projection. There are some parents who are awful and it is criminal that they are parents. They are not attached to their child because there is no projection that this child is going to bring them happiness. Conversely, it is the opposite — this child is going to bring me sadness, so I will treat them like this. So we can’t say that it is longevity that creates attachment. It is vikshepa; it is this projection that this is the source of happiness.

Whenever we sense this attachment, we should get into macro thinking, or think big. Our understanding and appreciation of the scriptures is that all of us have been born millions of times. The people we are attached to have been born millions of times. So from a macro perspective, who is that person to us, or who are we to that person? No one. This is why Vivekji suggests to us to engage in Seva, thinking big and not small so that we can feel this macro perspective. The utility is that we become more independent.

Another insight into how not to be a silkworm — The less we identify with, the less we will be dedicated. When we identify only with our body, we will be only dedicated to our body. But when we start to identify with more, we will be dedicated to more which is equivalent to being detached. Some commentators of Bhagavad Gita have shared that Prince Arjuna’s disease is not of Bhaya, but of Raga — not fear, but attachment. He goes from being attached to Dharma, to Pandava, to Arjuna. So just as his identification shrinks, so does his dedication. And what does Bhagavan Krshna guide him to? To identify with more. Who identifies with All? Who is the one who is always looking at us, looking after us? That is how we become Bhagavan. Identify with more to become detached!

After Devi Draupadi hears from the eight wives or principal wives, she then asks the sixteen thousand Devis about how they met and married Bhagavan Krshna. All of them just had one katha to share — we were not free and He freed us. And that is the completion of Chapter 83. Everyone is still at the festival and as they have not seen each other in a very long time, they continue to keep talking and talking in a lovely way.

Skanda 10:84:11 — This is Bhagavan Krshna speaking to the Rshis and praising them. Teertha or the holy waters are purifying, but not the most purifying. Murthis or icons which are made out of clay or stone are purifying, but not the most purifying. Why? Because both of these take time to purify. The water is more biological; the murthi is more psychological. But seeing, being with a Sadhu, with a Rshi is the most purifying as it takes no time at all — just seeing them or being with them purifies. Just by hearing the name of Shri Ramakrishna or Pujya Swami Chinmayananda, don’t we feel inspired, moved, grateful? The more pure a being is, the more they can transform another. How can we help transform our families, our communities? By us becoming more pure.

After the Gopis heard about the Bhakti of the Devis, they felt ascharya or wonder at how much these Devis loved Bhagavan. All of these Gopis were crying. What this shows is a need for role models in our lives. When these Gopis heard about these Devis, they felt it was possible to love Bhagavan like this, and these Devis know about the Gopis, that the Gopis love Bhagavan in the same way. If we never meet a Bhakta, we will always feel that this is theoretical, but once we hear a Bhakta, we start to feel that all of this is possible, reasonable, practical. When Bhaktas meet Bhaktas, what do they talk about? Bhagavan. We should have the right role models.

Bhagavan Krshna shares a great deal about the greatness of the rshis. And a reason for this, logically — If we have an icon of Bhagavan Krshna and have the option of putting a tap light and a diya, which one will we put in front of Bhagavan? A diya. Why? Both are presenting light, whether it is a battery or a flame, but that flame makes that murthi, as if, move. As the flame moves, we may feel that Bhagavan Krshna is smiling more or now He is angry. Our Rshis bring the Shastra and Bhagavan to life. We know a lot about Bhagavan theoretically and we know a lot about our Shastra as well, but we don’t follow it because we think it is ancient. But our Rshis combine Bhagavan and the Shastra and live this, and all of this becomes alive for us.

Bhagavan Krshna is continuing to praise the Rshis and says, “He who considers this corpse like body composed of the elements as the Atma, he who thinks of his wife and his other close relatives as his own, he who looks upon clay and stone as objects of worship and water pools as holy waters, but never sees any divinity in the wise and holy men, he is to be termed a veritable khara — “a donkey who is bringing grass for cattle.” Those who are living without feeling this divinity are donkeys engaged in manual living.

These Rshis after listening to Bhagavan Krshna’s insights share “Bhagavan your heart is the Veda, if anyone wants to know how to find a place to live in Bhagavan’s heart, follow the veda. Yogis only see Bhagavan with their eyes closed, Bhaktas see Bhagavan with their eyes open.” These are the frameworks that they share. After the love is shared between Bhagavan and the Rshis, Shri Vasudeva, Bhagavan Krshna’s father comes to realize that he doesn’t know his son. Hearing the Rshis praise Bhagavan Krshna, he feels he doesn’t know who his son is, so he wants to know more and asks the Rshis how he can feel what they feel. And they share that he needs to engage in a yajna.

Discussion: How can we let go of our attachments, like the Gopis and the Devis did?”

It is to focus on responsibilities over rights. When we are engaged in our dharma we should be so absorbed in it (samadhana) that there is no bandwidth for raga. There should be a complete dedication to our dharma, in which case we will sacrifice attachments. It shouldn’t matter who it is or how it is.