Paradukham sheetalam: para — others, dukha — sorrow, sheetala — cool. This saying implies that we get heated up over our own sorrows, but are not affected by others sorrows. We are always asking others for articles or advice. We would shock ourselves if we were to quantify how much we ask of others. If we only knew the sorrow that others are going through, we would never ask. This is what Vedanta teachers us. In a very gross way, if I knew how hungry you were and I was hungry as well, would I come and ask you for food? I would only be adding to your sorrow then, because now you will be feeling bad that you can’t help me either.

We all need help. Some of us need help in a preventative way as we know that the articles, beings and circumstances will never be able to complete us, so we need help being complete. Some of us need help in a reactive way since we have attached ourselves to the way we are living, by our habits and vasanas. We are holding onto articles, beings and circumstances. Such a personality needs help more.

If we are going to ask for help, ask help from the one who doesn’t need help. That is Bhagavan, Bhagavan Krshna. In a simple way, this is called Japa. Japa is not prattling, japa is not repetition, but it is meaningful repetition. We have been studying the same message “Satyam Param Dhimahi” for the past 2 years, to contemplate on who we are, that we are Bhagavan. Our course is Japa in practice. It is meaningful repetition and it is most efficient and effective because as we look at Bhagavan Krshna’s life, we see that He started helping people when He was only six days old. The first asura He helped was Putana, when He was just six days old. If He can cure ignorance when He is just 6 days old, He can do a lot for us. So let us stop asking each other for help and ask Bhagavan for help.

Bhagavan Krshna’s family and friends were coming to understand and appreciate that this was not just a child. They were evolving from being believers to being faithful. How were they doing this? By reflecting — He should have died here, but He didn’t. He should have been crushed here, but He wasn’t. So as they reflected, they became more faithful. Where there is faith, there is no fear.

This was shown beautifully by Kaliya in the Kalindi river or the Yamuna. Kaliya is the icon for cruelty. The genesis of cruelty is to first feel separate. Evidence of this — Who are we least cruel to? Ourselves, as we don’t feel separate from ourselves. So cruelty starts as separation and then expresses itself as superiority. A bully is cruel to another being as they feel they are superior to the other being. Kaliya felt he was superior to Garuda, Bhagavan Narayana’s vehicle, and Garuda put him in his place. It was in his being to be cruel.

Symbolism of Kaliya:

• Kaliya has five heads. What do we have five of? We have five sense organs. Sense organs are ever engaged in Vishaya or sense objects. Vish means poison. In the same manner, Kaliya had poison in his mouth and when we have something in our mouth, we ingest some of it even as we are trying to spit it out. So we are like Kaliya. If we ingest poison, anything that comes out of us will be cruel then.
  
• Kaliya is tamasik, and this is shown by his appearance being dark. He is dark in mind, but his embodiment was dark too. While his wives, they are icons of sattva. This shows us that even in our tamasik thoughts, there are some sattvik thoughts. So we should listen to the sattvik thoughts instead of the tamasik ones.

Now how can we let go of cruelty and be like Bhagavan Krshna? The cure to cruelty is compassion. Here is another insight into compassion. Be passionate about others, listening to others, speaking for others. We are always infatuated with ourselves, always speaking about ourselves, thinking about ourselves. What Swami Tejomayananda shared about Kaliya is that he is even more fortunate than Mahabali as Bali had only one foot put on his head. But how many feet were put on Kaliya’s head? Countless as Bhagavan Krshna kept moving very fast, from head to head. What Swami Tapasyananda shares is that Bhagavan Krshna is literally Amara or the One who cannot die. This six year old naughty boy cannot die as He is deathlessness.

Skanda 10:19:11 — Rishi Shuka is continuing to share with Raja Parikshita the leela of Bhagavan Krshna. When Bhagavan Krshna heard the plea and sorrow of those around Him, what He told them was to close their eyes and to not be afraid. We should do the same. Whenever we feel anxiety, stress, sorrow, we should also close our eyes and have faith. So what happened?

When Bhagavan Krshna came out of the Yamuna, Kaliya and his wives had left, and all of the humans and animals were very relieved, but they were also exhausted. So they decided to sleep on the banks of the Yamuna. As summer was approaching, a forest fire began, and some of them smelt this fire and they came to Bhagavan Krshna. Now they had faith as they approached this six year old boy. They were feeling that He was Amara and they asked Him to help them. So Bhagavan told them to close their eyes and not be afraid, and then He opened His mouth and all of the fire went into His mouth.

Fire is an element, it is an effect. So where do all elements come from? From Bhagavan, since effects come from the cause. The effect cannot hurt the cause. We are the cause. The body, the mind, the intellect are all effects and will die. Let them die, but we are Amara, that is the Spirit.

Now some more leela. It was summer, but everyone felt like it was Spring. It was a jovial time and now that Bhagavan Krshna was getting older, He started to show people what a strong dancer He was. And the depth of this is that He is the originator of all the performing arts. We have already seen that He is the original actor, and now the original dancer and soon we will see He is the original musician. When Bhagavan Krshna started dancing, the devas and devis in the heavens, manifested as Gopas and Gopis just to be around Him dancing, occasionally to dance with Him.

At one point, once when Bhagavan Krshna was dancing, He was lost and so were the Gopas and Gopis. The animals were doing their own thing looking for food, and they also got lost. Once again as Bhagavan Krshna tried to find them, another forest fire surrounded them. He followed the hoof prints of the cows to find them and Bhagavan Krshna once again took the fire into His mouth and all of these Gopas and Gopis felt more faith in Him. When they came back home, all of the parents would look forward to talking to their kids. They loved hearing about Bhagavan Krshna and what He was up to.

Shortly after that, another Asura named Pralamba disguised himself as a Gopa came to where Bhagavan Krshna and the other Gopis and Gopas were. These Gopas played a lot of different games. They would have food fights, played leapfrog, played darbar where one person would be the leader, and others would be ministers and have dialogues. When Pralamba showed up, Bhagavan Krshna knew this and Balarama knew this as well, so they started to play a physical game. The loser of the game would have to carry the winning team on their shoulders. As Pralamba knew he couldn’t defeat Bhagavan Krshna, he joined Bhagavan’s team and they were playing against Balarama’s team. And Balarama’s team won as Bhagavan allowed that and Pralamba had to carry Balarama on his shoulders. Pralamba, meaning the one who grows taller and taller, then started to run away fast with Balarama on his shoulders, growing taller and taller where they were almost reaching the sky. As Balarama didn’t like this game anymore, he hit Pralamba once and destroyed him. Bhagavan Krshna was smiling the whole time. These brothers were awesome. When all of these kids saw this, they started saying Sadhu, Sadhu which means ‘Well Done, Well done’.

So what does Pralamba stand for? What keeps on growing in our personality? It is greed. Pralamba is the icon for greed. Greed is when one gives precedent to individual success over collective aspirations. Whenever we do anything for the individuality, it’s a goal, it is success filled with Rajas or aggressiveness. It’s like Pralamba, how fast he was running and how fast he was growing. The opposite of this is collective aspiration that is infused with Sattva. It’s about all of us. That is Balarama who was thinking about all the cows, calves etc. Those who are greedy are just trying to piggyback on others. They’ve not done the work, but expect the result. Many younger seekers exhibit this in the form of entitlement. They’ve not done the work, but expect to be looked after in a certain way.

How do we address this greed? Be generous. The opposite of greed is generosity. Another insight is that in being generous, we have to adapt to having less outside, but still feel the same inside. That is what generosity is. You never feel lesser. You feel the same or more. The beauty of this is that when we give up everything — body, breath, mind, intellect and finally ego, we feel the most full, most real. So in this part of our leela what was highlighted was the forest fire and Pralamba. The forest fire will be described more next week as it represents Agni devata, a Sura, and there is a related vice. The forest fire comes twice. There is first a small fire and then a bigger one. We should reflect on it more as vices are like this.

Skanda 10:20:43 — Rishi Shuka is sharing with Raja Parikshita. The skies have cleared out. The stars can be seen, just like one who is sattvik. Their thoughts have cleared out, so they understand the Veda shabda Brahma, fully. The ten points that are being shared now, need to be contemplated upon.

Recall Chaturmasya (rainy season) in Vedanta in Ramayana when Bhagavan Rama and Shri Lakshama could not travel and could not live in any kind of kingdom. So they lived in the jungle. So what did they do for four months? They observed nature to see how it relates to them. The exact same teachings and imagery are now shared in Bhagavata –

1. The clouds are covering the sun like the Gunas cover Brahman.
2. All of the water that the sun has evaporated over the last eight months, is now being given back over these four months, just like a King does after he collects taxes. A leader collects funds and then they should give them back in the right way.
3. Because of all the rain, there was grass everywhere and mushrooms everywhere, almost like a royal parade where umbrellas are held over important people. So next time we see a mushroom, let us not break it, but think of all the important persons in our life.
4. The torrential rains keep lashing against the mountain, just like mean people treat Sadhus, but the mountain is immovable just like a Sadhu. Insult means nothing to them.
5. The cows were walking so slowly as their udders were full, but when Bhagavan Krshna called them, they would still struggle to get to Him. Whenever we feel very slow, we should still make it to be with Him.
6. As autumn approached, the clouds started clearing, the sky started clearing, the land became settled, the water became still, just like a seeker when they are following their responsibilities. Everything at their body, mind and intellect level becomes quieter. When we are agitated, we cannot see what is inside, but as that water becomes quieter, we can see what’s inside, at all levels — body, mind, intellect.
7. In autumn, there were less insects, and it became quieter just like one who is enlightened. Sometimes they speak and sometimes they are just quiet.
8. The fish that were swimming in the autumn water were not aware that the water they were swimming in was evaporating, that they will soon not have water, just like people who are living just for their family. They fail to appreciate that their lifespan is evaporating. They are thinking and acting in a small way.
9. All of the lush grass and trees from the summer were now giving up some of that foliage, just like a seeker lets go of that sense of “i” or their identification with their body.
10. With a Cloudless sky, one could see the stars clearly. When one has a Sattvic mind, all that is shared in the Shruti — Upanishad, Smriti — Gita, Puranas — Ramayana and Bhagavata, one understands this.

We should contemplate again and again on these ten poetic teachings.

After the discourse, we listened to Madhurashtakam sung by Pandit Jasraj.

Notes by Prashanti Gogineni