In both Ramayana and Bhagavata, vedanta has been flowing in satsanga. Satsanga is a strange catalyst that causes us attachment that leads us towards detachment, making us independent. A common theme with Swami Chinmayananda’s teaching is to attach to the Higher and detach from the lower. The first skanda focused on Adhikari, the ideal student, that is us. Thinking about this more deeply, the next three skandas focusing on visarga (special creation), sarga (creation) and sadhana (how to evolve) respectively, are all God. So all the remaining skandas of Bhagavata are about God and how we should relate to God.

At the end of the fourth skanda, we studied about Puranjana and how he was someone who wasted time. We too are habitual procrastinators, especially when it comes to purpose and enlightenment. We should live life based on the lowest life expectancy in the world. If we do this, we will re-prioritize our lives. Puranjana had ten sons called the Prachetas and they were very religious and Bhagavan tells them that they should go and share their faith, get married, become householders as that doesn’t impede them from loving Bhagavan. It is shared that those who are religious experience the most happiness.

The fifth skanda focuses on sthana and it means established. In a scientific sense, it focuses on the surface or geography of creation like the mountains, lands and oceans. Sociologically, it focuses on how humans live and eat, and other similar details about living. As mentioned earlier, the first skanda is about us, and the remaining skandas are about God. So even in this skanda, what is our home or foundation? In Bhagavan alone. This skanda has twenty-six adhyayas and is not entirely in poetry form, but also in prose.

Bhagavan Brahma had a son called Manu, whose son was Priyavrata. Priyavrata didn’t want to get married and become a householder, but as leadership was lacking in creation, his father Manu and Bhagavan Brahma inspire Priyavrata to get married, and see and love all people as Bhagavan Himself. He is told to see Bhagavan not only in a controlled environment, but also in an uncontrolled environment. He should be able to see Bhagavan in a tree, an animal, another person and all of creation.

Priyavrata was a great leader, and lived his life knowing that everything that was going to come into his life, would leave his life. He thought of everything that was going to come into his life as a rotting carcass so there was never any attachment or projection that this would bring him happiness. Both Priyavrata and his wife Barhishmati lived life with no attachment.

A short term practice to live such a life is to simplify our lifestyle choices, to simplify our attachment to articles, circumstances and beings in our life and then we will never be dependent.

Priyavrata had a son, Agnidhra who was married to an Apsara called Purvachitti. One of their children was Nabhi who married Meru-devi, but they were unable to have children. They organized a yajna with the intention to have a child, unlike us who try everything in the world, ask the world for help first before asking Bhagavan for help. Bhagavan Vishnu came and shared that He didn’t care about all the materials nor the mantras, but that He came because they were all His children and that He cared about each and everyone of them because of their sincerity. This implies that our relationship with Bhagavan should be personal and doesn’t have to be formal.

As their first prayer, Nabhi and Meru-devi asked Bhagavan to make sure that they always remembered His name. Whether sick or poor, they did not ever want to forget Bhagavan’s name. When we are sick, the first thing that we do is sleep in late and forget our japa and prayers. Their second prayer to Bhagavan was to pardon them for wasting His time, as they had organized this entire yajna just to have a child. This is a strong message that shows us that the only purpose for us is Bhagavan, and not to be married, and have children, and have a job that most of us believe to be. The couple requested a child equal to God, and since there is no one equal to God, Bhagavan said He Himself would come as their child. And He came as their child in Meru-devi’s womb as pure Sattva, and this pure sattvic form was known as Rshaba. His father named him Rshaba which means the best because he was courageous, virtuous, influential.

When Rshaba-deva was born, there was the marking of a Sudarshana chakra on his feet and he looked just like Bhagavan Vishnu. He was born in a time when people were hardcore ritualists. In the name of the Veda, they were only focusing on the karma kanda and not the jnana kanda. So Rshaba-deva went to a gurukula, learned the Veda and then he became a grihastha and taught the people how to live the Veda, not just in namesake. He lived like this and was so dynamic and virtuous that his parents made him the king. And when he was king, India was known as Ajanabhavarsha. The purpose of his avatara was jnana. He is a jnana-avatara and he was born to show us what enlightenment looks like, feels like, and to show rajasik people what disciplines they should follow.

Some of Rshaba-deva’s practices were –

• He always kept a stone in his mouth because it encouraged him to talk less, eat less.
• Everything he put in his body was so natural that even his excretion smelled fragrant.
• When he got older, he didn’t want to burden anyone with his death so he burned his own body.

Rshaba-deva was married to Jayanti and their first child was called Bharata and Ajanabhavarsha became known as Bharatavarsha. Raja Bharata was such an awesome leader that our entire land came to be known as Bharatavarsha. The Navayogis were also the sons of Rshaba-deva.

The word Jaina from Jainism comes from the base Jinha meaning conqueror, referring to those who have conquered themselves as they are the real conquerors. Rshaba-deva is treated as one of the role models in Jainism because he had conquered himself. Those who follow the jinha bhava are Jainas, following all of the disciplines as followed by Rshaba-deva. That is why we see that many Jaina munis have a paper over their mouth to control what they speak and eat.

We will look at some more practices of Rshaba-deva in our next class.

Discussion Question: What are some practicable secrets for us to feel that all of creation is Bhagavan?

Vivekji’s thoughts: Sacrifice an indulgence for the environment. We should take one aspect of our life that is indulgent and we should sacrifice that for the environment. For example, if we are carnivores, then we should become lacto-ovo vegetarians, or lacto vegetarians, or vegans.

RAW from last time: Prepare a personal framework for the purusharthas. Whatever you write you remember more. Whatever you remember more you practice more. Rshaba-deva shows us how the Veda should be practiced.