Rishi Kardama practiced kriya yoga for ten thousand years, but still didn’t feel complete till he started practicing Bhakti yoga, and in a short while Bhagavan Narayana manifests and grants him his wish. Shrimad Bhagavatam teaches us the art of dying, as everyone one of us is going to die. Dying becomes artful, if our living becomes artful, so it is actually the art of living.

Rishi Kardama’s prayers were answered and so will ours. We will also transition our sadhana to Bhakti and our prayers will be answered. We will see God in our lifetime. Last week, we saw that Rishi Kardama was constantly testing Devahuti as she was going to give birth to Bhagavan as Rishi Kapila. And those who test us are our friends, as we grow in testing.

Rishi Kapila was the Jnana Avatara of Bhagavan Narayana just as Lord Varaha was the Karma Avatara. Rishi Kapila’s teachings are known as Samkhya yoga. It is a system, which defines what matter is and what prakriti is. His first student was his mother.

Now going to Sanatana Dharma, we find out the what, why, who, when, where and how of Sanatana Dharma. As a noun, it means infinite nature, ananda, happiness or peace. As a verb it means our unchanging responsibility to know and feel our infinite nature. As a noun it is a vision and as a verb it is a lifestyle as it describes the way to live, to reach that infinite joy.

Verse 3.16.18

tvattaḥ sanātano dharmah

rakṣyate tanubhis tava

dharmasya paramo guhya

nirvikāro bhavān mataḥ

And if this is not our way of life then these are just words. If we want to climb Mt. Everest, we need to follow someone who knows the terrain. Where is independent joy, its inside of us, but we don’t know enough about our minds and our gunas, so we need a map. Sanatana Dharma is our map in print and in life it is our Guru. With a guru the map comes to life.

Who is Sanatana Dharma for? It has no founder, so the implication is that its not limited by a person. When there is a founder, the religion tends to be like the founder. For Islam, there was Prophet Mohammad, for Christianity, there was Jesus. Sanatana Dharma is universal, it is not for everyone but anyone. If you follow the lifestyle, then you are a Sanatana Dharmi. It is a personal experience.

Sanatana Dharma is not dated, so it cannot become outdated — that is the when. Where it was located was in Bharata varsha which was from Indonesia to Iran and the focus was inner life and it can and should be practiced everywhere all the time.

How do you practice Sanatana Dharma? The three pillars which are most common are:

1. Brahmacharya — value of discipline
2. Ahimsa — sensitive about others bodies, minds and intellect, typically we only think of our diet
3. Satya — courage to live up to our beliefs

So you are practicing Sanatana Dharma when you are trying your best to be disciplined, sensitive and courageous to live up to to your beliefs.

Something for us to think about is what can we learn from a different generation? Wisdom doesn’t come with age, it comes with reflection.

Rishi Kapila teaches his mother that wise people know that bondage is inside, in the mind and not outside. Bondage is what you feel when you’re bound, constricted, fearful, anxious, when you have expectations and are emotional. When the mind is attached to the gunas or matter, it is bondage, and when its attached to the purusha or spirit, it is free. Kapila Gita is about how to move from bondage to freedom.

After Devahuti has had all her children and Kardama Rishi has fulfilled his responsibilities, he is about to leave to become a Sanyasi. Devi Devahuti asks him to teach her how to become independently joyous. And he tells her that she has given birth to Bhagavan, who would teach her.

It is every child’s responsibility to make their parents free or less worried. Whatever you feel you are, you will follow the same. If you feel you are materialistic, you will compare yourself with others. If you know that your are the child of the creator, then that is who you will follow. You have to know more to be more. What you are following, is what you are feeling right now.

Wordly joy is sorrow, just like built into pleasure is pain. You have to endure your own sorrow by thinking more deeply, and be compassionate about others sorrow. If you can’t endure your own sorrow, you will get pushed around by those sorrows. When you attach yourself to one who is detached, Bhagavan will come and be your guide.

Discussion Topic: How can you become a deeper person?

Be more disciplined, introspect, enquiry is when you ask about creation and inquiry is when you ask about the creator. Be a Sakshi bhava, an observer but don’t get swayed by others. Study as the more you know, the more you can be.

Question: How to avoid hurt in confrontation, as confrontation is inevitable.

The more deeply you work with people the more confrontation there will be. If confrontation is planned, then make sure space, time, matter is conducive to it. Tone is very important. Most of us have a harsh tone, especially to our families. Focus on what happened, make it more objective than subjective. Constructive criticism should be let in, and be thought about as the person is helping you. If it is de-constructive criticism, you can’t do anything about it, so just ignore it.