ViBha Class Notes – December 10, 2023

It does not help to wander to those who cannot help you. If we ask for help from someone who cannot help us, then there is no practicality, or efficiency gained in that. If we really study people, they can offer a lot of help externally, in terms of resources, food, expertise, but when it comes to what we really need, which is happiness, most people cannot offer that as most people are needing that themselves. All of us are acutely honest about this, which is why on January 13, 2019, we sat in Bhagavata. The word Bhagavata means Ta – a boat. What kind of boat?  Va – the best boat. Going where? Ga – taking us not outside, but inside to Bha – which is Bhagavan or Light. We sat in the “boat best” to take us to our own Self. We are asking for help from the system that can offer this help. Typically when someone is exposed to Bhagavata, it is through a Bhagavata Saptaha. Sapta – seven, aha – day. So saptah means seven days. What we have done is taken the hora of a saptah, the hours in a week. We have taken the number of hours in a week and gone into Bhagavata in that depth. 

Shrimad Bhagavata is spread over twelve sections with twelve different themes. The first theme in the first section is on Disciple. The second section, second theme is Discipline. Here is a verse from Section 12 that actually reviews the later ten themes, other than Disciple and Discipline. These are – 

Skanda 12:7:9

sargo syātha visargaś ca

vṛtti-rakṣāntarāṇi ca

vaṁśo vaṁśānucaritaṁ

saṁsthā hetur apāśrayaḥ

• 3rd section – Creation; 
• 4th section – Diversification
• 5th section – Position
• 6th section – Protection
• 7th section – Inclination
• 8th section – Intensification
• 9th section – Disidentification
• 10th section – Absorption
• 11th section – Liberation
• 12th section – Foundation

In the last class, the review started in the 7^thsection. A highlight of this section is that our willpower is stronger than world power. A great example of this is Hiranyakashipu who is like world power, being born into a family that is awful. But who was stronger than Hiranyakashipu? It was Prahlada and for us that signifies willpower is stronger.

In the 8^th section, a highlight is that we all work hard. However, in this section, it is not about working hard, but about working smarter. We work smarter when we bring Bhakti. When there is meaning or when we are devoted to what we are doing, a new energy and enthusiasm comes.

In the 9^th section, there are details about those who are Divine. Vivekji corrected himself from the previous week’s discourse, and said that it was Rshi Durvasa who was running for one year, not Raja Ambarisha. Now if we think of a Rshi, how can a Rshi have less power than a Raja? But Raja Ambarisha’s power was not from being a King, but it was from his connection to the Divine. That is what made him so great and the whole 9^th section highlights this. 

At the end of the 9^th section is the preview to the 10^th section. Vivekji shared that the assembly time at Bala Vihar should be like a preview to a movie – crisp, exciting so that when the movie starts, every one is more tuned in. At the end of this section, the reason for Bhagavan Narayana to become Bhagavan Krshna is stated. Why did Bhagavan Narayana incarnate as Bhagavan Krshna? We might say that Dharma was in decline and that He had to re-balance it, but that is not accurate. That is the secondary reason. The primary reason that Bhagavan Narayana became Bhagavan Krshna is just to Bless! He was just born to bless everyone and everything He touched, whether it was the Asuras or the Suras, even the Devas, like Indra and Brahma. Vivekji laughingly shared about a t-shirt he had recently come across – Too Blessed to be stressed! And if we remember Bhagavan Krshna, He just came to Bless. For all of us who know so much about Him, how can we be studying Bhagavata and still feel stressed? Those are antonyms. 

In the 10^th section, we have the birth of Bhagavan Krshna! This is the heart of Shrimad Bhagavata. Vivekji read aloud everything that has been reviewed about the 10^th section. We should close our eyes and just feel this, just feel blessed. This is an attempt at reviewing the 10^th section which is about Bhagavan Krshna’s Leela –

The Birth of the Supreme Being Shri Krshna as Vasudeva’s son in the prison; His removal to Gokula; His upbringing there; the description of His numerous wonderful deeds consisting in the destruction of Asuras, deeds like the sucking of Putana’s lifeforce, the smashing of the Cart demon, others like the destruction of Trinaavarta, Baka and Vatsassura, Dhenukasura and his associates, and Pralamba asura; the protection of the Gopas from forest fire; the humbling of the serpent Kaliya, the rescue of Nanda from a python; the observance of vows by the Gopis for deserving Shri Krshna; the bestowal of Krshna’s Grace on the wives of the Vedist Brahmanas and the repentance of the Brahmanas; the lifting of Govardhana mountain; Indra’s worship of Krshna and Surabi’s ceremonial bath of Him; and the Lord’s Rasa Leela with the Gopis; the destruction of Shankachooda, Arishta and Keshi; the arrival of Akrura at Vraja at the departure of Rama and Krshna to Mathura; the moaning of the women of Vraja; Krishna’s sightseeing at Mathura and the destruction of Kuvalayapeeda, the Elephant, and of Mushtika, Chanura and Kamsa; the restoration of the dead children of the teacher Sandipani; the rehabilitation of the Yadavas with the help of Uddhava and Balarama; the destruction of the armies of Jarasandha in many campaigns; the killing of Yavana through Muchukunda, effecting the evacuation of the Yadavas from Mathura to Dwarka; the securing of the Parijata and Sudharma from Indra’s heaven and the marriage with Rukmini after defeating rival Kings; the paralying of Hara in battle and the chopping off of the numerous arms of Bana; the destruction of Narkasura, the king of Pragjyotisha and the recovery of the maidens kept captive by Bhaumasura;  the destruction of Shishupala, Paundraka, Salva, Dantavaktra, Sambara, Dvivida, Pitha, Mura, Panchajana and others. The burning of Varanasi and relieving the earth of her burdens through the agency of the Pandavas.

The 11^th section was finished last semester and Vivekji had read a really sad verse to us and a really happy verse. Here is the sad verse –

Skanda 11:31:6

lokābhirāmāṁ sva-tanuṁ
dhāraṇā-dhyāna-maṅgalam
yoga-dhāraṇayāgneyyā-
dagdhvā dhāmāviśat svakam

Without employing the mystic Agni, this meditation to burn up His transcendental body which is the all attractive resting place of all the worlds and the object of all contemplation and meditation, Krshna entered into His own abode. 

That was the final verse that we came across where Bhagavan Krshna was visceral. We invested so much in getting to know the details, but Bhagavan Krshna showed us that everything in life comes and goes. Shrimad Bhagavata is teaching us the Art of Dying and though we cannot assign that Bhagavan Krshna died, but the form that people were accustomed to did come and did go. 

The 11^th section is about holding onto Bhagavan Krshna without holding onto His name and form. So what do we need to hold onto then? His Gunas or His teachings. So the last verse that Vivekji shared with us last semester –

Skanda 11:31:21

arjunaḥ preyasaḥ sakhyuḥ

kṛṣṇasya virahāturaḥ

ātmānaṁ sāntvayām āsa

kṛṣṇa-gītaiḥ sad-uktibhiḥ

Arjuna felt great distress over separation from Lord Kṛṣṇa, his dearmost friend, but he consoled himself by remembering the transcendental words the Lord had sung to him. 

Whenever we feel dejection, anxiety, stress, use the precedent that Prince Arjuna used, and not just Prince Arjuna, but also Rshi Uddhava. Rshi Uddhava felt equal anxiety and stress that Prince Arjuna did, but Rshi Uddhava was enlightened. He did go to Badari ashrama because Bhagavan Krshna told him to. He became enlightened and he moved north. 

Now reviewing Section 12, the final section of Shrimad Bhagavata. 

The 12^th section has the theme of Ashraya – foundation or immersion, to be immersed in the foundation.

Skanda 12:12:43 

yuga-lakṣaṇa-vṛttiś ca

kalau nṝṇām upaplavaḥ

catur-vidhaś ca pralaya

utpattis tri-vidhā tathā

This work also describes people’s characteristics and behavior in the different ages, the chaos men experience in the Age of Kali, the four kinds of annihilation and the three kinds of creation. 

Here are the highlights of this final section –

1. The theme is Foundation. All comes and goes, but not the foundation. This building can explode, implode but nothing can happen to the earth which is the foundation of this building and all buildings. In this section, the four aspects of what makes a human happy are highlighted: 

• Satya – integrity
• Daya – graciousness – to make other people’s lives easier by living by integrity
• Tapa – burn comfort zones or openness, to sit with people we do not know well, get to know people who do not look like us, people who do not sound like us. Traveling for non-vacation reasons is a great way of tapa.
• Dana – generosity 

These are the four virtues that make us feel krta or complete. In this section, what is highlighted is that as time went on, atrophy kicked into people’s minds and these kept on dissolving backwards. What went away first was Dana, then Tapa, then Daya. What is still sort of there is Satya and the proof of that is how much access to Satsanga we have. That is proof that Satya is still hanging on. 

2. Another highlight is the types of Pralaya – Transformation. When we are really sleepy and we sleep, then we wake up from that sleep, aren’t we really transformed? Nitya pralaya is that we are in one condition, but are transformed into another – that is the regular transformation. The purpose of that is Atyantika pralaya which is the final transformation, where we cannot transform anymore. There is only one facet of life that has never transformed and will never transform. What is the answer? It is Infinity. Infinity cannot change and will never change. We have to use transformation in the direction of Atyantika pralaya. It is the ego that causes us to become this and that, so we have to put that ego in the foundation. We bury that ego. 

3. In terms of the 3^rd highlight, there is lots of completion that happens in this section. Rshi Shuka shares his final teachings, and then he keeps on moving. Raja Parikshita’s body dies, but he doesn’t even know that he has been bitten by that poison. He is also freed. Then Raja Shaunaka asks his final question – Where does Dharma live? The answer is given that Dharma lives in these teachings. And Rshi Ugrashava is now sharing his final words, that he is going through all of Bhagavata again, not for everyone else, but for himself as everyone else is gone. It is just him. 

Zooming into these three highlights a little bit more, in terms of Satya, Daya, Tapa and Dana – What can we do with these insights? Take Nama, Give Dana, if we want to restore these ways to be happy. With reference to Nitya pralaya to Atyantika pralaya, the famous Rshi who became free is Rshi Markandeya. He became free and he got to see Bhagavan’s Maya. Only if we are free can we see Bhagavan’s Maya. If we learn Sanatana Dharma really well, then we can start studying other religions. If we are an easily manipulated person, not so strong in our own culture and religion, then we shouldn’t go about exploring yet. 

4. Now the final thoughts of the 12^th chapter and then the final chapter. 

The 12^th chapter, Verses 45-68 are such lovely verses about what Bhagavata is and what it can do to us. 

Verse 46 – Even if a human cries out, “O Hari, Salutations to thee!” in a state of utter helplessness while falling or stumbling in the thick of danger or in grief or in illness, they will be freed from their sins.

That is why Vivekji shared that if we ask for help from someone who needs help, our helplessness will be compounded. Here the word Narayana or Krshna is not used, but Hari is used. What does the word Hari mean? Another word for Hari is thief, the one who steals. If we are suffering from dejection, anxiety and stress, then we must pray for that to be stolen. Bhagavan Hari WILL come and it is shared right here! 

Another highlight in this section is how Rshi Ugrashava is sharing that superior to Karma is Jnana, but superior to Jnana is Bhakti. Both Karma and Jnana can only take us so far, but Bhakti can take us to the ends. The visualization that was shared in the Narada Bhakti Sutra class is that those who follow knowledge are like baby monkeys and those who follow Bhakti are like baby cats or kittens. Suppose a baby monkey has to get from here to there, it gets there by holding onto the neck of its mother. It is its own effort combined with its mother’s effort. Now how does a kitten get from here to there? The mother cat just puts the kitten in its mouth and carries it – there is no self-effort. Often with self effort, we start to feel that we are the doer, we are the deserver and that we are self-made. That is why it is so important to be associated with a Sadguru- Shishya parampara as we may have heard Vivekji sharing several times that he has learned these teachings from his Master, who has learnt it from His Teacher, who has learnt it from His Teacher. There is no self effort here. It is just “bidalavat” or just being a kitten. 

The final verse in this 12^th chapter is shared by Rshi Ugrashava. If we recall Rshi Shuka, he is the one who keeps on moving.  And how did he get called back? Because they started to chant verses from Bhagavata. He is independently joyous, so what do we give to someone who is independently joyous? All we can give them is Bhakti and they will come. That is what is being described here –

I salute Shuka, the son of Vyasa, who though established in the inherent bliss of the Self and consequently devoid of any attraction for anything external was nonetheless drawn even from his mergence in the Self by the attraction of the sported doings of the One who none can conquer, and out of his mercy for all living beings, expounded this Purana which may really be called the Book of God, that effaces the impurities in the minds of all and lights the lamp of Divine love and knowledge in their minds.

This ends the 12^th Chapter of the 12^th Section and now we are in the final chapter of the final section of the Book of God. Where does God live after He leaves us viscerally? 

In His book, in His teachings. 

There are 12 sections of Shrimad Bhagavata and there are 335 chapters. There are 18,000 verses. How many verses in the Bhagavad Gita? 700 verses. In this course, we will have flowed through 1576 pages. That is how much we have summarized into 168 hours. 

The 12^th Chapter begins with Rshi Ugrashava stating what Shrimad Bhagavata is – 

Skanda 12:12:1 – 

namo dharmāya mahate

namaḥ kṛṣṇāya vedhase

brahmaṇebhyo namaskṛtya

dharmān vakṣye sanātanān

He is remembering how he learned what he has learned – Salutations to the most glorious doctrine of devotion to the Lord. Salutations to Krshna the ultimate facilitator of destinies. Saluting all Holy people, I shall now speak of Sanatana Dharma. 

What is Shrimad Bhagavata? It is Sanatana Dharma or Infinite nature

Now the 13^th chapter, Verse 1 – This too is the remembrance of Sanatana Dharma and what it can do to people. The Bhagavad Gita’s Dhyana shlokas came from here –  

Skanda 12:13:1 – 

yaṁ brahmā varuṇendra-rudra-marutaḥ stunvanti divyaiḥ stavair

vedaiḥ sāṅga-pada-kramopaniṣadair gāyanti yaṁ sāma-gāḥ

dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yogino

yasyāntaṁ na viduḥ surāsura-gaṇā devāya tasmai namaḥ

What this verse is stating is – I remember the flow of this knowledge and how this knowledge has transformed every type of being.

The next verse is so lovely and poetic and is describing how Bhagavan protects us – 

May the breath of the Lord as the Divine tortoise protect you. The breath that escaped from Him, while He was being lulled to sleep by the scratching of the rocky bottom of the whirling Mandara mountain kept on His back for the churning of the Milky Ocean.

So what is being described is when Bhagavan came as Kurma Avatara, this huge mountain felt like it was just scratching his back. And here is the lovely part. 

The breath, a little of whose impulse seems to persist even to this day, camouflaged as tides high and low in the ocean. 

The tortoise is in the ocean and as it breathes out, it blows the tides towards us and when it breathes in, the tides come back to the tortoise. We never come across poetry like this. So the next time we are near the ocean, we must remember that Bhagavan Kurma is still there to protect us. 

In Skanda 12:13:19, the last three words are Satyam Param Dhimahi. How does Shrimad Bhagavata begin? With Satyam Param Dhimahi. How does it end? Satyam Param Dhimahi. It means – May I contemplate on Consciousness. Rshi Ugrashava is securing that. 

This is the final verse that Vivekji is sharing with us, of the final chapter of the final section. Vivekji has already read us a verse about Sanatana Dharma, a verse about what Sanatana Dharma can do to us – where we can become free. But IF, we don’t become free before our breath ends… However, Vivekji is confident that we will become free before our breath ends.

Skanda 12:13:22 – 

bhave bhave yathā bhaktiḥ

pādayos tava jāyate

tathā kuruṣva deveśa

nāthas tvaṁ no yataḥ prabho

Rshi Ugrashava is not speaking to anyone. Everyone is gone now, so who is he speaking to? He is just speaking to himself, but remember that this is Bhagavan’s leela. Rshi Ugrashava and Bhagavan know that we are going to be listening, so he is speaking to us directly. Please take this out of the context of India, past, etc.. 

O Thou Lord and Master of our souls, ordain that whatever embodiments we might get again and again, that we shall be endowed with devotion to thy feet.

If we are going to be born and if we are going to be born again and again and again, may we be born with Bhakti. If we are born with Bhakti, we will be protected. The 5^th purpose in life which is really the only purpose in life is Bhakti. We have invested years into trying to feel this. 

With our body relaxed and enjoying our breath, with the mind quiet and the intellect feeling still, please let us hold our hand near our heart.

इति श्रीमद्भागवते महापुराणे वैयासक्यामष्टादशसाहस्र्यां पारमहंस्यां संहितायां द्वादशस्कन्धे त्रयोदशोऽध्यायः ॥ १३॥

Shrimad Bhagavate mahapurane vayyasikhyam ashtadasha sahasryam paramahamsyam samhitayam dvadasha skande trayodasho dhyayah

With our eyes still closed and still feeling this – This is Shimad Bhagavata and inside is this Maha Purana, this most educational map. Vayyasikhyam – there are teachings in this educational map, 18000 verses. Who gets to study and share this? Only those who have let go of all. It is this map that helps one to be complete and so the 12^th section, the 13^th chapter… 

Iti dvadashah skandah samaptah – thus the 12^th section is complete. Hari Aum Tat Sat.

Vivekji offers his prayers to Rshi Ugrashava, Raja Shaunaka, to Rshi Shuka and Raja Parikshita, to Bhagavan Veda Vyasa, Rshi Narada, Bhagavan Brahma, Bhagavan Narayana, that we feel Bhakti here and now, and that if we don’t have enough Bhakti, that the way Bhagavan Narayana’s Krpa or Anugraha has flown, may that flow continue, may that flow grow in our heads, and hearts and hands. 

Aum Narayana Narayana Narayana

Last week’s RAW: To feel that Shrimad Bhagavata does not exist. 

Vivekji’s thoughts: It was very heartbreaking to feel that Shrimad Bhagavata was not there. Imagine Bhagavata so deep in our hearts, and then we share it is not there. So we have to break our hearts to take it away. 

RAW: Write what Vedanta in Bhagavata means to you in 168 words, including our First name, Last name and City, State and email to Yatin at hello@chinmayaniagara.com