In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Sukhaachaarya leaving King Parikshit’s palace in a jiffy, as soon as he ensured that King Parikshit has understood all what he has said in elaborate detail. Unlike many others who might stay on to witness what happens next, Sage Sukhaachaarya leaves off immediately once his work is over. This is the ultimate level of detachment one should ideally have, as a “Guru” or a “Spiritual Master”. All what is important for the spiritual master is to know if the disciple has been enlightened or not. After the enlightenment, there is nothing that the spiritual master has to do. Once the job is over, Sage Sukhaachaarya thus leaves King Parikshit immediately, even though he could have stayed a bit longer to witness his path to Moksha. King Parikshit, being his ardent disciple, has learnt all the important aspects of “Dharma” with all the due respect from his end, and thus, his fear of being bitten by a snake has completely vanished with Sage Sukhaachaarya’s elaborate explanation.
Moving on thus, King Parikshit is awaiting the inevitable and this is where Takshaka, the snake makes its way into King Parikshit’s palace. As King Parikshit was sitting in his seat, the snake bites him and with that, the posion of the snake starts getting into his body. As the poison enters, King Parikshit’s body starts glowing like fire, due to the intensity of the poison. With this, King Parikshit’s “Atman” separates from the physical body and travels towards the “Moksha-maarga”. Upon seeing this, all people around King Parikshit were both happy and sad. They were happy because their king had obtained an extremely fortunate end to his human birth, with the divine grace of Sage Sukhaachaarya and Bhagawan Krishna. Of course, all of them were sad that they’re sacrificing a righteous king who stood for “Dharma” till the end of his lifetime.
Thus, King Parikshit’s Atman travels towards the “Brahman” and merges with Bhagawan’s Vaikunta, wherein it starts experiencing the real bliss. We can hereby understand what one can obtain, by listening to this Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana with ardent devotion. Just like how King Parikshit had the divine opportunity to attain the highest “Moksha” by listening to Sage Sukhaachaarya’s golden words of wisdom, we would also obtain this divine opportunity if we too exhibit the same kind of respect and devotion in listening to Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana.
With this, we come to the end of how King Parikshit attains Moksha by listening to Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana. It is in fact, this story with which we started the entire text from Episode one! We’ve witnessed how King Parikshit was cursed by a Sage’s son for putting a dead snake around his father’s neck, while being amidt a deep penance. It was with this curse that King Parikshit worried and afraid. This is where Sage Sukhaachaarya appeared in front of him and gave this golden treasure to him as a consolation that his “Atman” is never going to be destroyed and is destined to attain “Moksha”. Now having said thus, before we end the long marathon Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana project, we shall witness a small story of how Bhagawan Krishna gave divine darshan to Maarkandeya, and henceforth we’ve to witness an important event that we’ve not seen till now – Bhagawan Krishna’s marriage with Rukmini Devi. We’ve witnessed this event in brief during our discussion in the tenth Skanda, but now we’ve to witness it in detail. With this, we would come to the end of our mega project.
We shall thus, wait till the next episode to witness how Bhagawan Krishna gave His divine darshan to Maarkandeya. An interesting story awaits us! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 