We’re amidst an important and an interesting discussion as to what are the significances of Bhagawan’s “Avataras” or “Incarnations”. As we’ve been seeing that although Bhagawan Rama and Bhagawan Krishna are referred to as the “Poorna Avataras” of Bhagawan Vishnu, it doesn’t mean that other “Avataras” are insignificant. In these lines, we’ve been witnessing in yesterday’s episode, the significance of one such “Avatara” that we’ve already witnessed before – The Narasimha Avatara. We’ve clearly witnessed how Bhagawan honours the word of an ardent devotee, and this is the message that we can obtain through this incarnation. More specifically, if one ends up abusing and hurting Bhagawan directly, nothing much comes out as an outcome from Bhagawan. He is so compassionate to forgive that person for all the abuses that he had made. However, if that abuse is directed towards Bhagawan’s ardent devotee, this is where Bhagawan can never tolerate it even for a single minute. This is exactly what Hiranya Kashibu did to Prahlaada, Bhagawan’s ardent devotee, and the rest – We know what happened! Thus, Bhagawan Narasimha’s incarnation conveys this important message and this is where, we had witnessed a beautiful reference from Shri Vishnu Sahasra Naama too, to substantiate this point. The “Shabdha” called “Vidheyaaatma”, can be inferred in two meanings – One is, Bhagawan is someone who can easily be brought under control. Second is, “Avidheyaatma”, wherein Bhagawan is someone who is beyond all controls! Now the question comes as to who can control Bhagawan? An ardent devotee can! With his / her innocent and fervent prayers, Bhagawan automatically comes under control of the devotee. However, Bhagawan can never be controlled for all those who try and insult and abuse Bhagawan’s ardent devotees.
This is why we often keep saying that it is better to avoid venting out our frustration towards others. We would never know who is a devotee and who is not. If even by mistake, our venting is going to be on an ardent devotee of Bhagawan (Bhaagawatha), we’re done for our life! Hence, it is better to be safe than sorry! At this juncture, we need to understand something very important here – Where does all this abusing and venting of frustration begin? In many cases, it begins with finding faults with others unnecessarily. As a human being born in this world, and as a spiritual practitioner, it is always advisable to avoid poking our nose into other’s matters. The moment we start doing that, we start building expectations from the other person. If our expectations are not met at any point, we start fuming with anger and the next step would be to vent out all our anger on that person. This is something that we should strive to avoid as much as possible. As far as possible, it is always better to mind our own business and move on with our life.
We’ve to understand one important thing here – We’ve come here to this world to strive and attain “Moksha”. This is the sole purpose with which we’re taking birth. However, as life progresses, we totally forget this purpose and move into something else, which is totally unnecessary. What bothers us if others do or do not attain “Moksha”? At some points, we’ve to be a bit individualistic and selfish. Of course, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t help others or we should shy away from pulling out people from dangers, etc. We should do all that, without a doubt. However, when it comes to attaining “Moksha”, this is an individual-oriented assignment that Bhagawan has given us and we should strive hard for it with all our efforts. One such effort that we’ve to put in, is to try and refrain ourselves from going behind others’ businesses. We should try and develop complete focus on what we’re supposed to do, and once we start walking this path, we would automatically stop interfering in others’ matters. Once this stops, fuming and anger would stop. Once anger stops, abusing will stop automatically as well. Thus, this is the “formula for success” here.
Moreover, we’ve to also know the different ways and means by which we end up abusing others. One is obviously through our words. This is what we’ve been discussing all this while. However, there are other ways through which we abuse people and other living beings. For instance, we can abuse someone through or actions – Might be with our hands, legs, or some weapons, etc. Of course, given today’s civilized society, none of us are going to take the stick or gun or whatever weapon in our hands and hurt others. This might be applicable only for a few groups of barbarians that are roaming around, but fortunately by Bhaagwan’s grace, we’re not part of those barbarian groups. So we do not need to worry on that front. But the main problem with all of us is to control our tongue! This is where, most of the time we go wrong. Of course, we can still refrain ourselves by controlling our tongue too, but there is still a bigger problem – The mind! Even though many times we might not end up abusing others directly through words, we might have so many thoughts running in our minds against others, isn’t it? This is the biggest problem! If we take an honest statistical analysis of our mind’s thoughts, we would be shocked to understand that almost 80% of our thoughts would be abusive of others in some way or the other. This is where we need to really control our mind’s thought process. This is exactly what Bhagawan Krishna explains in the Bhagawad Gita too:
“Manayevahi manushyaanaam kaaranam bandha mokshayoh!!”
Bhagawan Krishna clearly explains here that the mind is the sole reason for one’s sorrows and unwanted attachments in this world. If one learns to control the mind, he / she can do wonders in this world. In fact, the entire concept of “Detachment” which Bhagawan Krishna often repeats in the Bhagawad Gita as well as His conversation with Uddhava, is totally based on mind-control. Thus, the message here is that, if we’re able to control our mind, most of the abusive thoughts, words, actions, etc. can automatically be brought under control. Of course, this is easier said than done, but having said that, we’ve to start putting effort through some way or the other, isn’t it? We cannot just simply sit and claim that our minds can’t be controlled and we would keep doing all the rubbish that we’re doing. We’ve to start our efforts at some point in time, isn’t it?
So let us use this opportunity to commence our “Saadhana”, in bringing our mind under control. For today, let us first understand these points deeply and we shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 