In the previous episode, we had witnessed a very important talk-point as to why we have different deities as part of our Sanaatana Dharma. This was an offshoot discussion from that of Sage Jada-Bharata’s, wherein he clearly explains how all the “Jeevatmas” can only be headed by one “Paramatma”, which is Bhagawan Himself. As we were emphasizing this, we had cleared off some myths about why we portray different Gods and Goddesses as part of our Sanaatana Dharma literature. We had compared this with a phenomenon in Chemistry called “Allotropy”, wherein one element can assume and exhibit various different forms at different times. Similarly, Bhagawan is like that one element, and He can assume different forms at different times, just like the various allotropic forms of the element. In due course, I had also explained why Bhagawan Vishnu’s incarnations are not just ten in number. There are various other incarnations that aren’t quite talked about much – For instance, Sage Kapilaachaarya and Sage Veda Vyaasa. In these lines, Bhagawan Vishnu Himself has hundreds of incarnations in this world at different points in time. Thus, readers should clearly understand here that our Sanaatana Dharma focuses only on one deity, but the manifestations of the deity are different at different times. We should not get confused thus, and when some anti-Hindu elements make fun of our Sanaatana Dharma, we should be able to give a befitting reply to them in these lines. We should always remember that our Sanaatana Dharma is the highest level of science, which cannot be compared even to the smallest speck of dust by any other religion in this world.
Moving on thus, Sage Jada-Bharata concludes his accord to King Rahuguna, and we’ve also spent so many episodes in understanding this important accord. As King Rahuguna listens to the entire accord, he now has all his doubts cleared. He was longing for this advice for a long time now, and he was under a lot of confusion just because he was not able to see the “Atman” and the “Deham” as separate entities. Thanks to Sage Jada-Bharat, King Rahuguna was able to realize the very purpose of his birth and in turn, he gave all the respects to Sage Jada Bharata as he was preparing to leave. A totally renounced saint has he was, Sage Jada Bharata immediately left the scene without saying an extra word, as the purpose of his visit was fulfilled. Normally, highly realized Sages wouldn’t talk an extra word apart from what they want to convey. We can see this even during the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana too. As Sage Sukhaachaarya finished the entire accord of 12 Skandhas to King Parikshit, he immediately stood up and started walking away! He didn’t stand there even for a minute to see whether King Parikshit is attaining “Moksha” or not. Thus, for highly realized people, the process of attaining “Moksha” is more important than the outcome. This is exactly what Bhagawan Krishna is explaining in HIs Bhagawad Gita too – As a golden piece of advice to Arjuna, Bhagawan explains that we’ve to do our duty and our complete focus should be on the duty only, rather than the outcome of it. This is an important point that all of us should recall and understand. We’ve spoken about this multiple times in the past as well, but this is something that we’ve to repeatedly reinforce into our memory.
Saying thus, Sage Paraashara too puts an end to this important accord of the “Jada-Bharata-Upaakhyaanam”, and moves on with the next important accord. This time, he is directly entering into the incarnation of Bhagawan Vishnu as Bhagawan Krishna! Yes! We’re going to witness a detailed accord of Bhagawan Krishna in the coming episodes. We’ve already done this during our previous project of Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana too, but this is something that we can keep doing endlessly over and over again, isn’t it? We can keep on talking about Bhagawan Krishna as long as we live and the profound bliss that we obtain by doing so, is incomparable. Sage Paraashara too is having the same agenda here. But we might wonder one thing here – Why is the Krishna-Avatara being talked about so much in both the Vishnu Puraana and Bhaagawatha Puraana and why is the previous Rama-Avatara being ignored time and again? Isn’t this a valid question?
All of us know how much significance the Rama-Avatara has, and we ourselves started this blog series with the Ramayana project only. Inspite of this, both Sage Paraashara and Sage Sukhaachaarya have not spoken in detail about the Rama-Avatara in their respective texts. What might be the reason for it? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out this intriguing answer! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 