In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Yayaati being put into a trap by Indra as he asks a controversial question. Indra slowly puts King Yayaati into a nice comfort zone initially and makes him open up freely. Subsequently, as King Yayaati was carried away by Indra’s “sweet” words of appreciation, he had no option but to answer some tough questions from Indra as well. With this, as Indra asks King Yayaati if there is any other person in the world who is as good as, or, even better than himself in terms of doing penance, King Yayaati got into the trap! However, King Yayaati proceeded to tell the truth that there wasn’t anybody else who is as good as him in penance! With this, Indra declared that King Yayaati was into self-proclamation, which is not encouraged in the “Svarga Lokha” and hence, King Yayaati lost his rights to continue residing in the “Svarga Lokha”! With this, Indra pushed him down towards the earth again, only to take a re-birth and earn fresh “Punya-Karma” to come back to “Svarga Lokha”.
At this time when Indra pushed him down, King Yayaati prays to Indra to bless him with a “Satsanga” when he goes down! We’ve witnessed upto this point in the previous episode, and today, we shall witness the significance of why we should always be amidst a “Satsanga” and what do we gain out of it. Basically, as we’ve witnessed in our earlier episodes and projects as well, a “Satsanga” is a union of like-minded people who are completely focused on “Bhagawad Bhakti” and all those aspects pertaining to Bhagawan. At every instance of time, people who are part of the “Satsanga” would always be discussing Bhagawan’s various “Kalyana Gunas”, various aspects of our “Sanaatana Dharma”, sing in praise of Bhagawan, etc. If we’re part of such a “Satsanga”, automatically our mind would get channelized into “Bhakti”, isn’t it? End of the day, it all depends on how our companions are, isn’t it? Our companions have an enormous influence on how our behaviors and activities shape up. If we’re amidst a group of people who are focused on worldly affairs, our mind would also go into that only! However, if we’re amidst a group of “Satsanga”, our mind would automatically focus on Bhagawan and how to attain “Moksha”.
This is exactly what King Yayaati is asking Indra here – Anyway, he’s going to take birth in this world again – He could take birth at any place, isn’t it? If he would take birth in a place wherein the people around do not even know what is the meaning of “Bhakti” and “Dharma”, then what is the use of taking such a birth? It is for this reason, King Yayaati prays to Indra to make him take birth amidst a “Satsanga”, wherein he can continue his good deeds from where he left! In fact, Bhagawan Krishna too explains this as part of the Bhagawad Gita beautifully. Arjuna asks Bhagawan thus, “Oh Krishna! Suppose I lose my focus on “Dharma” mid-way owing to some worldly disturbances that might come along, what would happen to me? Will I be doomed completely? Should I re-start again from the beginning?” Bhagawan Krishna replies back thus, “Oh Arjuna! This is a very important question that you’ve asked! Those who follow the path of “Dharma” meticulously, but get distracted midway need not start again from the beginning! I make sure that when they are re-born, they are born amidst a “Satsanga” family, which gives them an opportunity to continue their “Bhakti-Maarga” from where they’ve left in their previous birth! All the “Dharma” that you’ve done so far would never get destroyed and it would be safely deposited!”
This is an important point that all of us need to understand here. Many of us have this doubt – If we’re deviating from the path of “Dharma” owing to whatsoever reasons, would all our “Dharma” activities performed previously go waste? The answer is “No” and this is exactly what Bhagawan Krishna is explaining here. When Bhagawan explains that we can commence our “Bhakti” from where we left, it implies that all the “Bhakti” that we’ve done previously would remain safe and secure, and this is what we call “Adrishta Phalam” in Sanskrit. In other words, the effects of all our good deeds and Bhakti would join us at a later stage and it would be there with us permanently. In fact, this is one of the reasons why we see certain children having enormous talents in singing and performing “Upanyasams” about Bhagawan at such a tender age! We refer to such children as “child prodigies”, but in the background if we investigate the past of these children, they would have been epitomes of “Bhakti” in their previous birth(s) and it is just the continuation of that “Bhakti” in this birth as well!
Thus, the point that we’ve to understand here is that, we should not get perturbed just because we’re getting distracted by worldly affairs. We should remain steadfast in our “Bhakti” and “Dharma” as much as possible and leave the rest to Bhagawan! This is very important. Even if we’re getting distracted, it is totally fine. We can always re-start our Bhakti from where we left, and continue it further and by doing so, Bhagawan would rather be extremely happy with our resolve of following the path of “Dharma” and “Bhakti”, no matter how much of disturbances and challenges we encounter during our path. So for today, let us understand this point very clearly, and let us wait till the next episode to witness where King Yayaati landed! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 