The Indian Dharma

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed the origin of the holy River Ganges and the various directions in which it flows. We’ve witnessed that the River Ganges enters into the “Jambu Dveepa” from the “Aakaasha” (Sky), splashes over the “Meru Mountain” and falls into different directions. Out of these, the stream that flows through the southern direction is what enters into our Bhaarata Desha (India) as River Alakananda. We can witness this beautiful sight even today, if we go to this place called “Deva-Prayag” amidst the Himalayan Mountains. We would be able to see how the water gushes along the stream and if we happen to keep our hand or leg in the water, the current of it would easily wash us away in no time. Such is the intensity of the River Ganges at this point. Thus, we’ve seen how the River Ganges adorns the Bhaarata Desha like a precious ornament and as we all know, this river is one of the holiest rivers in the entire world, even today. This is the reason why thousands of people gather at the banks of River Ganges to take a dip. It is believed that if we do so, all our sins would be totally washed away and we would be as pure as the river itself! 

Now having witnessed the significance of River Ganges, Sage Paraashara beautifully explains the sanctity of this Bhaarata Desha in the upcoming accord. This is a very important section here and readers are requested to pay your full attention to this. This is where, Sage Paraashara clearly explains the significance of our Bhaarata Desha, over the other countries in this world. He starts by declaring that Bhaarata Desha is the only Desha (Country) in this world which is the “Karma Bhoomi”. If anyone has to attain “Moksha” or “Svarga Lokha”, it is possible ONLY if one takes birth in this Bhaarata Desha. One should take birth within the four boundaries of the Bhaarata Desha and only then he / she becomes eligible to attain “Moksha”. We can be born somewhere else, or even can live somewhere else too, but if we happen to do so, we would have to take birth in this world again and again and there would be no chance for us to attain “Moksha”. I’m not saying this – Sage Paraashara says so! 🙂 Many of us might have apprehensions here, but sometimes truth could be very hard to chew and swallow in life. Sage Paraashara is never going to lie. Sage Paraashara is equivalent to Bhagawan Vishnu Himself! Sage Paraashara is one of the greatest “Aachaaryas” the world has ever seen till today. Hence, if he says so, there is definitely going to be truth in it. 

“Varsham tath bhharatam naama bhaarateeyatra santathihi!

Nava yojana saahasraha vistaarorasya mahaa mune!!

“Karma bhoomi riyam svarga apavargancha gachhathaam!!”

This above line that I’ve underlined is the sloka of Sage Paraashara, which clearly highlights the fact that this Bhaarata Desha is the land of “Moksha”! If only we’re born here in this holy land, will we be even eligible to talk about “Moksha” – Forget attaining it! The message is loud and clear here, isn’t it? Hence, it is up to us to make up our minds and respect our motherland. We’ve to feel proud to be part of this great country called Bhaarata Desha and we should, at any cost, try to serve our nation with great respect. This is what is important for all of us. No matter what thousands of people around us might keep saying, we should never pay heed to all those nonsense. We should indeed feel indebted to Bhagawan that He has given us this golden opportunity to take birth in this great land. In fact, by giving this birth to us in this Bhaarata Desha, Bhagawan has given us a clear signal that He wants all of us at Vaikunta very soon. He’s indeed waiting to see all of us there. 

Hence for today, let us enjoy and experience this important point and we shall wait till the next episode to witness the other salient features of this Bhaarata Desha, according to Sage Paraashara! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the discussion as to how Priyavrata and his son, Aagneehtra split this world into many different parts. We’ve witnessed that Priyavrata had split the world into the seven “Dveepas” and we’re at the forefront of the Jambu-Dveepa. This Jambu-Dveepa was gifted by Priyavrata to Aagneetra, who in turn, splits the Jambu-Dveepa into different “Varshas”. We’re amidst the “Bhaarata-Varsha”, which is amongst the nine different “Varshas” according to Aagneetra’s split. Now, Aagneetra has the next generation after him, by name “Naabi”. Now Naabi splits the “Bhaarata Varsha” into various Kandas, and we’re at this Kanda by name “Bharata Kanda”. Thus, we’ve seen in the yesterday’s episode that our Bhaarata Desha (India) is situated amidst this “Bharata Kanda”. This is the reason why we often chant in our “Sankalpa Mantra” as “Bhaarata varshe. Bharata Kande.. Meroho.. Dakshine Paarshve…” 

Now that we’ve witnessed the entire world’s divisions, we’re now at the place where our Bhaarata Desha is situated. Since it was ruled by Bharata (Naabi) for a long time, we call this country as Bhaarata Desha. Now we have the famous and revered river in our Bhaarata Desha, by the name Ganges, isn’t it? We should understand here that the holy River Ganges descends down from the “Aakaasha” (Sky), splashes on to the “Meru Mountain” which we saw yesterday, and then comes down into India. We’ve seen how the Meru Mountain is uniquely structured in yesterday’s episode isn’t it? We’ve to now note that the bottom portion of this mountain is fully made of diamonds and the top portion of gold. Many of us might wonder where is this precious mountain! However, sadly, it is at a place wherein we cannot see it! The Meru mountain is totally invisible, and readers shouldn’t mistake the Meru Mountain to be the present day Himalayas. This is the reason why I’m explaining this point. Thus, we’ve seen that the River Ganges splashes over this Meru Mountain, and now, it splits into various streams of water, running into different directions. The stream that flows here towards the southern direction is the one which is called “Alakananda”. 

In fact, Sage Paraashara talks about the River Ganges flowing from the Meru Mountain in the four directions. He explains the names for each of the streams here – Sita, Alakananda, Chakshuhu and Bhadra. As we’ve seen, the stream that runs towards the southern direction is called “Alakananda”. Even today, if we go for the “Badrigaashrama” situated amidst the Himalayas, there is a place called “Deva-Prayag”. This place is the junction of River Ganges today, which actually flows from two different directions. One stream is referred to as the “Bhaageerathi” and the second is referred to as the “Alakanada”. Both these streams come and meet at the junction called “Deva-Prayag”. This is a beautiful and a scenic place that all of us should visit atleast once in our lifetime. If we see today, the Bhaageerati is a very ferocious stream of River Ganges that would come in full mightly force, whereas the Alakananda is a small little stream that comes slowly and steadily without any gush. Thus, both meet at this junction and flow together with a great force! This is the beauty of our great River Ganges. 

Thus, through this particular section, Sage Paraashara brings out the significance of the River Ganges. As we’ve seen here, the river comes down from the “Aakaasha”, gushes over the Meru Mountain, gets splashed and streams up in all the four directions. The southern stream is what we refer to as the “Alakananda” which flows through into our “Manushya Lokha” and this is what we see today as well. So for today, let us understand this clearly and we shall wait till the next episode to continue with the next point! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had commenced a very important topic on the “Dveepas”, and how King Priyavrata split the world into seven different “Dveepas” – The “Jambu Dveepa”, “Plaksha Dveepa”, “Shaalmala-Dveepa”, “Kusha-Dveepa”, “Krauncha-Dveepa”, “Shaaka-Dveepa” and “Pushkara-Dveepa”. We’ve also subsequently seen the distance that each of these “Dveepas” cover. We’ve seen that the “Jambu-Dveepa” is at the center of everything and covers a distance of around one lakh “Yojanas”. (1 Yojana = 13.2 Kms or approximately 8 miles). Subsequently all the other Dveepas form concentric circles around the Jambu Dveepa with of course, the seven different oceans in the middle of each Dveepa. All of this together constitute the world in total, and this was what King Priyavrata was ruling. 

Thus, in the center of this “Jambu-Dveepa” is a huge mountain called as the “Meru”. This “Meru” mountain is placed exactly at the center of this “Dveepa”, just like how a nail is hammered at the center of a wall. We use this analogy of a nail to describe the “Meru” mountain because of a unique feature that it has. Normally when we see a mountain, we would see that it has a broad base and it starts tapering and narrowing down as the height increases. However for the “Meru” mountain, it is just the opposite. The base of the mountain is very small like a nail, and as the height increases, the broadness would increase. This is quite opposite to what we see today, isn’t it? This is why I had described a nail as an analogy. Just as how a nail has a narrow base and broadens at the top, the Meru mountain has a narrow base and broadens as the height increases. Sage Paraashara describes the diameter details of the Meru mountain. He says that the base portion of the mountain has about 16,000 Yojanas in diameter and the top portion has about 32,000 Yojanas. This is where we can see that it is like a cone, cemented in the center of the “Jambu-Dveepa”. It is in the south of this great “Meru” mountain is where all of us are. We’re living in the center – “Jambu-Dveepa”. Just to make sure that this narrow-based “Meru-Mountain” doesn’t fall down on either sides, there are four more mountains that bear the weight of it in the four directions. This is how the entire world is held in balance by Bhagawan Vishnu. Each of these four mountains have several thousands of “Yojanas” in diameter and are extremely huge in size. Thus, we’ve to remember here that the Jambu-Dveepa is at the center of all the “Dveepas” and the oceans. It is in the center of this “Jambu-Dveepa” is the “Meru mountain”. Surrounding the “Meru mountain” are four other mountains that balance it to stand straight. 

Thus, all whatever we’ve seen till now is all about the “Bhoomandala”. Above this “Bhoomandalam” we have the other six “Lokas” called “Bhuvar Lokha”, “Suvar Lokha”, “Maha Lokha”, “Jana Lokha”, “Tapah Lokha” and “Satya Lokha”. These are the six “Lokhas” that are present above the “Bhoomandala” or the “Bhoo Lokha”. Similarly, ,below the “Bhoo Lokha” are seven “Paathaala Lokhas” that go underground. Thus we can see here that the Bhoo-Lokha” is at the center, with seven “Paathaala Lokhas” underground and seven “Lokhas” above. Thus the entire distance that all the fourteen Lokhas put together would cover would come to around 50 crore Yojanas! This is the mammoth size of the world that we’re talking about here. If we compare this mammoth size with what we see at the center of the “Jambu-Dveepa”, we are just a miniscule part of this whole world put together. 

Moving on with the narrative of Sage Paraashara thus, we’ve witnessed the King Priyavrata had gifted this “Jambu-Dveepa” to his eldest son, Aagneethra. Now this Aagneethra is going to split this “Jambu-Dveepa” into nine different parts. We’re now going to inch closer towards our “Bhaarata Desha”. We shall now see the split of this “Jambu-Dveepa”. Thus, the split is according to the number of sons Aagneethra had. He had nine sons, and hence the split was into nine. Under these nine divisions, the first division is referred to as the “Bhaarata Varsha”. From now on, each of these nine divisions would be titled as “Varshas”, as we’ve seen the first categorization of Priyavrata to be “Dveepas”. The eldest son of Priyavrata was named as Bharata, and it was to him that the first “Varsha” was handed over. This is why this Varsha obtained the name as “Bhaarata Varsha”. This Bharata had another name called “Naabi”. This Naabi’s generation is what we’re going to see a bit later on, wherein we’re going to witness the interesting story of Jada Bharata. All these for our later episodes, but for now, we’re seeing the emergence of the Bhaarata Varsha. 

Now it is time for this Bhaarata Varsha to be split further to form the “Bharata-Kanda”. Now it is in this Bharata Kanda is our today’s Bhaarata Desha situated. This is why we chant in our “Sankalpa Mantra” as 

“Jambu-Dveepe Bhaarata Varshe Bharata Kande Meroho Dakshine Paarshve Sakaapthe….” 

Thus, to summarize for the benefit of our readers – The Bhoomandala, which comprises of the fourteen Lokhas – Seven above and seven below, the center of all is the Bhoomi, which is split into seven “Dveepas” and amongst which the center of it is the “Jambu-Dveepa”. In the center of this Jambu DDveepa is the Meru Mountain, and to the south of this Meru Mountain is the Bhaarata Varsha, and within this Bhaarata Varsha is the Bharata Kanda, and this is where our Bhaarata Desha (India) lies. So for today, let us get a thorough understanding of these important points and let us wait till the next episode to continue this accord further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had concluded the summary of the first “Amsa” and commenced with the second “Amsa”, wherein Sage Maithreya is asking Sage Paraashara the next question. He is now asking about Svaayambhva Manu’s second son, Priyavrata. We’ve already witnessed in the first Amsa about the other son, Utthaanapaada, wherein we witnessed the all-important Dhruva-Charitra. We should remember here that Dhruva was the son of Utthaanapada. After Dhruva, came Anga. After Anga came Vena. After Vena came Pruthu. We’ve seen at length about all these people in our previous project – Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana. Sage Sukhaachaarya too had given a detailed accord on all these people, and hence I’m not going into the individual “Charitras” here. We shall witness now what we’ve not seen yet. 

Thus, now the talk is going to be about Priyavrata and his family lineage. Sage Paraashara starts his accord by explaining that this Priyavrata had ten sons. The eldest son of Priyavrata was named as “Aagneethra”. As the ten sons were growing up, Priyavrata was thinking about how to split his kingdom into ten different smaller kingdoms, so as to give them to each of the sons. As a father, Priyavrata wanted to do something good to his sons, and he planned thus. However, the first three sons clearly said to their father that they do not want any share in the kingdom and that, they would like to be left alone from all this. Having heard this from Aagneethra and the two others, Priyavrata’s job now becomes a bit easier. It’s only the question of seven more sons, isn’t it? Hence, division becomes easier. The problem comes only if all the ten sons are fighting for their share, and at this stage the role of the father becomes miserable, isn’t it? We’re seeing this rampantly in today’s world – How families are getting split because of property issues! 

Here, we’re going to see that Priyavrata was the ruler of the entire world! We’re today fighting for some miniscule amounts of property here and there in some corner of the world, isn’t it? 🙂 Now, for Priyavrata’s seven sons, he splits the entire world into seven different “Dveepas”. This is what we refer often to as “Sapta-Dveepa”. The word “Sapta” means seven, and “Dveepa” means a portion of this entire world. Sage Paraashara lists out the names of the seven Dveepas here thus: The first one is called “Jambu-Deveepa”. The second one is called as “Plaksha-Dveepa”. Subsequently, there are the five other Dveepas, namely Shaalmala-Dveepa, Kusha-Dveepa, Krauncha-Dveepa, Shaaka Dveepa and Pushkara Dveepa. Readers should carefully note these names here, as these are often referred to, in various places of our Sanaatana Dharma literature in various contexts. Thus, Priyavrata splits the entire world into these seven Dveepas, To understand these points better, readers must have a fairly good imaginary power here – We should imagine huge concentric circles around the earth’s surface, spreading across length and breath. The center portion of all these concentric circles is nothing but the first Dveepa, which is called the “Jambu-Dveepa”. This is the Dveepa which Priyavrata gave to his eldest son, Aagneetra, even though he refused to take it. However, with the instruction from his father, Aagneethra took it upon himself to rule. 

Now, we’ve to measure the distance of each of the “Dveepas” isn’t it? The Jambu Dveepa, according to Sage Paraashara, is around 100,000 Yojanas in distance. In our Sanaatana Dharma literature, we would quite often come across this parameter of measuring distance – “Yojana”. If we’ve to equate this Yojana measurement to our modern day kilometer or mile calculation, we can say that one Yojana would approximately equal around 8 miles, or 13.2 kilometers. Now we can imagine what would be the distance of one lakh Yojanas. We’ve to simply multiply by 8 or 13.2 to get the exact miles or kilometers respectively. Thus, this is the distance that the Jambu Dveepa covers. 

Now we’ll understand why this Dveepa is referred to as “Jambu-Dveepa”. In fact, “Jambu” is the name of a fruit that was found abundant in this Dveepa. People who were living here were very fond of this Jambu fruit and they used to relish the juice of this fruit very much. As it was very good for health, people in this Dveepa were living hale and healthy by consuming the juice of this Jambu fruit. This is the reason why this Dveepa was referred to as the “Jambu-Dveepa”. Thus, the second characteristic of this Jambu-Dveepa is that, it is surrounded by huge swathes of oceans! The oceans were comprising of water, which was salty and brackish in nature. The length of the ocean was spanning to almost the same distance of the entire Jambu Dveepa, which is around one lakh Yojanas. Here, we’ve to imagine that the Jambu Dveepa is in the center like a circle, and the diameter of this huge circle is around one lakh Yojanas. Now, the oceans are surrounding this huge circle in the form of a concentric circle, and the diameter of this circle is also around one lakh Yojanas. 

Similarly, the next Dveepa, called the “Plaksha Dveepa” spans over a diameter of around two lakh Yojanas and there would again be an ocean that is forming the next level of concentric circle. The diameter of this would be another two lakh Yojanas. The next Dveepa would be forming the next level of the concentric circle, with a diameter spanning around four lakh Yojanas. There would again be another ocean that is surrounding this Dveepa too,  and this would also be around four lakh Yojanas in diameter. Similarly, the other Dveepas would be forming the subsequent concentric circles with around eight Lakh Yojanas, 16 Lakh Yojanas, 32 Lakh Yojanas and 64 Lakh Yojanas respectively in diameter. This is how the Dveepa calculation is done. 

Thus, we can see here that the smallest of the small Dveepas is the “Jambu-Dveepa”, which is at the center of everything. Surrounding the Jambu Dveepa are the subsequent six Dveepas, spanning a diameter of around 64 Lakh Yojanas, in the forms of concentric circles around. So for today, let us understand this calculation and we shall wait till the next episode to talk more on this! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed how the Brahman (Bhagawan Vishnu) is both the “Kaaranam” and the “Kaaryam” in this world. This simply means that Bhagawan is the sole creator and the sole destroyer of the entire world. No matter whether the world gets created or destroyed, the Brahman keeps existing at all times. When we say that the world is getting destroyed, it is only that it changes it’s shape from one form to the other. It is like the example of the mud pot here – When the mud is in the form of a beautiful pot, we say that it is a pot. However, when the pot gets broken into pieces, it again transforms into mud. The mud is “Brahman” and the Brahman takes different forms at different times. This is what we’ve to understand from this important discussion and this is exactly what Sage Paraashara is explaining to Sage Maithreya here. 

In due course of the previous episode, we also witnessed how Bhagawan Vishwaksena is the person who allocates people for different positions in the Satya Lokha, Indra Lokha, etc. This is why we chant this famous sloka as follows: 

“Shuklaambharatharam vishnum sashi varnam chaturbhujam!

Prasanna vadanam dhyaayeth sarva vignobha shaantaye!!

Yasyahdviratha vaktraathyaa paarishaktyaa parashatham!

Vighnam nighnanti satatam vishvaksenam tamaashraye!!” 

These two slokas are usually chanted at the beginning of the Vishnu Sahasranaama stothra, and many of us might be familiar with them. These slokas are in praise of Bhagawan Vishwaksena, who is the allocator of various roles. These slokas also clearly highlight the point that it is Bhagawan Vishnu who is the universal creator of this world. It is only with the divine grace of Bhagawan Vishnu that Bhagawan Brahma is given his position in the Satya Lokha and is continuing the job of creating the world. Of course, Bhagawan Vishnu has commenced the job of creation, and it is He who appoints Bhagawan Brahma to continue the job further. It is like how a manager allocates roles and responsibilities of the organization to his / her subordinates. Of course, the manager would have all the capabilities to do the job all by himself. But, to make himself free for other responsibilities that are important as well, he allocates these roles to his / her subordinates. Similarly here too, Bhagwan Vishnu has so many other things to take care of in this world. Hence, He “outsources” this job of creation to Bhagawan Brahma. 

Thus, if we’re outsourcing something to someone, we’ve to give them a job position, title, job description, etc. isn’t it? Similarly here also, Bhagawan Vishnu gives Bhagawan Brahma, a position in the Satya Lokha, and gives the job description of “creation”. Obviously, the lifespan of the Satya Lokha is something we’ve already discussed in our earlier episodes as well. Giving off the responsibility to Bhagawan Brahma thus, Bhagwan Vishnu goes to his Vaikunta and resides there. From here, it is all Bhagawan Brahma’s responsibility to continue with the creation.

With this recollection of all the point that we’ve discussed in the first “Amsa”, we now move into the second “Amsa”. I had done a brief recollection of the important points here, because these are the points that we’ve to carry forward into the second “Amsa”. If we do not remember these points, the second “Amsa” would become a nightmare for us to understand. Now, Sage Maithreya is going to ask further questions to Sage Paraashara and we’re going to witness the answers that Sage Paraashara is going to give. Till now, we’ve witnessed all the aspects of creation, and Bhagawan Brahma’s role in it. We’ve also witnessed how Svaayambhva Manu took birth, and from that, we’ve also seen how Raakshasas and Devas took birth. Specifically, we’ve seen how Hiranyaksha and Hiranya Kashibu tried to wreak havoc and how Bhagawan Vishnu had to incarnate as Bhagawan Varaaha and Bhagawan Narasimha respectively to neutralize these two Raakshasas. 

Now we’re going to witness the important point here as to how our “Bhoomandala” is categorized. This is a critical point here and readers are requested to be a little more attentive as you read through this section. We’re going to witness what is meant by “Dveepa”, “Varsha”, “Kanda”, etc. and how they’re classified. Sage Paraashara gives a very detailed accord on this point here. Now, Sage Maithreya is posing a question here – “Oh Sage Paraashara! You’ve now narrated the “Vamsa” (Family Lineage) of Svaayambhuva Manu’s one son – Utthaanapaada. However, there’s one more son by name “Priyavratha” isn’t it? You’ve not narrated the story of this Priyavrata yet. So tell me – Who is this Priyavrata? What is his significance and contribution?” 

We’ve already discussed earlier in the first Amsa that Svaayambhuva Manu had two sons – Priyavrata and Utthaanapada. I’m recollecting these points again and again so that readers shouldn’t forget. We’ve seen that Little Dhruva, Prahlaada, etc. came in the family lineage of Uttanapaada. Now we’re going to witness the lineage of Priyavrata. We shall wait till the next episode to commence the accord. Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the explanation as to how Bhagawan Vishnu creates this world merely through His “Sankalpa”. This is the gross difference between Bhagawan and us. If we’ve to create something, we’ve to have the “Sankalpa” as well as our physical action. However, this is not the case with Bhagawan Vishnu. Similarly, when all the creations have to be destroyed, it is Bhagawan Vishnu’s “Sankalpa” again, and with the “Sankalpa”, all the creations of the world go back into Bhagawan Vishnu’s body. Thus, we’ve seen in the first “Amsa” that everything in this world is “Brahman”. That is, the earth is Brahman. The water is Brahman. The wind is Brahman. The fire is Brahman. Thus, all the constituents of the world are embodiments of the ultimate “Brahman”. 

Moving on thus, we’ve to see what are those criteria with which we can say that the world is being created. In fact, Sage Paraashara talks about two important criteria here – “Naama” and “Roopa”. Everything in this world has a “Naama” and a “Roopa”. Now what are these “Naama” and “Roopa”? “Naama” means “Name”. “Roopa” means “Form”. Everything in this world has a name and a form, isn’t it? For instance, if we see a flower in front of us, we would say that this is a rose flower or a lotus flower or a sunflower, etc. isn’t it? Why? We know that we can associate a “flower” with a definite form, shape and smell. Similarly, if someone asks for me – Jeayaram, people can identify me with my physical structure like facial appearance, height, etc., isn’t it? Thus, we can see here that for things to be identified in this world, we require a “Name” and a “Form”, isn’t it? For a moment, just let us think that there is no name or no form for anything. This means, both you and me do not have any sort of name. If that is the case, how would we be able to identify each other? It is only because we have a name and a form, we’re able to identify each other and interact. If such a situation happens in this world, wherein there is no differentiation between anything and everything, this is where we say that the world is going through the “Pralaya Kaala”. Thus, after the Pralaya Kaala, everything will cease to exist and everything would become nameless and formless. This means that all the creations are being absorbed back by Bhagawan. The world completely becomes devoid of “Naama” and “Roopa”. However, when Bhagawan is performing the “Srishti” (Creation), all the “Naama” and “Roopa” would automatically come to existence. This is the biggest difference between “Srishti” (Creation) and “Pralaya Kaala” (Destruction). However, we should understand here that irrespective of Pralaya Kaala or Srishti, Brahman is constant. But, the Brahman during the Pralaya Kaala is referred to as the “Kaarana Brahman”. The Brahman during the process of “Srishti” is referred to as “Kaarya Brahman”. 

We might feel a bit confused here. I shall explain it in simple words. For instance, if we’ve to compare this phenomenon with the mud pot example, “Kaaranam” is the mud, from which the pot is made. “Kaaryam” is the beautifully made pot. Thus, the Brahman already exists in the formless state, which is the mud in this context. Thus, we say that the mud is referred to as the “Kaaranam”. However, the same Brahman (Mud in this context) takes the form of the beautiful pot (Kaaryam), when the potter is performing the “Srishti” (Creation), isn’t it? However, if the mud pot is destroyed, the Brahman again transforms from the pot to the original mud. This means that the Brahman is transforming from the “Kaarya Brahman” to the “Kaarana Brahman”. Thus, the point here is that Brahman is both “Kaaranam” and “Kaaryam”. It is only to highlight this point, I had invoked the mud pot example. 

This is where we’ve witnessed in the first “Amsa” that Bhagawan Vishnu is the creator. Bhagawan Vishnu Himself is “Brahman”. He creates Himself, He creates the entire world, He supports and protects all the creation and finally He destroys all the creation too. This is where Bhagawan’s “Sankalpa” creates the human form and various other animal and plant forms in this world. Now here comes the significance of our “Karma Theory”. The question comes here – “On what basis does Bhagawan create the living beings in this world?” it is purely on the basis of our Karma – Both “Paapa Karma” and “Punya Karma”. If a person has enormous amounts of “Punya Karma” accumulated within him or her, this person can even go to the “Satya Lokha” of Bhagawan Brahma. In fact, the Sanaatana Dharma explains that the phenomenon called “Bhagawan Brahma” doesn’t refer to a single individual. It is just a mere position. Just like how we have in Human Resources Management, various job positions with job titles and profiles, Bhagawan Brahma is nothing but a job position, with a definitive job title and a profile! Similarly, Indra is a position. Varuna is a position. All the Devas represent positions and not individuals. Thus, just like how we have a position of “Prime Minister” and “President” in every country and how individuals would keep changing in these positions once every five years, Bhagawan Vishwaksena keeps changing people in all these positions from time to time! We might be able to worship Bhagawan Vishwaksena in any Vishnu temple, isn’t it? 

So for today, let us understand these important points and let us wait for the next episode to continue with the significance of this Bhagawan Vishwaksena and move on further from there! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had concluded the first “Amsa ” of the great Shri Vishnu Puraana, and with this, the underlying message was that, the entire world is getting created by none other than Bhagawan Vishnu Himself. The entire world is created by Bhagawan Vishnu with just a bare minimal effort from His side, and such is His unending significance. This is what we often chant in the beginning of the Shri Vishnu Sahasranaama as follows: 

“Avikaaraaya shuddhaaya nityaaya paramaatmane! 

Shataika roopa roopaaya vishnave sarva jishnave!!”

Thus, the above sloka means that without even a small stress to His body, Bhagawan Vishnu creates the world. For instance, if we’ve to perform some physical activity, we’ve to undergo some physical stress and strain, isn’t it? However, if we’ve to compare the “physical activity” of creating the world, Bhagwan Vishnu doesn’t even have an iota of strain in Him. Thus, we’ve to understand here that the entire creation is from Bhagawan Vishnu and none else. In fact, if we look closely at this Shri Vishnu Puraana text, it has different “Vyaakyaanas” (Explanations). One explanation is in the channel of the philosophy called “Advaita”, another explanation is in the channel of “Vishista Dvaitam” and the third is through the “Dvaitam” philosophy. We should not confuse ourselves here. The text is the same, but the way in which we’re looking at the text might vary this way. However, the ultimate point that we’ve to remember here is that, the ultimate “Brahman” is created by Bhagawan Vishnu and at the end of it’s span, it again goes into Bhagawan Vishnu. This is what we’ve seen in the first Amsa at various points. 

In due course, we’ve also seen that Bhagawan Vishnu creates this world with His “Sankalpa Shakti” (Power of His Will). For instance, if we’ve to make a mud pot, we’ve to take all the mud, heat it, make it hard, assemble it and then create a pot out of it. This involves a lot of physical work. However, Bhagawan Vishnu doesn’t require any sort of physical labor to create this world. The entire creation called “Brahman” is created only out of Bhagawan’s “Sankalpa Shakti”. I’m emphasizing and re-emphasizing these points time and again, only for the understanding of our readers. We might think that we’re wasting time by repeating these points, however, these are certain complex lessons that we’re learning here and this requires repetition. Obviously there are storylines, and when we come across such instances, we shall move a bit faster. But when it comes to important concepts of “Vedanta”, we’ve to stress and re-stress upon them several times, so that we get a firm understanding of the same. 

In fact, if we look closely in both these cases – The person who is creating the mud pot, is making a “Sankalpa” within himself before making it. Bhagawan also makes a “Sankalpa” within Himself that He’s going to create this world. But what is the difference between both these cases? When the potter is taking this “Sankalpa”, he has to physically work and prepare the pot all by his work. However, if Bhagawan does the “Sankalpa”, He doesn’t require to do any sort of physical activities to create the world. It happens only by the very “Sankalpa” itself. So for today, let us understand this difference very clearly and we shall wait till the next episode to continue with the introduction to Amsa – 2. Lot of interesting and important points await us! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed the conclusion of the first “Amsa” of the Shri Vishnu Puraana. This “Amsa” had 23 “Adhyaayas” and we’ve witnessed a jist of all of it for the past 66 episodes. With this, we  now move on to the “Phala-Stuthi” of this “Amsa”, wherein Sage Paraashara is going to explain the immense benefits that one is going to attain, if he / she reads or listens to this “Amsa”. But as we move on to this important section, we’re in the midst of an important discussion as to why Sage Paraashara is giving such a detailed explanation and description to just one question that Sage Maithreya was asking. Readers would remember the question here – “How was the world created?” – And for this, Sage Paraashara has explained the answer in 22 different Adhyaayas! The answer is not over yet. In fact, he has just begun the answer and we’re going to have a huge discussion moving forward. We shall witness the answer for the question as to why is Sage Paraashara giving such a huge answer for just this one question, and then go on into the “Phala-Stuthi”. 

If we look deeply into this sequence of events, Sage Maithreya is just asking that one question. However, if we would’ve been there in that situation, we would have asked 100’s of cross questions! We would never have had the patience to sit quietly and listen, first of all! We would have raised questions thus, “Oh! I’ve just asked one question about the creation of the world. However, what is the connection between creation of the world and Bhagawan’s Varaaha and Narasihma incarnations? How do these incarnations make sense here?” We should realize that only because there’s a huge sense behind all these incarnations, is Sage Paraashara explaining here. There’s definitely a link. For instance, even if we see the sequences that led to Bhagawan Krishna giving the Bhagawad Gita to Arjuna, it was just that one question from Arjuna that prompted Bhagawan Krishna to go for the lengthy 700-sloka Bhagawad Gita. Similarly, for the Vishnu Sahasranaama too, Yudishtra is asking Bhishmacharya as to what is “Dharma” in this world. For this, Bhishmacharya is coming up with a 108-sloka Vishnu Sahasranama! We might wonder here thus, “Oh! Neither Yudishtra or Arjuna or Sage Maithreya had never asked for such a lengthy answer, isn’t it? Then, why did Bhagawan Krishna or Bhishmacharya or Sage Paraashara give such a lengthy reply?” This is where the “Aachaarya” is showering his divine grace on his disciple. It is out of the inner, deep-rooted desire of the Aachaarya to enlighten his disciple, is he giving an answer that encompasses various aspects of human life inside it. Just like how a mother wouldn’t stop giving her child only what it wants for that moment, an Aachaarya also gives all what the disciple requires for a peaceful life in the long-term. 

Thus, we should realize here that an Aachaarya is a person who always thinks about the long-term benefit for the disciple, and not just the short-term benefit. This is the difference between great Aachaaryas and normal people like us. The Aachaaryas have a foresight and a long-term thinking, which makes them give answers that would be applicable, even after so many years! This is where we had also seen at the end of our previous project – Shrimad Bhaagawata Puraana that Sage Sukaachaarya gave a huge accord about how the present Kali Yuga would span out in the coming centuries. In fact, King Parikshit hadn’t even asked for all of it, but Sage Sukhaachaarya took it upon himself to explain the nook and corner of the Kali Yuga with great foresightedness. Such is the significance of our great Aachaaryas and we should learn to respect their enormous contributions. 

With this, we shall move on with the “Phala-Stuthi” – Something that we’ve been waiting to hear for a while now! 🙂 Sage Paraashara explains thus, “Oh Maithreya! Those who are reading or listening to this first Amsa of the Vishnu Puraana would get the same “Punya” (Benefit) that they would get if they take a holy bath at the “Pushkara” lake during the Kumba Mela that occurs once every twelve years!”  We might be aware of this “Pushkara-Kshetra” wherein Bhagawan Vishnu resides there in the form of the water in that sacred lake. Thus, Sage Paraashara assuredly explains to Sage Maithreya that a person who listens or reads through this Amsa would get such a huge “Punya” in his / her life and with this, all the sorrows and sins of that person would get washed away with ease. Such is the power of this first “Amsa” and with this, we come to the end of it here. 

So for today, let us ponder over, read over and analyze each and every section of this important first Amsa and we shall wait till the next episode to commence our discussion on the second “Amsa”! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed how the mind plays an important role in enhancing or deviating us from our spiritual path, and how Bhagawan’s “Chakra” signifies this wavering mind. Just like how Bhagawan controls the “Chakra” to have a go at only those who follow the path of “Adharma”, we should also control our mind and focus it towards Bhagawan. This is what Bhagawan expects from us, and this is exactly what Bhagawan Krishna explains in the Bhagawad Gita as well, with regards to the characteristics of an ardent devotee. As we understand this point clearly, we shall move towards the next important point that Sage Paraashara is going to talk about now. 

He now talks about the beautiful garland that Bhagawan is wearing – Also referred to as “Vaijayanti Maala”. This is an important accord here, and there is a reason behind why Bhagawan is wearing this. This garland again signifies our five sense organs and how they’re co-ordinated by a single element called “mind”. These are nothing but the “Karma-Indriyas”. Moreover, there are another five set of elements called the “Gnyaana-Indriyas”, which are signified by the arrows that Bhagawan is holding in His hands. Moreover, Bhagawan has a long sword in His hands, which is embedded inside a cover. This sword signifies the ‘Gnyaana”, or the knowledge, and the sword’s cover signifies the “Avidhya”, which is nothing but “ignorance. The message here is that, all of us have the “Spiritual Knowledge” deep within us, but the problem is, our “Avidhya” or the “Ignorance” is refusing to let it shine, just like how the sharp sword is not  let out by it’s cover. 

We’re seeing this even in today’s scenario too – We might read a lot about Bhagawan. We might listen to the discourses of eminent “Upanyaasakas”. We might listen to sweet music, singing in praise of Bhagawan. However, even after all of this, our mind refuses to change course, isn’t it? For instance, we attend a music concert of an eminent musician. We get raptured by the music and the “Bhakti” behind the songs that are being presented. Sometimes, we might even get tears in our eyes as we feel Bhagawan in the music. However, after the concert is over, do we still continue to realize Bhagawan? Do we still continue to think about Him? In most of the cases, we don’t! The moment we’re outside the concert hall, we start getting into the folds of the “Maya” or the “Illusion” isn’t it? This simply means that we’re still not mature enough to get into the spiritual path completely. Our mind isn’t still cooperating. Thus the point here is, although our mind knows that this is the spiritual path that we’ve to follow and although we have the spiritual knowledge deep within us to enjoy the music in the right way, we’re still deluged over the “Avidhya” (Ignorance) that we’re not able to persist on our spiritual path. This is where, “persistence” and “consistency” is very important when it comes to following the spiritual path. 

This is like playing a Test Match in the game of cricket. Just like how the batsman should wait, wait and wait till he gets the loose ball to play his shots, and just like how the bowler should be consistent enough to bowl good deliveries to the batsman, we too should be consistent in our approach towards Bhagawan. This is what Bhagawan expects out of us. There might be hurdles in the middle, in the form of various disturbances coming by our way. If we’re getting carried away by those hurdles, it is imperative that we’re letting our “Avidhya” to take over. We’re slowly starting to lose the game here. This is where we’ve to be careful. We should never let our “Avidhya” to take over our spiritual progress. If such a thing happens, we’ve to start from scratch once again, and this is where we tend to lose interest towards spiritual progress. We should thus take the resolve within ourselves that whatever comes by, we should never ever thread backwards in our spiritual path. This is where our mental strength is put under test and Bhagawan expects us to live up to this challenge. 

So with all these important points, we come to the end of the first “Amsa” of the Shri Vishnu Puraana. This “Amsa” had 23 “Adhyaayas” and we’ve witnessed a jist of all of it for the past 65 episodes. Now to conclude this “Amsa”, Sage Paraashara explains the “Phala-Stuthi”, or the benefits that a Bhakta would get, if he / she reads through this “Amsa”. We shall wait till the next episode to look at this “Phala Stuthi”, but before this, we’ve to look at yet another important message as we move on. Here, as Sage Paraashara commences the “Phala-Stuthi”, he once again addresses his disciple, Sage Maithreya. We might be wondering here – Till this point, Sage Maithreya was never to be seen. Where did he come from again, all of a sudden? We should remember this important point here that it was only upon Sage Maithreya’s question about how this world was created, is Sage Paraashara narrating the whole accord. We’ve already witnessed Sage Maithreya’s question in our earlier episodes itself. However, we might wonder here, as to why Sage Paraashara is giving such a lengthy answer for just that one question. When we say “lengthy”, the answer is spanning over 22 Adhyaayas, and counting! Why can’t he stop by just giving a “one-liner” as how most of us do today? Why is Sage Paraashara explaining things in such minute detail? What is the role of the “Dhruva-Charitra” and Bhagawan Narasimha’s incarnation here? All these questions have only one important answer and we shall witness the answer in the next episode! An absorbing discussion awaits us tomorrow! Stay tuned! 🙂 

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed the significance of Bhagawan’s “Shanka” and “Chakra” that He holds in either of His two hands. We’ve seen that the “Shanka” signifies our “Pancha-Indriyas”, which are nothing but our five senses of eyes, ears, nose, taste and touch. These are collectively referred to as the “Saatvika Ahankaara” in our Sanaatana Dharma literature. Similarly, the “Chakra” represents the “Pancha-Bhootas” or the five important elements of the earth surface, comprising the earth, fire, wind, water and sky. In our Sanaatana Dharma literature, these are collectively referred to as the “Taamasa Ahankaara”. Previously, we’ve also witnessed that Bhagawan Vishnu is holding the “Gadha” in His hand, and this signifies the “Intellect” or “Buddhi”. In continuation of this, we also know that our intellect is often inn the control of the mind, which is not very stable at all times. Our mind keeps wavering here and there unwantedly, and this is represented by the revolving “Chakra” of Bhagawan. Just like how the “Chakra” is ever-revolving and is not stationary at one point, our mind is also ever-revolving all around, and is never stationary at a single point. This is where, we’ve to realize that real spiritual progress happens in a person, only when the revolutions of the mind would reduce. More the reduction of the mind’s revolution, more the spiritual progress. This is what we’ve to understand from this important description from Sage Paraashara. 

As a continuation of this point further, we should understand why Bhagawan’s Chakra” signifies the unstable mind, in a better way, as we move on. We’ve already witnessed a glimpse of it, but we shall witness this point in a bit of more detail, so as to drive home a very important point. For instance, even as we read through this episode, our mind would be wavering into so many different aspects – We might have some personal issues plaguing us, or some issues at work. Thus, even as our lips would continue reading the episode of Shri Vishnu Puraana, our mind would never be grasping it! At the end of the reading, if someone asks us what did we understand from the entire episode, we wouldn’t be able to recollect even a single point! This is the beauty of the mind here. For instance, how long would it take for us to read this one episode? Hardly 10 minutes? It is within this ten minutes, our mind revloves all around the world and comes back! Our mind would start thinking, “Oh! Are we wasting time in reading such stuff? Instead, if we could do some office work that is pending, we would get some salary hikes! What are we going to gain by reading all this Vishnu Puraana?” 🙂 

We should remember and think within ourselves thus, “Oh! We’ve invested these 10 minutes of time for Bhagawan, and we’re learning something constructively. This is an investment for us to finish off our birth-death cycle. If we’re not focusing on this in this birth, we would have to keep repeating the birth-death cycle by taking countless number of births again and again, isn’t it? Already we’ve taken so many births, and finally we’ve landed up now with the golden opportunity to learn about Bhagawan. Why should we waste it? So we should make each and every minute count, rather than wavering and oscillating here and there!” If we counter-attack our mind in this way, automatically with the passage of time, our mind would come under control. This is what Bhagawan expects from us. In His Bhagawad Gita, Bhagawan Krishna highlights this important point. He explains that His ardent Bhakta is the one who has complete control of the mind. An ardent Bhakta is a person who doesn’t get extremely happy, extremely sad, jealous about somebody, etc. Thus, when the mind comes under control, all of these characteristics would be achieved by us. It might sound very easy for all of us to say and read through, but when it comes to implementation, it becomes tough. This is why we’re repeatedly emphasizing this point over and over again. We should take a step forward to put in the effort. Once we start putting the effort, Bhagwan would automatically guide us through with His divine grace. 

The problem comes only when we’re totally reluctant to take even a single step forward. If such is the case, even Bhagawan becomes fed up after a stage. If we’re not putting the effort, even after Bhagawan gives us the opportunity, Bhagawan too starts thinking, “Oh no! Inspite of giving so many opportunities, this fellow is not taking them up! Looks like he wants to keep revolving in the birth-death cycle and doesn’t want to come out of it anytime soon!” This is where we lose out! Hence, this is why we drive home the important point here that our mind is very unstable and we’ve to somehow find out ways to control it. This is what the “Chakra” of Bhagawan signifies, and just like how Bhagawan is taming the “Chakra” to go and hit only those who follow “Adharma”, we’ve to train our mind to attain Bhagawan, and nothing else. This is what is the true characteristic of an ardent devotee as per Bhagawan Krishna! 

So for today, let us once more ponder over this important point, and let us wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂