The Indian Dharma

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed the final accord from the “Avadhoota” Sanyasin to King Yadu. He had described key lessons that can be learnt from twenty-four diferent aspects in the world, but King Yadu had insisted him to talk about the twenty’fifth as well. This is where the Sanyasin talks about the human body as the twenty-fifth and the ultimate item to end the accord with. He explains how this human body is transient in nature and spending too much of time getting attached to it is only going to prove a waste of time, money and effort. Of course, we should take care of our human body and make sure it is fit and fine. Only if we are fit, will we be able to perform our spiritual practices. Bhagawan has gifted us with this body as a “vehicle” to attain His feet. However, we should be very careful in understanding this point – There is a thin line of difference between taking care of our physical body and health and getting too much carried away in “beautifying” it. The moment we’re getting into the beautification process, it means that we’re getting carried away in attachment to our physical body. Whereas, if we’re taking adequate care of our physical health only and not involving ourselves in giving the “Shareera” too much of pleasures, we’re tending to be detached.

We might be wondering why is the Sanyasin taking up this human body as an important point for discussion towards the end of all the other items put together. The reason behind it is that, the human body is the biggest example of how we get too much attached to things, and also it serves as the biggest example for the quality of detachment if we’re treating it that way. Rest of all the items we’ve witnessed before this – We might only have seen one side of the story – Detachment. But here, the human body is an embodiment of “Maya” (Illusion) that can pull us down easily from our meticulous spiritual progress that we’re trying to make. This is where we’ve to be extremely careful. We’ve to give importance to our human body only until the “permissible limit”. If we’re starting to give too much importance to it beyond the permissible limit, the body will start asking for more and more importance and pleasures. This is where our mind also plays an important role to make us get carried away with the worldly pleasures. This is where Bhagawan Krishna repeatedly advises both here as well as in the Bhagawad Gita that we should not get carried away by worldly attachments that our “Shareera” is trying to pull us constantly into. This is where we should use our “Viveka” (Intellect) to understand which is right and wrong for our “Shareera” to be given.

For instance, if we’re having just two dhotis (or pants or shirts or whatever clothing), we would silently rotate both of them by washing them regularly every day. By this, our personal hygiene would also be well-maintained as we’re washing our clothes everyday and wearing clean attires. However, once the third clothing comes inside, what do we tend to do? We start becoming lazy and complacent and would postpone washing our clothes! We get carried away by the fact that this extra clothing that we have, can take us through the third day also, without washing. And if more and more pairs of clothes come in, we totally stop washing our clothes! J We can witness here what is happening – Unless and until there were only two attires, everything went on smoothly. The moment the third one creeps in, problems start, and subsequently when more and more clothes come in, we start becoming totally complacent. Nowadays to add on to this, we’re wearing a variety of “thick” pant that we take immense pride of – The reason being, we do not need to wash this pant for days or months together! 🙂 Because of this reason, we go and buy two or three such “thick pants” and use it time and again without washing them! Ultimately our personal hygiene is taken for a toss, isn’t it? This is what happens when we’re giving ourselves the luxury of having such clothes in larger numbers!

This is where Bhagawan Krishna and also the “Avadhoota” Sanyasin is advising us to be very vigilant about ourselves! Thus, from today’s episode, the extended message is that, we should give adequate and due importance to our “Shareera”, on the pretext that we should maintain our physical health and personal hygiene properly. This would serve us better in performing our spiritual duties correctly without any problem. However, if we’re going to give more and more luxuries to our “Shareera”, apart from what is needed, we need to understand that our “Shareera” is going to get engulfed into pleasures that are going to pull us down from our spiritual pursuit. Thus with this important message, we conclude the discussion on the twenty-five different aspects and the key learnings from them. We shall wait till the next episode to move on with the next important aspect of discussion – Bhagawan Krishna’s important advice to Bhagawan Brahma! Stay tuned! 🙂

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed key learnings from the twenty-third and the twenty-fourth items respectively – “Urnanaabhihi” (A spider) & “Supeshakrith” (A type of bee). We’ve witnessed how Bhagawan creates this entire universe with His will and wish, and how He also destroys the world again according to His will and wish – Just like how a spider creates and spins its web beautifully, only to pull it back and take it to another place eventually. Similarly, just like how the bee stings its prey repeatedly to bring it into its fold, Bhagawan too stings His devotees time and again to bring them to His fold, ultimately to take them towards the highest “Moksha”. On the other hand, if we let the “Samsaara” sting us, we would only start drifting away from our spiritual path and from Bhagawan’s fold. We should be careful with this as well.

As the Sanyasin completes his accord thus, King Yadu wasn’t very convinced. He asks back thus, “Oh Sanyasin! Excellent lessons! However, you’ve only covered twenty-four out of the twenty-five different items. I feel there’s something missing! Please talk about it too!” Upon King Yadu’s request, the Sanyasin now talks about the twenty-fifth item, which is none other than himself and his physical body! The Sanyasin explains thus, “Oh Yadu! The biggest lesson that I learn from my physical body is that it is never permanent and it keeps on changing its form and shape every minute and every second. Hence, there is no point in spending so much of time and effort in maintaining this body and beautifying it. Of course, this “Shareera” will always be with us, but all it does to us is giving troubles every time – Right from birth to death. More than the physical discomforts that the body gives, our sense organs continue to run uncontrollably towards worldly desires, which is the worst ever thing that can happen. All these running is triggered by another uncontrollable mad monkey called mind. If we try and control our mind through some ways and means, it is only going to find its own short-cuts to escape and again start running behind worldly affairs. Upon seeing the mind run, all our sense organs would again start running crazily behind it. This is how transcient the human body is. Finally when it becomes old, it gets into all sorts of physical problems and troubles and we’ve to experience so much of pain because of that. Ultimately, this entire physical body is only going to take us towards destruction and disaster if we give too much importance to it! This is my biggest learning from this “Shareera” and we’ve to be very careful about it!”

Thus, the Sanyasin concludes his accord by saying that these are the twenty-five different items that I learn my daily lessons from. The Sanyasin continues thus “Oh Yadu! From this accord, I’m sure you would have understood why human beings do not have peace of mind at the end of the day, although we might have so much of luxuries around us. Only if we practice detachment at some point or the other, we would be able to find happiness from within us. This is the same reason why you were also not able to find happiness from within. If you get too much attached to your physical body, or to people around you, you’re only inviting trouble and unhappiness at some stage in your life! You’ve not yet understood this lesson, and hence you’re unhappy. Whereas, I’ve understood the nuances of this lesson and hence, I’m always happy from within myself!”

Thus with this, this long “Charitra” comes to an end. It should be remembered that this entire “Charitra” is being narrated by Bhagawan Krishna to Uddhava, on lessons of detachment. Next, Bhagawan is going to narrate another important advice that He had given to Bhagawan Brahma a long time ago. We shall wait for this important “Charitra” till the next episode. With this, we also come to the end of the “Day 6” of the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana “Saptaaham”. We’ve already witnessed how this entire text is split into seven different parts (Saptaaham) for seven different days. So till now, we’ve completed six out of the seven parts. We have just one more part to go, and we shall commence that in tomorrow’s episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed two important learnings from the “Avadhoota” Sanyasin’s accord – One from the “Sarpaha” (Snake) and the second was from “Sharakrith” (The goldsmith). We’ve witnessed how we should be extremely focused on our spiritual path and spiritual progress without getting into any disturbance, just like how the goldsmith focuses completely on making the intricate designs for a gold ornament. Similarly, we should also understand that “Mahatmas” and great “Yogis” keep travelling and wandering all over the world and will not stay in a particular place, just like how the snake keeps wandering here and there by not staying in a particular place. This is because, if “Mahatmas” are stay put at one place, swarms of people will start coming towards them and with that, their spiritual focus would start deviating away. Althought we know that “Mahatmas” are beyond worldly attachments and worldly routines like how we have, they wouldn’t take that innate risk of inviting attachments to overpower them. This is one of the biggest lessons of “detachment” that we can learn here and this is why we’ve to respect “Mahatmas” or “Yogis” or “Sathgurus” in this world. All of these lessons that we’re witnessing here in this accord for the past few episodes, will all be in practice in a “Mahatma’s” life. Whatever we are learning on paper (theory) here, we would be able to learn practically by looking at a “Mahatma’s” life. This is why we say that we should worship them and pay our respects to them – Whoever they are and wherever they are in this world.

Moving on thus, we now withess the important lesson that we can learn from “Urnanaabhihi” (A spider). As we all know – A spider beautifully spins a web with the gel that comes out of its mouth and makes the web its home. If we observe closely, we would be able to witness enormous beautiful designs of spider webs. It would really make is feel awestruck that this small spider is able to build webs with such great artistic perfection, and also within a short duration of time. For instance, in some of our homes, we would dust all the spider webs today morning, but within the same evening, we would be able to see some small spiders again starting their “construction” work! Hence, we can see here that the spider invests lot of patience and perfection to build its web beautifully with enormous amounts of designs, and also within a short duration of time. Similarly we can witness here that Bhagawan creates this entire world with lot of artistic skill – He creates the various elements of nature like the sun, moon, the mountains, plants, trees, animals, etc. with total perfection and patience. He has given us an opportunity to live in this beautiful creation of His for a certain duration of time.

However, the spider has oen unique quality – When it feels that it should shift from one place to the other, it has the capability to absorb all that gel with which the web is built, and use it to build another web at a different location. Similarly, Bhagawan too has the capability to both create and destroy His own creation. This is what we’ve witnessed in the first and the second “Skandha” of the Bhaagawatha Puraana text. When we had witnessed the concept of “Anta-Kataaha”, we had seen how Bhagawan creates the entire universe singlehandedly, and also destroys it during the “Pralaya-Kaala” (We had even witnessed the Pralaya-Kaala during Bhagawan’s Matsya Avatara too). Thus, the important lesson from the spider is that, just like how it has the capability to spin a beautiful web around it and also to destroy it by itself, Bhagawan too has the divine capability to create the entire universe and also to destroy it when He thinks it’s enough!

Moving on thus, we now witness an important lesson from the last item – “Supeshakrith” (A type of bee). We would have seen this too in our daily lives – This bee has the unique capability to sting. If it stings an insect repeatedly again and again, the insect would be totally poisoned by its sharp sting and its body would become totally numb and eventually die. Similarly, if we’re going to get caught by the bee called this “World” (Maya), it is going to sting us again and again and this is how we’re getting carried away by all the illusions that we see around us. Whereas, with our meticulous spiritual practices, if we let Bhagawan sting us again and again, He is going to release us from this “Samsaara” and gradually take us to the highest “Moksha”.

As the “Avadhoota” Sanyasin finishes his accord thus, King Yadu was surprised. He had so far learnt lessons from twenty-four different things, but he remembers that there is a twenty-fifth thing that the Sanyasin hasn’t covered yet! So he asks the Sanyasin with lot of eagerness to explain the twenty-fifth aspect too. So what is the twenty-fifth aspect? Let’s wait and witness in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂

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In the previous episode, we had continued our discussion on a very important aspect called “innocence” and how this innocence is extremely helpful for us in attaining spiritual growth. Subsequently we had moved on with the next important learning – Learning from a young woman. As we’ve seen, this young woman wearing loads of bangles on her hands is starting to cook, and these bangles keep making unbearable noise as the cooking process goes on. Hence, as the woman removes bangle after bangle from her hands, the noise also starts reducing. Thus, the Sanyasin explains that just like how the noise of the bangles keep reducing as the number of bangles decreases, our mind would also become devoid of noises when we’re not being surrounded by too many people for unwanted reasons. The moment we’re amidst many people, we start gosipping and cribbing about people and things, and ultimately we should understand that we’re wasting valuable time that otherwise could have been invested in our spiritual progress. Mere talking and cribbing doesn’t work in life – Both professionally and spiritually. This is also the reason why we have lot of politics in organizations too – The moment two or more peole come together for something, gosipping starts, which would transform into somme ego flares, dissents in opinions, fights, etc. Ultimately, the work for which we got together would never be completed as per the required perfection & quality standards.

Hence, we should always be on the watchout of who is coming near us and why are they doing so. If we find that the company of people is leading us towards detrimental effects, we should have that smartness to silently move out of that place, rather than standing there and gosipping. Of course, I’m not saying that union of people is bad. If it is for a “Satsanga”, then it is totally fine. In fact, this is what Bhagawan wants us to do! If it is a “Satsanga” and for a good cause, we can obviously go for it. But the problem comes when the effects of the group starts to get detrimental, both for our professional and spiritual progress. Thus, we need to be very watchful here.

Moving on thus, we’re going to witness the next aspect – “Sharakrith” – A person who is a refiner of things. It can be a person who makes beautiful ornaments (goldsmith) or a designer, etc. We can assume whatever as per our convenience here. If we look at the way these people go about their job, we would see the amount of focus and concentration in whatever they do. For instance, the goldsmith would have such minute focus in making attractive gold ornaments with beautiful designs. Only if he has that amount of focus and concentration, will he be able to create such beautiful things, isn’t it? Similarly, the Sanyasin explains that only if we have this enormous amount of focus, will we be able to proceed towards spiritual growth. If we’re going to start straying here and there, there is no point! In fact, this is exactly the test that Guru Dhronaachaarya gave his students, at the end of the artillery lessons. When the Paandavas and Kauravas were done with their syllabus, Guru Dhronaachaarya gives them a test – To hit the eye of a bird accurately with the bow and arrow. Ultimately we know that it was only Arjuna amongst the entire lot who had that amount of concentration and focus and with that, he was able to hit the eye of the bird with ease! This is what is required if we’ve to succeed in life – Not only spiritually, but also in our other fronts of life as well.

For instance, when we see people who are aspiring to be successful doctors (medical practitioners), we would see them studying and slogging hard day and night, isn’t it? Doing a medical degree is never easy anywhere in this world. This requires special focus and a unique way of studying hard. Similarly, if we’ve to achieve perfection in whatever we do, tremendous amount of focus is required to achieve. This is what we can from the goldsmith. We should be focused on our target (“Lakshya”) at all times, without deviation, and this is an important lesson that we should learn from this episode today.

Moving on with the next one – “Sarpaha” – Snake. If we see the snake, one important characteristic that it exhibits is that, it always keeps moving from one place to the other. It doesn’t stay at a single place all the time. Similalry, as a Sanyasin, the “Avadhoota” explains that moving around from one place to the other constantly is of prime importance. This is because, if a Sanyasin stays at a single place, people would start coming to visit him, confronting their problems to him. If this continues for days or months together, there would be a stage wherein the Sanyasin has to literally start taking care of their families totally! As a Sanyasin, he is supposed to be detached from all worldly affairs, but in this situation, the Sanyasin has to start looking into each person’s worldly affair! Thus, the attachment factor slowly starts to creep in. It is only to avoid this situation, we would see even today that highly realized spiritual masters would never stay in one place continuously. They would always keep roaming around place after place, just to make sure that their “Vairaagya” for detachment stays put! Hence, this is the important lesson that we can learn from the snake!

So for today, let us understand these two lessons and let us take whatever we can from it. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussions further! Stay tuned! 🙂

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed a detailed accord on why “innocence” as a quality is of paramount importance for us to attain spiritual progress. We’ve witnessed how vengeance taking is detrimental, both for our personal and professional lives. If both of these are affected, ultimately our spiritual progress is also hampered. Hence, we should cultivate the innocence of a three-year-old child in whatever we do. Only with this innocence, we would be able to grow. Our physical bodies have grown in length and width over the years, but our minds have never grown the same way. This is because we’ve lost that innocence in us as we grew up with age. We should be able to forget and forgive people with a compassionate heart at all times. Once we start doing this, our heart would automatically become pure and our minds would automatically start feeling lighter. Many of us today complain about mental depression, stress, etc. isn’t it? The primary reason behind this is that, we’re having so much of unwanted thoughts and feelings about so many people around us. Once we start forgiving and “letting go” of things, we would start feeling lighter.

In fact, this is exactly what Vidura too had explained in his “Vidura Neethi” to King Dhirdiraashtra in the Mahabharata. We’ve witnessed this as a big project previous to this one, and readers can recall our earlier episodes on this. Vidura explains to King Dhirdiraashtra that it is only because of his wicked and vengeance feelings against the Paandavas, he is not getting proper sleep during the night. Of course, King Dhirdiraashtra never paid heed to Vidura’s advice, but we can pay heed, isn’t it? Vidura’s words are like gold, because he himself is an embodiment of “Yama-Dharma-Raja” and is automatically the “hub” of all Dharma in this world! Hence, we should realize this important concept of “innocence” and try to inculcate this in our minds as we progress further with our lives.

Moving on thus, in yesterday’s episode, we had also witnessed an important lesson that we can learn from the bird (Kuraraha). We had witnessed that people would swarm behind us if we possess lot of valuable items like money, ornaments, houses, etc. However, if we are devoid of all such things, nobody would even come close to us for anything. We should understand that this world is extremely opportunistic in nature and hence, the whole concept of “detachment” comes into the fray here – Why should we waste our time in attaching ourselves to people who are opportunistic in nature? Except for Bhagawan and perhaps our own parents, who on this earth aren’t opportunistic? Our siblings would always be on the constant lookout for property and would be ever ready to start a dispute over it, if some sort of inequality comes in. Our friends – We do not even need to say! Our relatives – Again.. They would be always jealous to see our growth and prosperity and if they see that we’re growing beyond what they’ve done, obviously they’re going to be jealous and are going to try to pull us down! Our professional lives – Of course, it is full of opportunism wherever we go! Hence, we understand here that the entire world, except Bhagawan is totally opportunistic in nature, in some way or the other. This is why Bhagawan Krishna is repeatedly trying to drive home the point to all of us that we shouldn’t get carried away by the “Delusions” (Maya) of this world. He did the same to Arjuna during the Mahabharata war, and now He’s doing the same to Uddhava too. Bhagawan Krishna has now taken nineteen such items in this world to explain different forms and necessities for being detached in this world.

As we progress further thus, we now move into the twentieth item – Kumari (A young woman). As the “Avadhoota” Sanyasin was passing once through a house wherein a young woman was cooking a meal for few guests at her place, he found a peculiar thing – She was newly married and had five to ten bangles on her hands while she was cooking. As the cooking process was going on, the noise of the bangles became unbearable for the woman, and hence she removed two or three of it. As the number of bangles in her hands came down now, the sound halved by 50%! However, still the sounds were coming and was still irritating. Now the woman decides to remove all the bangles from her hands, except one in each. Thus, she removes them and continues cooking. Now the sounds stopped totally!

With this incident, the Sanyasin explains thus, “Oh Yadhu! Just like how the woman realized that more than two bangles in her hands are going to make noise, I also realized that two or more people at a place are definitely going to make noise and are going to create a fight. This is where we should realize that if we’ve to progress spiritually, we should be alone as much as possible. If we start having people around us, gossiping is going to start, and eventually it is going to disturb our spiritual progress very badly. Thus, this is the important lesson I learnt from a young woman!”

Not only for our spiritual progress, this point is very much applicable for our personal and professional lives every passing day! Rather than sitting and gossiping around with two or more people, and eventually creating politics, if we individually focus on what is in our hand, and if we put the meticulous effort for it in the right direction, success would be ours, isn’t it? This is the important lesson that we should learn from the young woman. So for today, let us understand this important point and let us wait for the next episode to witness the learning from the next item! Stay tuned! 🙂

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed key learnings that we can imbibe from “Meenaha” (Fish), “Pingala” (Woman) and “Kuraraha” (A small boy). We had witnessed how we shouldn’t get trapped into the “maya” with regards to taste (just like the fish). Similarly, we also witnessed how we should always instil the faith on Bhagawan that He would protect us somehow, just like the woman does. Finally, we had also witnessed how a child-like innocence is required for us to grow both spiritually and personally in our life. Just like how the child doesn’t keep any grudges in mind, even after a bitter fight with a friend, we should also try and move on with things easily. There is no point in keeping unwanted grudges against someone for something in this world. This would only hamper our spiritual progress and we would be revolving amidst the ocean of “Samsara” again and again.

Moreover, when we talk about innocence as a quality, we’ve set the base in the yesterday’s episode itself, as to how “Mahatmas” and “Yogis” are an epitome of this quality. The higher we score on innocence, more open are we to learn new things and more is the compassion towards everybody around us. This is where we see that great “Mahatmas” are child-like in nature. They would never expect anything from anybody and would just magnanimously take whatever comes by them. As per our Sanaatana Dharma literature, this innocence is one of the highest qualities that a spiritual seeker should focus on developing. This is again directly correlating with the sense of “detachment”. Why do we think Yogis and Mahatmas are completely detached? It is only because they are extremely strong in innocence that they never expect anything from anyone. They are in their own world, thinking of Bhagawan all the time and are least bothered about things that happen around them. Hence, innocence is something that we’ve to inculcate within us as we move forward. Of course, I’m not saying that all of us should become “Sanyasins” from tomorrow. That’s not the point here. We focus heavily on innocence here because, only if we have this quality within us, we would be able to grow as a person. On the other hand, if our ego takes over in a big way, it serves as a mental block and we would eventually shut ourselves from whatever advice and guidance we get.

In fact, we’ve witnessed this same thing that happened to Ravana, Duryodhana, etc. No matter how much Vibhishana, Mandodhari, Kumbakarna, etc. tried to convince Ravana that he has to give back Mother Sita to Bhagawan Rama, he never paid heed! This is where the lack of innocence transformed to lack of openness to people’s ideas and suggestions, which in turn led to Ravana’s destruction once and for all! Similar was the case with Duryodhana as well. Inspite of so many people including Bhagawan Krishna Himself advising him to handover the portion of the Hastinapura kingdom to the Pandavas, Duryodhana had to meet a ghasty end to his life, because he was totally devoid of this innocence in him. Whereas, Udishtra (Dharma-Putra) was an epitome of this innocence and he was open to learning loads and loads of Dharma from Bhagawan Krishna and various other sources. Ultimately he had the opportunity to attain Moksha as well, isn’t it? Hence, this is where the characteristic of “innocence” and “openness to learn” assumes lot of significance.

Moving on further thus, we shall now witness the key learnings from the next important aspect – “Kuraraha” (A bird). We must have heard this story repeatedly during our childhood days – A crow was having a “Vada” in its beak and was roaming around here and there. Upon seeing this “Vada” in the crow’s beak, many other crows and animals came by and started chasing it. Unable to bare the torture from the others, the crow drops the “vada” from its beak and flies away! Similarly, in our personal or professional life too, if we have something under our possession that is very attractive to others, people would start beelining around us. This is not because of true friendship or anything – But because of that attractive item that we have. If however, if we drop that off our possession tomorrow for whatsoever reason, nobody will come near us! We might be wondering that till yesterday everybody were flocking behind me, but today why isn’t there anyone behind us! The reason is the attractive item that we had till yesterday. This attractive item might be gold or money or house, or whatever!

In fact, this is the prime reason behind lot of property disputes that we see in today’s scenario. In many families we keep seeing fights between the father and son owing to property sharing. If the father would have been a popper, will any son come close to the father? Majoritily the answer would be a big “No”! It’s primarily the property and the money that attracts the sons towards their parents at many occasions, which is a very sad state of affairs today! Thus, we should learn from this anecdode that no matter how rich or poor our parents might be, we shouldn’t be opportunistic towards them. As a responsible son or a daughter, we should perform all our duties towards our parents – Both when they’re alive as well as after their departure to Vaikunta!

So for today, let us understand the idea of innocence in a deeper way, along with the important lesson that we can learn from the bird. So far thus, we’ve witnessed nineteen different items and the key learnings that we can take from each of them. We are still left with six more of them. Let us hence wait till the next episode to continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 😊

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In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the conversation between the “Avadhoota” Sanyasin and King Yadu, which focuses on some key learnings from twenty-five different items in this world. So far we’ve witnessed the key learnings from around thirteen of the twenty-five items and in yesterday’s episode, we had discussed about the learnings from “Gajaha” (Elephant), “Madhula” (Hunter) and “Harinaha” (Deer). In this, most of the lessons, as we’ve witnessed, pertains to different aspects of detachment that we should learn and adopt, as we move forward in life.

Moving on further thus, we’re going to witness the next important item in the list – Meenaha (Fish). All of us know how the fishermen trap fish into their nets. They tie a small piece of nice tasty food for the fish amidst the net and spread it across the water. Upon seeing these small food particles, the fish get attracted to the anticipated taste of the food particles and come closer to them. Once they try to grab the food particles, they get stuck to the net and with that, the fisherman pulls hundreds of them out of the water. Thus, we’re able to witness here that the fish is getting carried away by the attachment towards taste. This is where we also get carried away in our lives too – For instance, if someone is diabetic or is suffering from blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. the doctor would advise us to avoid certain food items in our diet. However, would we be able to control our tongue and obey the doctor’s advice fully? Many a times, we wouldn’t be able to do so, isn’t it? We would find some loopholes here and there and still try going towards our favourite food stuff, only to worsen our health condition more and more.

Similarly, if we’ve to progress spiritually, there should be restrictions in terms of the food that we consume. We’ve already discussed this in our earlier episodes as well – The food that we consume should be “Sathvic” in nature. In other words, the food should be balanced in terms of all the six different tastes such as sweet, sour, spice, etc. if one or two of the tastes are exceeding their limits, the food becomes more “Raajasic” or “Taamasic” in nature. “Raajasic” food would invoke unwanted emotions from within our body, which would eventually disturb our focus on our spiritual growth. Similarly, “Taamasic” food would make us more lazy and inactive. This would also eventually pull us out of our spiritual focus. Hence, the important learning from the fish is that, we should learn to be detached with respect to our tongue and its taste buds. We shouldn’t get carried away by any and every food item that exist in this world. We should know what to consume and what not to consume – Both for a healthy lifestyle as well as for our spiritual progress.

Moving further thus, we shall witness the important lessons to learn from “Pingala” (A prostitute woman). What can we learn from this woman? Everytime she would be in some sort of a mental trauma and guilt that she’s having unwanted physical contacts with many men around her. However, what she thinks is right – But what she does at the end of the day is still wrong. But, atleast she has the right attitude and mentality that she should not do what she was doing, isn’t it? From this, we can learn that if we have the right attitude towards life, Bhagawan would give us some opportunity in due course to correct ourselves. We should thus learn the positive attitude and intent from this woman as we progress in our lives.

Next, we’re going to witness some important lessons from “Kuraraha” (A small boy). We would see this in our daily life too – Two small friends would be playing cricket or any sport in the street, and one would hit the ball on to a house’s window and break the glass. Immediately the two kids would start fighting as to who hit the ball on the glass pane. Upon seeing this, the people residing in that house would come and start fighting with each other on the road with the parents of these children. Eventually it would become a fully blown fight between two families. However, next day, the two children would put their hands on each other’s shoulders and again start playing cricket happily together. But still, the families wouldn’t stop fighting! This is where we should understand the innocence of a child. A child doesn’t know to keep things in its mind and to take vengeance later. Similarly, a Yogi or a Mahatma is as innocent as a child. This innocence is one of the highest qualities that we can have as we move on in our lives.

So for today, let us understand these three important points and as we traverse with the next episode, we shall expand the point on “innocence” a little bit more, and move on with the next set of learnings! Stay tuned! 🙂

• 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed few important lessons in detachment that Bhagawan Krishna is trying to explain to Uddhava, through the examples of “Patangaha” (Flies) & “Madhukrith” (Honey bees). In fact, as we’ve mentioned earlier too, this is part of a bigger conversation that is happening between King Yadu and an “Avadhoota” Sanyasin, wherein King Yadu is surprised as to how this Sanyasin is happy and at peace every time. The Sanyasin answers King Yadu that he derives happiness, peace and lessons for life from twenty-five different things in this world. Of the twenty-five, we’ve witnessed the important lessons from around 10-12 items till now, and we shall continue this discussion further in today’s episode.

Moving on thus, the next item that we’re going to learn some lessons from is, “Gajaha” – The elephant. The important lesson of detachment from the elephant that we should learn is that, normally the elephant gets aroused a lot with the sense of “touch”. If a female elephant comes in the vicinity, the male elephant would like to experience the touch of the female elephant and this would arose both of them. Similarly, our sense of touch as human beings are a bit high too. Now, if an elephant has to be captured, we might be knowing that there would be a huge pit that would be laid as a trap. A female elephant would be stationed near the pit. Unable to resist the arousal of touching the female elephant, the male elephant comes forward and would get itself trapped into the pit. Similarly, unable to control our urge of our senses, if we too go behind such arousals, we should be prepared to get trapped like how the elephant gets trapped into the huge pit. This is where, the Sanyasin explains that we should never get carried away by the desires of our skin and its touches.

Next, we move on to another important item called “Madhuha” – The hunter. We would witness that a swarm of honey bees would have taken lot of effort to build the honey comb that is full of sweet honey. This would have taken days or even months for the bees to build the huge hive and honey comb. However, the hunter comes one fine day with a huge stick and a driller, chases away all the bees from that spot and takes away the entire honey comb with him! This is the way through which we obtain honey. As the hunter does thus, can we say that the hunter is a thief, stealing all the honey from the bees? We can’t, because it is his job and he has been designated for this work. Similarly, we as “Gruhastas” might be earning lot of money, wealth and property as we progress with our daily lives. However, if a Sanyasin comes to our place seeking “Bhiksha”, he has all the right to ask so, without any inhibition and take away all what we have earnt so far. This is because, a Sanyasin should not earn money through the way that we earn. A Sanyasin should take care of his needs only by obtaining “Bhiksha” from Gruhastas. However, as a Gruhasta, it is our duty to protect the Sanyasins by taking care of all their needs. We cannot go and argue to a Sanyasin that why isn’t he earning the legitimate way like we do! Does the bee ask the hunter the same question? No, isn’t it? Thus, we should understand here that, if a Sanyasin approaches us, we should be ready to offer anything and everything that he asks us for. We should never let the Sanyasin go away without his needs fulfilled and this is one of the greatest sins that we would accumulate.

Subsequently, the “Avadhoota” Sanyasin talks about the lessons that can be learnt from “Harinaha” (Deer). To capture the deer, the hunter sometimes might playt some nice and soothing music to attract it towards him. Unknowingly, the deer too would get immersed and moved by the music and slowly come towards the hunter, only to get trapped by him. Similarly, we too, should sometimes not get carried away by some “unwanted” music. If the music is about Bhagawan and His “Kalyaana Gunas”, then it is fine. Other types of music that instills lot of “Raajasic” and “Taamasic” characterisitcs in us are to be avoided. Thus, this is the lesson that we can learn from the deer.

So for today, we’ve witnessed key lessons from the next three aspects – “Gajaha” (Elephant), “Madhula” (Hunter) and “Harinaha” (Deer). So let us understand these lessons for today, and wait for the next episode to continue this discussion further. Stay tuned! 🙂

• 

In the previous episode, we had continued the discussion on some key learnings from twenty-five different things in the world, as narrated by the “Avadhoota” Sanyasin to King Yadu. This is of course part of a bigger conversation between Bhagawan Krishna and Uddhava, wherein Bhagawan Krishna is trying to drive home the important point of developing the sense of “detachment” towards worldly affairs. Of course, He has spoken about it at length during His Bhagawad Gita, but this segment assumes significance because Bhagawan is talking about it to an ardent devotee who is willing to walk the tough path of attaining Mokhsa with Bhagawan’s divine guidance. So far, we’ve witnessed around ten different things that the “Avadhoota” Sanyasin is talking about and yesterday, we had spoken about the “Kapotham” (Pigeon), “Ajaharaha” (Python) and “Sindhu” (Ocean). We learnt how we shouldn’t get trapped into the ocean of “Samsara” just like how the pigeon gets trapped in the hunter’s nets. Similarly, we learnt the important characteristic of “patience” from the python, wherein we’ve witnessed how the python waits for its prey to come close to it, rather than it going after its prey. Through this analogy, we also understood that we’ve to have a strong faith towards Bhagawan that come what may, Bhagawan will come towards us and protect us in all possible ways. Moving on, we witnessed the significance of the ocean and just like how we can never measure the depth and length of the ocean, the knowledge and significance of a “Sadguru” or a “Yogi” can never be measured both in length and depth.

This is why we always keep saying that the easiest way to attain Moksha in this world is to approach the right “Sadguru” and surrender to His / Her feet unconditionally. In many instances in the past too, we’ve witnessed how our Sanaatana Dharma explains the process of attaining Moksha. Rather than going directly to Bhagawan, it is always more effective if we go through a “Guru”. It is the “Guru” who removes all our dark blemishes and guides us towards the path of “Moksha”. Once our blemish and ignorance are removed, we would automatically start treading the path of Moksha. In fact, we’ve witnessed this concept even during the Ramayana project itself, wherein Hanuman was portrayed by Valmiki Maharishi in the highest position of the “Guru” or the “Spiritual Master”. The Ramayana story itself at many instances teaches us how to attain the lotus feet of Bhagawan Rama through the divine grace of the Spiritual Master. Hence, we’ve to understand this point very importantly here.

Moving on thus, we are now going to witness the next important thing – “Patangaha” (An insect). We would have seen in many restaurants or even at home as to how small insects would come searching for the tubelight and all of them would be crowding around that one tubelight in hundreds. This happens especially during the rainy season. However, if we place a light which is powerful enough to kill these insects, will the insects know that this light is going to kill them if they come near? Unknkowingly they would think that this is something we can approach, and would finally pave their way to death. Similarly, our five senses are like these insects. If we’re going behind sensual pleasures of this world (Maya), we are going to automatically meet the same end as that of these insects when they come closer to the Ultra-violet light. If a person doesn’t have control over his / her senses, no enemy is required to defeat this person. His uncontrollable senses are his biggest enemies for his life. We’ve witnessed many such instances in our Sanaatana Dharma Literature itself – How Ravana, Duryodhana, Duchhasana, Sahuni, etc. met their fate because of the sheer reason that they weren’t able to control their wandering senses. So we should understand from this analogy that sense control is of paramount importance if we’ve to tread the path of “Dharma”.

Similar is the next analogy which the Sanyasin is going to narrate – “Madhukrith” (Honey bee). Even the honey bee would fall into the trap, by going behind the honey. Little would they realize that they are in for a “honey trap” and the hunter is going to hunt down all of them, for the want of honey. Thus, from both these examples, we are understanding a different meaning to the sense of “detachment” and the larger message from these two analogies is that, detachment is a process wherein we focus on our self-control and our sense-control. If we’re failing to do both, we’ve to meet the imminent danger that lies in front of us. In the fastness and excitement of things that might unfold, there would be lot of momentous pleasures that would be attached to going behind things. But, at that point in time, little would we realize that we’re just getting carried away by those momentous pleasures, only to fall into a huge pit, which is being dug by ourselves and our ignorance.

So, this is where we’ve to be very careful. Hence, for today let us understand these two important points and let us wait till the next episode to witness the next important point. Stay tuned! 🙂

• 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the interesting learning accord that the “Avadhoota” Sanyasin is giving to King Yadu. So far, we’ve witnessed the key learnings from seven different items such as “Bhoomi” (Mother Earth), “Vaayu” (Air), “Aakaasha” (Sky), “Aapaha” (Water), “Agni” (Fire), “Chandra” (Moon) and “Soorya” (Sun). Overall, we’ve listed down twenty-five different items and we’re in the process of witnessing the learnings from each of them. Ultimately, Bhagawan Krishna is recollecting this important accord to teach Uddhava the conceopt of detachment. He’s trying to drive home the point that Uddhava should be mentally strong after Bhagawan’s departure, till the time that he can ascend to Vaikunta.

Now continuing on with the discussion further, we shall now look into the eighth aspect and what can we learn from it. We are now going to witness learnings from “Kapotham” (Pigeon). We might wonder what can we learn from a pigeon! But the Sanyasin is coming up now with a very interesting answer for this thus. The Sanyasin narrates a small instance that he had witnessed with the pigeon – Once a family of a male pigeon, female pigeon and a chick were together in their nest. The male pigeon had for sometime gone out in search of some food for itself and its family. However, in the midst of the food search, a hunter had come, captured both the female pigeon and the chick in his net. Upon seeing this, the male pigeon was shell shocked. It started to come closer to the hunter and his net, in a bid to release its family from his clutches. However, the female pigeon warns the male pigeon thus, “Oh! Please do not come close to us. We shall somehow try and release ourselves!” But the male pigeon didn’t listen and kept coming closer, only to be caught by the hunter and put inside the same net!

This is where, we’ve to learn the important lesson, how attachment towards “Samsaara” pulls us deep into the pit of “Maya” (Illusion) and drives us away from Bhagawan. Moreover, it is not wrong to save people who are in danger. But while doing so, we’ve to also have the “Viveka” or smartness to do it. If we lack the smartness and just blindly go behind to save trapped people, we should also be prepared to land ourselves into the same trap as them. Thus, another important lesson here that we should learn is that, at any tough situation in life, we should never take emotional and hasty decisions. We should always stay calm, think once or twice before proceeding with our reactions. Thus, these are the important lessons that we can learn from the pigeon.

Moving on thus, we now witness the learnings from the Python. All of us know some basic and important characteristics of the python, isn’t it? It would always be stationary at one place and wait till its “food” comes close to it. The food might be any animal that comes by, like deer, or dog, or cat, etc. Even if the python comes across any animal close by to its vicinity only once in ten or fifteen days, it would still wait that long, capture whatever comes by, swallow the animal straightaway and again sleep off at the same place! One important learning that all of us can understand from the python is the deep understanding that Bhagawan who had given us this birth, would definitely give us some food through some or the other means. Bhagawan would never desert us for the want of food! This is the strong belief that the python has. This is why the python never goes here and there to hunt down its food, unlike the lion, tiger, etc. in the forest. It stays wherever it is and just waits patiently for its food to come close to it. Similar to the python, we should also develop the belief and trust in Bhagawan that He would definitely protect us and would shower upon us with His infinite grace. We should realize this and should focus all our efforts towards our daily activities with this strong faith in Him.

Now moving on further, we’re going to witness the key learnings from the next aspect – “Sindhu” (Ocean). What can we learn from the mighty ocean? At any point in time, we would be able to understand the real depth of the ocean waters, isn’t it? Whatever might be our attempt, we can never succeed in disturbing the ocean waters. Moreover, it requires a humongous effort to cross over the ocean of water and reach the other end of it. Similalry, if we compare the mighty ocean to a “Sadguru” or a “Yogi”, we can never understand the depth of knowledge or grace that the “Sadguru” or the “Yogi” can shower upon us. We can never win over them at any instance. We shall never be able to confuse them with all our ignorance. A “Sadguru” or a “Yogi” is thus considered a “Mahatma”, as equivalent of a mighty ocean and hence we should always pay our respects to the “Mahatma”. Rather than testing them, we should learn as much as possible from them, and make ourselves eligibile for receiving their divine grace, which would ultimately pave us the way to attain the highest “Moksha”.

So for today, let us learn and understand these important points and we shall wait till the next episode to continue further on this important accord. Stay tuned! J