The Indian Dharma

We are currently in the midst of an interesting event that conspired with Bharata’s life – He was so attached to his deer and this attachment grew to such a stage wherein he started getting jittery during his old age that if he passes away, who would take care of the deer after him. Having this constant thought and fear in his mind, one fine day, Bharata breathes his last! However, since it was only the deer that was dominating his thoughts all the time, Bharata’s next birth was that of a deer! This is where we witnessed in the sidelines, Bhagawan Krishna’s excerpts from his Bhagawad Gita, wherein He clearly says that the thoughts that we have during our last breath would actually determine our next birth! For instance, if we breathe our last in this birth, thinking of a deer, we would actually take our next re-birth as a deer only!

This is where we need to be extremely careful. If we have unwanted thoughts in our mind at any instance of time, it is better for us to remove them out then and there. This is because, we never know when would death come and knock our doors. This is something which is not in our hands! Hence, we need to make sure that we weed out all our negative thoughts, thoughts that arise out of excessive attachment towards someone or somebody, and instead, focus on Bhagawan and His “Kalyaana Gunas”. Of course, when we divert our attention and focus towards Bhagwan, we can always be at bliss at all times, and apart from the bliss factor, we would slowly and steadily develop the mental maturity to be of constant thoughts of Bhagawan, even when death comes calling us! The problem is that, we can’t postpone this process to the last minute! At the point of death, if we do not have the practice of thinking of Bhagawan, it is next to impossible for us to cultivate that thought all of a sudden! This is why we emphasize that as ardent followers of our Sanaathana Dharma, we should make it a point that we are in constant association with a “Satsanga”, “Saadhu Samaagama”, etc. so that we do not grossly deviate from our thoughts towards Bhagawan. So moving ahead, let us realize this fact and slowly try to put things into our life’s perspective.

Moving on thus, as mentioned above, Bharata takes a re-birth of a deer, as he was immersed with his thoughts on the welfare of his deer as he died previously. Now as he takes the birth of a deer, he lives as a deer for the next seven years, after which the deer dies. While being the deer, he was roaming all around the forest, eating whatever he gets there, drinking water whenever and wherever he gets it. This lasts for the next seven years and eventually the deer dies. Post this, since Bharata was a highly realized “Yogi” during his previous birth as a human being, he is fortunate enough to get another re-birth as a human being. In this human birth, interestingly he again gets the name of “Bharata”, but this time, he is named a little different – “Jada-Bharata”. This Jada-Bharata, right from his childhood days, displayed all the qualities of a great saint and eventually as he grew up, became a full-fledged “Yogi”, as he was in his previous human birth.

Here, readers should not get confused. Originally this person was called “Bharata” and this person breathed his last, with his thoughts immersed on the welfare of a deer. Because of this, he became a deer in his subsequent birth, and after seven years of being a deer, he again gets a human birth, because of his enormous powers and strengths that he had gained over with his spiritual practices. This time, he gets the name of “Jada-Bharata”. Unlike the previous human birth, this Jada-Bharata was totally devoid of any attachment into worldly things. Of course, he was the same in his previous human birth also, but it all ended up in a disaster because of that one deer. Now in this birth, Jada-Bharata was totally devoid of this small level of attachment too. He was called “Jada-Bharata”, because the word “Jada” normally signifies any non-living object, which does not have any life of its own and which does not respond to any sort of external stimuli. This was the same case with the “New Bharata” now! 😊 He was called “Jada Bharata” because he was totally out of sync with what was happening in the external world! He was totally immersed in penance and eventually didn’t respond any sorts of external stimulus. In other words, he was like a non-living object! For instance, even if someone tries to hit him with stones, he is not going to protect himself from the hit, nor he’s going to hit the person back! Similarly, even if someone tries to through some dung on his face, he’s totally unaffected by it! Such was his level of detachment from the world, that he lived like a dead body!

As days pass by, there was a king of Sindh province by name Rahugana. One fine day, this King Rahugana was very curious to gain some spiritual knowledge and hence decided to meet Sage Kapilaachaarya for the same. As the king was about to start his journey to meet Sage Kapilaachaarya, he got into his royal wooden carriage that should be lifted by four people on the ground. However at that instance, there were only three people to lift it. The king was looking out for the fourth one, as Jada-Bharata was passing through that way! What happened after that? Did Jada-Bharata lift the carriage for the king? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the commencement of the next section of the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana, which is being explained by Sage Sukhaachaarya to King Parikshit. We’re currently at the end of the second day’s agenda, wherein we’ve started talking about the “Charitra” of Bharata, which is referred to as “Jada-Bharata-Upaakyaanam” in the text. In this, we’ve witnessed that Bharata was born to Rishabha Deva and he grew up as a righteous son, just in line with his father. However, as he was progressing with his penance, there was once an instance wherein he had to save a baby deer from a roaring angry lion, and from that time onwards, Bharata gets so attached to this baby deer. He brings it up carefully, nurtures it, feeds it with adequate food and water, etc. Eventually Bharata got so attached to the deer that his penance started to take a back seat. He couldn’t concentrate on doing his penance if the deer is not feeling well. He became happy when the deer was also happy. He became sad when the deer was sad.

Thus, we can see here that Bharata lost his track in pursuing his spiritual practices. Of course, it is important that he saved the baby deer from the clutches of death in the form of the lion. That said and done, it doesn’t mean that he should totally forget his penance and get attached to the deer completely. He should have moved on with his spiritual pursuit, once he had saved the deer from the lion. This is the same case that happens to many of us too. In pursuit of something good, we too tend to get too much attached to that particular activity and thus refuse to move on with it. For instance, it is good to save someone from the clutch of a problem. But that doesn’t mean that we get totally immersed into that person’s life and ultimately forget our spiritual pursuit. This is exactly where Bharata too fell into the trap!

As days progressed thus, time was nearing for Bharata to leave this world. He was getting older and his physical body started to tire out. Even at that stage of his life, he had just one concern – After his life comes to an end, who would take care of the deer, which he had been nourishing all these years? If I’m not here, what if someone or another lion come and kill this poor deer? As Bharata was thinking thus, he couldn’t concentrate on anything else. Fear took over him. Gradually as Bharata breathed his last, his only thoughts that were in mind is about the deer!

Bhagawan Krishna says in the Bhagawad Gita thus: Here’s an important point for all of us to understand.

“Yam yam vaapi smaranbhaavam tyajatyante kalevaram!

Tam tameva ithi kounteya sadaa tathbaava bhaavitaha!!”

Here, Bhagawan Krishna drops a bombshell – Our thoughts while we breathe our last, would form the very basis for our next birth! In other words, for instance, if we think of a bird while we die in this birth, we would take our next birth as a bird only! If we think of any plant while we die, we would have to take the next birth as a seed, which would eventually grow into a plant. This is exactly what happened to Bharata here too – Since he was too much obsessed with his thoughts about the deer while breathing his last, the next birth that he had to take in this world was that of a deer! Thus, according to the logic of Bhagawan Krishna, Bharata now takes birth as a baby deer!

This is where we’ve to be careful too – We should always remember this point in mind as we move on. This is the reason why our elders and ancestors have time and again advised us that we should constantly think of Bhagawan all the time. The problem that we have is that, we do not know when death would knock at our doors. Hence, virtually we need to be prepared to face death at any point in time. During the time of death, if we’re already equipped enough mentally to think of Bhagawan, it is only then we would be able to attain the highest level of Moksha.

But is it possible to do this right away? The answer is NEVER! As we get older day by day, what would be our thoughts? “Oh! What would happen to my husband or wife after I pass away? What would happen to my son or daughter if I die today? Will they be able to sustain a good life? What will happen to my grandchildren? Who would take care of them after my death? What would happen to my property? Won’t my children fight among themselves over my property?” Such kinds of thoughts keep ravaging in our minds isn’t it?

Let us think about this practically here! If such thoughts keep our mind occupied all the time, where is the space and time for Bhagawan in our mind? This is the problem that all of us go through – Eventually as we progress with our worldly life, we tend to forget Bhagawan completely! This is where Bhagawan Krishna’s advice is so valuable here. If we’ve to follow Bhagawan Krishna’s advice, it is not going to be easy for us to get thoughts of Bhagwan overnight! We need to train our mind constantly every passing day, by detaching ourselves from worldly affairs. As we grow older, we should cultivate that maturity and awareness within us to slowly take ourselves away from unwanted thoughts, and instead focus our mind more on Bhagawan. This is where, constant practice of “Mantra-Japa” comes into play. If we’re able to focus on chanting our Mantra constantly, all unwanted thoughts from our mind get slowly washed away and eventually our focus on Bhagawan increases day after day.

So for today, let us think over this important point and start acting on this immediately. Unlike many other points that we’ve discussed so far, this is an extremely urgent point that all of us need to collectively start working on. Let us remember Bhagawan Krishna’s words and start our actions right now! We shall wait till the next episode to witness what happened to Bharata next. Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Rishabha Deva’s final words of teaching to his disciples wherein he talks about bonding and relationships that we have in this birth. He explains how these so-called relationships and bonding with people around are temporary and is totally susceptible to change. Rishibha Deva invokes a beautiful analogy of few wooden blocks being allowed to float its way downstream the river Ganges. Just as how the blocks would keep changing their course of paths as per the obstacles that they encounter on their way, our people around us keep changing from time to time and from birth to birth.

This is what we emphasize even in today’s corporate world and we call it as “Change Management”. As per this important concept, everything in an organization is subjected to change at any moment and employees should be prepared to accept the change and move on with it. Of course, there might be resistance to change if it is perceived to be detrimental by the employees, but as a leader, we’ve to be in a position to clarify the doubts, create awareness amongst all of them and thus motivate people to move on with the change. This is exactly what Rishabha Deva is advising all of us too – He says that change in this world is inevitable and we’ve to keep moving on with it. There’s no point in getting attached to something and later being reluctant to leave it off due to various compelling circumstances.

Speaking thus, we come to the end of Rishabha Deva’s accord to his disciples. We’ve witnessed important points for our spiritual progress in this accord. To summarize all of it in a nutshell, we witnessed Rishabha  Deva talking about 1. Attaining mind control by being in service to a Mahatma, 2. More importantly, being in service to animals and other living beings apart from humans. 3. We’ve to understand the difference between our Atman and our physical body and should realize that our physical body is not permanent, but Atman is. 4. To attain quicker spiritual progress, we need to associate ourselves with a “Satsanga” or a “Saadhu-Samaagama”. We witnessed the benefits of such an association. 5. Importance of “Change Management” and how things in this world are susceptible to change at any moment in time, including people around us, family, bonding, etc. Thus, it is up to us now to take cues from what Rishabha Deva has spoken about and put them into practice in our daily lives!

Moving on thus, we shall continue with the family generation of Rishabha Deva. He eventually had a son by name Bharata. Now we’re going to witness yet another important section of the Shrimad Bhaagawatha Puraana from here on, called “Jada-Bharata-Upaakyaanam”. It is to be remembered that we’re in the fifth “Skandha” and the seventh Adhyaaya of the Shrimad Bhaagawadtha Puraana, which comes as the final section of the second-day “Paaraayana” (Recital). I hope readers remember that we have a practice of reciting this sacred text for seven continuous days (Saptaaham) and this section of “Jada-Bharata-Upaakyaanam” forms the final section of the second day recital!

As mentioned above, Bharata was born to Rishabha Deva, and he led a righteous life in line with his father. He was a great “Yogi” as well. One day as Bharata was sitting on the banks of river “Chakra” and doing deep penance, there was a female deer roaming around him. This female deer was pregnant at that point in time. This pregnant deer made its way to the riverbank to drink some water. At the same time there was a lion roaring its way through. Hearing the loud roar of the lion, the deer got scared. As the deer started running to save its life, it forgot for a moment that it was pregnant. As it started running thus, the deer delivered a baby because of the vibrations and physical strain. However, the baby deer was still alive and there was no threat to its life.

Upon understanding what had just happened, Bharata became scared as to what would happen to this baby deer’s life. The lion was approaching it and Bharata was concerned about the safety of the baby deer. Therefore he quickly got up from where he was sitting, ran towards the baby deer, took it in his hands, hugged it with him and took it away to safety. From then onwards, Bharata started taking good care of the little deer, fed it with adequate food and water, provided necessary shelter for it, etc. and grew it up. As time progressed, Bharata was so engrossed with the deer that he virtually started living all his life with it. It was in such a way that if the deer was not feeling well, even his penance came to a grinding halt. Bharata was totally attached to the deer in all ways!

Now what is going to happen next? Is Bharata going to continue this way all through his life? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out !! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the significance of associating ourselves with a “Satsanga” and a “Saadhu Samaagama”. The major reason why Rishabha Deva is stressing upon this point is that, if we try and follow the principles of Sanaathana Dharma laid by Bhagawan, all by ourselves, possibilities are high that we might go astray and ultimately lose our focus. Whereas, if we’re part of a “Satsanga”, the group dynamics would automatically align and re-align us on the right path to attain spiritual progress. Moreover, there might be many principles in our Sanaathana Dharma that we might not be able to understand and comprehend by ourselves individually, due to our various human limitations. Whereas, if we’re part of a “Satsanga”, this might open up opportunities to listen to and discuss various principles – some what we understand and many others which we do not understand, and through these constructive discussions, we might be able to learn and understand those aspects which we weren’t able to comprehend till now. More than all of these, if we pray together in a group, and sing as a group in praise of Bhagawan, He becomes pleased with our efforts and thus, our spiritual progress becomes faster. These are the broad reasons why Rishabha Deva is very particular that we’ve to be part of a Satsanga.

Now moving on to the final important point of Rishabha Deva’s advice to his disciples – He outlines the significance of “detachment” from our so-called family and close people around us.

To explain this, Rishabha Deva cites a beautiful example thus: Let us imagine a bunch of wood blocks cut from a huge banyan tree at the start point of River Ganges amidst the great Himalayas. There are ten such huge blocks of wood, cut from the tree, and all the ten blocks of wood have to be transported to the downstream place of Haridwar. (It is to be remembered by readers that the first place where the river Ganges enters the plains from the Himalayas, is Haridwar.) Now imagine that these ten blocks of wood are just dropped into the fast-flowing waters of the river Ganges and the flow of water automatically takes all of them to Haridwar, from where we can collect them. While the blocks float and move along with the flow of the water, what happens? Do all the blocks of wood go in the same order as we dropped them upstream? The answer is “No”! Initially, 3-4 blocks would be floating and moving together for a few kilometers, and another 4-5 blocks would separately move together according to the water flow. However, after few kilometers, if there are obstacles along the path of the water, the group of blocks would split up – One or two out of the group would take a different course of movement, and perhaps might even join the rest of the 3-4 blocks that are coming at tandem. Thus, a new group of blocks are formed and this would continue for the next few kilometers. Similarly, if this new group of blocks encounter obstacles along their path, they would again split up and re-align themselves with a new set of blocks! This would continue until all the blocks reach Haridwar! Thus, as we collect them from the downstream area, we would never know which block started first, which block aligned with which block, which block split apart from which block, etc., isn’t it? However, we might note here that all the ten blocks would have safely reached Haridwar and there’s no problem with that!

Similar to this story is our human life too – Initially when we started our journey in this world, we align ourselves with few people around us and proceed with our life for the next 30-40 years together as “one family”. However, as we get older, we’ve to separate from our “family” and go in a different direction. Maybe when we take another birth, we would again align ourselves with another set of people and form another so-called “family”. Again, this would continue for the next 40-50 years. Again, we would have to separate from this family at the end of this birth and as we take the next birth, the cycle goes on. However, with all our spiritual practices, if we’re able to reach Bhagawan, just like how these wooden blocks reach Haridwar, we might not know which families were we part of, during our entire life journey over various births. However, one thing that all of us will know at that point is that, we’ve reached our ultimate goal called Moksha.

Thus the point here is that, all our bonding that we develop with people around us in this human birth are temporary in nature. At the end of this birth, we’ve to separate from them and when we take a new birth, we would have a new family of people around us! This keeps continuing on and on, and if we’re steadfast in our spiritual practices, just like how the wooden blocks safely reach the downstream Haridwar, we would also be able to safely reach Bhagawan’s feet at the end of this birth! It is to emphasize this key point, Rishabha Deva gives this beautiful analogy of the wooden blocks floating their way on the river Ganges.

So for today, let us understand this point and try to ponder over it. With this, we’ve come to the end of this section of Rishabha Deva’s important pieces of advice to his disciples. As we move into the next episode, we shall commence the discussion of the next important event. Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Rishabha Deva’s important accord, wherein he talks about the significance of a “Satsanga” and a “Saadhu-Samaagama”. As seen yesterday, a “Satsanga” is an association or a group of two or more people who are spiritually oriented in the same manner as that of each other. Members of this “Satsanga” either discuss spiritual matters, sing in praise of Bhagawan together, or chant “shlokas” together, etc. The primary advantage of being a part of a “Satsanga” is that, we get an opportunity to interact with people who might possess excellent knowledge about our scriptures, so that we can learn a lot of new and important things from them. It also gives us a platform to talk about, discuss and even debate on certain important aspects of our scriptures, and through these activities, our doubts would get cleared and we would be able to focus into our spiritual progress in a deeper way. In addition to this, as I had mentioned yesterday, if we pray to Bhagawan as a group, the effects of the prayer and the positive vibrations emitted from it is manifold, as compared to an individual-level prayer. Of course, I’m not discounting the fact that we can offer prayers individually. That should always continue – Our “Nithya-Anushtaanas” (Daily routine prayers), offering “Pithru-Shraadhams” for our departed ancestors, etc. should continue unabated as per the normal routine. The group prayers should only be an addition to the individual prayers that we offer to Bhagawan. This is a very important point for all our readers to make note of.

Having said thus, we concluded yesterday’s episode with a series of questions: Although all said and done, is it a mandate that we should associate ourselves with a group? Why can’t I follow the principles of Sanaathana Dharma all by myself? Won’t there be unwanted politics and gossips if two or more people come together? Thus, rather than doing some constructive things, won’t we end up doing unwanted activities that would be counter-productive for us to reach Moksha?

Of course, these are very valid questions, especially in toady’s context. Even if we intend to form a good association, it depends on whether we associate ourselves with the right people. Many a times, we might end up in association with people who might be of detrimental effect to our spiritual growth. For instance, as we’re currently passing through the auspicious Tamil month of “Maargazhi”, if we try and start chanting “Thiruppavai” or “Thiruvembaavai”, certain people associated with us would start mocking thus, “Oh! Why’re you so old-fashioned in reciting all of these which are hundreds of years old? Why don’t you look at the latest trends that the world is going towards and update yourselves?” Or if we try and sing classical music these days, many do not like all of it now! People will immediately start commenting, “Oh! This is Carnatic music, which is so monotonous and boring! We’re now getting latest songs which are ‘peppy’ and modern!”

Unfortunately, with the advent of lot of new things in life, these are times wherein we fail to give importance for our traditional aspects. More than just not giving importance to our traditional aspects, people have even started mocking at them and try to demean them! For instance, when we had the annual solar eclipse two days ago, there were few people from a certain rotten community, mocking at the important rituals that we follow during the eclipse time period. According to our Sanaathana Dharma, it is advised not to consume any sort of food items or water and should refrain from using the washrooms during the time of the eclipse. This is said for a scientific reason, which certain fools “refuse” to understand. During the eclipse time, the earth’s gravitational forces undergo major changes, along with the sun’s powerful ultraviolet rays penetrating the atmosphere’s ozone layer. This is considered to be harmful for the human body and in addition, spoils the food items that are being cooked or preserved during the eclipse time. This is the reason why it is advised not to cook or consume food during this time period. Moreover, if we already have some cooked food at home during this eclipse time, it is advisable to put one small “Dharba” stick” into the food, so that it doesn’t become stale!

Thus, all of this has a clear-cut logical and a scientific reasoning behind! However, unfortunately, there are certain groups of people who call themselves as “Atheists”, (Modern-day definition of an Atheist & Secularism in India: An “Aethist” or a “Secular” is a demeanor of Hinduism, but in full support of every other religion, no matter how third-class it might be!), who try every possible means and ways to demean Hinduism. In fact, there were groups of listless fools who organized a “feast” of having food in the streets, during the eclipse time! Thus, as ardent followers of Sanaathana Dharma, we should never pay heed to such anti-Hindu elements that are trying every trick in the trade to demean our great Sanaathana Dharma tradition.

Thus given all these challenges, it might seem right for us to be in unison and try to reach Bhagawan individually. However, having said thus, the problem here is that, we might not know the correct way through which we can attain Moksha, if we do things all by ourselves!

This is where we need to strike a balance – Getting associated with people is important (Satsanga), but at the same time, we should be very careful in choosing the right people to get associated with. (Saadhu Samaagama). This is exactly what Rishabha Deva explains too. Only if we get the right association, will we be able to progress spiritually and if on the contrary, we might get pulled down by people around us.

So for today, let us make this point very clear in our minds and let us do the needful! We shall wait till the next episode to witness Rishabha Deva’s next point of advice! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we once again laid stress on why we should ensure the well-being of all living creatures in this world, including plants, trees, insects, animals, etc. Apart from maintaining the ecological balance in the world as per the modern-day science, this is the best way to control our mind and its wanderings. If we offer our services dedicatedly to animals, our ego would drastically come down and our mind would get matured to strive forward towards attaining Moksha. Saying thus, Rishabha Deva has sowed the seed for a huge phenomenon that our Sanaathana Dharma talks about, which is virtually absent in other religious texts.

Thus, one thing is clear here – It is never easy to attain Moksha, however, having said that, it is not impossible either. We should put the right effort in the right direction, so as to reach the ultimate goal. Having charted down the clear direction thus, there are instances of various people following this course of direction and thereby attained Moksha. Bhagawan Krishna too outlines similar pathways to reach Moksha in His Bhagawad Gita and as Bhagawan is explaining thus, Arjuna asks back, “Oh Vasudeva! It seems to me that you’re talking about something that is out of my reach! In fact, it’s not only me – It feels as if you’re talking something in the air! Who has ever performed all what you’re describing?” Bhagwan Krishna answers back thus, “Oh Arjuna! Please don’t come to the conclusion that whatever I say is impossible to perform! There are people who’ve performed whatever I say and have attained Moksha thereby! For instance, King Janaka – He was a meticulous follower of ‘Karma Yoga’ and thereby with that ‘Saadhana’, he attained Moksha. Similarly, there are various examples to prove that there were people who’ve done it in the past!”

Thus the point here is that, attaining Moksha is possible for all of us, provided we follow the path and the guidance provided by our Sanaathana Dharma scriptures and through the divine grace of the Spiritual Master.

Moving on thus, Rishabha Deva continues his accord and now he focuses on some more important points. He explains why we should be able to differentiate between our “Atman” and “Shareera” (Physical body). We should understand that the Atman is the one that is permanent, and the physical body is temporary and susceptible to changes as we age. Moreover, to continue on the point of focusing our mind towards our Atman and Bhagawan, we should make it a practice to chant His names, sing His songs and possibly be amidst a group of like-minded people who are also totally focused on Bhagawan (Satsanga).

Of course, the first point of understanding the differentiation between the Atman and the physical body is the basic fundamental principle of “Advaita”, which almost all of us know by now. We’ve witnessed several explanations of this in the past as well and I’m not going into describing it again. Now coming to the second point – Chanting of Bhagawan’s names and singing in praise of Him – This is an important way through which we can turn in our mind towards Bhagawan. The moment we involve ourselves in chanting a Mantra, perform constant “Japa” (repeated recital of the Mantra), or singing Bhagawan’s glories in the form of simple songs, our distractions into the external world slowly starts coming down. This is all about how we engage our mind at the end of the day! If we’re able to give quality inputs to our mind, it is going to get reformed better and better every passing day. This is exactly why our parents, grandparents and our ancestors have heavily emphasized that we should learn “Slokas”, “Mantras”, sections of the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagawad Gita, etc. right from our childhood days. The moment our mind is exposed to a spiritual atmosphere at home, the mind starts getting matured at a tender age itself, and therefore, all sorts of external distractions that might come at a later stage of our life could be avoided easily.

Moreover, as Rishabha Deva rightly points out, associating ourselves with a group of like-minded and spiritually oriented people is also of paramount importance. This process is known as “Satsanga” or “Saadhu-Samaagama”. If we’re part of a spiritual group, it  opens up opportunities to know and understand a variety of things. For instance, nowadays we see different types of spiritual groups such as “Vishnu Sahasranaama Group”, “Lalitha Sahasranaama Group”, “Ramayana discussion group”, etc. which are totally dedicated to some great causes. The point to emphasize here as a corollary is that, if we offer prayers by chanting slokas like Vishnu Sahasranaama or Lalitha Sahasranaama together as a group, the positive effect and vibrations that get generated is too huge to comprehend! Therefore we often emphasize that if we offer prayers, it is always preferred to offer it in a group, rather than at an individual level.

Of course, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t do our regular prayers at home, which we do it individually. We should of course do all of it too as part of our regular routine. However, in addition to that, we should also make it a point that we associate ourselves as part of a group and discuss spiritual matters, pray together, chant slokas together, sing together, etc. This would certainly add to the benefit of the world, as well as would aid our spiritual progress further.

We might ask few questions here at this juncture – Although all said and done, is it a mandate that we should associate ourselves with a group? Why can’t I follow the principles of Sanaathana Dharma all by myself? Won’t there be unwanted politics and gossips if two or more people come together? Thus, rather than doing some constructive things, won’t we end up doing unwanted activities that would be counter-productive for us to reach Moksha? Let’s wait till the next episode to answer these questions! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the completion of Rishabha Deva’s advice to all of us on the way through which we can attain Moksha. In this, he describes four levels through which we transcend, which also indicates the four levels of transitions that our mind undergoes, as we bring it under complete control. In concurrence with what Sage Kapilaachaarya explained before, mind control is of paramount importance if we’ve to reach the highest goal of our human birth. This is the most difficult thing to do for all of us especially in this Kali Yuga and in today’s scenario, given innumerable amounts of disturbances and distractions that we come across every passing day. If we look at Sage Kapilaachaarya’s accord on the same subject, it might seemingly be impossible for us to achieve Moksha, as he deeply emphasizes on the fact that Moksha is never going to be possible if we’re not going to bring our mind under control. However, Sage Kapilaachaarya hasn’t explained clearly as to how we bring our mind under control. This explanation is given here by Rishabha Deva, wherein he clearly says that the mind can be controlled by offering ourselves in service to a Mahatma (Spiritual Master).

However, in yesterday’s episode, we had witnessed that this merely is not enough! This is because, if we’re solely devoting ourselves to the Mahatma, another form of ego in the mind might start taking shape, that we’re getting this golden opportunity to serve a Mahatma, which many others in the world do not have! To burst out this ego too, Rishabha Deva says that the best way to control our mind is to be of service to living beings other than humans – It might be plants, trees, shrubs, all kinds of animals, insects, etc. The reason why Rishabha Deva is emphasizing on this point is that, if we’re offering our services to animals and making sure that they feel protected and safe, we’re raising our tolerance level and thereby we’re getting rid of our ego too. If we’re serving Mahatmas or Spiritual Masters, still we would end up accumulating ego. Whereas, if we serve animals, what kind of ego are we going to accumulate? If we’re volunteering ourselves to clean cowsheds, wash the cows, work amidst the foul-smelling cow dung, extract milk from the cows, feeding them, etc. we’re becoming more and more tolerant to adverse things in life. By doing so, our mind gets prepared to handle any type of situation that might come up in life. This in turn, adds to our maturity level. Thus ultimately, the more our mind becomes mature, the easier it is for us to bring our mind under control. Once our mind comes into our control, all of us know by now as to where are we going to reach!

Apart from this important point, there is also a corollary to this – These kinds of activities such as taking care of animals, protecting them, feeding them, etc. are an integral part of our Sanaathana Dharma. It is to be understood that our Hindu scriptures treat all living beings equally with equal amounts of care and love. There is no place for violence or killing one for the other. This is the specialty of our Sanaathana Dharma. Unlike some other religious clouts wherein, torturing and killing animals are encouraged in broad daylight, our Hindu Sanaathana Dharma focuses on how to take care of these animals according to the ways through which it should be done. Therefore, ardent followers of Sanaathana Dharma are “Sathvic” in nature. It is to be remembered that we’ve discussed about the three “Gunas” or “Characteristics” of a human being – “Satva Guna”, “Rajo Guna” and “Tamo Guna”. If we’re going to torture, kill and devour the flesh of animals for whatsoever reasons, it is imperative that we’re going to be extremely high on “Rajo Guna” and “Tamo Guna”. In simpler terms, this implies that we’re going to be short-tempered, impatient, lazy, inactive, etc. all through our lives. Whereas, if one follows the principles laid down by our Sanaathana Dharma meticulously, he / she is going to be extremely high on “Satva Guna”, wherein this person is going to be a calm, composed, highly intelligent and balanced in nature.

This is exactly what we’re also trying to achieve here. The more balanced our mind becomes, the more mature we become! In turn, our mind comes under complete control. All these activities are thus a sequence and not stand-alone ones. Thus, the point here is that, to attain Moksha, one requires the highest amount of mental maturity, and how does he / she attain that state? It is only through constant and repetitive “Saadhana” – Serving Mahatmas, Spiritual Masters, and also by serving animals. Of course, it might be easy for us to say all this, but would be extremely difficult when we actually start practicing it. Henceforth in future, if we happen to get an opportunity to be of service in a “Go-Shaala” (Cowshed), or to serve Brahmins, or any highly spiritually realized people, let us make the maximum use of it. The more we offer ourselves dedicatedly, the more mature our mind would become.

So for today, let us once again re-think and realize the significance behind why Rishabha Deva is explaining this point in this much of detail. In turn, we should also realize the significance of our Sanaathana Dharma, which focuses on love and not on violence and torture towards all kinds of animals and plants. We shall wait till the next episode to witness the next important event. Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had emphasized and re-emphasized on the important point that we need to go through a Spiritual Master or a Mahatma en-route Moksha. The main purpose of doing so, is to obtain absolute control of our mind and to follow the correct path as per the guidance of the Spiritual Master. We had witnessed the answer for an important question as to why we shouldn’t directly approach Bhagawan for this cause. We witnessed an interesting answer for this question and with this, we shall move on to the next point.

Rishabha Deva continues further with the next level of mid control now. We’ve so far seen two levels now. The first level is where there is absolutely no control over our mind and we’re at a state wherein the mind is wandering here and there into all possible worldly affairs. The second state is where we try and bring our mind under control by offering ourselves to the service of Bhagawan. That is not going to work either. If we’re going in that path, as we’ve witnessed before, our ego is going to get boosted up and we do not have that level of maturity to bring down our ego to a balanced state. Thus, this level is also not a very good state. Now, we’ve witnessed the third level of mind control wherein the Mahatma (Spiritual Master) comes into the picture. By offering ourselves in the service of a Mahatma, we shall bring our mind under control. However, Rishabha Deva is not fully satisfied with this also and he goes on to the next level here – He says that the best possible way to control our mind is to be of service to living beings other than humans. That is, we should devote our services to animals, plants, etc. and ensure that they live happily in this world. Once we start doing this, Rishabha Deva explains that we’re bringing our mind under complete control.

Now we might wonder from this above explanation as to why is Rishabha Deva saying this. Why should we be of service to animals? Are animals a step higher than even Mahatmas? What are we going to gain by serving animals? Here is where the important point comes – By offering ourselves in service to a Mahatma, we still have that small component of ego that might stick to our mind. For instance, if we proclaim ourselves that we’re ardent devotees of Spiritual Masters like Kaanchi Shankaraacharachaarya, Shirdi Sai Baba, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, etc., immediately people around us might get curious and might start giving more importance to us. The moment this happens, our ego starts rising, isn’t it? We start getting some sort of a “social status” and this in turn, would boost our ego! Whereas, if we are of service to animals like cows, deer, etc. and if we’re able to clean the cows, wash them with water everyday, serve them with grass, draw milk from them, clean the dung, irrespective of innumerable flies and mosquitoes around it, etc. this is where our real test is!

Now how many of us would be instantly ready to offer our services like this? The moment we come across a herd of cows, we would immediately close our nose, because of the pungent smell that emulates from the dung. We would distance ourselves from that place because there are innumerable mosquitoes, flies, etc. and we fear the spread of diseases from them! However, if one is able to penetrate through all of these and ensure that these cows are well-cleaned and well-fed, this is real control of mind! In other words, we are absolutely care-free of what might happen to our physical body, in terms of diseases, dirt, etc. and are completely devoting ourselves to these animals! This is where the real mind control lies!

Thus, according to Rishabha Deva, this is the fourth level of mind control, and is the toughest of all. We can perhaps try until level 3, but we’ve to push ourselves a bit further to enter level 4. In that way, we’re slowly removing off our ego that blocks our mind from thinking about Bhagawan and Moksha. We should note here that all of these four different levels that Rishabha Deva is explaining here are four different ways through which we can thrash our mental ego. The moment our ego is thrashed 100%, we can be rest-assured that we’re en-route to Moksha!

So for today, let us spend some time in recollecting all the four levels that we’ve discussed so far. I’m trying to go very slow on this point, with multiple episodes, only because we should understand this very deeply within us. To recollect in a nutshell, the first level is where we do not have any control over our mind and we’re in a state of worldly desires. The second level is where we understand certain things and try taking initiatives to control our mind. In that, we directly approach Bhagawan, but in vain! Our ego gets boosted up further! Meeting a dead end thus, we turn our attention to the third level, wherein we encounter a Mahatma or a Spiritual Master. Under His / Her guidance, we try and achieve a reasonable control over our mind. However, since the Spiritual Master is also a human being like us, and is a renowned person, being associated with such a person also can bring lot of awe amongst others, which might again boost our ego! This is where, we enter the fourth level of mind control wherein we’re of service to living beings other than humans. The moment we’re able to tolerate the difficulties in serving animals and ensuring their happiness, we’re gaining absolute control over our mind. Thus, once we reach this highest state of mind control, we can be rest assured that we’re on the right track to Moksha!

Hence, let us think on these four levels today and we shall wait till the next episode to take this discussion of Rishabha Deva even further! Stay tuned! 😊

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of Rishabha Deva’s important point on why should we follow the footsteps of a Spiritual Master and to be under His / Her service so as to attain Moksha. We’ve witnessed over a series of episodes that the main purpose of being in service to a Spiritual Master is to bring our mind under control. In connection to this, we witnessed the answer for an important question that we had raised yesterday – Why can’t we go directly to Bhagawan and be of service, rather than being of service to a Spiritual Master, who is just another human being like us in this world? The answer for this question is that, if we ever get that “golden opportunity” of being in service directly to Bhagawan, our ego would shoot up beyond the roof and, instead of controlling our mind, we would rather let our mind go in a wrong direction more and more. In other words, our minds have not yet matured to that level, in a way that even if Bhagawan appears in front of us, we would be stable!

However, we’ve witnessed in the past episodes that little Dhruva was able to do that successfully – When Bhagawan manifested in front of him and requested him to ask for boons, Dhruva was so composed that he just wanted to witness Bhagawan’s beauty and that, he had achieved it with his severe austerity and penance. Beyond that he did not want anything else from Bhagawan! Now let us think ourselves in Dhruva’s shoes. If Bhagawan appears in front of us, what would be our reaction? Moreover, Bhagawan “tempts” us too, by giving the privilege to us of being granted boons! The moment Bhagawan gives us this choice of asking for boons, what would we ask? Are we mentally mature enough to reply to Bhagawan that it is only to worship Him that we ardently called him out! How many of us would have that calmness and composure to reply to Bhagawan in this way? Not many of us do! In fact, we would rather be waiting for Bhagawan to utter the sentence “Please feel free to ask for any boon”! 😊 The moment we hear the word “BOON”, we would immediately step in and start asking whatever we were denied of in our day-to-day life! Of course, Bhagawan is going to grant whatever we’re going to ask, but is this the purpose for which we called out for Bhagawan? Going by the flow of things, we would end up forgetting the very reason why Bhagawan came to us. Thus, except “Moksha”, we would end up asking anything and everything in this materialistic world! This is the reason why it is not advisable to directly reach out to Bhagawan for attaining our goal.

Whereas, if we go through a Mahatma (Spiritual Master), He / She is going to be extremely strict in what is going to be given / not given to us. In fact, even before that, not everybody can knock the doors of a Spiritual Master easily. Only if we have the right attitude and direction in our life, will a Spiritual Master even respond to us! Whereas, if it is Bhagawan, he responds to anybody and everybody! We’ve witnessed many Raakshasas going and asking for boons from Bhagawan and using them in all possible wrong ways, only for Bhagawan to destroy them after few years! If we go directly to Bhagawan, possibility is high that we would also end up in the same way as Ravana, Kumbakarna, etc. did! Hence, if we’ve to go through a Spiritual Master, our mind gets mended in the right way and we would attain Moksha in the right way. Whereas, if we take “shortcuts” of directly going to Bhagawan for it, we might have to face repercussions!

This is why in life, we always keep saying that there’s no shortcut to achieve anything! We’ve to put in our maximum effort to attain the goal. This is exactly the same when it comes to the goal of attaining Moksha as well. We’ve to go the hard yardsticks to make ourselves eligible to attain Moksha. This eligibility and maturity would only be possible to attain if we be of service to a Mahatma or a Spiritual Master. Thus, rather than taking the shortcut to attain Moksha by directly going to Bhagawan, we need to take the right effort of being of service to a Spiritual Master, thereby attaining the goal.

So for today, let us think and re-think this important point of Rishaba Deva. I’m stressing upon this point a lot, because this forms the crux of our entire Sanaathana Dharma. We’re spending three to four episodes in discussing this point in minute detail only because of this. We can witness the significance of a Guru or a Mahatma or a Spiritual Master in almost all Sanaathana Dharma texts – Maybe Ramayana, Mahaabhaarata, Bhaagawatha Puraana, Upanishads, etc. In Ramayana, we’ve witnessed the significance of Hanuman, who is the Spiritual Master. It is Hanuman who goes to Mother Sita, makes Her aware that Bhagawan Rama is waiting for her, and in turn, Mother Sita too conveys to Bhagawan through Hanuman, the Spiritual Master that she is also waiting to attain Him. In Mahaabhaarata, we witness multiple people playing the role of a Spiritual Master – Bhishma for both the Paandavas and the Kauravas. Over and above Bhishma, Vidura was a great Spiritual Master to King Dhirdiraashtra, educated him at critical times on what is “Dharma” and “Adharma”. In fact, Bhagawan Krishna Himself assumed the role of a Spiritual Master in giving golden pieces of advice to Arjuna in the battlefield!

Thus we witness here – Anybody who has to attain Moksha, must go through the Spiritual Master at some point in time and this is the rule that is prescribed by Bhagawan Himself! Thus, let us understand this point well today and we shall wait till the next episode to witness the next important point. Stay tuned! 😊