So after a really long time we are back... This break was necessary to listen to the entire Mahabharata as told by Sri Sri Anna or also known as Krishna Premi whose soul purpose is the purpose of Lord Vyasar himself, to propagate to this world the deeds of the Almighty and the importance of Dharma in this Kali Yug.
After meeting Sri Sri Anna at another preaching held in Bangalore recently, I realized the importance of propagating this great Epic MAHABHARATA though in most Indian homes, children formerly learnt these immortal stories as they learnt their mother tongue at the mother's knee or the grandmother's lap but the number has been drastically decreasing as growing complexity of life has changed the simple pattern of early home life. Still, there are few in our land who do not know the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Though the stories come to them so embroidered with the garish fancies of the cinema as to retain but little of the dignity and approach to truth of Vyasa or Valmiki. Vyasa's Mahabharata which is is one of our noblest heritages. The Mahabharata belongs to the world and not only to India. To the people of India, indeed, this epic has been an unfailing and perennial source of spiritual strength. Learnt with reverence and love, it has inspired great men to heroic deeds as well as enabled the humble to face their trials with fortitude and faith.
The Mahabharata was composed many thousand years ago. But generations of gifted reciters have added to Vyasa's original a great mass of material. All the floating literature that was thought to be worth preserving, historical, geographical, legendary political, theological and philosophical, of nearly thirty centuries, found a place in it.
And it is my cherished belief that to hear it faithfully, to love it and come under its elevating influence. It strengthens the soul, as nothing else does, reinstates the purpose of ambition, warns us against the danger posed by evil and futility of anger and hatred. The sweetness and sorrows of Sita and Draupadi, the heroic fortitude of Rama and Arjuna and the loving fidelity of Lakshmana and Hanuman brings together all the emotions known to mankind in a song like harmony and liberates us from all the worldly worries.
To begin with we ponder why the great Almighty Krishna himself had to descend down to the Bholoka(Earth) to destroy evil which he could have easily done so with a twitch of his hand where the mighty Sudarshana Chakra awaits his orders eager to do his bidding. The reason is said so by Krishna himself in the Bhagvad Gita later that he descended upon mankind for the one and only reason
** To establish Dharma in this violent world and show mankind a path of righteousness and the manner in which one should lead his life.
Next up is "The Sage and the Scribe"!! Keep watching this space for more :)
After meeting Sri Sri Anna at another preaching held in Bangalore recently, I realized the importance of propagating this great Epic MAHABHARATA though in most Indian homes, children formerly learnt these immortal stories as they learnt their mother tongue at the mother's knee or the grandmother's lap but the number has been drastically decreasing as growing complexity of life has changed the simple pattern of early home life. Still, there are few in our land who do not know the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Though the stories come to them so embroidered with the garish fancies of the cinema as to retain but little of the dignity and approach to truth of Vyasa or Valmiki. Vyasa's Mahabharata which is is one of our noblest heritages. The Mahabharata belongs to the world and not only to India. To the people of India, indeed, this epic has been an unfailing and perennial source of spiritual strength. Learnt with reverence and love, it has inspired great men to heroic deeds as well as enabled the humble to face their trials with fortitude and faith.
The Mahabharata was composed many thousand years ago. But generations of gifted reciters have added to Vyasa's original a great mass of material. All the floating literature that was thought to be worth preserving, historical, geographical, legendary political, theological and philosophical, of nearly thirty centuries, found a place in it.
And it is my cherished belief that to hear it faithfully, to love it and come under its elevating influence. It strengthens the soul, as nothing else does, reinstates the purpose of ambition, warns us against the danger posed by evil and futility of anger and hatred. The sweetness and sorrows of Sita and Draupadi, the heroic fortitude of Rama and Arjuna and the loving fidelity of Lakshmana and Hanuman brings together all the emotions known to mankind in a song like harmony and liberates us from all the worldly worries.
To begin with we ponder why the great Almighty Krishna himself had to descend down to the Bholoka(Earth) to destroy evil which he could have easily done so with a twitch of his hand where the mighty Sudarshana Chakra awaits his orders eager to do his bidding. The reason is said so by Krishna himself in the Bhagvad Gita later that he descended upon mankind for the one and only reason
"Dharma-Samsthapanarthaya Sambhavami YugeYuge"**
** To establish Dharma in this violent world and show mankind a path of righteousness and the manner in which one should lead his life.
Next up is "The Sage and the Scribe"!! Keep watching this space for more :)
Very nice initiative. My sincere prayers to the divya dampati, azhwar-acharyargal goshti to bless you with the required strength and knowledge to take this to completion without obstacles.
ReplyDeleteJust thought of adding a little more spice to the already beautiful post. Hope it doesn't spoil the taste of it.
Krishna establishes His purpose of incarnation in Bhagavad Geetha. He says I descend in order to establish dharma, without any time constraints. I shall come in every yuga.
You have raised a very valid point at this place. Why should Bhagavan descend in person while He can send His chakrayudham to vanquish the evil? Not even His weapons would be needed. Bhagavan is a sarvashaktan and satyasankalpan. He is capable of fulfilling every desire with least bit of effort. Not even moving a single muscle, He can easily create, sustain and destroy the entire world. That being the case, would He be required to come in person just to send back the evil souls to sleep? Not at all. Then why is He here?
He says "paritrANAya sAdhUnAm.. dharmasaMsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi".. These two are His primary purposes. The second one that's left out in between - "vinAshAya cha duShkRutAm" is only secondary. While the other two purposes are primary, He also accomplishes evil vanquish as just an additional pastime during His stay in this world.
Now what is sAdhuparitrANam and dharmasthApanam? Why can't He accomplish these sitting in Sri Vaikuntham as well? It's because sAdhus are His true devotees. There were people like Vidura, Malakara, Akroora, Sanjaya and others. There were Gopikas who were mad after Him. And then there was the legendary Nammazhwar - who breathed, ate, drank and slept 'kannan'!!! These devotees wouldn't bear the separation of Bhagavan. They would char in the fire of separation. Just to pacify them and protect them from losing their lives, Bhagavan comes down just to be with them, touch them, talk to them, play with them, eat with them, etc, so that they are soothed. This is sAdhuparitrANam.
The other one is dharmasthApanam. saMsthApanam = samyak sthApanam.. establishing the dharma 'strongly'. Which dharma is He establishing? Its the Vedic dharma of bhagavad-ArAdhanam.
Bhagavan could as well have appointed learned souls like Vyasar himself to practice and preach this ‘dharma’. They would have clearly done it. But that's not His intention. Rather, the dharma here is 'ArAdhya-svarUpa-pradarshanam'. That means to say He must show Himself in this world in order to establish the Vedic dharma of His worship. Otherwise none would be able to explain His nature or show Him to the rest of the world. Only He can show Himself.
nAyam AtmA pravachanEna labhyaH na mEdhayA na bahunA shrutEna..
yamEva Esha vRuNutE tEna labhyaH tasyaiSha AtmA vivRuNutE tanUM svaam
And only if He shows Himself will the fallen individual souls realize their nature and progress.
bhidyatE hRudayagranthiH ChidyantE sarvasaMshayAH
kSheeyantE chAsya karmANi tasmin dRuShTE parAvarE
So clearly, He wouldn't be able to achieve these two purposes sitting in Sri Vaikuntham. So He decides to come down to our place anytime as required - in person!!.
Thanks for this opportunity to contemplate on Bhagavan - remembering Acharyas' words. And sorry for making this comment such a long one. I hope I haven't deviated too much from the original purport of this post.
And whatever I have said here is nothing new to anyone. I am just writing here so that I am spending some quality time writing about HIM. That's all. All that I have said is already known to you. It is evident from the last line of your post. All these just came to my mind when I read that line.
Etatkainkaryam uttarOttarAbhivRuddhirbhUyAdityAshAsyE ||
-Ramanuja Dasan