॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Monday, 29 August 2022 - The fifth chapter of the first skandha. Sage Narada suggests to Sage Vyasa how all scriptures, rituals and generally all activities lose their sheen and fail to give peace unless one develops devotion and prays to the Lord. He tells his own story of developing devotion.
देवर्षिः प्राह विप्रर्षं वीणापाणिः स्मयन्निव
T: Seeing the quizzing and despondent look of Sage Vyasa, the Divine Sage Narada, who carried and played his divine veena, spoke, with the hint of a smile.
कच्चिदात्मना परितुष्यति कृतवान् भारतं जिज्ञासितमधीतं ब्रह्मसनातनम्
T: “Oh sage! You have accomplished incredible feats, composed the great Mahabharata, studied and organized the Vedas, realized Brahman, and yet, are you deep within your Atman, satisfied and cheered?”
Vyasa replies, “Indeed, no, as you have seen, sir.”
त्वं पर्यटन् अर्क इव त्रिलोकीमन्तश्चरो वायुरिवात्मसाक्षी परावरे भ्रह्मणि स्नातस्य मे न्यूनमलं विचक्ष्व
T: “Sage Narada, you move in the three worlds like the Sun, travel everywhere like the wind, you know what’s within all, pray tell me, even after knowing Brahman, what is lacking in me?”
यथा धर्मादयश्चार्था मुनिवर्यानुकीर्तिताः न तथा वासुदेवस्य महिमा ह्यनुवर्णितः
T: “Oh Sage, I think you have exhaustively written on the pursuit of Dharma and Artha, but you have not written about the glories of the Lord, Vasudeva.”
तद्वायसं तीर्थमुशन्ति मानसा न यत्र हंसा निरमन्त्युशिक् क्षयाः
T: “Oh Sage, however brilliant a literary work, if it is devoid of devotional inspirations, the Paramahamsas who dwell in the Lord’s abode of bliss and peace avoid them, like swans avoid the inferior lakes habited by crows alone.”
यस्मिन्प्रतिश्लोकमबद्धवत्यपि नामान्यनन्तस्य योशोऽङ्कितानि यत्
शृण्वन्ति गायन्ति गृणन्ति साधवः
T: “Even if a work is full of literary mistakes, if it sings of the glorious names of the Lord Achyuta, the saints revel in listening to them, chanting and singing those lines.”
“People perform the Sandhya worship ritualistically, study great scriptures, but if they don’t feel love for the Lord in their hearts, those works are wasted. Especially, desire-driven activities are inauspicious! Even work with detachment, if not offered to the Lord, is counterproductive. Therefore sit and meditate in your Samadhi on the glories of the Lord. Apart from the Lord’s names and forms, all other names and forms create bondage! The soul will be like a ship caught in a tsunami. You have written, prescribing Vedic animal sacrifice rituals as Dharma. This will mislead people.”
विचक्षणोऽस्यार्हति वेदितुं विभौरनन्तपारस्य निवृत्तितः सुखम् ।
प्रवर्तमानस्य गुणैरनात्मनस्ततो भवान् दर्शय चेष्टितं विभोः ॥
T: “Only rare souls can practise dispassion and purity as ordained in the Upanishads and attain the bliss of Brahman. For uplifting other, ordinary, souls trapped in this world of attachments, you should write about the Divine Leela manifestations of the Lord.”
“A man, fallen from his prescribed duties, (स्वधर्मं त्यक्त्वा) by engaging in devotion to Hari, does not fall down in his progress. On the other hand, a man doing his prescribed duties, but without devotion, is bound to fall.”
“Once a man develops a taste for devotion, he shall not leave it ever. “
अविच्युतोऽर्थः कविभिर्निरूपितो यदुत्तमश्लोकगुणानुवर्णनम्
T: “The wisest of all have concluded that the culmination of tapas and scriptural studies and rituals is adopting the infallible way to the Divine - the way being the singing of His glories in choice poetry.”
***
Narada now tells his own history.
“Oh, Sage! Take my own story. In the past epoch, I was the son of a servant maid who worked for Vedic brahmins. They used to perform severe austerities and prayers during the four-month Monsoon. I was attending on them. Though young, I was reclusive and non-attached. So the sages had great kindness towards me. I used to eat the leftovers in their kitchen. I thus developed a love for the Divine.”
तत्रान्वहं कृष्णकथाः प्रगायतामनुग्रहेणाशृणवं मनोहराः
लभ्धरुचेर्महामुने प्रियश्रवस्यस्खलिता मतिर्मम
ययाहमेतत्सदसत्स्वमायया पश्ये मयि ब्रह्मणि कल्पितं परे
T: “There I heard the stories of Krishna, sung delightfully, by the grace of those sages. By developing a deep devotion through those recitations, my mind ws purified and I could perceive the Maya covering my true nature in gross and subtle ways, just as it hid Brahman.”
“At the end of those four months, when the sages were about to resume their travels, they gave me instruction in the supreme truth out of grace. This had been revealed by the Supreme Being Himself to them. This is the most profound truth and will liberate the soul forever and takes one to Ishwara Vasudeva.”
त्वमप्यदभ्रश्रुत विश्रुतं विभो: समाप्यते येन विदां बुभुत्सितम् ।
प्राख्याहि दु:खैर्मुहुरर्दितात्मनां सङ्क्लेशनिर्वाणमुशन्ति नान्यथा ॥
T: "Oh Sage! You are the master of all scriptures. Describe the glories of the Lord as you know them well, for they shall forever ameliorate the lot of dissatisfied ones, and liberate them as nothing else will.”
***
॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
