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श्रीशुक उवाच
अत्रानुवर्ण्यतेऽभीक्ष्णं विश्वात्मा भगवान् हरि: ।
यस्य प्रसादजो ब्रह्मा रुद्र: क्रोधसमुद्भव: ॥
T: Sage Shuka said: “This Srimad Bhagavatam that you have heard completely has elaborately described in various narrations the Paramatma of all that is — Bhagavan Sri Hari — from whose grace was born Lord Brahma, and from whose anger was born Rudra.” In other words, all creation, preservation and dissolution is the work of Bhagavan.
त्वं तु राजन् मरिष्येति पशुबुद्धिमिमां जहि । न जात: प्रागभूतोऽद्य देहवत्त्वं न नङ्क्ष्यसि ॥
न भविष्यसि भूत्वा त्वं पुत्रपौत्रादिरूपवान् । बीजाङ्कुरवद् देहादेर्व्यतिरिक्तो यथानल: ॥
T: “Dear King Parikshit, now give up the mentality of an animal. An animal is always thinking, “I am going to die.” Unlike the physical body encasing you, you have not taken birth. There was not a time in the past when you did not exist, and you are not about to be destroyed. You will not take birth again, as people procreating their offspring think, in the form of your sons and grandsons, like a sprout taking birth from a seed and then generating a new seed. Rather, you are entirely distinct from the material body and its paraphernalia, in the same way that fire is distinct from its fuel.”
This idea, when it becomes our life paradigm, is most empowering helping us find the best way we can live. Great Maharishis like Sri Ramakrishna and Maharshi Ramana lived like that.
स्वप्ने यथा शिरश्छेदं पञ्चत्वाद्यात्मन: स्वयम् ।
यस्मात् पश्यति देहस्य तत आत्मा ह्यजोऽमर: ॥
T: “Imagine a dreamer seeing his own beheading. Would he die? No. On waking up, he would know it was but a dream. Similarly, while awake, one can see that this body is a product of the five material elements. Therefore, it is to be understood that the actual self, the Atma, is distinct from the body it observes. Atma is unborn, immortal.” (This is the idea in the mantra मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात्)
घटे भिन्ने घटाकाश आकाश: स्याद् यथा पुरा ।
एवं देहे मृते जीवो ब्रह्म सम्पद्यते पुन: ॥
T: “When a pot is broken, the portion of sky within the pot remains as the element sky, just as before. In the same way, when the gross and subtle bodies die, the living entity within resumes his spiritual identity.”
मन: सृजति वै देहान् गुणान् कर्माणि चात्मन: ।
तन्मन: सृजते माया ततो जीवस्य संसृति: ॥
T: “The material bodies, qualities and activities of the Atma are created by the mind, which is also just a casing made up of subtle elements. That mind is itself created by the Maya Shakti of Bhagavan, and thus the Atma becomes identified with mind-body phenomena.”
स्नेहाधिष्ठानवर्त्यग्निसंयोगो यावदीयते । तावद्दीपस्य दीपत्वमेवं देहकृतो भव: ।
रज:सत्त्वतमोवृत्त्या जायतेऽथ विनश्यति ॥
T: “A lamp functions as such only by the combination of its oil, vessel, wick and fire. Similarly, what we call life in this world is the interplay of the three Gunas operating on the Atma in the mind-body paradigm, subject to birth and death.”
न तत्रात्मा स्वयंज्योतिर्यो व्यक्ताव्यक्तयो: पर: ।
आकाश इव चाधारो ध्रुवोऽनन्तोपमस्तत: ॥
T: “The Atma within the body is self-luminous and is separate from the visible gross body and invisible subtle body (mind-body). It remains to be the fixed basis of changing bodily existence, just as the ethereal sky (eternal space) is the unchanging background of material transformation in the entire universe. Therefore, the soul is endless and without material basis.”
एवमात्मानमात्मस्थमात्मनैवामृश प्रभो । बुद्ध्यानुमानगर्भिण्या वासुदेवानुचिन्तया ॥
चोदितो विप्रवाक्येन न त्वां धक्ष्यति तक्षक: । मृत्यवो नोपधक्ष्यन्ति मृत्यूनां मृत्युमीश्वरम् ॥
अहं ब्रह्म परं धाम ब्रह्माहं परमं पदम् । एवं समीक्ष्य चात्मानमात्मन्याधाय निष्कले ॥
दशन्तं तक्षकं पादे लेलिहानं विषाननै: । न द्रक्ष्यसि शरीरं च विश्वं च पृथगात्मन: ॥
T: “My dear King Parikshit, by constantly meditating upon Bhagavan Vasudeva, and by applying your clear and logical intelligence, you should carefully consider your true self and how it is situated within the material body. Then, when the snake-bird Takshaka, as a consequence of the curse of that Brahmin sage, attacks, he will not burn your true self. The agents of death will never burn such a master of the self as you, for you have already conquered all dangers on your path back to Paramatma who is the Lord of Death to what we consider forces of death!”
You should consider, “I am not different from the Absolute Truth, Brahman, Paramdhama, and that Absolute Truth, that supreme destination.I am already that.” This is the process of true surrender to the immaculate Bhagavan. Then, you will not even notice the snake-bird Takshaka when he approaches with his poison-filled fangs and bites your foot. Nor will you see yourself as the dying body or the material world around you, because you will have realized yourself to be separate from them.”
एतत्ते कथितं तात यदात्मा पृष्टवान् नृप ।
हरेर्विश्वात्मनश्चेष्टां किं भूय: श्रोतुमिच्छसि ॥
T: “My Beloved King Parikshit, I have narrated to you everything you wanted to know, including the Leelas of Bhagavan Sri Hari, the Paramatma of the universe. Now, is there anything else you wish to ask?”
