॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Srimad Bhagavatam - snippet 9- Sunday, 3 September 2023 - Uddhava Geeta.
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The portion of Srimad Bhagavatam wherein Bhagavan Sri Krishna gives his detailed spiritual instruction to his beloved devotee Uddhava is treated as a separate book of great importance. It is called Uddhava Gita. This is at the end of Sri Krishna Avatara. There is a great deal of poignancy in Uddhava. But he rises mentally to seek the insights and grace from Bhagavan.
Uddhava asks searching questions of Bhagavan. His replies are pure gems, straight from the mouth of Bhagavan himself, as sacred as the Srimad Bhagavadgita. So today I make some snippets from those posts.
https://rsachi.blogspot.com/2023/07/srimad-bhagavatam-xi07-part-10-july-2023.html
Uddhava asked:
सत्यस्य ते स्वदृश आत्मन आत्मनोऽन्यं वक्तारमीश विबुधेष्वपि नानुचक्षे ।
सर्वे विमोहितधियस्तव माययेमे ब्रह्मादयस्तनुभृतो बहिरर्थभावाः ॥
तस्माद्भवन्तमनवद्यमनन्तपारं सर्वज्ञमीश्वरमकुण्ठविकुण्ठधिष्ण्यम् ।
निर्विण्णधीरहमु ह वृजिनाभितप्तो नारायणं नरसखं शरणं प्रपद्ये ॥
Dear Bhagavan, you are the Absolute Truth, the Ishwara and you alone can reveal yourself to your devotees. Apart from you. I can't think of any teacher to explain this path to me. You are the incomparable teacher, and also, even Brahma and the gods are deluded by your Maya. There is thus no surprise that we embodied beings think of this body and its world to be everything!
Bhagavan, feeling weary of material life and tormented by its distresses, I now surrender to you as the perfect master. You are the unlimited, all-knowing Paramatma Ishwara, whose spiritual abode in Vaikuntha is free from all disturbances. In fact, you are known as Narayana, which means the true friend of all living beings!
https://rsachi.blogspot.com/2023/07/srimad-bhagavatam-xi07-part-10-july-2023.html
Uddhava asked:
सत्यस्य ते स्वदृश आत्मन आत्मनोऽन्यं वक्तारमीश विबुधेष्वपि नानुचक्षे ।
सर्वे विमोहितधियस्तव माययेमे ब्रह्मादयस्तनुभृतो बहिरर्थभावाः ॥
तस्माद्भवन्तमनवद्यमनन्तपारं सर्वज्ञमीश्वरमकुण्ठविकुण्ठधिष्ण्यम् ।
निर्विण्णधीरहमु ह वृजिनाभितप्तो नारायणं नरसखं शरणं प्रपद्ये ॥
Dear Bhagavan, you are the Absolute Truth, the Ishwara and you alone can reveal yourself to your devotees. Apart from you. I can't think of any teacher to explain this path to me. You are the incomparable teacher, and also, even Brahma and the gods are deluded by your Maya. There is thus no surprise that we embodied beings think of this body and its world to be everything!
Bhagavan, feeling weary of material life and tormented by its distresses, I now surrender to you as the perfect master. You are the unlimited, all-knowing Paramatma Ishwara, whose spiritual abode in Vaikuntha is free from all disturbances. In fact, you are known as Narayana, which means the true friend of all living beings!
श्रीभगवानुवाच
प्रायेण मनुजा लोके लोकतत्त्वविचक्षणाः । समुद्धरन्ति ह्यात्मानमात्मनैवाशुभाशयात् ॥
आत्मनो गुरुरात्मैव पुरुषस्य विशेषतः । यत्प्रत्यक्षानुमानाभ्यां श्रेयोऽसावनुविन्दते ॥
पुरुषत्वे च मां धीराः साङ्ख्ययोगविशारदाः । आविस्तरां प्रपश्यन्ति सर्वशक्त्युपबृंहितम् ॥
एकद्वित्रिचतुष्पादो बहुपादस्तथापदः । बह्व्यः सन्ति पुरः सृष्टास्तासां मे पौरुषी प्रिया ॥
अत्र मां मार्गयन्त्यद्धा युक्ता हेतुभिरीश्वरम् । गृह्यमाणैर्गुणैर्लिङ्गैरग्राह्यमनुमानतः ॥
Bhagavan replied: Dear Uddhava, those who can expertly analyse the human condition and its misery generally manage to rise above the life of physical gratifications. In fact, such a person with intelligence becomes his own spiritual master. Those advanced in this path of Sankhya (discrimination) can see me and my Maya clearly. This world has many types of living entities, those with one, two, three, four, many feet, some slithering without feet and so on. Of all these forms, the human form is dearest to me. Because I am beyond mental constructs derived from sense experiences, the human being with intelligence goes beyond physical perceptions to directly search for me beyond the mind. This can be realised directly or by inference.
https://rsachi.blogspot.com/2023/07/srimad-bhagavatam-xi10-14-july-2023.html
यमानभीक्ष्णं सेवेत नियमान् मत्पर: क्वचित् । मदभिज्ञं गुरुं शान्तमुपासीत मदात्मकम् ॥
The one devoted to me should practise self-restraint always. He should seek the true Guru who knows me and who is peaceful (having subdued all his senses) and worship that Guru as identical to me.
अमान्यमत्सरो दक्षो निर्ममोदृढसौहृद: । असत्वरोऽर्थजिज्ञासुरनसूयुरमोघवाक् ॥
जायापत्यगृहक्षेत्रस्वजनद्रविणादिषु । उदासीन: समं पश्यन् सर्वेष्वर्थमिवात्मन: ॥
The characteristics of a true seeker are: he is egoless, he is non-jealous, he is adept in his work, he has no attachment to people or things and is a trustworthy friend to all. He is not easily tempted or excited. He considers the inner truth in everything. He does not envy anyone and never speaks ill of anyone. He is within indifferent to his wife, children, home and land as well as relatives and wealth which matter a great deal to most people. He thus sees everything holistically and equanimously as one's own Self. "No I and Mine".
विलक्षण: स्थूलसूक्ष्माद् देहादात्मेक्षिता स्वदृक् । यथाग्निर्दारुणो दाह्याद् दाहकोऽन्य: प्रकाशक: ॥
निरोधोत्पत्त्यणुबृहन्नानात्वं तत्कृतान् गुणान् । अन्त:प्रविष्ट आधत्त एवं देहगुणान् पर: ॥
The Atma and the body are like fire and firewood. The firewood cannot burn without fire, and indeed is not fire. The Atma and the material body possess different characteristics and are separate entities. Just as fire may appear differently as dormant, manifest, weak, brilliant and so on, according to the condition of the fuel, similarly, the Atma enters a material body and accepts that particular body's characteristics.
योऽसौ गुणैर्विरचितो देहोऽयं पुरुषस्य हि । संसारस्तन्निबन्धोऽयं पुंसो विद्याच्छिदात्मन: ॥
तस्माज्जिज्ञासयात्मानमात्मस्थं केवलं परम् । सङ्गम्य निरसेदेतद्वस्तुबुद्धिं यथाक्रमम् ॥
All subtle and gross matter and bodies are created through Prakriti and are a part of Bhagavan. The Maya casts the veil of ignorance that creates a sense of separateness while there is no real separation.
Therefore, by the cultivation of true knowledge, one should approach Bhagavan situated within oneself. By understanding the Lord’s pure, transcendental existence, one should gradually give up the false vision of the material world as an independent reality.
https://rsachi.blogspot.com/2023/07/srimad-bhagavatam-xi10-14-july-2023.html
कोऽन्वर्थ: सुखयत्येनं कामो वा मृत्युरन्तिके । आघातं नीयमानस्य वध्यस्येव न तुष्टिद: ॥
When death hangs overhead constantly, how can one truly enjoy material pleasures? Isn't one like a man on the gallows, being led steadily toward one's execution?
श्रुतं च दृष्टवद् दुष्टं स्पर्धासूयात्ययव्ययै: । बह्वन्तरायकामत्वात् कृषिवच्चापि निष्फलम् ॥
Cultivating hopes of pleasures here or in heaven is fraught with the pain of competition, jealousy, and the perishable nature of these experiences. It is as difficult as agriculture in which pests, weeds, diseases and drought beset every crop.
Uddhava asked:
कथं वर्तेत विहरेत् कैर्वा ज्ञायेत लक्षणै: । किं भुञ्जीतोत विसृजेच्छयीतासीत याति वा ॥
एतदच्युत मे ब्रूहि प्रश्नं प्रश्नविदां वर । नित्यबद्धो नित्यमुक्त एक एवेति मे भ्रम: ॥
Dear Lord Achyuta, how does one identify a liberated man? How does he behave, what does he accept, what does he reject, how does he sleep, and function? Indeed, you are the best among those who can answer me, Lord! My confusion is how a constantly bound Jiva can ever become a permanently liberated Atma!?
https://rsachi.blogspot.com/2023/07/srimad-bhagavatam-xi11-15-july-2023.html
Bhagavan replied:
First of all. the Jiva and Ishwara are co-residents in the body, eternal friends, like two birds on a tree. The Jiva eats the fruits good and bad, but Ishwara is blissful, never eating the fruits. Ishwara is of the nature of Sat-Chit-Ananda = Perfect knowledge and bliss established in truth. The Jiva on the other hand is ignorant, intent on eating the fruits in the hope of some fulfilment. This is ignorance or Avidya, eternal, whereas Ishwara is in Vidya, also eternal. These two paradigms are thus eternal and distinguish the two. When a dreamer wakes up, he is no longer thinking of his condition as a dreamer. The liberated one is permanently woken up from his association with his body, and this earthly persona.
The illumined man can see his bodily senses interacting with sense-objects maintaining a true sense of detachment and non-identification with these factors of Maya/Prakriti. On the other hand, by the force of his past Karmas, the bound man considers himself as the body or the experiencer of the sense inputs like pleasure and pain.
Thus, answering your question, dear Uddhava, the liberated man walks, sleeps, sits, bathes, sees, touches, smells, eats and hears as a mere witness of his senses and his body! He is in the body but unaffected, just as the sky, wind and sun are unaffected by the bodies. The sun is reflected in the water but remains unaffected. This witnessing is a powerful sword to cut down ignorance and doubt, creating the same effect like the act of waking up does for a dreamer.
So, dear Uddhava, if you cannot withdraw yourself from the world and be immersed in me as Brahman, you have the equally effective alternative of worshipping me through all actions as a detached doer expecting no personal gains. Listen to stories of my glories and Leelas that sanctify the world. Sing, chant, meditate on me with love, spending your days in work as worship. You will develop eternal and blissful Bhakti thus in me! Such Bhakti quickly brings you to me and liberates you.
https://rsachi.blogspot.com/2023/07/srimad-bhagavatam-xi-12-16-july-2023.html
ता नाविदन् मय्यनुषङ्गबद्धधिय: स्वमात्मानमदस्तथेदम् ।
यथा समाधौ मुनयोऽब्धितोये नद्य: प्रविष्टा इव नामरूपे ॥
मत्कामा रमणं जारमस्वरूपविदोऽबला: । ब्रह्म मां परमं प्रापु: सङ्गाच्छतसहस्रश: ॥
My dear Uddhava, just as great sages in Samadhi merge into me like rivers merging into the ocean, and thus lose awareness of material names and forms, similarly, the Gopis of Vrindavan were so completely immersed in me within their minds that they could not think of their own bodies, or of this world, or of their future. Their entire consciousness was simply bound up in me.
Those Gopis loved me with their entire being as Sri Krishna, hardly knowing me to be Parabrahman, and yet they attained me in that supreme state alone, with a thousandfold intensity! This means knowledge is much less important than Bhakti.
My dear Uddhava, just as great sages in Samadhi merge into me like rivers merging into the ocean, and thus lose awareness of material names and forms, similarly, the Gopis of Vrindavan were so completely immersed in me within their minds that they could not think of their own bodies, or of this world, or of their future. Their entire consciousness was simply bound up in me.
Those Gopis loved me with their entire being as Sri Krishna, hardly knowing me to be Parabrahman, and yet they attained me in that supreme state alone, with a thousandfold intensity! This means knowledge is much less important than Bhakti.
https://rsachi.blogspot.com/2023/07/srimad-bhagavatam-xi14-18-july-2023.html
न तथा मे प्रियतम आत्मयोनिर्न शङ्करः । न च सङ्कर्षणो न श्रीर्नैवात्मा च यथा भवान् ॥
For me, nobody is dearer than this devotee, not Brahma, not Shiva, not Adishesha, not even Sri Lakshmi. You, Uddhava, are such a devotee!
I am subservient to the sage who is desireless, tranquil and equipoised, and I want the worlds under me to be sanctified by the dust of his feet. Even those who covet Moksha are denied this supreme bliss that is the privilege of the devotee who wants nothing but me. These devotees have universal love for all beings. They have no stain of lust/desire.
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A question arises. What if the devotee is truly in love with Bhagavan, but still has some worldly desires and attractions? See Bhagavan’s answer!
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बाध्यमानोऽपि मद्भक्तो विषयैरजितेन्द्रियः । प्रायः प्रगल्भया भक्त्या विषयैर्नाभिभूयते ॥
यथाग्निः सुसमृद्धार्चिः करोत्येधांसि भस्मसात् । तथा मद्विषया भक्तिरुद्धवैनांसि कृत्स्नशः ॥
Even if my devotee has not conquered his senses and has some bonds, indeed, by the increase in his Bhakti, he will escape the suffering from these desires. Just as the fire burns down all fuel to ashes, the strength of his Bhakti in me burns down his worldly desires.
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