Latest / Atmanandalahari / Symbolism in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam through the lens of Advaita

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Symbolism in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam through the lens of Advaita · Atmanandalahari

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Namaste! Who am I? The question that ponders in all.
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Seeker follows this call. Where is the answer?
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Is it in the ashram hall is it in the books of the stall is it in the mountains that is far,
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is it in the guru shining as a
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star take a deep breath and
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dwell all is always well
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let go of the past disregard the
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future present is the present
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be aware of the now moment vedanta ben is ringing around the corner as an invitation
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to the silence inner arise awake and stop not till the goal is reached.
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Join me in this journey of Divine Madness. Let the plurality be dismissed.
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Absolute oneness be understood.
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Presenting to you through Atmananda Lahiri podcast Adi Shakti Vara Lakshmi Niranjan.
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Shri Gurubhyo Namaha. Jan Madhyasya Yaton.
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Music.
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Satyam Param Deemahee Today's Sankalpa is to look at Srimad Bahavatam through the lens of Advaita.
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I would like to look at the symbolism in Srimad Bahavatam through the lens of Advaita.
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Because traditionally, Srimad Bahavatam discourses are all done through the
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lens of Dvaita or Visishta Dvaita. because it is the story of Lord Krishna.
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But today I thought I want to look at it through the Advaita lens.
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Great, great Acharyas have done that. We have listened to that. We have read them.
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I just thought as a student of Advaita, I would like to compile that and see
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whether we can summarize it.
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Before we go into that, we'll just give a little overview of the scriptures
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of Sanatana Dharma. So they can be broadly categorized into four.
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One is Shruti and the second one is Smriti.
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And then third one is Itihasa and fourth one is Puranak. So what is Shruti?
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Shruti includes mainly the Vedas.
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Our Vedas, the four Vedas and Upanishads, the Vedanta, they are all Shruti.
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Meaning they are only heard Because Vedas are
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revealed to us They are not written by
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anybody The lyrics came later But they are only heard And that is why they are
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Shruti They are the fundamental They are like the guide books Then comes Smriti
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Smriti means it comes from the memory Smaranam Smriti means it's from memory,
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So, sages have written what they have listened from Shruti in Smriti form.
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So, there will be, you know, they are written down.
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A lot of rishis have done it. They don't deviate from Shruti.
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They say the same thing, but they are in a much more expanded way.
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It is written. For example, Bhagavad Gita is a Smriti.
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And the third one is Itihasa. Itihasa, we know, it is the epic.
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Ramayana and Mahabharata. They are history-based literature.
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Iti, ha, asa. Iti means in this way.
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Ha, definitely, asa, happened. In this way, what really happened?
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There may be fiction added to it because it is, you know, written in a story
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form by the poet. but mainly there is a history-based literature.
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Then the fourth category is the Purana. Purana are expanded and magnified literature
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and they are very ancient but they are not obsolete.
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They are very relevant even for today.
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Even for this 21st century, it is relevant. That is why the word purana is used.
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Pura means very ancient.
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Nava means fresh, ever fresh and relevant.
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They have a lot of these, you know, personification, symbolization,
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all those things like asuras and rakshasas are given.
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They are all basically, you know, like a personified way of describing the qualities.
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And they are written in stories so children can easily understand.
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And they are magnified. Like, for example, if you take the statement,
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Satyam Vada, say the truth, the truth only, based upon that,
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we have this big Harish Chandra Purana.
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And so abstract ideas are all now expanded and magnified by the poet.
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And there are 18 Puranas and then 18 Uba Puranas. So we have 36.
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And one of them is Srimad Bhagavatam. It is kind of the most popular one.
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And it is written by sage Vyasa.
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Pavranikas talk about it. They expand the stories and they kind of tell in Upanyasam.
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Usually these Puranas are also chanted.
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Like for example, Srimad Bhagavatam is chanted as a Parayanam and it's usually
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done over seven days called Sabtaham.
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We actually just did that in our house, the Sabtaham, seven days.
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We did the full Srimad Bhagavatam.
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And Sri Sri Krishna Premi Anna chanted his audio we used.
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He was the one who taught me Srimad Bhagavatam and I've been listening to his
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talks from the childhood.
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While you're a, you know, child, the interest is more in listening the stories.
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So we used to go and sit and listen to the stories. And then as you grow,
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both in age as well as in your spirituality, you want to chant because now these vibrations actually,
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you know, you enjoy that, you feel that they do calm your mind.
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And then slowly you start now wondering about the deeper meaning to these stories
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as well as the symbols that are given.
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So that's what I thought I'll do now. After chanting the Srimad Bhagavatam,
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just pick certain important points from that and then give like a summary of
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why those symbols are there and how to look at that through the lens of Advaita.
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The first sloka I just chanted as a prayer for this talk, starting as Janmadhyasya
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Yatonvaya. So that is the first, very first shloka of Srimad Bhagavatam.
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Pratama skandam, pratam adhyayam and first shloka.
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When you look at that, any text should have a prayer, the spiritual text.
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If it doesn't have it, then it's not worth reading. That's what they say.
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So in this text, this is what started as a prayer by, you know, sage Vyasa.
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And in this, in the last line, he quotes and he says, Satyam Paran dímahi.
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He's not saying Krishnam Param Deemahi, Ramam Param Deemahi or Shivam Param Deemahi.
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He says Satyam Param Deemahi, meaning Satyam, the existence,
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the absolute existence, absolute truth, the reality.
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That's what he is talking about. Ulladu, that is what is there.
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Brahman, Atma, these are all the names, you know. That is what he is talking about.
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So this text is all an Advaitha text.
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It reveals the Advaitha, you know, the topics, but in a story form.
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I don't want to use the word concept because Advaitha is not the concept.
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It is the thing. So it is not a concept.
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And so we have to grow out of that.
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And when we talk about Advaitha, it is, we know, brahmaiva satyam jagat mithya.
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That is what is explained but in a story form.
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So it will be taking you from the kindergarten level to like a PhD level.
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So how to grow with it?
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And when we go deeper and understand that he is talking about the existence,
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when we say sat, what is the sat? Sat is the is-ness.
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Whatever is, is Ishwara. That is what he is talking about.
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In Srimad Bhagavatam, sage Vyasa now takes us into the abode of Vishnu.
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That is how the Bhagavatam begins and that is described as ocean of milk.
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Why ocean of milk is used. You know, the text kind of talks to you about the
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creation, how the universe manifested.
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That's how it begins. And then in the beginning itself, it talks about the milky ocean.
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We have seen that too, right? The pictures of Lord Vishnu lying down in milky ocean.
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And in Tamil, they call it parkadal.
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Parkadal il paduttirukum Parandaman. But when we look at the word Vishnu,
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we have to now go to Adi Shankara's Vashyam for Vishnu Sahasranamam.
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And he describes that this is the all-pervasiveness.
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So the all-pervasiveness is called Vishnu. What is that all-pervasiveness?
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The is-ness. Because that existence, iruppu, that is what is there everywhere.
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When you say a sentence, say you want to say there is a flower,
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that is is there and that's what describes that flower. The flower may fade.
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Then you will say there is a faded flower.
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So that is-ness is still there. Flower may fade.
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You may use faded flower, but the is-ness is always there.
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So in English, when you write Ishwara, you write it as I-S-W-A-R-A or I-S-V-A-R-A.
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So the is is the beginning and that is the true existence.
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If you want to go one step ahead, the S if you remove, then it is only I.
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So the I is the true existence.
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Like Bhagavan And Ramana Maharishi says, asks, who am I? That I is the true existence.
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But the ego imagines that it is the true I and then creates the samsara.
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When you know the true self, the I is the existence. It is the satyam.
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When that jnanam comes, the satyam and jnanam, there is ananda.
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So that's what is sat, chit, ananda. Coming back to the milky ocean symbol, why milk is used?
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Milk represents white, the color, and it is representing the purity.
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So the pure existence, nirguna, there is no quality attached to it. It is pure by itself.
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And milk is invigorating. It gives you energy. It makes one feel strong,
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healthy, and it symbolizes that infinite bliss, Brahmananda.
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That's what the milk is representing.
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But now, with the science development and astronomy, we know we use the galaxy,
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we name the galaxy as Milky Way Galaxy.
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So this Bhagavatam, when it talks about this Narayana and milk,
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ocean of milk, it is talking about the entire universe, the existence of this
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universe, the Milky Way galaxy.
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And then let's go to the next step in the creation.
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Navel of Narayana is described because now Lord Vishnu is lying down and from
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his navel, there is a stem that comes and then there is a lotus.
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And on that lotus, Lord Brahma is sitting to create this world.
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That is how the storyline goes. We have seen this in pictures.
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But then if you really look at, you know, the symbol behind what is the story
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or what is the reason for using all these symbols in these stories,
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the navel represents the space.
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Akasha. Akasha is the first, very first element that comes out. So, nabhiva nabihi.
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So, from the nabi, from the navel, the stem comes.
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So, we talked about the universe and then the space and from the space. Space is the navel.
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So, now we have this lotus.
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So, we'll look at the lotus and Lord Brahma with four heads.
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That is how the picture is, right?
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So, if we go to Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Adi Shankara Bhashya, he talks about this
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lotus, what it represents.
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We'll go to the chapter 11 and in that verse 5, Bhagavan actually explains how
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he emerges as the entire universe.
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पश्यमे पार्तरूपानी, शतशोतसहस्रशह,
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नाना विधानि दिध्यानी, नाना वर्णा कृतीनिचां। Oh Partha,
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hundreds and thousands of my forms, of my many, many varieties, many colors and shapes.
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See that? That's what he is saying.
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So he is very clearly saying that he is the one that comes out as the entire universe.
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Now, if we go to the same chapter, but the verse 15, we'll see the word Kamala there.
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This is said by Arjuna.
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Arjuna vach paśyamideva stavadeva dehe sarvāns tathā bhūta viśeśa-sanghān.
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Brahmāna mīśam kamalāsana stham.
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So, the word Kamala comes there. And for that, Adi Shankara,
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when he writes the Bhashyam, he says, Prithvi Padma Madhye.
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So he says this lotus is the Prithvi.
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So now we have the earth. So the lotus represents the earth.
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And then we see Lord Brahma is seated on this lotus.
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So Lord Brahma is having the four heads.
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Those four heads are representing the four Vedas.
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So, as the universe emerges, as the earth comes out, Vedas also came out.
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That's why we call them revealed.
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So, because they are like the guidebook. If you go to a store and you buy something,
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an appliance, you buy a toaster oven, there is usually a guidebook,
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a manual comes with it, how to use it, if there is a problem, how to troubleshoot it.
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That's what Vedas are. Vedas tell us what to do, what not to do.
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And then Vedas also tells us how to realize the self, how to know the truth,
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because that is the Vedanta, that is the Upanishads.
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So when we talk about this creation, I would rather use the word manifestation.
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But for the sake of discussion, if we use the word creation,
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we have to look at it again from the Advaita lens, in this creation,
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there is two causes, like Nimitta Karana and Upadana Karana.
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Nimitta Karana means the intelligent cause, the one who kind of makes it, like the creator.
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So that's where the Lord Brahma comes. Then we have Upadana Karana,
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which is the material, the raw material, from which whatever you are creating is being created.
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For example, if you look at a pot is made out of clay and so the clay is the
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raw material and then there is a pot maker who kind of makes the pot and he
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is the intelligent cause.
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So there are two different things clay and the pot maker whereas here in this
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universe it's all one and the same. It's the Brahman.
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The satya, the existence, the atma, that is what is only one thing.
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That is the intelligent cause as well as the material cause.
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That's what here in Shloka 5 Bhagavan is saying.
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See my colors and shapes. So he is the one who comes out as the entire Jiva Rasi.
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And the creator, if you want to understand it, we have this symbol of Brahma
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with four heads. So the Vedas also come out at the same time.
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And now, Srimad Bhagavatam takes us to the incarnations, the Dashavatara of Lord Vishnu.
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That's how it goes. So it comes from fish.
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The first avatara is fish, which lives only in water.
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Then the turtle, which is an amphibian. it can live in water as well as the land.
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Then we have Varaha, boar. And then we have Narahari, half lion and half human.
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Then Vamana Rupa, dwarf.
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And then we have Parasurama, who is like a crude human.
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And then Rama, who is like a righteous human. And then we have Krishna, celestial human.
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Buddha, enlightened human. And then Kalki, yet to come.
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All these are described as the incarnations or dashavatara, basically describing
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following the evolution.
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If you look at the scientific evolution, how from one cell to multicellular,
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now we have even artificial intelligence, how it kind of evolves,
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you know, that evolution.
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And then Bhagavatam also talks about how this nara and narayana are one and the same.
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Narayano nara iti, swatapa prabhava. So that comes in Skandam 2.
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So all the way it's only describing Advaita.
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Both Nara and Narayana are one and the same. That's what it is describing.
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So now I want to take you to Skandam 3 where time concept is introduced.
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Like Paramanu from atom that is introduced.
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Almost quantum physics is explained here. The fractions of time is explained here.
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Just amazing when you go deeper and find out what it is there.
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But I want to spend a little bit more time on Skandam 4, the Dhruva story.
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It's a famous story. We all know about the story. This little boy,
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Dhruva, he is denied to be seated on his dad's lap. The dad is the king.
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The stepmother tells him, you cannot sit on your dad's lap. Go away. And now he's crying.
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And then his mom says, go pray to Ishwara, pray to God, and God will guide you.
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And then on the way, he sees Guru, Narada.
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He gives him a mantra. He goes to the forest, meditates. and then he realizes
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the self. He sees the God. That's the story.
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As a story, it's very adoring and very fascinating. But what does it again symbolizes?
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Dhruva is the reality. It symbolizes the fixed reality, the immutable reality.
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In the constantly changing universe, the not changing, the constant,
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that is what Dhruva is. It's the northern pole star.
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We know from, you know, the stargazing people or even the astronomers you ask,
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they know that northern pole star is right fixed, doesn't move.
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Everything else you actually kind of say, oh, that's the northern pole star
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that is there and then around it.
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That is how you describe it. So that is Dhruva. That is the self, basically.
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And then south, this is in the north direction. And then south usually represents the mortality.
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When we talk about mortality, it is not the death of the body we are talking
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about. We know body will die.
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It's about the ignorance. So we want the ignorance to go away.
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So that's why Moksha is in the northern direction. that's
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why you don't put your head on the south all those you know
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beliefs and superstitions are there you move towards
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north which means you move inward you go
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inward just like how dhruva was meditating and
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found the self within him you go inward antarmuka so the the names here if you
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look at it the offspring of dhruva is called kalpa so that's the time the vedic
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time and then there are the names or the mother name is Suniti and then the
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stepmother name is Suruchi.
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Suniti is, Su means good. Neeti is, you know, good ethics, a woman of good ethics. And then Suruchi.
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Suruchi means woman with worldly desires.
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Honestly, if you look at it, it just describes us, the Jeeva.
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We all have the good Suniti in us, who's always goody-goody,
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who wants to pray, who wants to meditate, who wants to do the right thing,
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be dharmic all the time, suniti.
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And then we also have the surichi in ours, who is going after the worldly things,
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all the desires are coming out.
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So we have this Subuddhi and Durbuddhi within us. That's what this is describing.
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And then the king's name is Uttanapada. Look at that.
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The one who has a foot on the table.
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In other words, he's wobbly. He doesn't have both feet on the ground.
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So that again describes the Jeeva. When you are wobbly, when you are thinking,
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oh, I can have little bit of moksha and little bit of samsara, that doesn't work.
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You have to be grounded. you have to give up the worldly desires.
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And that's what this is symbolizing. Move towards the north means move antarmukha,
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go inward, find the self within you, do the self-enquiry, who am I?
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Like Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi says.
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And then if we, you know, go into the fifth skandham, we will also be looking
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at how the planetary system is kind of described.
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Sisusmara. Sisumara is the dolphin-shaped. And actually now the astronomy is
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saying the planetary, the galaxy is a dolphin-shaped. Go figure.
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In the fifth Skandam, there is also this story of Jadabarada is described,
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mainly to teach us how important it is not to derail in the spiritual journey. It's the attachment.
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He was a sage. He was in the forest, but then he gets attached to this little
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deer who he kind of brings about from the baby deer.
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And then he gets so attached during the last time of his life,
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and then he'll be born as deer in the next birth.
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So the vasanas it describes, if you keep on attaching yourself to the worldly
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things, that's all will be in the Kharala Sharira and you will be born again.
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So now if we move from From the fifth Skandam to the sixth Skandam,
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there is this story of Ajamilan is said because he is kind of,
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he is not even thinking about God, but towards the end,
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he starts thinking about Narayana and how Narayana saves him.
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Again, the idea is to teach us how slowly we have to move away from the world
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consciousness to God consciousness.
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And if we start doing that, the Karma Yoga will be easy and then the path to
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Jnana Yoga will just be, you know, evident.
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And now the seventh Skandam, if you look at seventh Skandam,
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we have this beautiful story of Prahlada.
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Dear Prahlada story, everybody loves it and especially children love it.
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And it's very dramatic with all the way that how he was tortured and how he
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was saved by Lord Krishna.
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But again, we have to understand the storyline is mainly written to make us
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understand about bhakti.
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He describes the nine forms of bhakti.
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Shravanam, Kirtanam, Smaranam, Padasevanam, Archanam, Vandanam,
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Dasyam, Sakhyam, Atmanivedanam.
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Atmanivedanam is very important, where you surrender. You kind of sarva,
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eeshwararpanam, that is very, very important.
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That comes in the seventh skandham. There is also another very nice story in
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this Skandam, how like when, you know,
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when you think about Moksha, it is an individual journey.
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It is not a family affair. It is not like you cannot have your friends and family
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with you when you are with Ishwara, when you are trying to find your own self.
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Because the story is, they say, you know, Krishna is saying,
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when Narasimha after that, Avatara is saying, I can give you Moksha.
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Rakhlada says, I'll go ask my
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friends whether they want to get it too because I used to play with them.
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But the friends are now saying, they say, I'll go ask my parents.
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And then apparently the friend's parent says, oh, you're a child,
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you just have to grow up, go to college, get a job. moksha is not time for you now.
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And the same way he goes and asks all the animals. The animals are now asking,
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the dogs are asking, what is moksha?
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So that's how it will be. The world around you may or may not be interested
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in what you are interested, but you just proceed towards God.
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And that is the storyline is explaining.
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Because moksha is not a prarabdha.
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It is a purushartha. Moksha happens despite you and not because of you.
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We have to understand that.
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Then, the famous story of Gajendra comes in the 8th Skandham.
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The Gajendra is described as the elephant king. He is the king of Trikuta.
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Trikuta. Trikuta is like the place of three peaks.
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Let's just look at the symbolism behind it. Three peaks, what are they?
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You know, the three gunas. Tamo guna, Rajo guna and Satwa guna.
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So again, it describes the Jeeva who is the king of these three gunas.
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Basically, we are actually think we are the king, but actually we are the servant.
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Maya is the queen and she kind of paints with these three colors,
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the Tamo Guna, Rajo Guna and Sattva Guna.
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That's her palettes. And she uses that to color this universe.
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And in this Skandam, 8th Skandam, 2nd chapter, 26th verse, he says,
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Sage Vyasa says, yatagrahi, meaning just like the family person,
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this Gajendra was there.
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And now he is caught by the alligator.
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The alligator represents the desires.
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When the desires catch us, oh, they don't let go of us. We have to learn to let go.
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Otherwise, the desires catch you. It's an alligator bite.
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The desires of alligator catch by
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chance let the eye release the bite
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just with a glance you know
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the the storyline is Vishnu now sends the chakra and the chakra goes and kills
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the alligator so again we'll talk about what chakra symbolizes in the later
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part but it is mainly describing the surrender when you surrender when the ego
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surrenders because when Gajendra is Actually, the Moksha,
29:33
the Stuthi, Gajendra Stuthi is all about surrender.
29:36
And when he surrenders to the Satyam, the Satchidananda Rupa,
29:40
now the desires kind of, you know, kind of dies away, dries away.
29:48
It's like the, you know, the petals that fall off, like when the fruit is ripe,
29:57
it just comes out of the plant. That is how it is.
30:02
It's the Urva Rukami Vabandanaan. When you are ready, it will happen.
30:07
So the desires will let go.
30:10
So Bhagavan is sending the chakra. When you look at that, you know,
30:14
we have to remember Bhagavan's grace is like a wind.
30:18
It's there all the time. It's there everywhere.
30:22
But it is Jiva has to turn the boat now towards this wind.
30:27
This is Ramakrishna Paramahamsa's quote. He says, Bhagavan's grace is like the wind.
30:32
You sail your boat towards the wind, then life becomes easy.
30:37
If you move away or against the wind, life will be a struggle.
30:41
That's what we have to remember.
30:44
In the same Skandam, we also have the Vamana Avatara, the Balit Chakravarti is said.
30:50
Balit Chakravarti's story is again another fascinating story.
30:53
He's a very righteous man. He is the king of giving charities.
30:58
He's like a dana king, but he has this ego that I am the world's best,
31:05
you know, charioter or a philanthropist.
31:07
So when he surrenders that ego for the third step, because again,
31:14
he judges the person who comes in front of him is a dwarf.
31:18
So and when that dwarf, Vamana Rupa Krishna, asks for three steps,
31:22
he thinks, oh, I can give this.
31:24
But then as Vamana grows, he understands that is, you know, Maheshwara,
31:29
that is the Ishwara that is coming in this form.
31:32
And it's almost like that Vishwarupad Arishnam. And now he bends down and he
31:38
surrenders the ego. And now the third step goes on his head.
31:42
Again, this talks about how important it is the surrender in this spiritual
31:46
journey. And now, we have this beautiful section, Skandam 9,
31:51
where Ramavataram is explained.
31:54
Rama is the lord of righteousness, right? So, it almost describes how every human can become a Rama.
32:03
Because by the goodness, he is born as a human, he runs the life as a human,
32:08
he lives the life and then becomes divine just by the qualities.
32:14
That's what it describes. Everyone can be a Rama if you follow all the principles,
32:20
all the dharmic principles if you follow.
32:23
And again, if you want to look at this from the angle of Advaita,
32:28
we have to go to Atma Bodha.
32:31
Because in Atma Bodha verse 50, Adi Shankara describes this storyline.
32:37
So what he says is it's Atma Rama.
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Rama is the self. You have to identify that Atma. Then what is Sita symbolizes?
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Sita symbolizes the Shanti.
32:51
And then Ravana is the ego or the desires.
32:55
So when you go, you know, towards the desires through your ego,
32:59
the ten-headed ego, each one is asking for something and you go towards it,
33:04
the shanti is stolen away.
33:06
Basically, the Ravana asura is within us who kind of steals away the shanti.
33:12
Now, how to find the shanti? How Rama and shanti now have to find each other
33:18
because the Rama is the self, the atma.
33:21
That's when Hanuman comes, which is the bhakti and shraddha.
33:25
That's what Hanuman describes or symbolizes.
33:29
So with bhakti and shraddha, shraddhavan labate jnyanam, with devotion and shraddha,
33:35
you can regain shanti and be one with Rama.
33:39
That's what that Atma Buddha verse is. It talks about Atma Ramu Virajithi.
33:46
Very beautiful. And now let's move on to the Dasama Shkanta.
33:51
That's the most adorable section of Srimad Bahavatam.
33:57
Whenever you listen to Dasamaskantham being chanted, you're full of joy.
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There is energy there. That is Lord Krishna.
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Because Krishna, if you look at the name Krishna, the most attractive one,
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Karshati, he attracts everybody.
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That's why when, you know, if there is a dance performance and the song is about
34:16
Lord Krishna and the dancer is showing all the Abhinayam, the entire audience is enjoying it.
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That is what he is. And why is that? you know, Krishna, who does he symbolize us?
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If you really look at it, it is the self. That is why it is so attractive.
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Atmanastu kamaya sarvam priyambhavati. Everything we do is for the self only.
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That's what the Upanishad says.
34:42
Here, when you look at the name and form of Krishna, it's just very,
34:47
it's evident that it is talking about the self.
34:50
The blue color, he's in dark blue color.
34:54
Why blue? The blue is the infinity. The sky is blue. The ocean is blue.
34:59
It just represents the infinite, the vastness of it. We know science tells us
35:04
actually there is no blue color.
35:06
It is all the, you know, the wavelengths of the light that is reflecting.
35:10
All those is, you know, scientific way we can explain.
35:13
But still, when you look at the clear blue sky, there is joy in your heart.
35:19
When you see the waves in the ocean, there is joy in your heart.
35:23
That's because it is the infinity.
35:26
Then Krishna is now holding on to the flute.
35:30
Why flute? Why not some other instrument? Why not a violin or a veena or a mhritanga?
35:37
Why is he holding the flute?
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You know, if you just think about it, I have to owe it to all these great Acharyas
35:44
who have explained this here for us. the flute is representing egoless consciousness.
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This is Swami Tattva Vidananda's verse. He says it's the egoless consciousness
35:56
that is the flute because it's emptied out.
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It has emptied everything entirely the matter within.
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Give up all the matter of worldly thoughts. Give up the body identification.
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Give up the selfishness. Then the self will play you.
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Meaning there will be spontaneity, there will be joy, there will be a flow.
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And that is the flute representing.
36:21
Now in this skandham, you know, a lot of stories, lines are there.
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There are a lot of asuras and then those asuras are killed by Lord Krishna.
36:30
For example, Putana.
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Putana is a demon of decay and putrefaction.
36:36
You know, we have all these qualities in us, within us.
36:40
And so when Putana is a cunning and terrifying character and she was killed.
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But it is not said as putana vada. It's putana moksha.
36:50
You basically get rid of all these impurities in you. The kama,
36:54
krodha, moga, lobha, mada, matsarya.
36:58
You just get rid of them and there is freedom. There is moksha.
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You know, Asura is no one, but it's a devotee who has gone wrong.
37:07
Because even in Ravana is described as a Shiva devotee.
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So the Asura Guna and the Devaguna both are within us.
37:16
We just have to identify and kill the Asura Guna so that the Devaguna can flourish.
37:21
In Bhagavad Gita chapter 16, again, it is described about the Devaguna and Asura Guna.
37:27
But again, they are all not outside. They are all within us.
37:30
We just have to identify. and get rid of these negative qualities and be one
37:35
with Ishwara by being pure and be dharmic.
37:39
And in this, the other beautiful story is the Dhamodara.
37:43
You know, when this little Krishna is now tied to that, you know,
37:47
that, you know, that story just tells you like Yasuda is trying to tie him, but she's not able to.
37:55
There is always two inch short. Now she's asking to get a, you rope and she's still not able to tie.
38:02
Again, always the two inch is short. Why?
38:05
You know, you are not able to tie Krishna. In other words, you are not able
38:09
to grasp or tie the Atma. That's what it describes.
38:15
You know, Taithari Upanishad says.
38:20
You cannot describe it by words. You cannot achieve it by mind. You can try.
38:26
The mind and the speech was trying to go get the atma, but they could not.
38:31
And then Mandukya also says, agrahyam, alakshanam, achintyam.
38:36
That's what the storyline is saying. But with devotion, with shraddha,
38:41
now Krishna himself allows and then she's able to tie.
38:46
So that again shows how bhakti is important even for the jnani.
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So the jinyasu bhakti and jnani bhakti is described so that bhakti is so important.
38:57
And now let's move on to Kaliya Naradanam.
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Kaliya Naradanam is another beautiful story and lot of these dancers love this. The singers love this.
39:07
Again, what is this kind of represents?
39:10
It's the snake that is deep inside this lake. And then Krishna goes and finds
39:15
it out and dances on it and crushes all its poisonous heads.
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So this is telling how we have to find the asuras within us.
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The lake is standing for the mind because it has ripples in it all the time.
39:34
But you have to be placid.
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Then only you can reflect. But if you go deeper in it, antarumukha,
39:40
just like how Krishna went,
39:42
you can find all the venomous snake within you and the poisonous heads of the
39:47
egoism and you will be able to crush it in the meditation and in the nididhyasana.
39:54
So then the next storyline I want to address is the Gopika Vastra Baranam.
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Again, many people will be wondering what kind of story is this.
40:04
The gopikas are bathing and now Krishna is hiding their clothes.
40:10
Here we have to understand the clothes is actually representing the body identification.
40:16
Because if you again go back to the Bhagavad Gita, second chapter,
40:21
22nd verse, it is actually mentioned about the clothes.
40:26
Just as a person give up the old clothes and takes up the new one,
40:31
The self, the one who dwells in the body, gives up the old bodies and then take
40:37
the new one. The verse goes like this.
40:41
Vaasamsi jirnani yata vihaya, navani grinnati naroparani, tata sharirani vihaya
40:49
jirnani, yanyani samyati navani dehi. So beautiful.
40:56
Then there is this story about Govardhan Giridari. He kind of lifts up the mountains
41:01
with his pinky, like the little finger, he's able to lift it.
41:05
He can lift the burden of samsara for you. All you have to do is again surrender.
41:11
Yoga kshemam vahamyaham. That's what he says. And Dayanandaji used to say a
41:16
story like this seller, like this old lady who sells flowers.
41:21
She is hopping into the train with a big basket and she's still holding on the
41:26
basket in her head and unable to stand.
41:28
Then the fellow passengers are telling her, why are you still holding it?
41:32
Just put it on the ground.
41:34
The train will actually take it. So that's what we are supposed to do.
41:37
Let Lord take care of it. We just have to Ishwararpanam. We should just let it go.
41:45
All the stories, the Asura's names, the Narakasura, Agasura,
41:50
Kamsa, all are actually within us.
41:53
And also the Akrura, the one with no cruelty, who actually sees,
41:58
has the darshan of Krishna, the self basically.
42:03
Uddhava, the joyous one, the Uddhava Gita is all about self-realization.
42:08
It's all within us. Then what is the butter?
42:12
You can say it's the karmapala because we talk about how the karmapala has to
42:21
be given. right? You have to transcend the karma.
42:25
If you look at the Krishna's form, he's a tribangi. He has three bends.
42:30
That's how it's described.
42:32
Why three bends? There are a lot of, you know, significance for three in the scriptures.
42:36
We talked about the three gunas. Now we have these three karmas.
42:41
Sanchita karma, agami karma, and then prarabdha karma.
42:46
Meaning like almost like Sanchita is the storage, your checked-in baggage,
42:50
and then when you're traveling, you carry on, right?
42:54
That is the prarabdha. You just have to carry with it.
42:57
And then agami is in the journey, wherever you are traveling in the tourist
43:03
place, you are shopping, you are getting, collecting. That is the agami karma.
43:06
So all these three karmas you have to transcend.
43:10
And then we have the shariras. We have the stula sharira, which is the physical body.
43:15
And then sukshma sharira, which is all your mind, intellect.
43:19
And then we have the karana sharira, which is the ignorance.
43:22
Again, we have to transcend these three shariras.
43:26
That's what the tribang, three bhangs are representing. You transcend all these.
43:31
Transcend the karmas. Transcend the three sharira. But how to transcend?
43:36
That's what is the karma phala is now kind of eaten up.
43:40
Because once you identify yourself with the self, you know that you are the
43:44
atma. You're no longer worried about these karma.
43:48
So that is the karma phala is the butter. and that's what Krishna is eating
43:52
it up or he's stealing it.
43:55
And now the beautiful rasa leela is described.
43:59
When I first listened to the meaning of rasa leela through the Advaita lens,
44:04
this was a class by Swami Svartanavidyanandaji on Bodhashara.
44:09
Bodhashara is a text written by Narahari, a contemporary poet,
44:13
very beautifully written. And what he says is.
44:17
Thoughts are the gopikas. And every thought is dancing without any purpose.
44:23
But then when Krishna lights it up, when Krishna goes and joins,
44:28
meaning the self lights up, that's when it comes out, right?
44:31
That's why, you know, there are 16,000 gopikas described and Krishna marries
44:36
all 16,000 of them. That's how Bhagavatam is saying.
44:39
So here it's the innumerable thoughts and you want the thoughts to be one with
44:45
Krishna, not, you know, they are dancing by themselves.
44:49
You know, when you look at the Rasalila, when they are actually thinking they
44:54
are doing everything, when their ego is sky high, for a second,
44:59
for a minute, Krishna kind of disappears.
45:02
He is not disappearing, but they are not able to see Krishna.
45:06
Now, they are sad. They are like, oh, where are you Krishna?
45:10
So now they are going, this is Rasa Leela, going and asking every flower,
45:16
every Shampakam, Mallika, everybody they are asking, did you see Krishna?
45:21
Did you see Krishna? And when they say, when they are not able to see, now they are sad.
45:26
They said, okay, now this is time to surrender. So they now understand,
45:31
you know, I thought I can do this, but it is him who is doing everything.
45:36
Now they sat down and that is the Gupika Ketam.
45:50
So, when they sat down, when you sit down, when you are in still,
45:55
when the thoughts are now being still and they surrender, self-reflects.
46:00
Again, you don't need to invite the sun. Sun is there always.
46:06
All you have to do is clean the window and then go stand near it. sun will reveal itself.
46:11
So you can understand the self just by being still.
46:16
May the inner enemies be killed. May the one know the I to be fulfilled.
46:23
May the devotees ingest all the scriptures and grace like sinless cows in the field.
46:31
Let the ahankara kamsa be destroyed. Let the limitless I be relished.
46:37
The existence, sakth, the knowledge, chit, the limitless ananda.
46:43
May that I be the most attractive one. O Lord Krishna, the self,
46:48
the most attractive one.
46:50
You know, grace like sinless cows in the fields.
46:54
When I wrote that, I was thinking about my grandfather, Sanghusubramanyam.
46:58
He wrote this beautiful song in Tamil about how we are all the cows and Krishna
47:04
is the cowherd who has to actually help us, you know, come out of this samsara.
47:19
That's how the song goes.
47:30
So simple words, you have to tie me, you have to make me be in the,
47:36
you know, in the most righteous way. And then he also says,
47:44
So whenever that ahankara comes out, Krishna, please crush it,
47:48
just like how you crushed Kamsa.
47:51
Just most beautiful song. And then Rukmini, when you look at the Rukmini vivah,
47:56
It is like, again, I think this is more like the love and devotion coming together,
48:01
the Jignasu Bhakta, because so far Mumukshu and then now you become a Jignasu,
48:07
you know, there is like a big leap.
48:09
You want freedom, you want freedom. And then now you want to know yourself. That is the big leap.
48:15
If you take that one step, Bhagavan will take multiple other steps and come
48:19
closer to you. The self will come closer to you.
48:22
And kind of he lifts you against all odds. Then no rituals are needed.
48:27
Because the Rukmini viva is not a typical ritualistic viva. You know,
48:31
it's like an elopement viva.
48:33
So the inner realization happens like that.
48:37
It is a silent affair. It's not something that you can do like a prakatanam to everybody.
48:43
And now that's how the 10th skandam is, Dasama skandam is kind of,
48:47
you know, I'm going to wrap up.
48:49
Let's move on to the 11th skandam. This is like full of Advaita.
48:55
Swami Omkarananda used to teach us this and this explains the Advaita philosophy.
49:00
You know, there is Uddhava Gita and the entire explanation of like what this
49:05
chapter 2 in Bhagat Gita says, The same thing is given here.
49:10
What is moksha? What can give you moksha? How jnanam is important for moksha? What is bhakti?
49:16
What is the role of bhakti? And what is dhyana?
49:19
What is the role of dhyana? What is karma?
49:21
Everything is explained in this.
49:24
And there's no symbolism. It's just explained. And you just have to the Ekadasha
49:27
skandham is like the pure advaita.
49:30
You can have it. And now, let's move on to the 12th Skandam.
49:35
This is just again most fascinating area where Swami Tattva Vidhananda explained
49:40
how this Rupavarnana of Lord Vishnu is.
49:45
There is the symbols, Sangu, Chakram, Kaustubam, Vanamali, how everything can
49:51
be now looked at through the Advaita lens.
49:53
I want to chant these verse and then explain that.
49:57
This is from the 12th Skandam, Chapter 11. Verses 10 to 15.
50:04
Kaustubhapyapadeshena, Svatmajyotirbibharthya
50:09
jaha, Tathbrahmavyaapini sakshat, Srivatsamurasavibhu,
50:16
Svamayayamvanamalakyaam, Nanagunamayimdadat,
50:23
Vachaschandomayampeetam,
50:26
Brahmasutramtrivatsvaram.
50:29
Vibhati Sankyam Yogamcha, Devo Makara Kundale,
50:38
Moulimpadam Parameshtyam, Sarvaloka Bhayankaram, Avyakritam Anantakyaam,
50:47
Asanam Yadadishtitaha, Dharmajnana Dibhiryuktam,
50:54
Satvam Padmam Yohyate.
51:01
Ojasahobalayutamukyatatwamkadam tadatabam tadatabam
51:05
tadatabam tadatabam tadatabam tadatabam tadatabam tadatabam tadatabam sudharsanabam
51:12
Nabonibam nabas tadatabam asim charmatam omayam kalarupam danussagam tadakarma mayesutim.
51:29
If there are mistakes in chanting, please forgive me, Lord Krishna.
51:34
But this is a beautiful, beautiful way of describing the Roopavarnana of Mahavishnu.
51:40
You know, we all have seen him wearing this kaustubamalava, vanamali, all those things.
51:46
Now, here, let's look at it from the Advaita lands. The lord is wearing his
51:50
own chit, his own light of knowledge, the awareness absolute as the kaustubam.
51:57
That is the necklace in his chest. And then there is this Srivatsa, the mark.
52:02
That mark is coming from the luster of his own chit, cosmic intelligence.
52:07
Then the best part is this, maya is the vanamala. Like the mala,
52:14
the garland he is wearing from the wild flowers, that's basically the maya.
52:19
You know, I again recall my grandfather's Tamil song here.
52:22
He beautifully wrote one song where he describes as how Krishna is wearing these
52:28
leaves from the wild forest.
52:50
If you look at this, whenever you are walking, whenever you are hiking,
52:53
you are seeing the leaves, you are seeing the trees, you know, this is Lord Vishnu.
53:02
And then, We can even look at the Shri Rudram where it also describes the same.
53:09
So the yellow dress, what he is wearing, the Pithambaram, that stands for Vedas.
53:15
And then because Veda is the knowledge and yellow represents the knowledge.
53:19
And then we have the sacred thread. He has the three strands and the sacred
53:23
thread. And that is the three syllables of Aum.
53:27
The akara, ukhara, makara. And then the makara kundalam, on both ears he is wearing them.
53:33
They are like alligator shaped.
53:36
That is the sankhya and yoga.
53:39
So sankhya is the discrimination. Like you need to know the viveka,
53:42
the prakriti purusha viveka.
53:44
And then the yoga, which is the austerities for self-realization.
53:48
Basically you need them. You need viveka, you need yoga to realize the self.
53:54
Then the crown he is wearing on his head, that is the Hiranyagarbha.
54:01
Hiranyagarbha is the one who kind of the origin, like protects the entire universe.
54:05
And then he is sitting, he is abiding in the lotus.
54:08
Here the lotus symbolizes the Sattva Guna.
54:11
Because you have to have the Sattva Guna. The Dharmic, the righteousness has
54:16
to be there for where the knowledge, the self can reflect.
54:20
And then Adisesha is also described. That is the uncoiled, you know,
54:26
it's kind of the coiled, it's there, right?
54:29
Uncoiled, there is still there. So that is the unmanifest of the universe.
54:34
We see universe, but then it is constantly expanding. We hear that scientifically.
54:39
So there is this coiled version which will slowly uncoil. And that is what Adisesha is.
54:45
Then prana, the vital force, the cosmic life is his mace. he's holding in his hand.
54:52
Then conch. Conch is the element of water, the sangha. And then the chakra, the discus, is the fire.
54:59
The one that he uses for Gajendra, that is the, you know, that is the fire.
55:04
And then we have the sword. Sword is a space. That's what it represents.
55:10
And now he has this shield also in his hand. So that is the tamoguna.
55:14
So with the sword, the tamoguna has to be kind of killed.
55:19
And then there is bow and arrow also. So bow and arrow is like the time and the quiver.
55:24
Again, we know from Sri Rudram about this bow and arrow.
55:27
There's one way of looking at it as the karmapala.
55:30
Or you can also look at it as the time and activity.
55:34
Because when you are still, if you are, you know, if there is stillness,
55:37
there is no time at all. When there is movement in the mind,
55:41
that's when time begins.
55:42
So that's why when you talk about self is timeless and spaceless,
55:46
you can see that stillness is where the self is seen or reflected or known.
55:52
So I'm kind of wrapping up here. I want to thank all the Acharyas who have actually
55:58
explained this in multiple talks.
56:01
And again, I want to quote Madhusudana Saraswati, despite knowing all these
56:06
are Dvaitha version, you may still say, oh, I like to look at Krishna as Krishna
56:11
and pray, that is absolutely fine.
56:13
There has to be that, you know, interim duality for you to have the devotion.
56:19
But understand, Krishna is no one but you. It is the self.
56:23
And that is the beauty of this. I just want to finish with a few lines of the
56:28
poem. Universe is the fanfare.
56:31
Divinity is everywhere. Sun shines brightly in the sky, lifting the fog up and
56:38
high, chasing the darkness from consigns.
56:41
Self surrenders now in silence. Mountains stand tall, proving the existence satt.
56:50
Flowers bloom for all, exhibiting the cosmic intelligence, chit.
56:56
Observer and the observed dance in the divine madness, and that is ananda.
57:03
Let us dance in the Divine Madness. Om Tatsat Sarvam Krishnar Panamast Shri Hari Namaha.