Slokam 1

The role of Narada in initiating people into action is captured very well in this slokam. Hiranyaksha was searching for Sriman Narayana,  in order to battle with and destroy Him.  The character of Hiranyaksha is very much the  same as our ego. With our limited capabilities, we still are not able to surrender to the Paramathma.   Complete surrender to the Paramathma is the ultimate objective of this life.  We, like Hiranyaksha,  form the mistaken opinion that we are of our own making and we can control and command the environment to do whatever we please.   This is the message that is sought to be conveyed in the confrontational attitude and characterization of Hiranyaksha.

When we take the same attitude as Hiranyaksha, (and most of us do this all the time),  the vedas get submerged in the ocean of our ignorance and the Paramathma becomes our #1 enemy. The false ego takes ascendancy and we stop seeking enlightenment. We wallow in self glorification, and live in a world of complete delusion. 

Hiranyaksha completely demolishes all avenues of progress on Earth and attempts to enslaven all of mankind to sustain his self image of complete supremacy. The Paramathma seeks to destroy this dominance.  Ultimately, the Paramathma wants to liberate Hiranyaksha from his delusory world. This is the same objective with which He makes us experience  this life and learn the lessons, so that we are all liberated to attain a state of tranquility and permanence.

Delusion is such that it can forever dominate the mind.  Once entrapped, the mind does not prefer to shake off this “protective blanket”. 

The challenge of life is that we are afraid,  very afraid to see the truth about ourselves and face up to our own fallibilities and weaknesses.  Life is full of challenges that appear daunting and overwhelming.  We take on an illusion of supremacy over all our fellow beings only for the purpose of sustaining this onward journey. We take credit and pat ourselves on the back at every little opportunity. The fact and reality is that we are not entitled to any credit for the experience of life or our so called ability to extract success out of this experience.

If on the other hand,  if we see only failures,  then the consequence of that will be complete misery and we will wallow in a state of self pity and self condolence.  This attitude would completely destroy our fabric of self confidence and make us anticipate disaster and defeat every moment. Inaction will follow and progress will come to a compete stop.

A balanced approach to navigate this existence is very hard to maintain,  unless we completely surrender, all of our experiences,  and our so called successes and failures at the feet of the Paramathma.  We will then neither be despondent, nor will we be self appreciative.  This is why the realization must set in very early in life that our perceived ownerships of objects (wealth), relationships, health, are all actually the property of the Paramathma and we only hold this life in trust on His behalf. 

This complete surrender of our inner self to the Paramathma will not happen unless we develop the ability to detach our inner most self from our worldly experiences.  The observer and the observed appear to be different. But when we detach ourselves from both, the realization dawns on us that in fact, both are the manifestation of the Paramathma and so, are one and the same.

Narada propels Hiranyaksha into action by telling him things that he likes to hear.  Narada portrays the Paramathma as the final threat to him.  Narada praises Hiranyaksha’s abilities and achievements and derides the Paramathma. He encourages Hiranyaksha to battle with the Paramathma.  

Although it might appear that Narada is wrongfully inciting Hiranyaksha into opposing the Paramathma, the objective of this “deceptive strategy” is to ultimately liberate Hiranyaksha from his false delusions.

May we also be guided to take the approach of complete solitude and complete surrender to the Paramathma.