Slokam 6

The cowherds who were all crying in anguish,  suddenly see a huge body falling from the sky. The Paramathma was on top of the body playing with a smile on the chest of the body. The Paramathma is illuminating the residents of Vraja, step by step into the knowledge of His hand behind every action and His physical presence among them in the form of Sri Krishna.  He is actually doing exactly the same thing in our daily lives as well.  It is upto us to open our eyes and acknowledge the miraculous events that He spins around in our daily lives.

The attachment of everyone to the Paramathma is apparent. In the form of a baby,  Sri Krishna’s appearance, mannerism, and childish pranks are so amusing that the entire community is deeply attached to Him.  The community does not realize that they are attached to the only one that we all should be attached to.  The cowherds are blessed even though they are unaware that it is the Paramathma that we are attached to.

When Ajamila takes his last breath as a mortal, he calls out the name of his favorite son “Narayana”.  Although he was calling only his son Narayana,  the Paramathma sends His emissaries to rescue Ajamila from the emissaries of Yama.  So it is clear that the Paramathma extends His hand to us completely even at the mention of His name. although only His son was being called.

When we try to reach out and grasp the extended hand of the Paramathma, it is likely that there will be many challenges.  There will be many storms like Trinavrata.  Just as the Paramthma takes the Saptarishis and King Satyavrata through the journey over the ocean of Pralayam,  He will take us over the ocean of life.  Just as the boat of the Saptarishis is tied to His horn as the huge Matsya form of the Paramathma, and is taken through the violent, turbulent and seemingly unending ocean, we have to take His extended hand and hold it firmly to sail through the ocean of life.

When such is the firm hand that is extended, should we not be equally resolute in our commitment to Bhakthi Marga?

Just as He repeatedly demonstrates His unlimited nature again and again to the residents of Gokulam,  He shows His hand repeatedly in our lives.  That hand is not to be ignored under any circumstances. 

The travails of the journey may be so severe that our grip may not be firm enough. But every time we slip, the Paramathma reaches out and grabs us to give us another chance to re-grasp His hand. Many of us may feel that because we slipped,  we are either not fit for the journey,  or the Paramathma will not accept us. We should never differentiate between success and failure as the deciding factor in our journey.

The journey of Bhakthi Margam transcends success and failure. We can learn and strengthen ourselves as much from failure as much as success. The Paramathma liberally and generously accepts all our feeble attempts,  and never loses patience with us.  An infinite number of attempts are allowed.  The Paramathma’s hand will remain extended as long as we stay on Bhakthi Margam.

It does not matter to the Paramathma if we are asuras or devas,  it does not matter if we are weak or we are strong or weak, it does not matter if we are successes or failures.  The only thing that matters to the Paramathma is that we go after Him. Whether we go after Him with a good or bad intent is not an issue. 

The Paramathma is the Jagadguru.  He is the universal teacher.  He uses infinite teaching methods that are unique to each one of us.  Just as to each of the Gopis  the Paramathma is dancing only with them,  to each of us, the Paramathma is our exclusive teacher. 

He knows each one of us personally and intimately.  He is always trying to display His true form and nature to us so that we get to know him just as intimately as He knows us.  Life is His Lila and Maya, to entice our mind and consciousness and continually elevate us to higher and higher levels.  We have to open our eyes and see the beauty of His manifestations. His eternal beauty in the physical form is apparent through our senses.  His metaphysical beauty in the form of our mind and consciousness is even more amazing.

The moment we drop our natural inclination to take ownership of the self,  the form, immensity and diversity of the swaroopam of the Paramathma becomes apparent. This endeavor requires going through  many many trials and tribulations. 

Despite repeated demonstration of the innumerable forms of the Paramathma,  doubt and mistrust still lingers within us as to whether the Paramathma would be responding to our appeals.  The truth of the matter is exactly the opposite. It is we that never respond to the Paramathma’s appeals for reform and progress towards complete liberation. 

Any hurdles and difficulties in our path, is encountered only, and only because it points to a defect within us.  As soon as we hit a roadblock,  we must recognize that the roadblock has been thrown in our path by the Paramathma.  The roadblock is encountered only to make us turn inward and delve into the root cause, so that we can correct any imbalances within. The good and bad in this world do not happen accidentally. They are specifically designed and oriented towards our continued evolution. Some disasters, such as the pandemic  are universal.  These are meant to realign the lifestyles of the entire humanity.  Our personal problems are tailored for us to recognize our shortcomings and develop tools to set them right. 

The westerner develops a physical pill solution for every problem. The easterner uses yoga to set right the imbalances within. The Bhaktha turns on His devotion to the Paramathma.  Sri Bhattadri does exactly this,  when, he implores, at the end of each Canto, the Paramathma to set right His physical deficiencies and grant him Ayul Arogya Sowkhyam (a life time of good health and well being).

Why do we doubt that it is the Paramathma that makes everything happen.  The answer probably lies at the root of our consciousness and awareness.  The false identity within us is necessary to differentiate the various aspects within us, to enable us to wade through layers and layers of ignorance.  In the process of differentiating our various aspects,  the false identity, which is the discriminator or differentiator,  develops ahankara or ego and assumes ownership of our inner self and attempts to control of all our various aspects.  The false identity does not want to surrender its “ownership” and control.  To attain the Paramathma,  realization has to set in.  Merely knowing our innerself is not realization.  To attain moksham we have transform knowing into realization. 

“Knowing” is an attribute of the mind.  The knowledge of the interaction of our various internal and external aspects resides in the mind.  Anything that resides in the mind,  is made up of opposites.  These are only relationships and qualities that are ever changing,  because they are made of opposites.  The nature of the object or quality swings from one end of the opposite to another. It is never steady or consistent. 

Realization happens when knowledge is no longer a matter of perception of opposites.  It is not about “true” and “false” or “devas” and “asuras”.  Realization resides in the consciousness and happens when knowledge in the mind transcends the opposites and moves to a sublime state of absolute truth that will be unchanging.  Absolute truth that is unchanging is knowledge that is devoid of doubt or conflict.  

That unchanging truth is the state of complete surrender to the Paramathma.