Canto 45

Childhood is always the best part of one’s life.  The pressures of life have not begun to set in. Life is very pleasant under the protective care of one’s parents.  It is a “new” environment and as children we make new discoveries each moment of the day.  All the elders give us great love and affection and all our needs are taken care of completely.  We spend our time in playful discovery of life.  Whatever we do is of great amazement and joy to all those around us.  In a community like Gokulam,  all the elders dote on the babies in the community. 

Everyone in the community does their part by contributing to the welfare of the child without any family lines being drawn.  When this happens the community becomes one big family, with each looking to the other’s welfare. 

Every child is treated as a family member. 

It is fascinating how we are initiated into this life and taken through it step by step with ever increasing responsibilities. The Paramathma grows up seemingly as any normal child would.  His intense activity in the background to confront the Asuras and keep them at bay is unseen.  All those in Gokulam only perceive Him to be a child. 

Like the Paramathma, all of us are born with different abilities.  Each of us is a unique manifestation. However, the Paramathma’s avatar is taken without any Karma from previous births. Our main purpose is to overcome our Karma,  which is nothing but the means to evolve to a higher state by redeeming our inner deficiencies.

The Paramathma takes avatar only to cleanse this world off its asuras.  The asuras are within us. The Paramathma also takes His avatar within us.  In order for the Paramathma to take His avatar within us,  our inner self must be prepared in advance.  Without this advance preparation,  we will not be able retain and hold the Paramathma within us. As we can see from the events in Gokulam,  when the Paramathma is transported for safekeeping to Nandagopal’s house, the demons of kamsa come looking for Him.

Likewise,  when we start meditating on the Paramathma,  the demons of our mind will also be activated.  They will start playing around with our life and fortunes in this world. Like the residents of Gokulam,  we will be totally bewildered and lost.  Our inner resolve will be fully tested.  There should never be a situation where we succumb to the demons that raid our inner self.

What happens when we attempt to go down the path of Dharma is that the Paramathma surfaces and exposes the demons of fear, insecurity, greed etc., within us so that we will invoke His help in annihilating them.  Evolution cannot happen unless these demons are annihilated. 

When these demons surface,  we will face intense turbulence in our lives.  We often make the mistake of blaming the Paramathma for not helping us avoid these troubles and turbulences.  Actually this is where we fail again and again.  Our troubles and travails are the result of our own inner weaknesses that need to be set right.  Our inner weaknesses are not always visible to us because we always give ourselves a “certificate of goodness”.  It is very hard for us to admit to our own weaknesses.  We prefer to live in a world of delusion.  When we live in delusion,  our mind automatically begins to attach to the world through desire.  Our entrapment in this world will be complete.

We have to unravel these intricate bonds and eliminate them completely. 

The Paramathma surfaces these bonds by showing us the travails and despair that these can bonds cause by designing and enacting appropriate events in our lives.  We cannot blame the Paramathma for these occurrences.  Without going through pain and suffering, these monsters within us can never be eliminated. 

Whenever we are in trouble,  we need to recognize that these were brought on by none other than our own inner conflicts.

The Paramathma guides Arjuna to fight the battle of Kurukshetra.  Although ultimately it is the Paramathma that enables the Panadavas to defeat the Kauravas,  the presence and commitment of Arjuna is required to make the victory possible. 

Likewise although it is the Paramathma that ultimately destroys the demon within us,  our commitment and dedication will be clearly required to enable our victory our the forces of adharma within us.

If we are not on the bhakthi margam, but are reasonably dharmic,  these demons will still be within us in a dormant state.  It is like a virus or disease that waits for the appropriate moment and situation before surfacing with devastating effect. 

Many of us hesitate to leave the cocoon of artificial comfort and confidence because we do not want to see our true inner selves or face up to it.  When we embark on the path of dharma all our illusions will be shattered one by one,  as life puts us into situations that will test our true intent. When we are exposed to ourselves, that’s when our transformation begins. Without this seemingly harsh process being gone through,  we will ever remain in a world of illusion.

Although we may pray intensely everyday, whether we know the scriptures and read them everyday, whether we practice dharma diligently,    all of us have to go through the tests that life will subject us to, day in and day out. 

Everyday life is our Kurukshetra.  The Paramathma, very particularly tells Arjuna that none of us should back off from participating in our assigned duty in life.  The Paramathma, although He greatly admires sanyas,  He does not value it as highly as one who performs assigned duties of life. 

At the time of the Kurukshetra,  Balarama,  keeps away from the battle by going away on a pilgrimage.

Balarama taught both Duryodhana of the Kauravas and Bhima of the Pandavas the art of fighting with a mace. When war broke between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, Balarama cared for both sides and so remained neutral. He went for a pilgrimage with his nephew Pradyumna and other Yadavas during the war, and returned on the last day, to watch the fight between his disciples.

Balarama was opposed to the war because of his connections with the Kaurava family. This is the same reason that Arjuna had in hesitating to fight the Kauravas.  However Sri Krishna is able to convince Arjuna, to perform his duty.  Balarama, however withdraws from involvement (although he does not have an alternate plan to redeem the Pandavas).

May we ever relentlessly pursue our assigned duties in life.

May we never assign any blame on the Paramathma for problems and poisons  that surface from within us,  when we begin the churning of the milky ocean of our consciousness.