THE TRUTH UNDERLYING THE STORY

King Prachinabarhis sat silent for a while after Narada had related the story of Puranjana.  Narada said: "This is Brahma Vidya.  Even as Narayana favors his devotees without their being aware of his presence, even so I have tried to make you realize the Truth without making the lessons obvious.   The teaching of Brahma Vidya was in the form of a story: I have tried to make you see yourself as the imperishable:  I wanted you to know the Truth about yourself."

Prachinabarhis said; "Please explain it more fully, my Lord.  Ordinary mortals like me cannot grasp the Truth so easily.  Tell me clearly once again what the story means."  Narada said: "I will certainly do so.  I came to you only with the intention of teaching you Brahma Vidya.   I am happy that you want to know more about it.  Listen to me carefully.  I will begin with the word Puranjana.   The Purusha who pervades and illuminates the body he has assumed is called Puranjana.  He has created the pura, the city where he has decided to dwell and so he is named Puranjana."

"And so, Puranjana is the Atman which resides in the body.  The divinity in him is not seen but it is always there to guide him in the right path and that is Avignyata."

"In the beginning, after the Pralaya when there was nothing but the Brahman,  the Purusha was all by itself.  After the manifestation of the universe by the Maya of the Purusha, the Purusha became the Prakriti also.  Out of Prakriti came its other form:  the Mahat tattva which became Ahamtattva.  Then was the Jivatma manifested."

"The Jivatma became restless and wanted to experience the World of objects.  He then entered the human body which is made up of nine openings:  the two eyes, the two nostrils, the two ears, the mouth and the two excretory organs.  In combination with the mind the Jivatma is able to experience the worldly objects conveyed to him through the sense organs.  The mind is necessary for the process of this enjoyment.  Now you will be able to understand the analogy of the city by name Bhogavati.  The human body is Bhogavati, the home of all enjoyment.  Puranjani who helped Puranjana to enjoy the worldly pleasures is the mind, the Buddhi as it is called.   The ten attendants who were with her are the ten Indriyas, the Gnanendriyas and the Karmendriyas.  And the many functions of these Indriyas are the hundreds of female attendants of the ten men.  The snake with the five heads is Prana, the breath of life,  the five heads are its five variations: Prana, Apana, Vyana, Udana and Samana.   When the Jivatma wants to enjoy the world, he does so with the nine instruments of perception:  the eyes, the ears, etc., and that is why the nine gates are said to lead into the city or lead out of the city."

"When the mind is bent on the world of objects and in the enjoyment of them the Atman also has to do the same since it has become attached to it.  That is why I said Puranjana did all that the woman did.  He had lost his identity,  meaning he had forgotten his real nature."

"The garden surrrounding the city of Bhogavati where Puranjana met Puranjani,  is the world of objects which gratifies the senses.  When the Jivatma gets involved with the mind, the Buddhi, his desire being the pursuit of the world of objects and the pleasures to be derived from it with the help of the senses then he is said to have become involved.  The real nature of the Jivatma becomes enveloped in maya and he suffers the pains and pleasures of the world". 

"The hundred years which he was allowed to spend with the woman in the city Bhogavati is the span of life granted to man.  Chandavega is Time which moves ruthlessly on:  and the other three hundred and sixty gandharvas are the days in the year while their dark counterparts,  the women are the nights.  They surround the body and eat up one's life without any consideration for the man who wants to fight them:  to hold them at bay.   Jara is old age, or rather, the decay which sets in with the advent of old age.  Naturally Jara is not welcome anywhere and it is but natural that she should team up with death.  Death is called Yavaneshwara.  The Yavanas are the diseases of the mind and those of the body.  Prajavara is fever, affliction which hastens death."

"When the Atman becomes conditioned by the equipment made up of the body and mind,  it develops the qualities of "I" and "Mine".  When these enter the mind along with them come the many sufferings which the body undergoes and the Jivatma too, since it has become involved with the body, its pleasures and its pains."

"What then is the cure for this?  Man dreams, and during his dream he undergoes all the feelings, emotions, pleasures and sufferings of that dream world.  He has identified himself with the man who is dreaming and naturally, the sufferings of the one are the sufferings of the other.  This state of things will continue until the dreamer awakes.  The moment he awakes, the dreamer knows all that he had been going through was not real: that it was all conjured up by the dream state and that he need not suffer them because he is awake.  He knows the Truth about his dream.  But unless he wakes up and until he wakes up,  it is not possible for anyone to convince him that it is all false:  that the dream world just does not exist.  A dreamer has to wake up in order to realise that he was dreaming.  Even so, the involvement of the Jivatma with the body and the mind is like a dream.  No amount of intellectual arguments can convince him that his sufferings are all false.  He has to wake up from his dream to realise the Truth about himself."