Sandeha Nivarini - Post 45

Chapter XIV. The Bhagavatha: the Description of Atma

Devotee: ....... You said that the Bhagavatha also occurs in the same manner. If you will kindly explain how that is happening, we can, after knowing its inner meaning also, start following the “subtle” Ramayana, Mahabharatha, and Bhagavatha, all three. Please tell me about the Bhagavatha.

Swami: Well, the Bhagavatha is not like the other two. It has no qualities and no form! It deals with the Atma, which is beyond and behind the qualities (gunas), senses (indriyas), mind (manas), and subconscious (chittha); it deals with the powers and prowess of the Atma and Its apparent activities (leelas). The Bhagavatha contains the stories of the incarnations of that which is the Witness of everything.

Devotee: Rama and Krishna also punished the wicked and protected the good, didn’t they, Swami? Then, how do you say that in the Ramayana and Mahabharatha, there is the embodiment of quality (guna-swarupa), while in the Bhagavatha there is no embodiment of qualities?

Swami: You see, qualities have a beginning and an end, and the Atma has neither. Rama and Krishna also have no qualities, essentially. They have demonstrated how, being above qualities, it is possible to keep all qualities under control. 

The Ramayana and the Mahabharatha stories have an end, don’t they? In that sense, the Bhagavatha has no end. It speaks of the Lord, who has no beginning or end. It tells of the forms that the Lord wore in the context of the age, time, and object. On the other hand, the other two teach the correct policies to be followed in this false, evanescent world and urge men to follow truth (sathya), dharma, peace (santhi), and love (prema). Do you understand?

Devotee: Then the Bhagavatha is of no practical use to us, so to say!

Swami: What! The Bhagavatha is of most use to the spiritual aspirants. Only it explains the real secret of the Lord. His real glory and His real path! The Ramayana and Mahabharatha try to some extent to uplift the commoner, the ordinary person, by moral teaching and example. They show how people can deserve the Lord’s grace. But those who seek to know the nature of the Atma and of the highest Atma (Paramatma) should study the Bhagavatha more than anything else,.

Devotee: Swami, what is the relation between the Lord (Bhagavantha), Bhagavatha and the devotee (bhaktha)?

Swami: The relationship between the great king, the crown prince, and the heir apparent! 

The Lord is the great king, of course; the Bhagavatha is second in rank because it came from the Lord as a derivative, with the status of crown prince; the heir apparent is dependent on both of these, and so is the devotee. 

The status of heir apparent is not an ordinary one, in that the heir apparent merits the position of great king. The rest are inferior to these three. Those who don’t rise up to the status of devotee or heir apparent have no access to the court of the great king.

Continued....