Srimad Bhagavatam – day 253
Maharishi Narada continues, “Sometimes incidents which have not been seen or heard either in this birth or in previous births come to memory. Understand that such experience happens due the combination of different times, places and actions.
Based on the individual’s merits and sins only those experiences with which the senses are familiar collectively arise and dissolve in his mind. Every human possesses a subtle body in which impressions of his/her past actions (vāsanas) are subtly stored.
Inherently the mind is composed of the traits of goodness (sattva). Moreover it is closely associated with Paramatma, who exists in the form of the Self. Even then, just as planet Rahu illumines in place of the Moon during the eclipse, mind associates with the unreal world and illumines.
Or it can also be said that when the aspirant, with a mind that is replete with traits of goodness, endlessly meditates upon the Lord then just as planet Rahu falsely illumines in place of the Moon during eclipse, this world illumines in his mind although it inherently does not exist.
Mind, intellect, senses and worldly objects are the creations of the trigunas. From eternity they have been prospering. As long as they exist, the person cannot be freed from feelings of egoism such as ‘I and mine’.
The person loses consciousness of his body when he is in deep sleep, when he faints, when he is deeply distressed, at time of death and at times of serious sickness. At such times although it appears as if he has given up feelings of egoism, in reality spiritual ignorance would not have dissolved in him. As the senses, which depend exclusively upon the life-force, would be totally agitated bodily identification would be temporarily buried. That’s all.
On New-moon night, Moon is invisible even though he exists. Likewise feelings of egoism do not fully manifest in the person when he is in his mother’s womb and during his infancy. They manifest fully by the time he reaches youth.
The subtle body is made up of the 10 senses and mind. As this subtle body does not fully bloom during infancy and when he is in his mother’s womb, feelings of egoism cannot manifest fully.
A person dreams that he has met with some misfortune. Upon waking up he realizes that it was untrue. Even then, during dream he had to grieve terribly for this. There was no escape. In a similar fashion, the ignorant is always inclined towards sensory pleasures although they are illusory in nature. As he focuses upon them he gets trapped into this cycle of repeated re-births and suffers.
This subtle body which is made up of 5 subtle elements is the shelter for happiness, sorrows, attachments and infatuations which are nothing but outcomes of the trigunas.
This subtle body further expands into 16 divisions i.e. five organs of perception, five organs of action, five subtle elements and mind. It then combines with pure consciousness to become the individual entity (bonded soul).
Through the medium of this subtle body, the living entity accepts different gross bodies and gives them up. Through this process he experiences happiness, sorrows, fear, enjoyments etc.
O King, when the caterpillar wants to move to the second leaf, it holds on to the first leaf until it latches on to the second leaf. Similarly even at the time of death the human being does not give up feelings of egoism. He holds on to them until he gets another body in accordance with his destiny and previous actions.
Understand that mind is the sole cause for the repeated cycle of re-births that are experienced by the entity.
The ignorant performs actions with the strong feelings of doership i.e. he believes that he is the performer of the action. He therefore experiences resultant fruits of his action in the form of material enjoyments. However, even when experiencing these resultant fruits his thoughts continue to be focused only upon enjoyments and hence he continues to perform action. This becomes an endless chain. Trapped in this chain the living entity takes on repeated re-births”.
Please listen to this carefully. Only when every word is heard attentively, Self-knowledge can be grasped. Many approach me asking for initiation into Self-knowledge. But they should pay attention when it is being explained. For those interested in getting Self-knowledge, listening to Bhāgawatam is more than enough.
“This creation emerges from Srihari. It exists within Him and merges into Him. It does not have an existence different from Srihari. Realize this experientially. Therefore by visualizing the entire creation as Srihari and by serving the Lord who exists as everything, dispel your ignorance”.
In this way Maharishi Narada, the supreme among the transcendentalists taught Self- knowledge to Emperor Pracina-barhi and then left for his abode.
Pracina-barhi was a saintly king. With a desire that he should fulfill the purpose of life through means of penance, he handed over the kingdom to his sons and proceeded to Maharishi Kapila’s ashram.
This valourous king gave up his worldly attachments in totality. In Maharishi Kapila’s ashram, with absolute devotion every single minute he worshipped the lotus feet of Lord Srihari and ultimately merged into that Lord.
Vishnāve namah