Srimad Bhagavatam – day 266
Emperor Rṣabha continued, “Using his intelligence the individual should realize that sensory activities are purely illusory. Unless he develops this right perspective, he can never ever realize his true Self! He will be careless in his efforts towards accomplishing the ultimate goal of life. The individual who lacks these essential qualities is termed ignorant.
The ignorant considers bodily pleasures as ultimate. Therefore he seeks the comforts of his home. Sunk in bodily pleasures he ultimately suffers. Man and woman unite with each other in the name of bodily pleasures. Elders state that this attraction of a man and woman towards each other ultimately turns into a knot which ties their hearts together. Due to this they develop excessive attachment towards their body, house, property, children, relatives and other riches. They become infatuated by them. Feelings of ‘I and mine’ are created in them.
The knot in the heart of the person, which exists in the form of subtle impressions of past actions, instigates them to perform action and thus it tightens. Only when this knot loosens, he can come out of bodily-identification and is freed from other bodily attachments. Such person drives away ignorance that exists in him. He is liberated and merges into Paramātma who resides as his inner Self.
Haṁse gurau mayi bhaktyānuvṛtyā vitṛṣṇayā dvandva-titikṣayā ca
Sarvatra jantor vyasanāvagatyā jijñāsayā tapasehā-nivṛttyā
My dear sons! The intelligent person should undertake austerities with courage and wisdom. He should develop total devotion towards his spiritual Guru, who is none other than Me. He should willfully give up desire for material comforts. He should equally accept joys and sorrows. He should understand that both in this world and the next, ultimately sorrows remain. He should be deeply desirous of knowing his true Self.
He should conduct Self-enquiry. Simultaneously he should discard desires and focus on penance. He should perform action with the firm belief that he is offering it to the Lord. Daily he should associate with my dearest devotees, should listen and sing My transcendental glories. Without feelings of enmity towards others he should live peacefully.
He should have the strong desire to conquer the feelings of ‘I-ness’ towards the body and ‘mine-ness towards his house and other assets. He should read spiritual texts which preach liberation. He should practice solitude. He should remain focused upon the Self for longer periods of time.
Through Praṇāyāma he should control the Prana; through Pratyāhāra he should withdraw the senses and through dhāraṇa and dhyāna he should bring his mind under control. He should be dedicated towards scriptures and Mahatmas.
Controlling speech he should be eternally focused upon reaching his goal. He should be wise enough to see Me everywhere. He should understand Self-knowledge. He should relentlessly continue his efforts until he actually experiences the Self. Through these methods the aspirant should cross the subtle body known as egoism (I-ness).
The knot in the heart is the repository of the subtle impressions of all past actions. Due to spiritual ignorance the person gets entangled in bondages. Therefore being extremely vigilant he should undertake practices as stipulated above and shred this knot. After this stage he should discard even his austerities. He should then obtain My grace.
Be it a king, father or Guru, whose only goal is to achieve ultimate liberation, should absolutely conquer anger and impart this Yogic preaching of Mine to his citizens, children or disciples. Contrary to this he should not throw people who are already sunk into the mire of ignorance further into frutitive activities. Those who throw others into the mire of samsāra through pushing them into frutitive activities will not gain anything in the process.
Due to spiritual ignorance, the individual does not automatically understand about liberation and the steps needed to reach that goal. For this reason he is totally infatuated with this world, develops excessive material desires and endlessly chases them. For the fulfillment of trivial desires he struggles enormously and in this process develops enmity with others. Such person is unable to realize that endless suffering is coming his way. When a blind man is about to fall into a pit that is on his path, the compassionate person will prevent him from falling.
This repeated cycle of re-births is like death. A Guru who does not preach and direct a person who is deeply struck in its shackles towards the path of liberation is not a true Guru! A relative who does not help such a person is not a true relative at all! A father, mother, Devata or King who fails to guide his dependants to the right path is not a true father, mother, Devata or king!
The secret behind this body of mine is unimaginable. My heart which is filled with dharma is composed of pure, transcendental goodness (shuddha sattva). I have completely discarded unrighteousness. For this reason Mahatmas address Me as Rṣabha which means ‘most supreme’.
My dear sons! All of you were born from My heart. Therefore without any ill-feelings such as hatred or envy, serve your elder brother Bharata who is a supremely noble being. Serving him is equivalent of serving Me. It automatically amounts to serving the citizens of the land.
Living entities which move are superior to non-living entities. Animals which possess limited intelligence are more superior to these living entities. Human beings are superior to animals. Pramatha-gaṇas are superior to humans. Gandharvas and siddhas, who are attendants of Devatas, are far superior to Pramatha-gaṇās.
Devatas are superior to Asurās. Indra, the Lord of Devatas, is superior to other Devatas. Daksha and other sons of Brahma are superior to Indra. Rudra is superior to these mind born sons of Brahma. Brahma is nothing but Shiva’s energy. Such Lord Brahma worships Me. I worship the Brahmin Vedic scholars who are the living Gods on earth.
Na brāhmaṇais tulaye bhūtam anyat paśyāmi viprāḥ kim ataḥ paraṁ tu
Yasmin nṛbhiḥ prahutaṁ śraddhayāham aśnāmi kāmaṁ na tathāgni-hotre
O Vedic scholars! There is no other living entity in the creation who is equal to you. This is My opinion. I do not accept firewood and other ingredients offered to Me through the Yagna fire with as much joy as I accept the rice that is offered to Me through the mouths of such supreme Brahmins. In this creation, a Vedic scholar has taken on My indestructible body known as Vedic knowledge.
Qualities such as absolute mind control and sense control, abounding in traits of goodness (sattva), truthfulness, compassion towards other forms of life, penance, patience and Self-realization exist in such supreme Brahmins (Brahma-vetta).
Trivikramāya namah.