Srimad Bhagavatam – day 28
Kunti devi prays, “O Lord, only those devotees who, daily, without fail, read, listen, study, recollect and praise your divine glories and derive the resultant bliss, are able to obtain the vision of your lotus feet! O Lord, only those who, thus have been blessed with the darshan of your holy feet, will be able to exit from this cycle of births and deaths!
These repeated births and deaths is a terrible vicious cycle. Did we not discuss earlier that it was like a dangerous whirlpool? The one who is stuck in a whirlpool can never swim back to safety. Likewise, a being who is sucked into this whirlpool called repeated births and deaths can never ever exit from it. He continues to rotate endlessly in this cycle. The cycle itself will never stop rotating and this being, caught in the cycle, can never ever jump out of it.
Moreover, it appears as if the being perhaps does not even want to attempt exiting from it! Even if at all he decides to attempt, he fails. It could be possible that only when he adheres to the specified disciplines he may exit from it, who knows? It is very very rare for a person to exit from this terrible cycle. It is so rare that it can almost be said that there is none who has ever exited from it.
It is due to the nature of this janma chakra or cycle of these births and deaths. It is that cycle which causes fear in the being. It is that cycle which emerges again and again. It is that cycle which forces the being to perform action. This cycle is like a chain of events that are tied to one another. They are all inter-connected. It becomes difficult to untie the knot called cycle of re-births. The knot itself appears like a thick hard huge rope.
Only those who think of You at all times, who follow You, who see You as existing in everything, who pray to You, who read Your stories at all times and who narrate Your stories to others are able to exit from this cycle of births and deaths! They are able to exit from this cycle called illusion (māya). This is only possible because, O Lord, Your benevolent grace has fallen upon them!
O Lord, O Ishwara, who fulfills the desires of all devotees! Why do you seek to leave us and go away, your true friends who have implicitly placed faith in You and have sought shelter in You? Why do you want to leave us? At all times You are our sole refuge night and day! O Lord, who else is there for us apart from You?
In all situations and at all times, be it in our joys, in our sorrows or in our difficulties, we see only You, O Lord. Even in our sorrows and difficulties we are seeing only Your miracles, O Lord!
We think, “Because of this sorrow that we are going through, such and such karma has been removed from us.” This is what we believe. At times of happiness we think, ‘God has given us this happiness in order to test us. He seeks to check whether I am arrogant or not. Hence i should be extremely vigilant. I should hold on to satsang with even more rigidness”.
At all times we glorify You. Even when we are seething in anger, we laugh. We think, ‘Our Lord has caused this anger in us’. With such thoughts we discard anger. At times of sorrow we think, ‘Our Lord has given us this sorrow’. With such thoughts we stop grieving. At times of happiness we exercise extreme vigilance and with such feelings we surrender the happiness to You by saying ‘Krishnārpaṇam’.
Every moment we talk about the words that had been uttered by You. When sitting, standing, walking, sleeping we think or talk about You. When eating we offer to you every morsel of food as naivedya. ‘The Lord seated within me is eating this food’ we think.
O Lord, we believe that You are the food we eat, You are the one who is eating, the hand is You, the mouth is You, the God who is within is You and so on. In this way we are seeing You in everything. Why then are you giving us this sorrow of separation?
When we consider You as everything, then wherever You stay we should be there only, isn’t it? Then why can’t you take us? Why are You now distancing us? I fail to understand this”.
Kunti Devi continues, “O Lord, we have brought limitless grief to many kingdoms and their lineages. Due to us many kingdoms got destroyed.
If closeness with the Self (atma) is lost, then what will be the fate of the senses? You are our Self (atma), do you know this? If Self goes far away, then how can these senses of ours function? In your absence we will be reduced to living corpses. Now in Your absence our condition will be similar to that of the senses without the Self.
We Yadavas and Pandavas have fame and prosperity. All this prosperity of ours illumines only because of Your presence! O Lord, it is because of You that we are happy. It is because of You that we experience sorrows. It is because of You that we perform the supreme meritorious deeds.
Swami! If You are not there, then of what use are these luxuries? Why these riches, this power and these kingdoms for us when You, Our Lord is not there with us? What will we do with this fame and all this wealth? What will be the fate of our sense organs in Your absence? Today they function only because of Your presence.
Everything functions only because of Your presence. In our foolishness and imagination, we presume that we are making everything function.
That being the case, O Lord, now if You desert us and go away, we will lose our mental balance. O Lord who holds the mace! The kingdom of Kuru is shining resplendently in an unprecedented manner, only because of the impressions of Your lotus feet. Your footprints shine resplendently everywhere. These footprints of Yours are like the glowing lotuses. Since You have placed Your foot on the lotus it is glowing brightly. Now if your foot is removed, what will happen to that lotus? Will its radiance not be lost? How then can it glow? It will simply wither away.
It is because of Your compassionate glance that these mountains, plains, kingdoms, oceans, rivers are all calm and peaceful, O Lord! They are flourishing. With bountiful crops, trees laden with full fruit, flowers, lotuses all these mountains and water bodies are thriving. The surroundings are so beautiful and serene, O Swami! Prosperity and happiness is seen in all quarters. Everywhere one sees, one only finds happiness and bliss. What will be the fate of all these when you leave?
O Jagatpati! O Vishwamurti! If at all You are determined to leave, then please cut this bondage called deep attachment/ infautation that I have towards these Yadavas and Pandavas. That is all I seek. Please pull me out of this cycle. Please shred this bondage called attachment that I have. Cut it off completely.
O Lord of Yadavas! Also kindly ensure that this intellect of mine remains eternally focused upon You in total devotion! Please ensure that it does not deviate towards other unnecessary matters. I beg of You, O Lord.
I have always been caught up in this web of difficulties in life. ‘this son is not well. Things are not working out in favour of that one. This kingdom is lost; that kingdom is in trouble. This person dear to me has lost his leg. That one has lost his hand. Someone known has lost his life’ in this manner I worry endlessly and wastefully.
Please shred all these bondages, O Lord. I pray to You.
I do not know your intentions but all I pray is to relieve me from these bondages.
Hey Srikrishna! Arjuna mitra! Yadu vamsa tilaka! Destroyer of the foes of Mother Earth! You have eliminated from earth the lineage of all those kings who unjustly cheated Mother Earth. Such is Your supreme valour! Such is Your greatness! I offer obeisance to You! Govinda! Govinda! Govinda! Sriman Narayana!”