Srimadbhaagavatam - Skanda 1, chap 1.

[elmec]

Hari Om
Om NamO BhagavatE VaasudEvAya

Once the sages at Naimishaaranya were performing the Satra Yaaga . There
arrives the well known sUta Ugrashravas, son of Romaharshana who was a
disciple of Vyaasa. The sages offer him argya, paadya and other
upachaaraas and offer him a seat. They reverently address him as the
sinless one, who by the grace of his Guru has learnt the spirit of all
the scriptures and pray to reveal to them the teachings which would
benefit all  mankind. They request him to tell them in deatil the sacred
life and divine incarnation of Sri Krishna, who for the salvation of
humans assumes different forms in different ages. Men just by uttering
His sacred name gain freedom from ignorance and fear. The holy sages
become perfect by surrendering themselves at the feet of the Lord and
men by associating with such munis become pure and holy. The river
Ganges sanctifies everybody because she springs from His Holy Feet.

Assenting to their request the Suta puraanika says that there is nothing
greater or more purifying than to converse about God and his divine
play. The highest dharma of man is the unselfish love of God. He attains
divine wisdom by this love. Dharma is not for attaining a place in
heaven but to inquire into the Truth which is infinite and eternal
knowledge. God is the refuge and strength of all. One ought, therefore,
to hear about Him, sing His praises, worship Him and meditate upon Him.
Meditation is like a sword which cuts asunder the knots of all evil
karmas. When the joy of devotion takes hold of man’s mind, he frees
himself from the bondage of the world. His ego is dissolved. His doubts
vanish and he realises the Truth.
The Lord, though without form and attributes and beyond all the Gunas,
project this universe out of his divine power called Maaya. He creates
beings and enters them and dwells in them, yet , He remians unaffected
by all thes as He is pure Consciousness. It is His play and pleasure to
express Himself in all these infinite myriad forms of Gods, men, animals
and birds and all animate and inanimate things.
Man’s essential nature is pure, but bound by the maaya he ignorantly
thinks of himself as the gross human form and the subtle forms of mind,
intellect and ego.  When out of devotion to Lord Sri Krishna he aquires
the knowledge and perceives these gross and subtle forms to be adjuncts
and separate from the real self, he realises the Brahman and becomes
free.

The sUta now tells the sages that he would narrate to them the
Bhaagavatam, composed by the great sage Vyaasa which is nothing but the
summary of all the scriptures. He taught the whole composition to his
son Suka, a great yogi and the knower of Brahman. Suka’s mind and
consciousness were always united with Brahman that he was not even
conscious of his body. He used to roam around naked. One day while he
was thus roaming on the bank of a river, some young nymphs who were
bathing in the water watched him pass by , without feeling any shyness
in his presence ; but as old sage vyaasa, who was following his son
Shuka approached , they hastily got out of the water and clothed
themselves. This surprised the sage and he asked them why they behaved
strangely ; they did not shrink from the sight of young Shuka , but felt
shy before the old sage ? To this the nymphs replied that they did not
feel any shyness in presence of young Shuka as he himself did not have
body consciousness ; one who is unaware of his own body would not bother
to notice other bodies ; whereas in vyaasa there still lingered body
consciousness and hence the girls hastily dressed up !

Suta now begins his long story of Bhaagavatam, first narrating to them
how sage vyaasa resolved to write the Bhaagavatam and how he taught it
to his son Shuka.

( to be contd. )

Hari Om
Om NamO BhagavatE VaasudEvaaya

Regards,
Latha Vidyaranya

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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