mriyamaanasya kim kartavya.h ?

[Gummuluru Murthy]

On Mon, 9 Oct 2000, Vidya wrote:

> hari om,
> om namo bhagavate vasudevaya.
>
> my dear list members,
>
> this bhagavatam rendering has once again had some obstacle and the
> question
> " mriyamaanasya kim kartavya.h " of king parikshit to sage shuka has
> once again set my mind thinking as to what is more important to be done
> now - continuing bhagavatam or concentrate on my saadhana ? it is not
> only king parikshit who is facing death, but every one of us. the king
> knew when his end would come, but we unfortunate ones do not even know
> that. mrityu is like our shadow, it is following us everywhere. when, at
> what time it would devour us, no one knows. i have started feeling that
> i should not spend any more time writing emails to the list. i would
> like to severe myself of the committment that i have made to the list of
> narrating bhagavatam and instead concentrate on shravana, manana and
> nidhidhyaasana. i am fortunate to have got a guru who is dakshinamurthy
> swaroopa himself. when a guru is there to lift me up from this ocean of
> samsaara, why should i hang on to the list ? please do not think that i
> am selfish. "udhdharet aatman aatmaanam ".
> [...]

namaste.

I fully understand the thinking of shrimati VidyaraNya and I fully
endorse it. Uplifting ourselves by following a sadguru's teachings
is the best procedure.  I will miss shrimati VidyaraNya's excellent
presentations on shrimadbhagavatam. Although only a few episodes were
presented, they were prepared beautifully with good clarity and with
a nice continuity of presentation.

Now, coming to the question which is the subject of this thread
(mriyamaanasya kim kartavya.h ?), it may be a test of how well we
understand what we are. Do we continue our activities in the normal
way knowing full well that death is right around the corner, being
completely unafraid of death?  Or, do we, recognizing that death is
staring at us, go into a frantic mood, and do yajnA-s and homA-s?

If only the humans know the date of death rather than the date of
birth. Isn't there a story on that theme in YogavashiShTA?


> om namo bhagavate vasudevaya
> hari om
>
> sampraapte sannihite kaale nahi nahi rakshati drukyuinkarane
> bhaja govindam bhaja govindam govindam bhaja moodamate.
>
> latha vidyaranya.........................only a name and form, a shoonya
> without the chetana
>

Regards
Gummuluru Murthy
------------------------------------------------------------------------

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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