Should we hear Mayavadis submissively as Lord Chaitanya heard Sarvabhauma?
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Thank you There is an intriguing chapter in the Shiva Bhagavatam which is the setting by which Parchit Maharaj in action demonstrated in the next chapter so till now the pastimes of Krishna and the Pandavas after the Pandavas after the Kurukshetra war has got over so a prominent commentator of the Bhagavatam prominent scholar they say that the first kando is basically setting the sea of the Bhagavatam the first kando is basically setting how Parchit Maharaj became ready to hear the Bhagavatam and Shivdev Goswami became ready to speak the Bhagavatam so the 4th, 5th, 6th chapter describes how Narada Muni instructed Yasya and Yasya meditated and the meditation existed in 7th chapter first in few verses in about half dozen verses how Shivdev Goswami progressed from impersonal to personal realization is described and from the 7th chapter onwards to 19th chapter how Parchit Maharaj became ready for hearing Bhagavatam that is described so till now there is a linear chronological sequence of events going on from the 7th chapter to the 15th chapter 15th chapter of the Pandavas entire life and then in the 16th and 17th chapter suddenly the 16th chapter is a dialogue between the Nrudevi and Narmada they are in the form of a cow and a bull and then in the 17th chapter Parchit will enter and the intriguing thing about this chapter is both of them are suffering the bull is suffering the cow is also suffering and there is Kali who has taken the garb of a ruler and he is tormenting both of them and when Parchit comes there he is furious and he asks the bull so here the bull and the cow are mutually discussing what is the cause of your suffering and the bull is asking the cow and the bull himself is getting beaten afterwards and Parchit comes and Parchit asks who is the cause of your suffering now it’s at one level Parchit’s question itself is absurd if somebody is being beaten and you ask the victim who is the cause of your suffering you have eyes he is beating you but still Parchit asks this question and surprisingly the bull does not point to Kali he says the cause of suffering is very difficult to assess some people say this is the cause some people say that is the cause some people say that is the cause therefore I have concluded that the cause of suffering is very difficult to assess and Parchit says excellent excellent he basically says that one who considers the criminal to be responsible for one’s suffering the wrongdoer to be responsible for one’s suffering that person attains the same destination as the wrongdoer now what does he mean by this it’s not that just pointing on the criminal is as bad karma as is doing the bad karma what he is saying is both are essentially acting in the same level of ignorance that means ultimately there is a purpose to whatever happens in life and if we just get caught in causality and intermediate fringes then we miss out on the further opportunities for understanding and growth that are there so why does Parchit ask this question actually he does punish the punished Kali also but still he asks the bull to check the understanding of the bull so one of the ways in which the ego catches us and traps us is through the blame game basically when we get problems we usually blame in three directions I am talking not only spiritual person Vedic philosophy common human perspective in today’s times either we blame others or we blame ourselves or we blame God why am I suffering he did like that, she did like that they did like that so we blame others or we blame ourselves meri krishnate bhogi we are mindless and third is we blame God and actually none of these are very productive why is that? is it good to blame ourselves or somebody has done wrong is it good to point out that they have done wrong yes it is you see that the whole central purpose of the Vedic path is a search for Dharma a search for Dharma the Mahabharata begins the central theme the defining question of the Mahabharata is what is Dharma the defining question of the Bhagavatam is what is Dharma at the time of death it is a more evolved question but this is similar but because Bhagavatam focuses more on Dharma at death so the Bhagavatam’s narrative is much more world-renouncing much more world-rejecting whereas the Mahabharata’s narrative is much more world-affirming now if you see even when Arjuna is distressed Arjuna when he turns and surrenders to Krishna his question is not should I fight or should I not fight his question is he is not simply asking should I fight or should I not fight he is asking please explain me what is my Dharma and he says without understanding my Dharma even if I fight and even if I willingly fight he says na hi prapashyam mamapavidyar ma echokam choshyam niryanam avapya bhumavasaptanam nirdham rajam suranam chadi patim without knowing what is my Dharma even if I attain fabulous success even if I attain success not just of winning the whole but even attaining heaven sovereignty over heaven still this drying up of the senses this grief that is drying up my senses that will not go away it’s a very very poetically gripping metaphor echokam choshyam niryanam normally the nature of the human body is that whenever there is pleasure there are liquids secreted so for example when he sees a nice food at that time the tongue starts watering so here Gita is using the opposite metaphor that when there is immense grief then the senses get dried up basically when there is grief it is like a tap it is heat in the body and this grief within me echokam choshyam niryanam this grief within me is like like a fire which is causing this lamentation that this drying up of my senses is coming avapya bhumavasaptanam nothing will satisfy me I need to know what is Dharma so the Bhagavad Gita’s question is what is Dharma and Krishna tells sarva-dharmataktya mam ekam sharanam so there are many definitions of Dharma but the highest definition is mam ekam sharanam and Arjuna does not simply conclude by saying I will fight Arjuna’s conclusion is krishe vachanam tava I will do your will so in that particular situation Arjuna’s will Krishna’s will for Arjuna was fighting but the Bhagavad Gita’s message is not fighting the Bhagavad Gita says to do Krishna’s will normally we may operate under certain stereotypes for example the quintessential image of surrender is Draupadi raising her hands up and surrendering to Krishna now please Krishna help me and we think is this a surrender yes that is surrender but if we see the Bhagavad Gita Krishna does Arjuna mam ekam sharanam and Arjuna says krishe vachanam tava but after surrendering what does Krishna Arjuna do Arjuna doesn’t raise his hands he raises his hands in readiness to fight he says yatra yogeshwara krishna yatra partham Arjuna has taken up his bow and is ready to fight so surrender can have many different