DIVINE INFORMATION PART 78 Respected friends,
While goingthrough one of my external memory device, I came across some good information stored from websites. I thought ofsharing interesting ones from them as a series. In part 78, I amstarting with 287th item in this posting. Kindly note the series is a compilation. Sincerely, Gopala Krishnan 12-08-21 287 Sudarsana continued Whatever they do is always for the good of others.If we analysethe curses appearing in the Puranas, we will find that they fall into two broadcategories- 1) those which, though outwardly appearing to becurses, really bless the person concerned by placing himin circumstances in which he is able to free himself of the defects in hischaracter which stand as obstacles in the way of his spiritual advancement;(this can be compared to the action of a surgeon who uses his scalpel on thepatient with the noble intention of curing him of an ailment which prevents himfrom leading a normal happy life) and 2) those which merely emphasize the fact that the nextbirth of a person will be in accordance with his thoughtsand actions in this birth. Examples of the first category are the curses onJaya and Vijaya by Sanatkumara and the other sages, thecurse on King Indradyumna who became Gajendra, and the curs e on Nalakubara andManigriva by sage Narada. The curse laid on Sudarsana by the sages containsaspects which make it fit into both the categories, as will be clear from thesequel. It willfirst be explained how the present curse falls under the first category. TheVidyadhara named Sudarsana had become very haughty because of his beauty. Haughtiness is the greatest of allobstacles to spiritual progress. The sages therefore temporarilydeprived him of the cause of his haughtiness, namely his good looks and madehim take the very repulsive form of a python. This turned out to be a blessing because he got the touchof the Lord's foot. Not only did he then get a form which was even moreresplendent than his original form, but he also realized that what he had donein his haughtiness was a great sin. He thus became free from pride and so fitfor spiritual progress. The curse pronounced by the sages on Sudarsana can bebrought under the second category also. Since theVidyadhara was so proud of his beauty that he was contemptuous of others whowere not so endowed, he would, on that count itself, be deprived of beauty inhis next birth. This is what happened to him when he was born as a python. The curse only reiterated whatwould have happened even without it. The offence committed need notnecessarily be agains sages who have the power to curse. Such an offence evenagainst ordinary persons would have led to the same result of depriving him ofwhatever he was proud of, in his next birth. The lesson conveyed by this storyis that one should never be proud of one's wealth, pedigree, good looks,learning or any other accomplishment and look down on others not so fortunate. Every one should remember that this is not the onlybirth and what one has in this birth may not necessarilybe his in a subsequent birth. It is the thoughts and actions in this birth thatwill determine what the next birth will be. If a person who is rich becomesarrogant and treats the poor with contempt or uses his wealth for doing harm toothers, he will be born as a beggar in his next birth. There is no guaranteethat a person who is rich in this birth will remain so in future births also. If he uses his wealth for good purposes he may havethe good fortune of being rich in the next birth also. This is thereal meaning of the well known saying that no one can carry his wealth with himwhen he dies. The same logic applies to all natural talents and gifts that oneis born with. One should be humble about them and use themfor good purposes. Leave alone losing in the next birth; one may lose his orher beauty or wealth or other accomplishments even during this birth itselfbecause of illness and various other causes. We have to remember that everything in this worldis transient. If this thought is always kept in mind, onewill never swerve from the right path. These are the lessons that we can drawfrom this story. A formerPontiff of the Sringeri Mutt explained in a discourse the reason for personsbeing born blind, dumb, etc. Ifa person does not make use of his faculties of speech, etc., to help anotherperson in a situation in which such help is crucial, he will be born withoutthat faculty in his next birth. To illustrate, supposing twoboys are playing in a village. One of them suddenly falls into a well. If theother boy immediately shouts for help, neighbours would rush to the place andwould probably be able to rescue the boy from the well. If, instead, the other boy just walks away,fearing that he may be blamed for his friend falling into thewell, with the result that the boy who fell into the well loses his life, theboy who did not use his faculty of speech at the proper time will be born dumbin his next birth. In a Puranicstory such an episode would be put this way. The boy did not try to save hisfriend by using his voice and so he was cursed by the dead boy's parents or bysome sage to become dumb. It will beinteresting to examine the various curses in the Puranas keeping the aboveviews in mind. 288 INTRODUCTION TO VEDA Veda isabundant source of knowledge. It is considered as the basic scripture ofHinduism. The word Veda is derived from the Sanskrit root 'vid', which means'to know'. It is said thatGod created the knowledge in a unique form called 'Veda'. As it wasnot created by any purusha or man, it is called APAURUSHEYA. Later thegreat sage Vyaasa, who compiled eighteen puraanaas and wrote Mahabharatha, classified Veda as Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Adharva(na) Veda. It isdifficult to understand the vast Veda unless somebody has the power andblessings like Vyaasa and we know how many of us have them. However, the great sage could foresee this and classified Vedainto four in order to make it is for the coming generations to understand andfollow them. In the ancient tradition of Gurukul, gurus taught vedas to their disciples by means of chanting and the disciples learntthem by listening. That is why the vedas were called as 'SHRUTHIS'. Vyasa taught RigVeda to Paila, Yajur Veda to Vaishyampayana, Sama Veda to Jaimini and AdharvanaVeda to Sumanta. Paila, Vaishayam -payana,Jaimini and Sumanta were Vyasa's disciples. 289 Veda Murtis Representing vedas Rig Veda has the hymns, praising the virtues ofGods. Yajur Veda prescribes the ways and means ofconducting Yagnas, which are performed with various objectives. Sama Veda describes the way to please the Godsthrough music. AtharvanaVeda deals with a number of worldly things and spiritual knowledge. Vedaproposes Brahma or Paramaatman, Atman and the unification of Paramaatman andAtman. For easiercomprehension of Veda, Maharshis have further classified the Veda into Mantraand Brahmana. Samhita isthe name given to the collection of the Mantras. The Brahmanaincludes in itself two more sections, the Aranyaka and the Upanishad. If the Mantras comprise the hymns, theBrahmanas contain liturgies in prose. TheAranyakas teach about meditations based on symolical interpretations of theliturgiecal rites. The Upanishad may roughly be classified asphilosophical treatises dealing with the ultimate problems of life. The archaicform of Veda was rather difficult to understand necessitating furtherclassification. The sixVedaangas, six subsidiary sciences that help unfold the Vedic wisdom, came intoexistence. They are-Siksha, Vyaakarana, Chandas, Nirukta, Jyotisha and Kalpa. Siksha dealswith the details of the metres of Vedic poetry. Nirukta gives the meanings and explanations ofVedic words. Jyotishathough a work of astronomy is more directly concerned with the times andperiods suitable for the performance of the Vedic sacrifices. Kalpa in the form of sutras or aphorisms, has fourbranches namely Shrauta, Grihya, Dharma and Sulba. It deals with all aspects ofsacrificial rites and smaller religious rites performed at home. In understanding the Vedic literature, Bhashyas orcommentaries have played a key role. There have been a galaxy of commentatorsover the centuries, among whom Saayanaacharya (belonging to 14th century) holdsa unique place, not only because of the volume of his work but also because ofthe quality. 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