Devka – Gujarat Bhagavat Katha 5th Day, part 1

The fifth day of the katha was filled with great joy as it was graced with presence of Param Pujya Shri Morari Bapu, the poet and comedian Shri Sai Ram Dave and the celebration of Shri Krishna janma. As it was a long day, the article has been split into two parts.

Pujya Bhaishri began the katha explaining the meaning of the word Bhagavat. He said that Bhagavat is a 4 letter word. Firstly, Bha means brightness. Ga stands for gyan. Shri Vyasji calls Bhagavat the sun of puranas. When the sun rises, the darkness of attachment ends. The sun not only spreads brightness to all, but also to itself. Shrimad Bhagavat is self-enlightened as it is the form of Narayan. God presents himself in different ways. He presents as Om in the form of sound, in the form of water as Shri Gangaji and in the form of words as Shrimad Bhagavat.

In deep sleep, humans forget who they are, where they are. This sleep is like ignorance. Our Rishis have said that we should all find out who we are, why we are here and what is the purpose of life. We are here due to our deeds. Saints tell us that although we are moving on in our lives, we have forgotten the goal of our lives. Ramayan and Shrimad Bhagavat is our ticket that will explain our goal. This life is a waste if we begin to do other things when our goal is to attain God.

The brightness guides us that this world is the form of Narayan. Until we are under the illusion that this world exists, we will remain in fear; this fear will cause us no peace and therefore we will remain in sorrow. Knowledge is necessary to attain peace. Our thinking is what creates the society. There is nothing purer than knowledge.

It is not necessary that man is happy with money. Happiness comes with vivek (understanding what is right and wrong). Objects are more valuable than money. Objects are made for man and not vice versa. In addition, thoughts are more valuable than humans and vivek is more important than thoughts.

So, Bha means brightness, Ga stands for knowledge, Va means vairagya (detachment). Once we realise that the world is an illusion, we detach from it. This further leads to sacrifice. Consequently, Ta means tyag (sacrifice). Once we renunciate the world, this leads to peace which causes happiness. This is why saints are peaceful and provide peace to others. We should live detached in this world. We will never attain satisfaction with kaam (worldly pleasures) and arth (wealth). In fact, wealth causes quarrels and ill relationships. What kind of life do we live? Man earns to eat and then eats to be able to earn. Man is tangled in this vicious circle.

Shri Ved Vyasji saw that there is a wide spread of ignorance, hence he wrote the four vedas. He taught four disciples the vedas and this then spread to form more than 1100 categories of Vedas. Seeing that not everyone is capable of learning the Vedas, he created the puranas and Mahabharat. Even then he did not attain peace. Naradji then inspired Shri Ved Vyasji to write the Shrimad Bhagavat and spread bhakti (devotion).

Naradji narrated to Shri Ved Vyas ji his past life and how God is always with him. Naradji said that he was the son of a maid in his past birth. We were both involved in the seva of many sadhus and saints where my mother worked. I used to listen to the satsang from these saints. Thereafter we would have mahaprasad (food after being offered to God and saints). This destroyed all my sins and manifested love for God. The saints decided to leave and I could not bear the separation. I request the saints to take me with them but my mother begged the saints not to as I was her only caretaker. The saints told me to do seva of my mother and taught me the Vasudev Gayatri Mantra.

I began chanting this mantra. One day, a snake bit my mother in the cow shed and she passed away.  I was neither happy nor sad. I travelled to the north. One day, while meditating and chanting the mantra, I saw Shri Narayan in my heart. I was in bliss. Seeing God in dreams is basic darshan. Mediocre darshan is seeing God in our hearts while praying and the best but occasional darshan is when God does mercy and provides darshan.

I tried again to see this form outside and inside but to no avail. I began to cry. At that time there was a voice from the sky that you will attain me when you leave this body. Naradji said that in my next birth I came from the laps of Brahmaji as his son. Devtas gave me a sitar. Even the devtas began to give me respect as I had done bhakti. Thereafter, Naradji narrated the Bhagavat in 4 slokas to Shri Vyasji and left. Shri Vyasji meditated in Shamyapraas and then wrote the Shrimad Bhagavat from what he experienced in his meditation. He experienced extreme peace.

To be continued….