The Glory of God: A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana: ( 04/04/2013. )

======================================================================= -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21/09/2019 Discourse 1: King Parikshit’s Question to Suka Maharishi -6. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These descriptions in the beginning of the eighth chapter of the Bhagavadgita point out that we belong to all levels of existence. It is, therefore, not to be considered as something unwarranted that a time comes when we have to shed this body, because every day we are shedding the earlier components of our body in the process of rising into a more healthy condition. Cells of the body decompose every moment of time, and it is believed that every seven years all the cells are changed; we become new persons altogether. But we do not know that this is happening because of the identification of con...

======================================================================== Ananta Padmanabhaswamy Temple : Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.  ======================================================================== 08/08/2019 Discourse 1: King Parikshit’s Question to Suka Maharishi -5. ========================================================================= So, the origin of action – everybody’s action, up to the action of the atom – is impelled by this great Action of the Purusha – bhutabhavodbhavakaro visargaḥ karmasamjnitah. Really speaking, there are not many actions taking place in the world in terms of various individualities. One Action is taking place, as the rumbling of thousands of waves in the ocean is actually the one action of the ocean itself. Many actions are not taking place in the ocean; it is one impulse of the root and the heart of the bowels of the ocean that rises up as the waves. One action is taking place in the ocean; One Action is taking place in t...

22/06/2019 Discourse 1: King Parikshit’s Question to Suka Maharishi -4 At the very beginning of the second chapter of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana this question is answered briefly, and reference to this is also made in the beginning of the eighth chapter of the Srimad Bhagavadgita when Bhagavan Sri Krishna says : aksharam brahma paramam svabhavodhyatmam ucyate bhutabhavodbhavakaro visargah karmasamjñitah (Gita 8.3); adhibhutam ksharo bhavah purusha sc adhi  daivatam adhiyajñoham evatra dehe dehabhytam vara (Gita 8.4). Our involvements in this life are explained in this beautiful contextual answer of Bhagavan Sri Krishna to Arjuna when He says, “That which is the ultimate good is the Supreme Brahman.” A similar question was raised by Yudhishthira at the end of the Mahabharata war when he went to Bhishma, who was lying on a bed of arrows, and Bhishma’s answer was that it is better to remember Vishnu and recite his name one thousand names, not only at the end of t...

17/05/2019 Discourse 1: King Parikshit’s Question to Suka Maharishi -3 Parikshit put a question: “What is good for man, especially at this hour when my life is about to end?” How are we to answer this question? What is good for any person? In the freezing heights of the Himalayas, it is good to have a blanket over oneself. But a blanket is not good in the hot deserts of Africa; we would like to have cold water there. When we are hungry, it is good to have delicious food; when we are vomiting due to illness, it is good not to eat at all. Anyone who desires his or her own good cannot answer this question of what is actually good for oneself, because whatever answer we give, we will find it is connected to some cause thereof, and it is not the final good. Riches will end, the body will wither, and life is uncertain. None of these things connected with life in this world can be regarded as really good in their ultimate sense. Then, what is really good for the human individual...

The Glory of God : A Summary of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapuranam : 2. by Swami Krishnananda 26/03/2019 Discourse 1: King Parikshit’s Question to Suka Maharishi -2 Disgusted, and with the persistent desire to end the Pandavas, Asvatthama took resort to another astra, called Brahmastra, and let it off with such ferocity that he thought it would end the Pandavas’ progeny so that they would have no descendents and their family would finally be extinguished. What did he do? He directed this Brahmastra to the womb of Uttara – the queen of Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu – thinking that her womb would be destroyed. But God’s power has no end. It is limitless, and it can act in the required manner at any moment of time. The Great Master Sri Krishna, with his power of yoga, entered Uttara’s womb and withdrew this invincible Brahmastra into Himself. Here, again, the efforts of Asvatthama failed. This boy, the child in Uttara’s womb who Asvatthama attempted to destroy, was Parikshit, the o...

14/02/2019 Discourse 1: King Parikshit’s Question to Suka Maharishi -1. In ancient times, Raja Parikshit raised a detailed question that amounted to asking whether we are living in this world alone, or if it is possible that we may be citizens of some other worlds also. This question of King Parikshit was connected with the background of his own life, which has the antecedence of the great story of the Mahabharata. When Asvatthama, the son of Acharya Drona, discharged the invincible missile known as Narayana Astra with the hope of ending the Pandavas in a single instant, he felt that his aim of life was complete. As this was an astra which could not be faced by all the forces of the Earth put together, he was under the impression that the Pandavas had been reduced to ashes. As the Pandavas were at a distance, Asvatthama climbed to the top of a tree in order to see the heap of ashes that were their remains, but to his surprise he found the Pandava forces were as jubilant as eve...

19/11/2018 8. Everybody is busy when there is a great performance coming on. For days together, sleeplessly, we find people running about doing this and that, all for seeing that things are set in order for the attainment or the achievement to come: the great function. This great function is yet to take place. It is the celebration of the unity of the world with God. For that great marriage ceremony, we may say, of earth and heaven, man and God, this preparation is going on in the form of the activities of creation in all the business of life. We are adorning ourselves every day, keeping ourselves spick and span in our performances. Everything must be tidy and perfect, we say. This so-called perfectness that we are keeping before our minds is nothing but the requirement we are conscious of for placing ourselves in a proper position before that great incoming occasion—the ceremony of communion. In reply to this great call, the universe gets characterised by restlessness. The ...