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bhishma-stuthi-12

From the Bhakti List Archives

M K Sudarshan • June 28, 1997 


srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha
sri vedanta guravE namaha

Dear "bhAgavatOttamA-s", 

In the next Verse #6 of Chapter 1V in the Gita we hear the Lord saying :

      ajOpi sann-avya-yAtmA BhUtAnAm-IsvarOpi san I
        prakritim svAm-aDhishtAya sambhavAmi-Atma-mAya-yA II

"I am un-born and My Transcendental body is never sullied although I make my
appearance in every millenium in any form I choose !"

This is the third "rahasya" (C) He revealed about the nature of His "birth".

When we recollect from the "purANA-s" the account of his "avatarA-s" as
"matsya" (fish), "kUrma" (tortoise) or "varaha" (boar) etc. we cannot help
sometimes wondering if the Lord, having been "born" into such "bodily
forms", also, partook of the intrinsic character of those forms.

"pUrvAcharyA-s" take pains to lucidly explain this particular statement of
the Lord.

The form in which the Lord "descends" is not a form composed of the elements
of nature; the form is not a species of, what is called, "prAkrita-sishu".
While the bodily form of mortal beings is determined by the inexorable
operation of "punya-pApa-vinai" or "karmA", that of the Lord's "avatara" is
determined by his Pleasure, Will or prerogative Choice ("ichchai" or
"bhagavath-sankalpam"). Although He takes mortal form, His essential nature
of "suddha-satvam" (Pure Being) does not suffer any deterioration. His
Transcendent Body does not lose its pristine essence and He is therefore
said to ever possess "a-prAkrita divya mangala vigraham". 

It is this particular aspect of the nature or form of the "paramAtma" that
Saint Tondar-adi-podi Alwar celebrated in those ringing and mystical lines
in his "tirumAlai" (Verse #2) : "pacchai-mA-malai pOl mEni, pavazhavAi
chengan... achuthA amara-rErE...etc." likening the Lord's Transcendent Form
to be "as verdant as the lush green ambience of a distant hill in a tropical
rain-forest!".

"AchAryA-s" also explain that when the Lord assumes a certain form in His
"avatAra" He does so in order to "act out a part" as in a play.

In the Valmiki Ramayana, we have Lord Rama state this categorically as, for
example, "AtmAnam mAnusham manyE rAmam dasarathAt-mayam" --- "I play the
role of the son of DasarathA !". The Lord, it may be noticed, does NOT refer
to himself as the "son of Dasaratha" ! 

"AchAryA-s" also further explain that the various "forms" the Lord assumes
in his "avatarA-s" do not by themselves define Him. The "forms" only aid our
understanding or realization of the Lord's true nature but, by themselves,
they have no bearing whatsoever on it.

This fine but very important concept is illustrated by our "AchAryA-s" in
the following easy-to-follow anecdote :

It was considered an auspicious ritual in ancient days for a person to look
upto into the night-sky on the third dusk after new-moon day
("moonrAm-pirai') to try and discover its waxing crescent.

There once lived a lady who'd been following this custom scrupulously for
many years. The years rolled on and she grew into ripe old age but she
faithfully held on to the habit in spite of rapidly failing eye-sight.

When her eye-sight began to fail, the old lady used to seek the help of her
little 8-year old grand-daughter who would point her skyward in the general
direction of where the moon-crescent appeared. The grand-mother would then
follow her directions and, with some difficulty, be able to eventually
perceive the outlines of the moon and thus complete her personal ritual
("samskAram").

One such evening, the grand-mother was having exceptional trouble locating
the moon in the sky. Her eye-sight had grown so poor that in spite of her
grand-daughter's directions she still could not succeed in locating the
lunar crescent.

The little grand-daughter was exasperated.

Finally, she hit upon an idea to make her grand-mother discover the moon.

"Grand-ma, follow my instructions now carefully and I will help you sight
the moon in the sky," she said.

"First, follow the path of my finger as I move it through the air", she said
stretching out her arm. The grandmother gazed at the tip of her outstretched
finger.

"Now, grandma, my finger is pointing towards the end of our street-corner.
Can you see the street-corner ?"

"Yes, I can", said the old lady.

"Now, I'm pointing my finger at the neem-tree that stands in the garden of
our neighbour's house on the street-corner. Can you see the tree-branch
sticking to the end of my finger ?".

The grand-mother peered. She said then, "Ah yes, I can see the neem-tree and
its branch at the tip of your finger, my dear."

"Good", said the grand-daughter and continued, "Now, I'm pointing my finger
at a bunch of leaves at the fag-end of the tree-branch. Can you see it ?"

The old lady concentrated on the finger-tip and after a moment she said,
"Yes, of course, my dear, I now see the tree-leaves on that branch !".

The grand-daughter then said, "Okay, grand-ma, if you can see the leaves at
the end of that tree-branch, then, look even more closely at the same spot.
You will be able to see the moon-crescent dangling from the leaf-tip."

The grand-mother did exactly as she was told.

After a few minutes of intense peering with those old and failing eyes the
old lady finally beamed a wide toothless grin and exclaimed, "Ah-ha! I see
it ! I see it ! I see the moon-cresecent dangling from the tip of the leaf !"

Now, at this point, our "AchAryA-s" pause, draw our attention to the
grand-mother's statement,"The moon dangles from the tip of a tree-branch in
a neighbour's garden !" and pose the question : "What relation does the
actual moon have to the tree-branch or to the leaf-tip ?"

The answer is, of course, none !

We all know that the actual location of the moon has really nothing to do
with a "leaf-tip", a "tree-branch", a "neem-tree", a "neighbour's garden" ,
a "street-side corner" or a "grand-daughter's finger-tip" !

But as far as the grand-mother is concerned those are the only valid means
("upaya") with which she could sight the moon ("upEya", in this case); they
are invaluable "co-ordinates" that help pin-point the moon's exact location
and whereabouts in the sky. The "co-ordinates" by themselves, we know,
certainly do not "characterise" the moon; but they, nonetheless, lead on
unfailingly to its identity and location. 

Outside the grand-mother's own mind-set, the moon (the "upEya") really has
no relation, whatsoever, to the set of "co-ordinates" (the "upAya") by which
it became possible for her to sight it, isn't it ?

Similarly, our "AchAryA-s" point out, the Lord's True and Transcendent
nature is to His "avatara"-forms exactly what the moon was to the
grand-mother's set of locational "co-ordinates". The "co-ordinates" are, no
doubt, "related" to the object they seek to locate or "realize"; but the
nature of the two are completely different from and un-related to each other.

The upshot of all the above, our "AchAryA-s" tell us, is that a true
"gnyAni" of the world (like Bhishma lying on the "shara-tantra" in
Kurukshetra), therefore, perceives Godhead clearly .... not in the plurality
of wordly bodies/forms or configurations ....but in the singular
Transcendent and Immanent Being -- "ajOpi sann-avya-yAtmA BhUtAnAm-IsvarOpi
san" -- i.e. the "para-brahmham" which the very same forms and bodies all
denote.

                *****************************************
Next, in the verses IV.7 and IV.8, the Lord reveals two more "rahasyA-s" viz. 
(D) the expected timing of His "appearance" and also 
(E) the primary "purpose" of such "appearances". 

These are very popular verses from the "gitA" and everyone of you, I'm sure,
would already be aware of it. There is no need, hence, for me to belabour
the point therein.

But Verse IV.9, containing the sixth and last 'rahasya' (F) is a very
interesting one from the view-point of our subject-matter i.e. "antima-smriti". 
So let's take a closer look at it in the next post.

srimathe srivan satagopa sri narayana yathindra mahadesikaya namaha
sudarshan