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Re: Dvividha in Srimad Bhagavatam

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Mani Varadarajan • September 20, 2002 


Thanks to all who responded. I forwarded some of the early
comments to my friend who posed the question and he had
this reply:

----

The reference to Dwivida and Mainda drinking nectar with
the permission of Brahma is in Yuddha Kanda Sarga 28,
slokas 6 and 7.

Though I can understand why Sri [Hari] Krishnan states amaratvam
to be transitory, it is not the same thing in the case of
the Devas - who lose their bodies only during pralaya. It
is totally different from getting killed - even if it is
at the hands of an avatara of the Lord.

The deeper question though is that these two had no
reason to be given permission to drink Amrita by Brahma.
If it was just a matter of the monkeys helping Sri Raama,
then on Sri Raama's request to Indra, the dead and
wounded monkey armies were already sprinkled with amrita
and brought back to life. There was no need for Brahma to
permit these two to specially drink the stuff, when he
should have known that it was going to be sprinkled over
them anyway.

As for Dwivida befriending Naraka and all the other
atricities he committed of turning rivers and breaking
into townships - I would argue that this is quite typical
of monkeys and what they did in Madhuvana was somewhat in
the same vein - laying waste to anything they set their
eyes on. 

The disturbing point here is that this character has
served the Lord, knows him and has been graced by him,
but unlike the case of Jambavan, he does not get the
opportunity to recognise that he is up against the one he
served in a different form, in a different era. I would
have thought that his kainkaryam would have counted for
atleast a warning from the Lord and a chance to recognise
Him.

I guess the convoluted point I am trying to make (through
all my confusion) is that even Bhakti and kainkaryam dont
seem to be enough to stop someone from drifting. The Lord
does not seem to come to correct this and we ourselves
are powerless to control our senses (which is why we
surrender to Him and serve Him). So how can we be saved?

The other pricking issue is that if we call it Bhagavat
sankalpam - then again it seems to me that the Lord is
not really fixed in His resolve - first permitting this
guy to drink Amrita (Did He not know how Dwivida would
turn out later?) and then disposing him off at a later
time.

The struggle thru all these paragraphs for me is in
trying to figure out the limitations of human endeavour
and the extent of the Lord's Grace and what happens to
the soul subsequent to service at the Lord's feet - why
should he then drift at all? 

I hope you see that I am not writing any of this from the
point of view of idle argument. These are questions
relevant to us and about our vigilance on how to guard
ourselves against slipping (assuming we are on the right
track in the first place). 

Now how does that fit in with "maarjhaala kishore
nyaaya"? 



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