Miscellaneous - Religion   

The integral truth

CHENNAI: God’s ways are inscrutable and the Bhagavata Purana reinforces this truth with narratives that help to create Bhakti towards Lord Narayana, drive away the fear of material life and make one forget the fatigue of worldly existence. Human nature gets carried away by accomplishments and easily slips into the grip of ego, forgetting the greatness of God who is responsible for bestowing on each one the ability to function. It requires clarity of vision to look beyond the powerful veil of Maya and realise that all extraordinary qualities are the manifestation of God’s grace. Sage Suka’s narration of the episode of the grief stricken father in Dwaraka who lost all his nine offspring in succession the moment they were born, drives home this truth, said Sri B. Sundarkumar in a lecture.

Somehow, Lord Krishna, for all His compassion, remained indifferent to the sorrow caused by the loss of the infants. But Arjuna, who came to know of the pathetic situation, promised to save the next child at all cost. He was confident of his skills in archery and vowed that if he failed in this he would immolate himself in fire. When it was time for child birth, Arjuna built with his powerful arrows an armour of protection around the house; yet the child died. Determined to somehow retrieve the child, with his yogic power, Arjuna searched for the child in the realms of Yama, Indra and other celestials, and failing to find the child, he got ready to enter the fire. Lord Krishna restrained Arjuna and took him in a fast chariot that raced towards the western regions. They crossed the border separating the worlds from outer space and entered the area of vast darkness.

The Lord illumined the area with the splendour of His Chakra and they reached the abode of the Supreme Being. There they saw the embodiment of the indivisible and integral Truth and the ultimate meaning of all scriptures as identical with Lord Krishna.

Both He and Arjuna paid obeisance to the Lord of Vaikunta, who said that all this had happened because He wanted to see Lord Krishna and Arjuna (a manifestation of Divinity in two forms) and handed over all the children to be given back to the couple in Dwaraka.

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