Prerequisites are important - Yavakri - 2

    To contemplate on the Ultimate Reality, Brahman, one has to prepare one’s own mind. But the mind is ensnared by the world of objects, real or unreal. It appears that there is an internal push of the Vasanas or an external pull of the sense objects, acting incessantly in the form of our desires. Our attitude of Raaga or Dvesha, like or dislike, really doesn’t alter our equation or understanding of the objects.

 

    The individual, Jivatma, is under a dual pressure, acting on it in opposite ways. It simultaneously feels limited and is also drawn to the idea to expand itself to overcome its limitation. The very idea of a Jiva, whether bound to a body or not, is defined by its characteristic limitedness. Owing to its innate vagaries, vasanas, its environs, gunakarma, the mind is constantly altering its form. It also finds innumerable objects around it, which it fancies will match this pattern. For instance, a mind feeling hunger will find eateries of its liking as its choice object to bond with.

 

    As the subject interacts with the world of objects, we find a strange phenomenon that these objects still are fighting for their individuality. It may be broken down into the nutrient constituents of the food consumed or remain like a piece of jewelry intact. In either case, the object doesn’t yield lasting happiness. Two things may be at play here. The mind has already morphed having interacted with the object as the limitation of the object is acerbated by the mind craving for its next object of attention. The other angle is the quenching of the desire brings a temporary state of desirelessness, however short and fleeting it may be, which makes the subject confuse itself as the object bringing happiness.

    Vedas, Upanishads and other scriptures like Itihaspuranas, strive to educate us on the nature of the highest Parabrahman and also of this warped state of our mind falling constantly a trap to desires. They along with the greatest minds, the rishis, have given us layers of knowledge to uplift a mind from every possible level. Though every Jiva can be benefited, it needs some sort of prerequisite at every level to absorb the knowledge, integrate it in one’s life and evolve. Without these prerequisites, even grasping all the knowledge through luck or labor leads to no positive impact. This prerequisite condition that must be an important prior condition for the preparation of a mind to absorb the knowledge and act is called ADHIKARA. We are studying this phenomenon that how Yavakri obtained the knowledge of the Vedas through force, but was not qualified through his hard work or intellect. He was unable to assimilate this wisdom into his gunakarma but merely bore the knowledge just like a cow doesn’t realize the value of a garland on its horns.

Storytime:

    Despite repeated warnings of Indra and Bharadwaja, the proud Yavakri bore the knowledge of the Vedas without any integration in his life. One spring season, he wandered near Raivya’s ashrama and stumbled upon Paravasu’s wife in solitude. Her beauty deeply affected Yavakri who developed immediate infatuated lust. He commanded her to reach him to satisfy his lust. Fearing his Taposhakti she meekly said, “so be it”. He took her away and made her fill with shame. Shortly later, Raivya found his deeply distressed daughter in law in tears and demanded an explanation. She explained how she was cornered by Yavakri, embarassed and how she managed to escape his clutches through her smarts.

    The pitiable plight of his daughter in law, enraged Raivya. He pulled a lock of his hair, chanted mantras and offered it to the fire, which produced a most beautiful replica of his daughter in law. He repeated the process to produce a fiery rakshasa with a trident. He commanded both of them to kill Yavakri. Lust filled Yavakri was easily enchanted by the female, who ran away with his Kamandala, water pot. As he didn’t have any water to purify himself and chant mantras, the rakshasa ran after him to strike him down. Yavakri ran in search of water, but found all the water bodies dry. He ran towards his father’s ashrama guarded by a blind servant, where he hoped to find water in his father’s agnihotrasala. Sensing him as unclean and without a bath, the blind man refused entry. The rakshasa killed him at the doorway. Having finished the mission, with Raivya’s blessing the rakshasa lived with the female fiend.

    A highly sensitive Bharadwaja was able to piece all the events with the help of the blind man. His deep affection for his son turned into deeper sorrow. He cursed that Raivya will shortly be killed by Paravasu but got overwhelmed with remorse having cursed his dearest friend. Unable to bear his pain and misery, the lament and rueful Bharadwaja jumped into the funeral pyre of his son.

    Around the same time the regent, Brihadyumna, was performing a yajna and being a disciple of Raivya, chose his two sons to officiate. Paravasu intent on visiting his wife, came at night. Unable to discern his deer skin clad father at a distance, due to darkness and the weight of the curse, mistook him as a wild animal. Fearing his life, he killed his own father. He went back to his brother, Arvavasu, and pleaded that he must complete Brahmahatti Prayaschita on his behalf. He would finish the Yajna without Arvavasu’s assistance, but cannot escape Brahmahatti dosha without Arvavasu. It was easy to complete this mission as Arvavasu had mastered his senses and mind.

    Upon arrival to the Yajnasala, Paravasu accused him of Brahmahatti dosha, due to the killing of a Brahmana (his father) and ordered the King’s soldiers to throw him out. Despite Arvavasu’s truth and pleas, he was humiliated, so he went to the forest. He did penance on Surya, who informed him all the events of the past. All the Devas praised Arvavasu and offered him boons. Arvavasu requested that his father, Bharadwaja and Yavakri all be restored their lives, which the Devas led by Agni were pleased to. He also sought the boon that the knowledge imparted by Surya must stay with him.

    The revived Yavakri asked the Devas that how was he killed as a mere mortal, when he had the knowledge of the Vedas. Raivya achieved this knowledge after a prolonged period of doing service at the feet of his teachers, whereas Yavakri merely got it without due effort. Also the knowledge had not yet been assimilated into his Gunakarma. Subsequently Yavakri transformed himself completely by doing tapasya for 48 years. Yudhishtra was thus introduced to Yavakri’s place of tapasya, which is capable of wiping away the toughest papa. The grateful Yudhishtra and the Pandavas worshipped per Lomasa Maharishi directions.

Practical Applications:

Tamas lingers longer infecting others: Tamas, darkness, has the ability to infect others. It can transfer across people and generations. The Tamas of Yavakri was not cured by his contact with Indra or his father’s wisdom. Despite their urging, he did not integrate with the obtained knowledge that would alter and better his gunakarma. Nor did he reflect on this borrowed wisdom. He merely carried it like a donkey carrying a load. His Tamas led him to do very bad actions, which triggered a suitable reaction from Raivya. Again due to the attachment to his son, Bharadwaja was vulnerable and transferred it as a curse to kill his own best friend and himself. Paravasu who had not mastered his senses like Arvavasu, merely became a recipient of the curse, but also began to exhibit worse Tamas like accusing his own brother with a lie.

    So what breaks this endless cycle. Arvavasu’s composure, sadhana and determined will to restore normalcy. Only good and right Karma done with authority can stop this darkness. While the modern mind is lost is asking, how did the ashes of the dead became alive, it is certain it missed the truth in entirety. Arvavasu’s message is rooted in his genuine compassion borne out of Sattva that is purified by his sadhana and his mastery over his senses. We see how throughout Mahabharata, forgiveness is emphasized as a key ingredient in furthering our spiritual progress.

Karma is not interchangeable: We are incessantly doing new Karmas. The ones that align with Dharma are deemed as good and the ones opposed are bad. Most of us childishly wish and do a mental arithmetic of adding and subtracting our Karmas. But in reality each Karma plays out its Karmaphala. Though they may cast influence on the timing and magnitude of each other, they do not cancel out in normal scenarios. We fantasize such a backdoor that will allow us to escape from our own undesirable actions from fructifying.

    Yavakri’s sadhana did bear the fruits of Vedas, yet his gunakarma trajectory was on a self destruction course. Though it had no connection directly with Arvavasu, who restored him. This positive Karma of acquiring the Vedas played out after his ego got a treatment through his corporal demise and he was able to integrate his knowledge through further sadhana and tapasya. His bad Karma meanwhile took a different trajectory of getting him killed.

Incessant Desire fulfillment – a trap or a boon: Actions are based in Kama or Dharma. Kama based desires are centered on Vasanas, our affinities for objects of pleasure. The senses longing for sensory objects believes these objects will complete it to a fuller state. Dharma centered actions give an option to not only express this pent up vasana pressure, but also provide an opportunity to evolve. But if these are done with a hankering for the fruit, it becomes counterproductive. Hence Krishna highlights in the Bhagavad Gita not to have hankering for the fruits of any action as it leads to further bondage.

    The desired object fails to fulfill the longing of the Atman for completeness while leaving a strong vasana trace. This vasana pressure builds up, pressurizing the senses and the mind to go repeatedly in the direction of the sense object which it mistakes as the source of pleasure.

    Thus a desire that is curated by Dharma can take one higher and is thus included as one of the Purusharthas. Without this Dharma foundation, Kama goes amuck, driving our Gunas down from Sattva to Tamas towards our self destruction. But when kept in between the guardrails of Dharma, the same Kama can take one to higher evolution and all the way towards the doorstep of Moksha.

Spiritual capital is always preserved: The Sadhana of Yavakri did not bear immediate fruits as his GunaKarma was completely misaligned, but as he had a temporary state without his body, he was able to get back all his spiritual wealth with an opportunity to further assimilate it. We find more comfort with Krishna’s assurance that if our spiritual progress was not completed in this birth, we would carry it further into the next life. (यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् । तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भ‍ावभावित: ॥ yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ BG 8-6)

Krishna’s reminder on the gates of hell: In Bhagavad Gita sloka 16-21, Krishna identifies that there are three gates to hell, namely Kama(lust or misplaced desire), Krodha(anger) and Lobah(greed) - (त्रिविधं नरकस्येदं द्वारं नाशनमात्मनः। कामः क्रोधस्तथा लोभस्तस्मादेतत्त्रयं त्यजेत् ॥ trividhaṃ narakasyedaṃ dvāraṃ nāśanamātmanaḥ kāmaḥ krodhastathā lobhastasmādetattrayaṃ tyajet ).

     In this story we find how Yavakri through his Kama and Lobah wanted to bypass the natural way to assimilate the Vedas, leading to his destruction, but for Arvavasu’s compassion. Bharadwaja lost his sense to grief and subsequently let his Krodha out in the form of an imprecation to kill his own best friend, despite the fault of his own son. If Kama is not tamed by Dharma during its expression it can lead to Krodha when not fructified or Lobah when realized.

 

    The Vedas constantly remind our real nature as Atman as our limited gaze is internal towards a very limited selfish idea of “I”, “me” and “myself”. When it looks at the world of externality, it refuses to see past these mental forms. The underlying truth outside is due to that Parmatman, which also can be understood as the Universal principle. Thus the only truth that exists in the internal, external and universal is the Atman. This truth was in the grasp of only Arvavasu, whilst others were Sadhakas at different levels, be it Yavakri, Bharadwaja, Raivya or Paravasu. This subtlety is not in the grasp of those who have not mastered their senses.

    May we hold on to this wisdom that out real nature is Atman at all times. Even if we grasp it like Yavakri we are certain to be led to the higher realms. May we continue to focus on our Gunakarmas as it is the engine that will take us in the direction we drive. May Dharma be the direction and purpose of our life.

ॐ तत् सत

Prerequisites are important - Yavakri - 1

     The Rishis opine, to remain fixated on Brahman, the Supreme SELF, is the ultimate goal of human existence. The Rishis of the yore recommended aligning our lives with Dharma to facilitate the eventual ascent of the human mind. The world of samsara doesn’t make this easy. The dense forest of this samsara is filled with too many traps for the senses. As the mind and the senses dwell on the objects (be it external or a mere internal notion), it gets entangled. More the entanglement, more the changes in the gunakarma of the individual and more it sinks into the samsaric quicksand. This need felt by the Jiva, the individualized Self, for these objects, for feeling fulfilled or more complete, is called Desire. This desire morphs into all the other human emotions from happiness to sadness, greed to jealousy and anger to hate. One such modification is the stubbornness to attain an object of attention at any cost. Any compromise appears to be worth, as there is no understanding or care for the consequences. We realized, in Boons or Curses article, that such individuals even abandon the crucial gunakarma change required to hold on to these fruits of their sadhana as boons and eventually hurt themselves. The asuric mind is more keen to tap into the fruits of the sadhana than to maintain the right gunakarma balance for its application or realize the outcome.

    Typically for doing any action there are prerequisites. Even for a simple act of burning, one needs a heat source, oxygen and fuel to combust. In the same way one needs good school education before aspiring for college. But the mind intent on attaining a desire can compromise these requirements. In Boon or curse, we realized that merely having the fruits of sadhana doesn’t provide endless protection from the misapplication without an underlying gunakarma change. In this article, we are going to understand that without having a foundational grasp of the prerequisites, one doesn’t have the proper gunakarma framework to hold knowledge.

Storytime:

    The Mahabharata contains so much wisdom that it is referred as the fifth Veda itself. While there are many instructional texts like the Bhagavad Gita, Sanatsujatiya, Viduraniti within it, amongst others, the large portion of easy to digest wisdom is available in the form of stories. The entire multi-generational story of Mahabharata contains innumerable stories narrated by Bhishma in Shanti and Anushasana Parva, by numerous rishis like Markandeya and Lomasa in Vana Parva. These stories are highly thematic and help us grasp one or two highlighted nuggets of wisdom for easy assimilation and application. This story is narrated by Lomasa Maharishi to uplift the spirits of the Pandavas, who were mired at their own inabilities and problems. Lomasa was leading the Pandavas through various pilgrimage places.

    As they arrived near the river Samanga, he pointed out the place where Indra did his ablutions and penance to overcome the Brahmahathi dosha of killing Vritasura. He pointed out to the Kanakhala range of mountains where many rishis of the yore did awesome tapas. Lomasa indicated to the nearby ashrama where Raivya, where Bharadwaja Rishi’s son, Yavakri with profound mastery of the Vedas had perished. Yudhishtra piqued by the tidbits wanted to know the complete details.

    Bharadwaja and Raivya were great friends. Yavakri was the lone son of Bharadwaja, while the latter had two sons – Paravasu and Arvavasu. Bharadwaja confined himself to the path of tapasya while Raivya was a renowned Vedic scholar. Yavakri was saddened to observe that the society tended to celebrate Raivya and his sons for their knowledge and ignored his father’s feats. In his understanding, it was the knowledge of the Vedas that differentiated them. Determined to master the Vedas, Yavakri undertook extreme austerities like doing penance midst fire on all sides. Indra, thus being invoked, inquired the purpose. Yavakri wanted to attain Vedas that were not even in the grasp of the Brahmanas. He requested that using his austerities he would like to attain all the Vedas. Indra suggested that such knowledge comes only over a long period, studying under a competent Guru. Indra urged Yavakri to stop this futility and recommended to start his quest immediately, through hard work and Guru’s grace. Vedas will be useless to him and his father, as they have not performed the prerequisites. Indra wondered why the Brahmana was bent on destroying himself and the goal is easily attained at the feet of a preceptor.

    Yavakri resumed even greater austerities that made Indra revisit the resolute. Indra told even if the knowledge of the Vedas are manifest, it will do him no good, as his exertions and actions are not grounded. The determined Yavakri was committed to increasing the austerities at all costs. He challenged Devendra that even if he has to cut his limbs as sacrifice, he will proceed.

    Baffled, the sagacious Indra hit on a plan. He disguised himself as a frail, old Brahmana and positioned himself where Yavakri usually took his bath before austerities. He started taking small fistfuls of sand and threw into the fast flowing currents of Ganga. The futility caught the attention of Yavakri and enquired about his actions. Indra waxed at his grand plans to tame the Ganga with his sand bridge. Yavakri tried to reason at the uselessness of such an endeavor. Indra returned favor by questioning Yavakri’s attempts to master the Vedas without studying. Yavakri realized it was Indra and asked him to grant him boons that can make him excel others and that will be practicable.

    Indra told that the knowledge of the Vedas will appear to him and his father. Interestingly, he also granted Yavakri that all his desires will be fulfilled. The satisfied Yavakri informed his father of these wondrous boons. Bharadwaja warned that these stubborn boons do not have to foundational gunakarma and will lead to ahamkara. Manifesting desires without proper dharmic validation will result in pride leading to assured destruction.

Bharadwaja’s insights on ahamkara: To educate Yavakri on the perils of Ahamkara, the ego centered selfish arrogance of believing the limited self actions as superior than others, he narrated a story. There once existed a powerful rishi, Valadhi. Disturbed greatly at the loss of his son, he engaged himself with severe penances, so he can be blessed with an immortal child. The pleased Devas informed the Rishi that no human being can be immortal. However, based on the Rishi’s choice, the life of the son can be tied to the existence of any object. So the Rishi chose a mountain, as his son can have a long life and thus obtained a son, named Medhavi. The boy grew up haughty and abused the other rishis owing to the power of his boon.

    Specializing in violations, Medhavi, reached Rishi Dhanushaksha and extended his usual maltreatment. Enraged the Rishi cursed him to be reduced to ashed, but found him cocky and unhurt. Realizing his boon, Dhanushaksha understood that the mountains as the instrumental cause for his life. He shattered the mountain by morphing as a buffalo, which led to the boy’s death. Bharadwaja cautioned that if one is puffed up due to the power of boons, it only hastens their fall. Bharadwaja cautioned that Raivya and his sons were powerful Rishis due to their sadhana. He must stay away from them, lest he does some accidental unintentional blunder that may arouse their anger.

Practical Applications:

End cannot justify the means: In today’s world the end justifies the means. Unfortunately this is farthest from the truth. The journey is as important as the destination. The journey molds the character in a unique way that makes us qualify for the results. If a shortcut/stratagem is deployed or sufficient sadhana is not undertaken as the results materialize, then the results will bear more than fruitful seeds. One must be extremely careful with such an outcome. In Boon or Curse, we saw that even the best boons can work in exactly opposite ways, as the end remained in the cross hair of such a sadhana and not the means.

Listen to the advice given: Lomasa and Yudhishtra, along with Indra and Bharadwaja have done so much foreboding of the story that we already know about Yavakri’s imminent destruction. Lomasa is eagerly recounting numerous stories for the benefit of Yudhishtra who needs not only a shield from great sorrow and misery he had put his brothers and wife, but also a sword to cut through it. He represents an eager qualified student, who is anxious to implement the advice given to him by the Rishis. On the other hand, Yavakri is bent on getting his boons at any cost. Yavakri fails to listen to the repeated advice of Indra and merely corners him to extract his boon. Indra cleverly sets a trap by giving Yavakri an additional blessing of the fruition of all his desires. Since Yavakri never listened to Indra and subsequently his father, he merely activates the trap.

Comparison cannot be the foundation of progress: Yavakri did not want the knowledge of Vedas to attain Atma Jnana nor did he want it for any other noble cause. It was a myopic reason based on raging jealousy and comparison. Despite all the austerities he did, he never overcame this overwhelming stain on his character. This made all the sadhana and its phala misdirected. The more Indra tried to make sense, the more Yavakri misunderstood it as a test. It only reinvigorated his resolve but not his clarity or intellect.

    Sometimes in New ageism, such an emotion is celebrated as an inspiration. But if one were to study carefully the idea of comparison is rooted in Object referral, an idea that the object of desire is more important than the Self. Thus constant comparison only accelerates our character fall and eventually us. Drawing inspiration is a process of digging deep into oneself and challenging against the background of another success. It doesn’t involve envy.

 

GunaKarma change through self-effort: Raivya, Paravasu, Arvavasu and even Bharadwaja were practicing different sadhana but were unified by an underlying Gunakarma change. This not only prepared their minds for the Sadhana but also provided them the prerequisites for the next phase. Yavakri’s fault was to repeatedly ignore Indra’s advice that what can be obtained by long arduous studenthood was merely replaced by brute tapasya. Recall the incident where Aswattama pleads with Krishna to yield his Chakarayudha. Krishna placed it in front and asked him to take it. Aswattama despite numerous attempts could not even move it, let alone use. Also recall how Duryodhana borrows the kavacha of Drona only to be beaten thoroughly by Arjuna.

    Having the prerequisites is called Adhikara. Only an Adhikari can maximize the results or in many cases hold on to the fruits of the results. So the prudent path will be to do more efforts to have this gunakarma which will give us the qualifications to pursue on the chosen path.

What prerequisites should we aim for? While there may be a lot more lessons in Yavakri’s story, it makes us ponder on what pre-qualifications we need. Was Indra merely testing Yavakri or was he seriously guiding him? The repeatedly pleas of Indra was to protect Yavakri from himself. If we were to avoid Yavakri’s blunder, we can take refuge in the wisdom of this Hitopadesha - विद्या ददाति विनयं विनयाद्याति पात्रताम् । पात्रत्वाद्धनमाप्नोति धनाद्धर्मं ततः सुखम् ॥ vidyA dadAti vinayaM, vinayAdyAti pAtratAM | pAtratvAddhanamApnoti, dhanAddharmaM tataH sukhaM ||. It means that Knowledge must result in humility; humility yields worthiness. Worthiness (of character, behavior) yields wealth and Wealth ensures Dharma and happiness. The progression of knowledge can be gauged by its destination.

  Yavakri was driven by jealousy and was overzealous to attain knowledge at all costs. Definitely as the foundation itself was wrong, it certainly cannot yield humility as the outcome. Indra was desperately trying to guide Yavakri that a protracted study at the feet of a competent Guru would iron out the kinks in Yavakri’s character and it would have made him an ideal person to learn the Vedas. The message for us is loud and clear. While the spiritual Sadhaka of today is interested only in shortcuts, quick techniques and unusual methods that work only for a chosen few, the time must be spent on earning and fine-tuning our prequalifications. Instead of trying to promote oneself as a great devotee through optics, we can instead focus on the inner basics. The same is true for Yoga, Dhyana or Jnana. There is no need to seek an external validation, but the Ahamkara driven modern sadhaka ends up mistaking the cover for the contents.

  Whichever pathway we may follow on account of our Gunakarma, we need to ensure that we give importance to the prerequisites, so our footing and progress is on firm grounding. This way we need not have to waste time by repeatedly relearning the same basics. We will have to read the concluding part of this wonderful story to glean all the awesome messages that can transform our journey to gain knowledge – worldly or spiritual.

(Concluded in the next)

ॐ तत् सत