Adhikari - the ideal student

Class Notes | February 17, 2019

In Ayurveda, vata, pitta and kapa are the three doshas. In Vedanta, vata is desire, pitta is anger and kapa is greed. Too much pitta can be cured by an ayurvedic doctor but too much anger can only be cured by someone like Rishi Narada. The word Narada means naram (God) dadathi (gives). One who gives God is neither desirous nor greedy. Rishi Narada gave God to Valmiki-ji, to Bhakti mata and with Bhagavata, he is giving God to all of us.

The first shloka of Ramayana is:

Varnanamartha sanghanam rasanam chandasamapi,

Mangalanam cha karttarau vande vanivinayakau

This shloka teaches us why all of Ramayana comes together. Vani is the icon of knowledge. Vinayaka is the icon of humility. All of Ramayana is about vidya so we can be vinaya — vidya dadati vinaya. Humility is godliness. When we are being given God, what is being given away is our ego. No one else can do this other than our Rishis as we are seeing in Bhagavata. When we have bhakti as a kavacha, maya cannot touch us.

Having completed Bhagavata Mahatmya, we now begin our study of Bhagavata.

Canto One of Shrimad Bhagavata:

Each section of Shrimad Bhagavata is called a Canto. There are 12 Cantos with 18,000 verses. Each Canto has many chapters. The first Canto is called Adhikari Skandha and the focus is on adhikari- the most eligible or ideal student, like Raja Parikshita. He was ever engaged in pariksha and was never thoughtless. We too must be like that ideal student, sincere with our study of Bhagavata. We should internalize what we learn and not treat this as a mere katha.

Bhagavata, like Bhagavad Gita, focuses on dharma. But while one studies Bhagavad Gita for moksha, in Bhagavata we are taught to follow dharma for no reason at all, not even moksha. This is a beautiful message to do away with doership and deservership. We must do the right thing because it is the right thing to do and there must be no expectation. An adhikari is someone who understands this difference.

The opposite of an adhikari is someone like Dhundhukari, who eats with the same hand that he touches a corpse with. Dhundhukari is selfish and cruel. But in the end, even he is enlightened because he listens to Bhagavata sincerely. Instead of going with Yama, he goes to Vaikuntha. Only an abhakta goes to Yama. Bhaktas age gracefully and go to Bhagavan. An adhikari knows all of this.

Bhagavata is the sadhya, the sadhana and the sadhaka. It is the goal — Bhagavan; the path — bhakti and if one is sincere, then the bhakta is also Bhagavata. Guruji describes Bhagavata as nectar. It must be consumed in its entirety and no part is to be discarded. An adhikari drinks all of that smooth and sweet nectar, without discarding any of it.

The first 2 shlokas of Bhagavata are profound and offer so much meaning. In fact, the remaining 17,998 shlokas are an explanation of the first 2 shlokas. The key part in the first shloka is: Satyam Param Dhimahi. Dhi comes from the word samadhi that means well and fully placed. Dhi here means “I”. So the implication is, I am fully immersed in satyam param — the absolute highest. We know we have reached the highest when we cannot go any higher physically. Subjectively, we know we are tuned into the highest when we no longer seek gain. Itihasa (Ramayana), Smriti (Bhagavad Gita) and Shruti (Upanishad) all impart the same message.

Rishi Shukha’s disciple is Acharya Goudapada whose disciple is Acharya Govindapada and his disciple is Acharya Shankara. We are studying pure advaita vedanta and the focus of Bhagavata is bhakti. These insights help us understand that jnana marga and bhakti marga are not different, but are completely integrated.

The second shloka highlights that matsarya or jealousy is one of the 6 enemies inside us. To be able to be Bhagavata (bhakta, bhakti, Bhagavan), there cannot be any jealousy inside us. To enjoy Bhagavata and to truly understand the depth of each word, we have to be enlightened and that entails getting rid of jealousy.

In the second shloka, the word Atra is repeated. Atra means here. Through Bhagavata, we can be enlightened here. This will be our biography.

With this invocation, we move to the katha. Bhagavata is being manifested in Naimisharanya. Physically, it is a place located in Uttar Pradesh. Subjectively, it is the kshetra or field where animisha (one who does not blink) lives. The only one who does not blink is Bhagavan so this place refers to Bhagavan’s abode. There are 88,000 seekers in Naimisharanya who are engaged in a Brahma satra, a 1000-year long ritual. In between the lengthy rituals, there are intervals during which Shaunaka Rishi, on behalf of all the seekers, asks Suta-ji 6 questions:

1. What is the greatest good for all?
2. What is the purpose of avatara?
3. What is the performance of avatara?
4. What are the passings of avataras?
5. What was the play of Bhagavan Krishna?
6. What is dharma’s home?

The wise Suta-ji answers all the questions in order, but to understand these subjectively, we must go backwards, starting with the last answer about Dharma’s home:

6. Dharma’s home is Bhagavata. We must have the feeling that Bhagavata is our end game for samsara and then we will start to see the play of Bhagavan Krishna in our life. We will start to feel we are avataras. The bhakta uses bhakti to be Bhagavan. In truth we are avataras, but we do not know it. When we know it, it is called incarnation, and when we do not know it, it is called reincarnation. The best gift we can ever give to our family is to be enlightened and that will remove the vasanas of 7 generations before us and and 7 generations after us. By being enlightened, we can show our love for our family. Through these questions, we are going to go from jeeva to Brahma.

Class discussion: Discuss the relevance of the 6 questions posed by Shaunaka Rishi.